Thank you for your initial comments. It is hard to find large houses in Auckland for accommodation, but we are one of them. The multiple bathrooms, large living space, the back yard and deck are also good features as mentioned. I am not certain where the impression was gained that the house was more akin to a “student flat” which is used to describe a one room bed-sit, because this house is certainly not that. There are large bedrooms set up with single beds and no bedroom in the house is a bedsit. If guests require the configuration to be changed from single beds we can accommodate that as a number of the beds can be zipped together to form super-king beds That was not requested in this case so single beds were provided. I am not certain what Jamie meant by a “deep clean” because the house was clean and the guests did not complain that it wasn’t. The furnishings are neat and tidy and appear as they are photographed in the pictures and certainly do not need replacing. Perhaps this is only in the eye of the beholder. The BBQ was not unsafe to use. A prior guest had broken the starter to the BBQ and there was no time to repair before the guests arrived and the method to safely use the BBQ was shown to the guests. Jamie failed to text 30 mins before arrival as arranged and prior guests had caused a greater amount of cleaning required which we preferred to clean. I am sure the guests would have preferred a clean house as opposed to unannounced access. Jamie complains about the wait due to unannounced arrival, but I'm sure he would have complained if the accomodation was not clean. You simply can't please some people whatever way you go. The picture on the TV screen were obviously photoshopped but the TV is a 42” HDMI ambilight TV screen. No size of TV screen was mentioned in the house details and the TV is certainly not a small screen. Sky Sports channels were available at an extra cost which was offered to the guests, but they decided not to proceed with that and go to a local establishment with Sport Channels offered. What was not mentioned was that Jamies guests broke 3 wine glasses, a coffee cup and a security light (the latter which they denied but it was not broken when they came). They left without confirming this and appeared annoyed when confronted with the breakages so it appears they have taken an approach of badmouthing the property to get “even” with being caught out over damage. In order to return the balance of the bond it was necessary to find the exact matching glasses because 20 of each were supplied in the accommodation. Ultimately it was impossible to find matching glasses and this took some time while the guests were emailed 3 times of the attempts to find matching glasses. Ultimately a suggested deduction from the bond was accepted. All this process took time as a direct result of the damage caused by the guests which they then complain about. It is curious how the last comment describes the property as for the “non-discerning” when his email upon leaving stated “thanks again for the house over the weekend, we really enjoyed our time there….”. it seems that only after they leave and are confronted with damage they caused do they become “discerning”.

I am hesitant to make a reply to Jo’s comment, but I feel I must to correct the misinformation. Jo contacted us on 17 December 2019 desperately seeking accommodation because her family and dog had to move out of her short term rental and the builders doing her house renovation had not completed for her to move in prior to Christmas with her parents coming over in the new year. Jo came around late the following day just after previous guests had left and prior to us cleaning and was quite happy with the accommodation before her family moved in, but then ‘suddenly’ found things not to her liking after they used the accommodation and left whilst damaging the place. Jo stated in her enquiry that she had a well behaved outdoor dog which we specifically asked not to be taken inside onto the carpets. The day after they moved in they did the opposite and let the dog inside onto the carpets from that day onwards and then complained about the stains they had caused which we had to get commercially cleaned. They also broke off and then threw away a window catch to one of the bedroom windows, broke the actual timber window itself, left marks all over the superking mattresses and valance, melted the ironing cover onto the iron, left empty coke cans and cigarette butts all in the rear garden, water blasted their cars everyday and at times had 5 cars there overnight when there was only 4 people supposedly staying there at that time. It is curious that the people that complain the most seem to be the ones that do not follow their own high expectations. The fridge was cleaned (as we always do before guests arrive) and we checked the dates on sauces and condiments not fully used. If one of these expired during the time that her family was there then she should have simply thrown it out. Jo didn’t mention that we provided fresh fruit, eggs, milk, butter, condiments, bread, breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, milo drinking chocolate and unopened food within the expiry period left by previous guests which they were more than happy to fully use. We have always been welcoming and helpful. Jo’s comments about privacy seem peculiar when we had to maintain the lawn and edges only once during her stay. If we hadn’t mowed them she probably would have complained that the lawns weren’t maintained. With some people you can never win. The first aid kit is a commercial supplied kit containing bandages, band aids, antiseptic which do not have used by dates, panadol (current), with the only item in the kit that was expired was the spray bandages in a small can. I notice the medical kit scissors were taken. I guess the only thing I can put Jo’s complaints down to is that she may have been annoyed that her builders hadn’t finished her own renovations by Christmas for her parents so she had to move out of her rented accommodation and simply vented her frustrations and took it out on our property. Jo complains about the price of accommodation after the fact when she inspected on 18th, paid for it on 19th and moved in on 20th December. She was happy enough with the price before moving in, but then complained about it later. The rates for our accommodation do not even meet the full costs on the property in Auckland and we are not overpriced. Look at all the other 6 comments from guests over the years that have been glowing in their praise for the accommodation as opposed to Jo’s comments and see who you believe.