Engel & Volkers Plettenberg Bay

This is an update to my previous review. After a week of dealing with their customer relations this was a complete waste of time. After being contacted by customer relations who assured me this isn't how they do business. They put me in contact with the manager who said they would work on the refund. They admitted their mistake. They overpaid the home owner, and since he won't give the money back to them - they want me to be ok with not being refunded. So clearly they expect either the home owner or me to bear the cost of their mistake but under no circumstances are they going to go without keeping the money they didn't earn. I've filed a dispute with the credit card company and got my money back. We also discovered my refund for the deposit also didn't clear! They are simply crooks who do not understand consumer protection laws. Never again will I deal with them - and for anyone else - never pay them cash. Make sure you use a credit card so you can be protected like I was.

Thank you for reviewing Engel & Völkers Plettenberg Bay EditShare Engel & Völkers Plettenberg Bay Hated it I recently booked a vacation rental with this office. Initially I thought the process was entirely painless until I realized that they intentionally tried to rip me off. First let me give the 1 positive - the house we rented was exactly as pictured. I made a booking for 4 nights to rent a fairly pricey vacation rental ( about R3700 a day). We made the booking over the phone with some email discussion with their agent. I paid the deposit up front. Everything was fine and we checked in when the time came for the booking. I was in a rush when I paid the balance the second morning we arrived. I thought the balance was a bit high, but I assumed it was the security deposit. When I got back to the rental, I realized that I'd been billed for 5 days although we stayed only 4 nights. Our checkin was around 6/7 pm and checkout was at 8:30 am. I immediately understood this to be an error especially since they were scheduled to have another family to arrive on the day we left. When I went to talk to the agent she was pleasant but then told me that I received the invoice weeks ago and had agreed to pay 5 days for my 4 day booking. When I told her I'd never seen that invoice, we went through her email logs and found it. She sent me an invoice with no email title and no text - so I assume it went straight to a spam filter. Furthermore, I never responded acknowledging the invoice. As I indicated that they were charging me for something I didn't book and didn't want - her tone changed and she started telling me how exclusive the property was, how lucky I was to get a booking at all because they prefer 2 week bookings, and how nasty the landlord was despite his seemingly nice nature. She then proceeded to tell me she'd get in trouble with her boss if she credited the difference back. My only recourse is to share my experience with as many people as possible as well as to take this up with my credit card company. I don't know if this business is full of crooks or if they just have one bad agent - but I recommend that if you deal with them check your paperwork carefully. Furthermore, if you can - deal with a more reputable company.