The rental agent for this property is EARTH, SEA, AND SKY VACATIONS, INC. In their brochure they have rated Villa Ballena 4.5 stars. According to their rating guide, a 4-star property is “in good condition” and “well maintained”. Villa Ballena is neither. For the first few days we were disappointed in but tolerated the following: missing and broken windows shades, uncovered electrical outlets, a broken DVD player, a nonworking gas BBQ grill that was beyond repair, burned-out light bulbs, remote controls that didn’t work, a clothes dryer that didn’t work, peeling paint, holes in the bed cover, and rusted outdoor fans. Our tolerance ended when water started dripping through a crack in the ceiling of one of the bedrooms (enough so that the maid had to put a bucket under the drip to catch all the water); the water pump became so noisy that we couldn’t sleep at night; and water gushed out of the base of a commode. We were inconvenienced by a parade of repairmen—AC, pool, window blinds, plumbers, and a general “technician”. The EARTH, SEA, AND SKY VACATIONS local representative was gracious and sympathetic but he couldn’t fix everything. When we alerted him that the pool “check system” light was on, he told us not to worry since it was no longer a salt-water pool but a chlorinated one. The Vice President in charge of sales for EARTH, SEA, AND SKY VACATIONS offered us some token food vouchers in the Golden Zone as compensation; we declined her offer. Be advised before renting this villa that many of the items were not repaired, that the pump was still noisy and that water was again dripping from the ceiling when we checked out.
