Sainte-Severe-sur-Indre Vacation gite rental with internet access, balcony/terrace, walking and fireplace

What a lovely review! We are absolutely delighted that you found our property to be of such quality that you would award us top marks - we try very hard to make everything perfect for our guests and when we receive such kind comments it makes it all worthwhile. (Bon appétit by the way!)

Thank you so much Sylvie. It was lovely to have you and your brother stay with us. Your comments, especially as you are so well-travelled and have stayed in many different types of accommodation, mean so much to us. It is heartening to know that what we provide and the way we run our business is appreciated.

We thank you for your review of our property and we are pleased that you enjoyed your stay. We agree that there is no point going over old ground (our previous response to your husbands review has already covered this) so we will simply address the points that you have raised here. Deposit – your husband was not asked for the security deposit when you arrived, he actually came and gave it to us in cash without having to be asked for it - he had clearly read and understood our terms and conditions regarding security deposits otherwise he would not have offered the 100 Euros in cash there and then. Indeed our terms and conditions were pointed out to you yourself by e-mail weeks before your arrival when you sent a message asking why we recommended you should have travel insurance that includes liability. Unlike many other property owners who ask that a much higher security deposit be paid (at the same time as the balance payment 8 weeks before arrival), The Barn at Vijon is prepared to accept it on arrival and refund within 7 days of departure (subject to a satisfactory property inspection). Your departure - An arrangement was made the night prior to your departure for us to come round at an agreed time to inspect the property, take the key from you and say goodbye. 30 minutes prior to the agreed time your husband came to our property to hand over the key and give us bank details for the refund of the security deposit (within 7 days, as per our terms and conditions), subject to a satisfactory property inspection. When we came round the door had already been locked and the three other members of the group were already in the car ready to go. We were therefore not given the opportunity to inspect the property together – not of our choosing. Had we been able to check the property together we would have been able to show you the pyjama trousers found in one of the bedside drawers and we would most definitely have been able to show you the damaged microwave. Advising you of the damage – Saturdays are very busy especially when you have 4 people departing and more guests arriving the same day. It’s unbelievable that anyone would think that we waited until 6pm to ensure that you had driven far enough away so that you would not turn round and come back to dispute the damage! We were extremely busy preparing for our next guests. By the time they had arrived and settled in we were able to send our e-mail along with photographic evidence of the damaged microwave. That was our earliest opportunity. French Taxation Fiddle? – I simply do not understand where this comes from. 100 Euros was paid in cash on arrival as a security deposit. (Of course we could have asked for this by Bank Transfer had you preferred 8 weeks prior to your arrival – but then we would have been holding on to it for a much longer period than just 7 days). If there is no damage the 100 Euros (or Sterling equivalent) is refunded within 7 days by Bank Transfer. If damage is found to have been caused then replacement equipment has to be bought – in this case a new microwave oven paid for by the cash security deposit. It is not income, it is not part of our turnover; it is immediately paid out again to replace the damaged equipment. So, where is the Taxation Fiddle that we are allegedly orchestrating? E-mails. You say that your husband has tried by e-mail to resolve the situation without success. These e-mails threatened us with bad reviews unless and until the security deposit was returned! The reviews posted since are therefore exactly what we had expected. I assume success for you is to have 100 Euros returned in full and that we should stand the cost of a replacement out of our own pocket. Well I am sorry; security deposits are to cover such eventualities as this. If we are not supposed to use the security deposit to replace goods clearly damaged by guests during their stay then what is the point of them? And finally - Honest reviews – I absolutely agree with you that honest reviews are what Trip Advisor is all about. You had a very enjoyable stay – you say this on your review, indeed you go as far as saying that, but for the dispute over the damaged microwave, you would have recommended The Barn at Vijon to other visitors. Honest reviews? - your husband’s review on another site also said that you had enjoyed your time with us but chose to award us 1/10 for value – 1/10! You each paid the equivalent of £20 per person per night for a property which has been reviewed as 5* over 50 times across multiple sites. Thank you once again for posting the review and for giving us the opportunity to put our side of the story.

Thank you very much Graham - a lovely review for which we are very grateful. It's great to know that we are doing things right and that people like yourselves would recommend us to others and even come back for more!

Barn at Vijon response - Cash security/breakage deposit is required from all guests as per our terms and conditions. Retaining all or part of a security/breakage deposit is not done lightly – knowing very well that it may cause ill-feeling. We are accused by this guest of conducting “A Con”. The quality and quantity of reviews across multiple sites over a long period of time suggest that we are far from being “Con artists”. Anyway, what do we gain? The retained deposit is to replace a damaged Microwave which was perfectly fine on arrival but damaged on departure. For the sake of clarity we are talking about two different ovens. Firstly, the microwave which we know was damaged during the stay. Guests deny using the microwave but whilst in the garden we distinctly heard one guest shout to another ‘put it in the microwave’. Secondly, the oven which guests say they took photos of on arrival because they say was in a bad state of repair. The only issue with this oven was that someone had previously put cooking foil on the bottom of the oven after failing to clear a spillage and it had “baked” on so hard it was impossible to remove all the foil. This does not make the oven unsafe. Who replaces an entire oven on this basis? If a photo was taken of the “damaged” oven to avoid any accusations of damage on the guest’s part why then was no photo taken of the Microwave? if, as is suggested, it was damaged prior to their arrival. Threats received so far in e-mails include, “Not get angry but get even” and that we will “not have heard the last of it”, along with the intention to write bad reviews across all social networks unless the deposit is returned. We are pleased to note that these guests enjoyed their stay with us as told to us on their departure and as commented on in our guest book. However, if the only way to receive good reviews is to NEVER make a claim on a breakage deposit when damage occurs then the “con” is on us.