Lemons turned into Lemonade

For our summer Philadelphia vacation, we rented a home in Drexel Hill for us, Jacyln, Blake, and Lilly, Lizzy and Stas, and the IL Grandparents to stay for the week.  The house had never been rented, so Tammy and I had visited the home and the gentleman who owned it back in February.  It met our needs for parking and bedrooms/bathrooms.  It was a little far from the city, but choices are minimal in the Philly area to rent.

Two weeks before arrival, I emailed the owner with a question about early check-in.  I received no answer.  I tried again a week before and still received no answer.  I looked up the rental on HomeAway and noticed it was no longer listed on the site.  I called customer service and was told we would have to go to the home and be denied entrance before any action could be taken on their part.

Tammy and I left for our vacation early Friday morning with the intent of stopping by the house to see what was up before everyone's arrival on Saturday.  When we arrived, we came upon an elderly lady dragging a box out the front door.  We asked if she lived here to which she replied yes.  Great I thought.  The house has been sold.

We explained to her that we had rented the home for the week from a gentleman.  She said the gentleman was her son who had been hospitalized for some time.  She was there cleaning up because a squirrel had gotten into the home.  She was not comfortable with us staying there.  We told her we would be willing to not stay but her son would have to cancel for us to get our money back.  Upon learning our money would need to be reimbursed, she was willing to have us stay but would need to check with her other son who was coming by later that day.  We exchanged phone numbers and left.

A few hours later, we received a call from the other son saying we could not stay at the home.  We said that was fine but he would need to call HomeAway to cancel so we could get our money back.  He did, and a half hour later we received a call from HomeAway to begin the process of getting us a home for the next day that met our needs.

The rental that HomeAway found for us far exceeded our needs and the price we had originally paid.  We made out really well that week with the new house -- See Philly Summer 2018 entry.  A real negative turned into a huge positive.