This is day five with no working toilet. Last evening at 6:00 pm, a maintenance guy came to fix it, but was unable to do so. This morning, he’s scheduled to return with a heavy-duty piece of equipment that hopefully will resolve this issue. There is nothing we’ve done to cause this.
When we first arrived eight days ago, we noticed that the toilet paper wouldn’t flush. Over the next few days, the situation worsened, and the toilet quit flushing sufficiently for anything to go down. You know what I mean. I will not describe what we’ve had to do during this dreadful situation.
Additionally, the hot water doesn’t work correctly, and we rarely have hot water. No, it’s not as simple as turning on the faucet in the proper direction to produce hot water. It’s a confusing and convoluted hot water heating system in a closet in the bathroom that isn’t working correctly.
Then, as mentioned, the dryer doesn’t work. There is a clothes drying rack which we’re using to hang clothes, but when we do the sheets again, there is nowhere to hang them to dry in time to put them back on the bed. We’ll have to wash one sheet on one day, drape it over the rack, and then do the second sheet once the first one dries, using only one sheet at a time during these periods.
What does all this remind me of?… Lockdown in India in a hotel room for ten months, with no laundry service and having to wash our clothes in the shower. Ugh. However, I must admit, this is much worse. Not having a working toilet is unbearable.
Last night, we reported this situation to Capital One Travel. If the toilet issue isn’t resolved today, we are calling them back to help get our money back, including the $1500 deposit we paid when we arrived, which wasn’t disclosed as required at the time of booking, nor were the three flights of stairs to get to the apartment. There was a notation that there were a “few steps” to the front door of the unit.
If this doesn’t get resolved, we’ll have no choice but to move to a hotel at a significantly higher cost, hoping to recoup our US $ 6,500.
In the meantime, we have no interest in exploring the area or dining out. Our entire focus is on getting things fixed here. Little things, such as the absence of kitchen towels, an extra set of sheets, cleaning supplies, a toilet paper holder, or bathroom towel racks, contribute to the inconvenience of this apartment. Gosh, we had it made in the bush in South Africa!
We haven’t experienced such issues since the first house we rented in Belize in 2013, our first holiday rental, which we left after a week due to a lack of water and an infestation of sand fleas, resulting in a loss of the money we paid. Without a rental car (rentals were US $3500 a month at that time), with horrible WiFi to use to find something else. We ended up renting a golf cart and driving to resorts to find something else.
In Belize, we lucked out and found the fabulous Laru Beya, where we were able to negotiate a 50% discount for the two-month stay in a beautiful oceanfront condo. It all turned out well in the end, when we loved the location, the people we met, and the easy walking distance to restaurants. But now? Ugh!
Additionally, the fact that Tom can’t hear a thing only exacerbates the issues. Need I say, he is frustrated and grumpy?
As of this writing, the maintenance guy is late by 90 minutes.
That’s all of my whining for yet another day. Hopefully, we’ll be back tomorrow with good news.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, September 23, 2015:
I am so sorry. This has ruined your whole time there. With all that has gone wrong I am hoping your money is returned and you can maybe enjoy the rest of your time. You have every right to be upset and they should do the right thing and return your money. Praying things go better for you and you can just move on from there with your money.
Thelma May, the property is managed by a company They don’t seem to care what we went through. We just have to let it go and make the most of our time here. We are cheerful again but counting the days until our cruise on October 27. The days are now passing quickly as we rolled into a routine. All will b even better when Tom can use his hearing aids again.
Lots of love,
Jess & Tom