Mill Pond Realty

I read Mill Pond's Yelp reviews after my second time renting a property through them. I suggest you read them. You can't submit a review on their website, only on a paper form you give them. Note that the Testimonials on their site don't mention any complaints. I gave two stars because we first stayed at Art Coast Cottage in 2018 and things went well.

As with this time, we only needed a place to sleep and shower as we spent all day at a relative's house a very short distance away. Their house just doesn't have enough bedrooms/baths for everyone. We made one pot of coffee and never needed to do anything else. We rented Tuck's Treasure this past December 2021 for the same purpose. This time we needed beds and showers for 3 families. Again, all our waking time was spent at a relative's home about a mile away.

We were here to spend Christmas with 25 family members: all traveling from out of state and one family from Australia. My husband and I were the first of our group to drop off our suitcases. At that first glance, the house appeared tidy, lights were on, and Christmas music played on the TV. We returned with one of our daughter's family to get them settled and set up for their toddler.

My daughter looked at their bed and found a fair amount of black dog hair. We checked the bed in the room we had chosen and found the same along with a long strand of human hair. A third bedroom revealed more dog hair. We didn't check the remaining 3 bedrooms, but my daughter checked the kitchen counters. There was dog hair by the dish cloth and on the counter next to the fridge.

We knew this was a pet friendly rental; my daughter had a Shih tsu/Maltese with them, (a non-shedding breed), but expected that the home would be thoroughly cleaned after each renter. My daughter was upset and after much consolidating of the available rooms at our relatives', was able to cram her family into one of the bedrooms there. I texted Mill Pond at their non- emergency number at 4:53, along with a video of the hair on the 3 beds.

I asked that they bring clean sheets, make sure all the beds were hair free, and reclean the kitchen counters. After a bit, at 5:04, I called their after-hours emergency number which went to voicemail. At 5:22, I received a text saying they had received my message. At 5:36 a text said that a member of their team would go and "take care of those items" and text me when they were done.

I asked that they call me and they texted they didn't have cell phone reception. For an emergency number? Makes no sense. We returned when they finished, now with our other daughter and her family. Dog hair still on one of the re cleaned beds and on another that our granddaughter was going to use. My sister-in-law gave us sheets to put on top of their dog haired ones.

When I texted that there was still dog hair, they replied that they had bleached all surfaces and rewashed the sheets. They said the issue was due to the blankets, which are not washed between guests, and not because of the sheets. Thing is the blankets weren't on the first two beds we saw. They were laying on chairs in the bedrooms. We ended up not using the blankets though they said they lint rolled and vacuumed them when they came back.

The texting and running back and forth, took the entire evening away from rare time with family. After several texts and one call after our stay, they refunded only the pet fee (my daughter's family that had the dog never stayed) and half of the cleaning fee. Makes no sense. They cleaned twice and it still wasn't right. They stopped communication after they reached this resolution. I don't think my think my request for a full refund of the cleaning fee was unreasonable, at the VERY least. Very stressful and disappointing experience.

Needed a winter rental with pets. found a house that was pet friendly. They took our $70 for credit Report before verifying with house owner that pet was ok. a waste of time and money. They knew the owner wouldn't allow it, but led us on to believe she would. They are scammers and rude

Laura Durham and her staff are a "powerhouse" of Information, Knowledge, and Experience! Let Laura guide you to your "dreams fulfilled!"

I am surprised to read so many negative reviews of Mill Pond Realty. We booked through them for our July 2021 Saugatuk vacation. Every interaction with the office was helpful, friendly, and professional.no matter who I was speaking with. The house was as pictured and clean. We were delighted to have so much yard space for outdoor games, a private access to the beach at Silver Lake, a cozy fire pit along a wooded path, and a short 2 mile drive to downtown Saugatuk.

We did find the deck and deck furniture to be in need of a good cleaning.so we took care of that ourselves. Originally I was worried that we would have very few properties to choose from as we got a late start due to the pandemic. Mill Pond listened carefully to what we were looking for and sent multiple properties for us to look through. We were very happy with the house (Silverberry Acres). It was a great vacation!

Three weeks before our scheduled vacation, they've cancelled our rental agreement because the owner sold the property. They are basing their ability to cancel under these circumstances on a provision that says they can cancel if the property is "unable to be occupied." My guess is that the new owners are going to be able to occupy it, but as for my family, we are just out of luck after relying on this company.

They will refund our money, but given that we are less than a month from our travel dates, zero equivalent properties are available. Renters BEWARE. I wouldn't want anyone else to have their vacation ruined by Mill Pond's shady business practices.

BEWARE. Three weeks before our August vacation, we were suddenly informed by Mill Pond that the property had been sold and was therefor "unable to be occupied" which entitles them to cancel our agreement. This is a bogus reading of the agreement and a shady business practice. Given how close we are to our summer travel dates, there are almost no rentals available - certainly no comparable properties. Do not trust this company.

If I could give zero stars I would. So incredibly disappointed! I go every year with a group of ladies now for over 25 years. We decided to try a this new property management company. We rented Tuck's Treasure. First day in the AC broke down in the back half of the house on the 2 large masters. They sent someone out, he said AC needed to be replaced.

It was beyond 93 degrees. The 2 couples in these rooms couldn't sleep because it was so hot and humid. They were displaced to the frontroom couches and in children's bunk beds. After much complaining and following up we were offered 10% refund (for 1/4 loss of use of the house for 4 days and 3 nights). Totally unreasonable. 2 couples split 170 dollars for 3 nights of not being able to sleep in their rooms.

I travel a lot and this is the WORST experience I've had. Their answer to us was that the contract we signed didn't added for refunds for the AC breaking down. Wow! What about just plain human decency?

We are at a time where many small businesses and even non-profits are making extreme decisions that sacrifice their financial well being for the actual health and well being of their customers. Unfortunately, Mill Pond Realty is not one of those businesses. Just an FYI, they are not making any concessions or changes to their refund policy for the Coronavirus and current health crisis.

This is a horrible business practice. I even offered to request a credit to be used for a future trip or to adjust the dates.no dice. Luckily Airbnb is showing much more leniency and understands the corporate responsibility of allowing travelers flexibility during this crisis. I'm only glad I booked through Airbnb to have that extra safety net since Mill Pond's direct office line proved very unhelpful(not the customer representative's fault, they are just following their company's policy). You'd think in the age of Airbnb, an independent rental company would strive to be a little more amicable to retain customers.

Reading from previous reviews it's clear that even without the climate of a current pandemic, this company routinely falls short of doing the bare minimum for their customers. Listen to the negative reviews, they are completely accurate about this business. UPDATE: The comment below is not representative of the situation. Airbnb reached out to your company for a refund but told me you've decided to uphold your cancellation policy. Airbnb said due to your response I now have to follow an extenuating circumstance. I've posted my correspondence with Airbnb to show what my communication with them has been. I'm still trying to follow my extenuating circumstance claim but since the shelter in place order is only through April 13th I'm not sure it will go through.

We booked a second time - different property. Then my mother had to have emergency gall bladder surgery and was in the hospital for 5 days which included our weekend. DO NOT BOOK UNLESS YOU ARE CERTAIN THAT NO EMERGENCIES WILL COME UP. THEY WILL NOT ACCOMMODATE YOU. We asked if we could rebook at a slow time for them. NO. All we got back was our cleaning fee. They could not have cared less about the situation.

BEWARE of this company - you will be SCAMMED. We stayed at their Douglas Lincoln Landing house for a weekend. We were told by multiple people that we would be granted garage access as parking was limited and a hail storm was brewing. Unfortunately this was not the case and the company decided to not respond. All in all, this was not a big deal and we had a great time. However, after our stay we were informed that the company had made completely FALSE allegations against us and requested additional funds for "damaged property." I spoke to one of their reps who said she knew we would give them a bad review and were upset that we were rude and likely drinking.

We are a family of physicians all 30+ years old with our 60+ year old parents and kids (ages 3 and under).clearly the rowdy type that has nothing better to do than destroy property. The house was left absolutely spotless. The company decided to send a "special (ie different)" investigator to inspect damages and made up a whole host of ridiculous accusations. Fortunately we were saved because we booked through a third party intermediary that dismissed the ludicrous charges.

In conclusion, DO NOT BOOK at Mill Pond. And if you do, absolutely document / take a picture of everything in the house or they will try to nickel and dime you for every little thing they can possible find. I had read other reviews that were similar to this after our experience and wish I had known earlier. BEWARE and look elsewhere if you can.

We used Mill Pond Realty for our mini-moon in November. We wanted to go some place that would be close to my parents, Grand Rapids, from where we lived in Chicago and Saugatuck seemed like a great spot. We wanted a place that was sleepy yet also fun. The town didn't disappoint. Mill Pond was good to work with however, I booked our spot in probably August thinking we were all set.

About 3 weeks before my wedding, I was told the space that I booked was no longer available but that they would upgrade us to a house (from a two bedroom apartment), which was great. However, the television didn't work in either the living room nor the bedroom which normally wouldn't bother me but it was November in Saugatuck and all we wanted to do was veg out. For the price and the time of year, we were pleased with our time. Thanks!

WARNING! STAY AWAY! If I could give them a minus rating I would. My family and I rented Poolside in late August. When my son in law checked in we were given a sticky note saying they had just found out the hot tub did not work. The standing water and the parts in the bottom of the hot tub were rusty, that tells me the hot tub had not been working for some time.

When I called on Monday they gave me a $200 refund. I paid $257 a night so I did not feel that was sufficient but they would not give me more. The pool house had a terrible smell and the a/c machine was dirty and noisey. The only a/c in the house comes from inadequate window units. There were cobwebs all through the house, they we're especially bad on the front porch and laundry room.

The sleeper sofa had steel rods sticking up, so we considered it unsafe. And don't plan on any peace and quiet, you can hear the highway noise 24/7. The bathrooms were clean and nice. The pool was clean and nice. Other than the sleeper sofa the furnishings were decent. The people I spoke to at Mill Pond were always short and rude, they did not return calls like they told me they would.

Once they have your money they don't care about you. As for my refund I received it on September 21, only after I called to find out where it was. STAY AWAY FROM MILL POND REALITY and POOLSIDE

Had many issues with this rental facility. We accidentally damaged a piece of property that was improperly (and dangerously) placed in the house. We immediately called the office to discuss the issue. No one returned the call for more than a week, after we had left the vacation home. They were unwilling to take any fault for the damaged property and even when we agreed to pay for the damaged material, they did not follow-up with a phone call, email or invoice for more than a month and then blamed me for the lack of communication (though they obviously had my email and phone number on file). Very unprofessional, very slow in response and very unsatisfying. Would not recommend.

Dear Mill Pond Reality. I read the comments from other renters who have rented in the past and I agree with their comments. Mill Pond Reality was very professional and very helpful when I was making the reservations for our family reunion - first one in over five years. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the house was in terrible shape, very dirty and we were very disappointed that we had paid $5,884,50 for the week.

When we checked into the house, the musty smell was so strong that we had to open all the windows. Unfortunately, we were not able to open all of them because the storm windows were still on. The ones we were able to open were very dirty, dead bugs, cobwebs. We went to the store to buy air fresheners and candles. The house did not smell fresh until the next day. Also, when we walked into the house the wood floors were so dirty that our feet were black from walking from the kitchen to the living room.

We called the main office and spoke to Melanie. She was great and called a house cleaner who showed up to clean the floors within a couple of hours. When we went to sit on the back porch we saw a lot of spider webs, to the point where when we walked to the back door, our faces were covered with webs. We took the water hose and cleaned it free of webs before we went to bed.

We then realized that the screens were very dirty and we cleaned those as well. The cushions for the chairs were so dirty; we did not feel that they were worth cleaning, so we did not use them. After having a disappointing first day, when we went to bed, the bed sheets on all the beds were musty smelling and dirty. Before going to bed, we all washed our sheets and then realized the bath towels were the same, so we washed those as well. Also, many of the light bulbs were burnt out and made a note to buy more the next day.

When we woke up the first morning, we had to clean the coffee pot and realized that there were no coffee filters to make coffee. Icemaker was broken, but we fixed it. Counter tops were dusty and dirty. On the second night we planned to make fajitas on the grill. When we opened the hood, the grill was filthy dirty, so we cleaned it. When it was time to grill, we realized that there was no propane in the tank.

Again we called Melanie and she sent someone over right away with a new tank of gas. Thank you Melanie. The house was big enough to accommodate 5 couples and we knew that we could not park on the street. Unfortunately, on Thursday, the owner of the house came to the rental property and told us that the neighbors had complained about our cars parked on the street and also complained that we had set up a tent on the grounds.

The tent was a hammock, not a tent. Also, the cars parked on the street were cars owned by the bed and breakfast people. We did not appreciate the owner coming to the house, knocking on the door and then walking into the house. Overall, I would probably recommend renting from Mill Pond Reality again, but would highly not recommend renting the Four Seasons house.

The house was very filthy dirty and a big disappointment for the amount of money spent for the week. I would also like to thank Melanie for helping us out with the concerns we had with the house.

338 Park Street in Saugatuck. Harding House. Recommend you avoid this rental from Mill Pond. Fridge kinda works. Air conditioning sort of works. Hot tub broke a few weeks before we arrived. Washer and dryer, 2 sets, both with signs "do not use, will ruin your clothes." Towel bars falling off walls. Ants. Coffee maker slow as molasses. Dishwasher doesn't wash dishes. Called Millpond re fridge. Handyman came out, open and closed fridge said he'd be back and we never saw him again.

Road outside house very busy. Do NOT walk to Oval Beach--dangerous. Must pay to drive car to Oval Beach, $10 per day or $50 per season. Worth it as Beach is marvelous. Bottom line--lots of money to pay for a vacation house that is falling apart.

This place is awful. Do not count on them helping you out doing a rental. They agreed to meet with me in south haven for my rental then the day before I called to confirm they said they couldn't do that anymore. I had to go to saugatuck. So I go to saugatuck the place wasn't ready I go back 3 hours later they had to check and finally it was ready.

But here is the kicker the keys were at the rental property all 6 keys. The only thing they gave me was propaganda nothing useful what so ever. Do not use these people they are terrible if I could give them less then one star I would. TERRIBLE

Well, where to begin. Upon arrival at LAKE BREEZE cottage (3019 Lake Shore Drive, Douglas, Mi), we immediately took a walk to the lake. Ha. Make that, we tried to and walked over 110 steps down to the last few stairs which were dangling. Yes, I said DANGLING! They were not attached and hung at a precarious 45 degree angle from the sea wall. Bravely, we inched our way back up to stable ground and phoned the management company (Mill Pond Realty) who assured us they had no prior knowledge of this problem. Great.

Now what.? We have people coming expecting a vacation on the beach, which by the way, was my criteria when booking the site via Mill Pond Realty. We were assured the handy man would be sent right away, but in the meantime, we could use stair access from another property the owners had four houses away. We later found those stairs crawling with poison ivy.

Not what we want a two-year old, a three-year old, or anyone, walking through for that matter. Speaking of poison ivy, if you happen to stay at Lake Breeze, don't go outside. Poison ivy abounds, up to 4' tall along the drive, but amazingly again, no one ever reported it. Sounds like this company needs an inspector on staff? I don't recall reimbursement for my time reporting issues included in the rental agreement.

Very musty/mildewy smell overshadowed a spacious and well supplied property. Unfortunately, the negatives mentioned cannot be excused when booking a costly rental. Waiting to hear from Mill Pond regarding reparations. Will update but, based on other reviews, I'm sure I'll never hear from them. By the way, why are so many ONE STAR reviews hidden, Yelp?

Worst and most dishonest management company in Michigan. We saw other not so great reviews but they had reponded professionally to some on other websites so we thought it was worth a try to go through them for our vacation rental. Huge mistake, we should have listened to the other reviewers. They ruined our summer and charged us extra money they were not upfront about.

When confronted they did not seem to care at all. I would not recommend using them to rent, manage or sell you home. Unprofessional, poor customer service from all the employees we dealt with including Laura and Melanie. They will use everything they can in the small print to rip you off. basically they will lie, steal, and cheat to make a buck. Like another reviewer said, if I could give them 0 stars, I would!

Professional, prompt and extremely knowledgeable. Laura is a great resource for all things local. As out-of-state clients we felt totally comfortable and confident in her care. Highly recommend Mill Pond and Laura. Thank you for making our transaction a seamlessly pleasant experience.

I do not recommend renting from this group, we had a horrible customer service experience. We had planned a girls weekend away in Saugatuck and when we found bugs in our bed, crawling on the comforter, in the sheets and on the pillows, we had killed the bugs and called the management (who left us feeling like they didn't believe us). Management came and said they washed the sheets & pillow cases & comforters, but when we returned the bugs were still on the beds & in the sheets-learning from the first time- we saved some of the bugs to show management, we put them under some cups (gross!) and left our lodging at 1030pm as management was not returning our calls and left us without a choice but to find another place to stay.

They refused to accommodate us elsewhere or refund us for that night's stay. When we finally got a hold of them the next day, they accused us of lying and told us we just didn't like the place and we were looking for other accommodations at their expense. Really? Yes, we wanted to find new lodging at 1030pm on our first night. PS. When we were calling around hotels to stay that night, one of the hotels told us this was not the first call they've received late in the evening from patrons of Mill Pond Realty.

I really encourage you NOT to stay here - the 2 managers we dealt with were LESS than professional. (If you were a rental management company, wouldn't you want to know if one of your rentals had bed bugs?)

We recently rented vacation property at Mill Pond Realty. I was not happy with their sense of fairness. First night at the property there was a fire in the house. We had to evacuate around 10:00 pm. After awhile, the firemen advised us against staying in the house. We went back in and repacked our luggage. Packed up our food and paper products and left. Needless to say we were tired.

There were 7of us on a long awaited vacation. We were moved to a smaller house. We spoke with Mill Pond Realty regarding our experience which threw a damper and delayed our vacation plans. They offered no compensation. Only after much discussion did they offer us 5 coupons for $10.00 each. There were 7 of us. Not a good experience. We will not use Mill Pond Realty again and I advise you not to either.* * *