A little rant about an unpleasant woman at Battery Hill

michigan girls · Post by **michigan girls** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 3:48 pm

I decided to post my laundry story here, instead of clogging up my trip report with the only big negative from my trip.

We stayed at Battery Hill, in Palm Breezes. I should point out that when choosing a villa, I always look for one with washer and dryer since we don't pack very much. According to the VRBO listing, this villa had washer and dryer. It did not tell me that it was one washer and dryer shared by all the guests here. Had I known that, I probably would have chosen differently, as I have no desire to adjust my schedule around other peoples.

Anyway - our villa greeter had neglected to leave us a key for the laundry area, something I discovered when I went to do laundry Saturday night. I called Cimmaron and they sent a key over, but by then I had already gotten dinner and the posted sign at the laundry area said it was open 9AM to 9PM. Being a rule follower, and knowing I couldn't be done by 9PM, I decided to let my boys sleep in the next morning and start my laundry right at 9AM.

A note on the laundry room situation here before I continue. Guest laundry has 1 washer and 1 dryer. The laundry reserved for the owners/long term tenants has several.

I went downstairs with my laundry at 10 to nine so I could be sure I was first in line. When I got there, I discovered that someone had already started laundry and was presoaking pillows in bleach. I noticed the door to the owner laundry was open and that they had several machines. I called Cimmaron and told them the situation and asked if I could possibly use one of the owner machines, as I had no way of knowing how long this person planned on presoaking, and most of the units there appeared to be empty currently. They told me to go ahead. Unfortunately, when I went in there I discovered that all those machines were also filled with soaking pillows.

As I stood there trying to decide what to do (I had NO clean clothes left), the woman doing the presoaking showed up. She informed me that not only was she going to keep presoaking in all the machines, but she would need to turn them all over and continue presoaking the other sides as well, to be sure she got all sides of the pillows. When that was done she would be washing them, then after that I could use the guest washer. When I expressed my disappointment that she was using all the machines she responded that I was not allowed to use the owners machines anyway. When I told her that Cimmaron had given me the OK since the guest machine was stalled with her presoaking she appeared quite offended that they would dare tell me that was OK. I guess the irony that that was so offensive to her, at the same time that she was tying up the guest machine that she was not supposed to be using was lost on her. She basically told me tough, she wasn't moving them. About this time, a maintenance man from Cimmaron stopped by to make sure everything was working out for me. He also tried to point out to her that the guest machine was supposed to be open for me, but she still refused.

I felt really bad for the guy - he of course had no control over what to do about this ridiculous woman, as she was not a renter. He apologized profusely and offered to let me into a nearby villa which was vacant to do my laundry there. It turned out to be a villa which is on my list for possible future rental anyway, and with no other options, I followed him over to Poi Pu. He opened up the villa and offered to leave it open for me while I did the laundry. I didn't want him to have to deal with that, so after he showed me around I told him he could lock it back up as the laundry was outside. I spent the time while it was washing and drying floating in the little pool and laying in the hammock. (He had said that was fine) It was not a bad situation, although it prolonged the time it took me to finish and took away time from me that I could have been spending with my boys.

I don't blame Cimmaron (other than I thought the shared laundry should have been disclosed), and I think the maintenance guy - Buddy - did the very best he could to make the best of a bad situation. My complaint is with that woman. Am I off base in thinking that 1) she should not have been in the guest laundry, as it was obvious that there were guests staying by the cars in the lot or 2) going past that, she should have removed her soaking pillows from the guest laundry once she realized I was waiting, and waited to finish soaking those after she freed up one of the other machines - especially since she could see the distress this was causing me and how I asked her to please not make me waste so much of one of my few remaining days of vacation sitting around waiting for her to be done.

I didn't let it spoil my day, but looking back it really annoys me. The whole point of this vacation was for my older son and I to spend quality time with my youngest son before he deploys to Afghanistan. I hate that I spent so much of this precious time at a different villa, away from my boys, just so she could have a villa full of bleached pillows. I guess you can rest assured though, that if you stay at Sea Breeze, your pillows will be nice and white

OK, end of rant, back to the positive

Beesmom · Post by **Beesmom** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:56 pm

I'm fairly laid back but yeah she was out of line.

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:03 pm

That would have pi$$ed me off and probably would have pulled her pillows out of the guest laundry and thrown them on the floor -especially if I hadn't had coffee !!

Pia

Laura T · Post by **Laura T** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:06 pm

I agree. She was out of line. Amazing how inconsiderate people can be.

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:08 pm

I would be very frustrated if I was expecting the washer and dryer to be in the unit and they weren't, and I agree that it would impact my rental choice...I hope the owners are not intentionally deceptive on this. The restricted usage hours for the washer and dryer make it even worse. When we are on STJ, we aren't often in the rental between 9 am and 9 pm.

I'm sorry that you were treated poorly, that stinks.

And bleaching pillows? What? I'm a clean freak but I have never heard of this.

michigan girls · Post by **michigan girls** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:36 pm

Pia wrote:That would have pi$$ed me off and probably would have pulled her pillows out of the guest laundry and thrown them on the floor -especially if I hadn't had coffee !!

Pia

I really thought about it Pia, but I figured she might be the kind of person to call the police and I didn't want to lose any more time over it.

Plus, I had had my first cup of coffee, or I might not have been able to stop myself. Amazing how Kiss of the Jumbie can help you be calm.

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:11 pm

Actually I probably would have thrown them in the pool and made her go get them

michigan girls · Post by **michigan girls** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:14 pm

Pia wrote:Actually I probably would have thrown them in the pool and made her go get them

I need a "like" button for this idea

Next time I'm going to skip calling Cimmaron and just call Pia

jaybfloyd · Post by **jaybfloyd** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:53 pm

Ever see that part in Varsity Blues where Billy Bob gets sick at that party??...I would've probably gone that route!

inuny · Post by **inuny** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:40 pm

The maintenance guy was nice to help you, but I don't think it s appropriate to let you use another villa. The owner of poi poliu ended up paying for the water and electricity to do your wash there.

michigan girls · Post by **michigan girls** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:45 pm

inuny wrote:The maintenance guy was nice to help you, but I don't think it s appropriate to let you use another villa. The owner of poi poliu ended up paying for the water and electricity to do your wash there.

I thought of that as well, but it did make me more likely to rent that villa in the future, since I was able to see it in person and enjoy the hammock. As it is perfect size for us, it's definitely on the short list now. I was unsure before how I would feel about the view from there, and I am more comfortable with the drive and the driveway now.

I also downsized my load to only the necessaries to cut back on water use, and didn't dry it very thoroughly so the dryer use was minimal.

PatrickMcc · Post by **PatrickMcc** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:51 am

I agree with you completely. I hope that Cimarron notified the owners' association about the situation. Owners who want to rent their condo can't be happy about antagonizing renters. Is that villa- Poi Pu? the one in Chocolate Hole or is there another one in Cruz Bay? We might be looking for a 4 bedroom in a few years.

ski2play · Post by **ski2play** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:22 am

pffft, Pia, I like your second idea best. Holy rudeness batman.

Cecile · Post by **Cecile** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:02 am

Hi everybody,
Thanks for posting this and all your replys!

I am really happy to hear, that not only in Europe you find "Ladies" like thisone.

I will be visiting th USVI in November.

Looking forward to that.Thanks for all rhe nice inputs.
Best regards
Cecile

Agent99 · Post by **Agent99** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 5:29 pm

I'm on Team Pia! That would make me so mad. Are you tempted to add your experience to Trip Advisor, Fodors.com and any other well read travel blog and mention the villa by name? Maybe some local knows the rude owner and will let her know there is a little discussion going on. Glad you didn't let one persons selfish behavior ruin your trip.

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