3-On Your Side: Vacation Disaster Has Good Ending
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― You heard about it first on Eyewitness News, the story of a disabled man and his family renting a shore condo and finding the air conditioning was broken on one of the hottest weeks of the summer. As 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan reported, the condo owner wouldn't give them any money back, but Jim has good news to report in the end.
In late July Ben and Sue Evans paid $2300 dollars to rent a Sea Isle City condo for a week with their son Benny. But when the family arrived the central air conditioning was broken. Ben Evans says, "It just got hotter and hotter and there was no breeze." Benny has MS and a brain injury, so the rising temperatures posed a serious concern. Ben says, "When he gets above 70 degrees because of his MS condition, his legs get like rubber." With no fix in sight the family cut the vacation short and took Benny home. The condo owner refused to give them any money back citing a clause in the lease that said air conditioning couldn't be guaranteed, and refunds wouldn't be given due to breakdown.
But Benny got his vacation after all, and it included air conditioning, courtesy of McCann Realtors. McCann agent Steve Waters reached out to 3-On Your Side after seeing our report, offering the family use of a two bedroom air conditioned condo free of charge for a week. Steve says, "We decided to email you guys and offer it to the Evans because it was available, and we just thought it was the nice thing to do." Ben was caught off guard, he says, "I couldn't believe anybody would do that." His son Benny added, "It was a great thing to do, it's very relaxing to me." In addition, Braca's Cafe in Sea Isle threw in a one hundred dollar gift certificate for the family too.
The kindness of others helped to make it another 3-On Your Side problem solved.
As we pointed out in our earlier report, the no refund clause protects the condo owner, but not the renter. So you need to check all the fine print in any rental agreement before you sign, especially if lack of air conditioning would pose a health problem to anyone in your family.
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