In the six years we've been in NC, Cliff gets "itchy" in the few winter months we have here in Murphy and needs to go south. Last summer, before his mother had her stroke and ended up here, we booked a condo week in Satellite Beach, Florida. Cold fronts can settle into central Florida so we decided to go a little further south. I actually started looking forward to getting away, too, after Christmas. A dear friend of ours, who is an RN, volunteered to visit Cliff's mother at the nursing home and socialize her puppy with the visits.
We arrive late Saturday afternoon, instructions in hand on how to enter the condo. First thing Cliff noticed was that the window screen looked as if someone tried to jimmy it. He entered the lock box code where a key was suppose to have been placed for us. No key and the office is closed on the weekends. Odd! Because rental dates run from Saturday to Saturday. Instructions were to call Drew, one of the owners, if there were any problems and leave a message. Drew would get back to us. Ten minutes went by and no return call. Cliff called again and left a stern message to return our call. Now we're both wondering if we had been duped and someone from Nigeria had our $$$. A few minutes later a man urgently pulled into the parking lot, jumped out, and opened the lock box for us and found the same thing we found.........NO KEY. We assumed that was Drew, when Drew called Cliff's cell. Drew was calling from Ontario, Canada! Then another man showed up to let us in with his master key. The lock box key was floating around somewhere unknown. Cliff spoke to Drew and told him to get a locksmith out and change the locks because we were not going to put our possessions in this unit with a key on the loose. Fifteen minutes later, a lady showed up............. with the "lost" key. People were coming out of the woodwork and apologizing for the mix-up. After driving all day and having this happen, Cliff was not a happy camper and was ready to go to a Holiday Inn Express for the night.
As the evening went on, we found the shower in one of the bathrooms didn't work, the sink didn't drain, the blinds in our master bedroom were missing some slats and couldn't close all the way, the ceilings have water damage, a jack is holding up the back porch and we're on the first floor.
Our unit is the two windows, first floor. It's a old condo building with mold and erosion from the years of sea spray and hurricanes. The photos online showed only the best features, of course.
Aside from all of this, we are right on the beach and can hear the ocean rhythms at night. The pool is heated but we haven't been in yet.
It's nice to walk the beach again.
We arrive late Saturday afternoon, instructions in hand on how to enter the condo. First thing Cliff noticed was that the window screen looked as if someone tried to jimmy it. He entered the lock box code where a key was suppose to have been placed for us. No key and the office is closed on the weekends. Odd! Because rental dates run from Saturday to Saturday. Instructions were to call Drew, one of the owners, if there were any problems and leave a message. Drew would get back to us. Ten minutes went by and no return call. Cliff called again and left a stern message to return our call. Now we're both wondering if we had been duped and someone from Nigeria had our $$$. A few minutes later a man urgently pulled into the parking lot, jumped out, and opened the lock box for us and found the same thing we found.........NO KEY. We assumed that was Drew, when Drew called Cliff's cell. Drew was calling from Ontario, Canada! Then another man showed up to let us in with his master key. The lock box key was floating around somewhere unknown. Cliff spoke to Drew and told him to get a locksmith out and change the locks because we were not going to put our possessions in this unit with a key on the loose. Fifteen minutes later, a lady showed up............. with the "lost" key. People were coming out of the woodwork and apologizing for the mix-up. After driving all day and having this happen, Cliff was not a happy camper and was ready to go to a Holiday Inn Express for the night.
As the evening went on, we found the shower in one of the bathrooms didn't work, the sink didn't drain, the blinds in our master bedroom were missing some slats and couldn't close all the way, the ceilings have water damage, a jack is holding up the back porch and we're on the first floor.
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