Contemporary beach house on dune directly on Cape Cod Bay

Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm for our Truro beach house and it’s amazing location. Ernie

The couches you found wanting are, in fact, like most of the furniture in the common areas, top-of-the-line Restoration Hardware products that are featured in their current catalogues for summer homes.

We pride ourselves on the services we provide to renters as well as the outstanding caliber of the house. 1) The house was thoroughly cleaned and all the beds made with clean sheets after the previous renters left by the outstanding cleaning service we’ve used for years without any complaints. One of our caretakers inspected the house before this renter’s arrival and reported that it was clean. The renter’s only email to us on the first day began with an exclamation that “the house is beautiful.” It included a comment about the cleaners having missed one of the floors that they had swept, but the writer’s tone implied it wasn’t a problem. The next day the renter emailed us that one of the beds had “un-fresh” sheets that needed to be washed. This complaint made no sense, since they could simply have taken fresh sheets from one of the many other beds in our 7-bedroom home that they were not using, but we sent a 3-person cleaning crew to the house by early that afternoon with instructions to clean and wash whatever the renters wanted done. When the cleaners arrived, the renter refused to let them in to see what they had allegedly missed and to make it right. The renter’s complaints escalated over the next several days until they turned into the more serious and extensive allegations in this review, with demands for compensation. We have offered him $250, which is more than generous, given that he did not give us an opportunity to see and correct the alleged problem. We were left with no way of knowing which, if any, of the escalating complaints were valid, since neither our caretaker (who was present when this party moved in and again the next morning ) nor our cleaners were alerted or shown anything that was dirty. In a spirit of good will and to maintain our “spotless” reputation, we offered the renter a $250 refund. 2. The renter was provided the correct entry code and reminded to use it in three separate emails in the weeks before his arrival. He thanked us for one of these emails, so he read it, but apparently did not bring the correct entry code with him and tried to use an expired VRBO code that he had been warned had been changed for security reasons. The renter was momentarily inconvenienced before our caretaker, who always checks in when renters arrive, appeared and let them in. 3. Our kitchen is generously stocked with all sorts of cooking utensils, pots, pans, two Cusinarts, hand and stand mixers, most basic cooking ingredients, and an extensive range of spices. The renter correctly informed the caretaker the day they arrived that the kitchen did not have sufficient paper towels, laundry detergent or garbage bags, which should have been left by the cleaning crew. These items were promptly delivered the next morning. The renter also asked for aluminum foil that was also supplied. 4. The renter was furnished with 17 towels for the 10 people in his party. He wanted double that number. The additional towels were provided the next day.

Thank you, Mary, for your lovely recommendation of our Truro home. We are so pleased your celebration went so well and you appreciated what we love about our uniquely designed home with its amazing vistas.

Thank you for bringing the growth of poison ivy to our attention. Our gardener has taken care of it.

Almost everyone who visits our Truro beach home describes it as stunningly beautiful, with gorgeous vistas; we have many repeat clients. This reviewer usually rents houses twice the size of ours in places like the Hamptons for his 30 person group. Our house sleeps 16. Not surprisingly, our “infrastructure” fell short of his expectations. The house is not “tired.” The furniture is high-end and mostly new. Some sofas are 12-months old Restoration Hardware; others are spotless leather. The dining table is an antique library table that is neither tired nor in need of repair. The kitchen was completely renovated and updated with new cabinets and appliances in 2011. We understand it is frustrating when appliances break and strive to prevent this by regular maintenance. We respond as quickly as possible to unexpected problems. The outdoor grill broke during this tenant’s usage, but we replaced it the same day. The 18mo old fridge loaded to capacity didn’t cool everything immediately. We sent the first available technician, and provided the tenant with another fridge downstairs. The problem was that someone in his group had tampered with the settings. The broken faucet is part of a floating vanity and not a stock item that is quickly replaced, but there is a second functioning basin right next to it. The house has 3 TVs, including a new 55” Samsung in the living room. A new 42” flat TV in the master bedroom had a reception problem that could have been fixed with a call to the cable provider number on the unit. The yard is professionally landscaped with beach grass and native plantings. It is not a suburban lawn, because that is not the aesthetic we have chosen. We have a gardener. The house is on the water; it is beachfront property. There are dramatic views of Cape Cod Bay and the hook of the Cape from almost every window: You walk from the house, across the yard, down stairs to the beach. The photos are accurate. For all his complaints, this tenant told us, when we called him to understand better the bases of his review: “Don’t get me wrong. We had a wonderful time at your beach house.” This is what we hope all our quests will say. We try to do our part by providing a beautiful, well-kept, tastefully appointed home that is well-cared for by a team of thoughtful maintenance and repair people who typically respond to problems quickly and effectively. We regret that this reviewer was not satisfied with our good faith efforts.

Nicolas, Thanks for your nice review. Hope you had a good time. We love being on the Cape in the winter. Hope you'll consider us when planing your next Cape getaway. Ernie