Solimar Sands

I’ve been staying at Solimar Sands since the 70’s and it’s been a family tradition of ours for decades. The wife and I returned for a month of R&R last October. Our fifth monthly rental in the last seven years but first under this Manager, Jennifer.
Because I’ve got just two weeks vacation we planned on being there the entire first week and the whole last week (we live an hour away). Well we both had to change our vacation plans when we were finally notified by the assistant manager only weeks before our stay, that they were renovating the pool area and it would be dusty and very noisy. We changed our plans and luckily our employers were OK with it.
We check in late on a Saturday and are told the unit is clean. Not! The toilet had a sickening moldy black ring under the rim, screens were choked with dust. Sand clogged the sliding door and room partition tracks, barbecue had more meat burnt onto it than some small cows have on their ribs, and there were no grill cleaning tools to be found. There was lots more…
So we clean it up, yes toilet and all, and settle in for our stay. The first week we are relaxing and watching some tube and all of the sudden banging and scraping noises begin from unit above. Turns out unit is being renovated and floors torn up and redone. This went on for days and days… banging, scraping, heavy objects being dropped on the floor etc, etc. No one ever notified us of this beforehand.
We then decide to escape the din by taking some drives, lots of them. Went to SLO, Morro Bay, along Casitas Pass and to Solvang. Nice times for sure but not on OUR schedule.
When the worst of the noise fest was finally over with the wife and I pop in a dvd and sit back to relax one evening. «Honey, do you hear a dripping noise?» Surely was. Water dripping from unit above. Jennifer had a plummer out quickly to fix that at least.
So by now we are wondering what had happened to the Solimar Sands we once knew and loved? We spoke with an owner with long tenure there and they were even perplexed and mentioned they felt the place was going downhill fast… also saying many longtime renters had switched to Sunset Shores down the street. This owner also was miffed that they were not even informed of the pool area construction!
Well, to make a long story a bit less long, we had a lot of these gripes filled out on the questionnaire they provide but we ended up tossing it in the trash because we don’t like to complain and we have had a four-​decade business relationship with this place.
So we return home and get back to work. Ten days later on a Saturday we receive our security deposit check back from Solimar. I was really looking forward to that because I have kids in college and every dollar counts. I open it and instead of the $ 1,000.00 hard-​earned I put up I’ve got just $ 460. What the heck? No note, no explanation, no phone call… nothing. It was only 3 p.m. so I call the office and of course no one answers, even though they are supposedly in the office till 5 on Saturdays. I leave a voice mail… no one calls back.
The following Monday around noon, still no call back so I call Jennifer and she was in a meeting she says. She explains that a few days after I’d checked out the unit owner came in and discovered «a big crack» in the bathroom sink, for which $ 540 bucks was deducted from my deposit. «What? There is no way! I reply… no way we did anything of the sort to damage the sink.»
Soon afterward my wife calls her and is also told we left a «big crack» in the sink. We request photos and she sends a couple showing a small chip about the size of your fingernail on the edge of the counter top as it drops into the sink. So a big crack has suddenly morphed into a chip. A chip which we also did not make in the counter top. Was it the house cleaner, unit owner, prior renter? I don’t know but I am out over $ 500. Jennifer offers nothing in the way of compassion and has no desire to hear our side at all.
Look, if you have read this and are still going to rent here (say what???) at least insist on a thorough and comprehensive walk-​through with the manager or assistant upon check-​in and have the manager sign it. Take lots of pictures of the unit before you leave and before doing so again insist on a signed-​off walk through. The manager of any rental facility with privately owned units works for the owners first, and you second. Make the manager work for you and protect your security deposit.
Carp is an awesome place to be but there are tons of other places to rent here including Sunset Shores which is just down the street on Sandyland. It must be abundantly clear by now, but I would never recommend this establishment to anyone.
I’m done with the place… our families forty year tradition at Solimar Sands is over.
But we will find someplace new to rent in Carp and start a new one.

We stayed at Solimar Sands for about 6 weeks, while I was staying in the area.
While the apartment was fine, and the complex well maintained, the customer service was absolutely terrible.
I’ve never met such an entitled, smarmy,
disrespectful, and unhelpful woman in all of my travels, and I’ve travelled a lot.
Jennifer comes across as completely unwilling to help or accommodate her residents in any way beyond taking their money.
The apartment wasn’t properly cleaned when we got there, and although they advertise wifi internet, it is spotty, to say the least. When I tried to arrange for my own high speed internet, I was told that the building has an arrangement with Verizon to be the exclusive provider.
When I called Verizon to order internet, they told me that all of the DSL ports were used up, and that dial up was our only option.
Dial up. In 2014… NOT acceptable.
When I tried to reach Jennifer, I was told she’d be out if the office for a few days.
I then tried to call her on her cel phone to find another solution– she didn’t answer, and never returned my call.
When I mentioned that I’d left her a message about the internet situation, she simply said, «Yeah, I don’t discuss internet on my cellphone.»
I would never recommend Solimar Sands to anyone.

Recently stayed for a week, the complex itself is okay, the management was okay our particular unit #15 was a dive .My list can go on for days. it has been neglected for years! The owners had just been there the previous week. There were tall weeds in the patio, closet doors were broken not enough kitchen supplies. No tongs, no cheese grater, no lighter for the BBQ, no dish towel, no paper towels. dirty bathroom, no toilet paper, no bath mat, shower head leaked. The bed had no box spring (low to floor) 2 plastic pillows. The sofa bed was so uncomfortable could not be used. I will never stay in unit #15 again, and recommend you don’t either.

We decided to try staying at Solimar Sands recently, to see if the customer service has improved. It is in a really nice location right across the street from beach access. We spent a week enjoying the beach and the town and had a nice time. I think the manager must have been on vacation or no longer works there because it was peaceful around the complex. Hopefully the owners have made a change and customer service has improved, making this a more welcoming vacation destination. If so, we’ll be back! The complex is very nice.

Our family has rented a place here for the past four years and we love it. The apartment complexes are nice but some are better then others. The manager is nice and makes sure everybody follows the rules. The apartments are pretty cheap to rent and very close to the beach. I think we will come here for several years in the future. The only things I don’t like about solimar sands is that the temperature of the pool is very inconsistent. Sometimes it is very hot which is always nice and other times it is pretty cold. The other thing I don’t like is that the people that live here will complain about everything. If there is ever more noise than usual they will complain to the manager even if it is during the day. It really bothers me that the kids in our family can’t make any noise without getting in trouble.