Darlene’s Vacation Cabins

Sounds like Darlene is a piece of work. I have not stayed in one of her cabins and thanks to the many honest reviews I never plan to stay there. Can’t believe she is still in business with reviews like this! I’ve never run across a business with all 1 star reviews.

If I could give this a lower rating I would, Darlene’s Vacation Rentals is good at misrepresenting the cabins that are for rent. Cabin #11 has not been inhabited for over 3 years and is horrible, the drive way is so extremely steep that you cannot use it in the winter. They want you to park on the road where the snow is plowed and then walk down the extremely steep drive way to the dilapidated cabin. The owner is unreasonable to add to the horribleness of this ordeal. I WILL NEVER RENT FROM DARLENE’S AGAIN!!! PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE HEARTACHE!!!

We weren’t expecting a 5 star resort but we were expecting to at least get what we paid for and what was promised in our contract. Cabin #3 was awful! When we first got there it was freezing inside the cabin. When we went to turn on the heater the thermostat boxes were locked! No heat for us. We lit a fire but it really only warmed the one room. The cabin claimed to sleep 8 but really only slept about 5 and not very comfortably. The mattresses are old and rock hard. The pull out couch was the worst though you were basically laying on the metal frame. I’d rather sleep on the floor, well if the carpet wasn’t so disgusting. While I’m on the topic of the carpet there was carpet in the bathrooms which was gross. But ever more disgusting was that the shower curtain was to short so after we all took showers the entire carpet was soaking wet. Soaking wet, dirty, old carpet in a bathroom! The tv barely worked as well as the appliances in the kitchen. In our contract it said there would be a gas grill outside, which there was, however we weren’t aware that we would have to take the empty propane tank and refill it ourselves. With no reimbursement. The pots and pans in the kitchen were so old and the nonstick had been completely scratched off the pans. We literally burnt everything we cooked. It was so bad we only stayed 3 out of the 5 days we paid for. Whenever we called Darlene to ask questions she was SO RUDE! She has the personality of a skunks ass. Please save your money. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! You’re better off sleeping in a tent at Pinecrest lake.

I wish I had read these Unilocal reviews before going on vacation. We had the same experiences. We set out on our vacation and 20 min into the trip we had to turn around to get 5 sets of sheets and 10 towels for our stay. This information was not provided in the written email that included the code to get into the house. Instead it was mentioned in the Rental Agreement where your credit card and address are listed. When we got to the cabin there wasn’t any toilet paper. I called to find out where the toilet paper was hidden and she said it is not provided. I offered her a little constructive criticism that if you are not going to provide something as important as sheets and towels and we are supposed to provide, you need to clearly put that in bold. She was very snippy and said it was in the Rental Agreement. I tried to explain that putting it in the legal page is not helpful and putting it in tiny print certainly didn’t make it clear either.
Now the rest of the cabin was just as bad. The wood pieces were too large to fit in the wood burning fire place and the ashes were not cleaned out nor was the bin that we were supposed to put the ashes in. She also provides no matches! The cabin was dirty because everyone feet turned up black on the bottom. They never cleaned the floors with any cleaner! It had ants! We turned on the oven and then smelled burning and discovered 2 black burnt Italian sausages left in the uncleaned oven. Gross! We had to take our trash to the place listed and she never communicated that there was a fee to dump our bags of garbage. Lights didn’t work in the cabin and to top it all off the cabin says it sleep 10 but it only has 8 forks, 3 spoons and 7 chairs to fit around a small kitchen table so we had to eat in shifts. It is listed as a 4 bedroom with the 4^th bedroom being a loft. Well the 3^rd bedroom is not a bedroom because it is open and in the loft too. A bedroom is defined as a room with a door and a closet and it had neither so it was very difficult to have a baby upstairs in the big bedroom when the whole room is exposed to the entire house. The downstairs shower would fill up and plug after running the shower for 2 minutes so everyone had to take a bath. The cabin was very misrepresented, dirty and they provided you with only 4 walls and nothing else. I am very disappointed. Good friends of our have a home a block away and I should have stayed at their place because it would have been an much nicer experience. I would never rent from Darlene again. She has no business being in business. Find somewhere else to stay for sure.

As a resident of the area, when a cabin becomes one of «Darlene’s» we are all saddened. Huge groups fill these little places and the trash is unbelievable.
The owner of this company shows no regard for the cabin owners, neighbors, or the environment. How bad is it? So bad the company changed it’s name! Jet-​Blue of the rental industry.

I feel compelled to tell my story about Darlene’s Vacation Cabins for anyone interested in a trip in that area. We have been going to Dodge Ridge Ski Resort for the past four years with another family. It’s a great place to ski and save money on skiing and vacation rentals and is truly beautiful. In any event, this year we found a cabin through Darlene’s Vacation Cabins. We booked the cabin through Darlene, paid in full weeks in advance (because it was a holiday weekend and knew we had to do it early), signed the contract and felt confident our trip was planned. We took work off amidst busy schedules etc. Two weeks ago, I received a call from Darlene in which she explained that another family had booked the cabin before us but then cancelled due to a family illness. That is when she booked the cabin with us. However, the family now wanted to go, and she said she «felt like she should give it to the first family since they booked it first but that she could give us two cabins near each other for the same price.» I was in shock but told her I would take a look and talk with the other family going. I did so. For a variety of reasons (especially since the other two cabins were small and ugly), we decided that solution would not work for our large group. I called Darlene back the next day to explain that it wouldn’t work for our group. She quickly became passive-​aggressive and said, «well, fine then the only option is to credit you the money.» I stopped her and said, «Excuse me? I am unclear — you are saying that we booked a cabin, paid for it, and signed a contract but we can’t have it?» She repeated what she had said the day before about the other family. I told her that if this family cancelled, then the cabin was ours, and further, I’m not sure why this has become my problem at all. She said that «yes, technically the cabin is yours but I’m just trying to make everyone happy.» She said she would call the other family to see if they would be willing to take the two cabins instead or take a refund. At that point, I believed the issue was resolved, when I received the following email:
This is a follow up to the conversation we had 1÷18÷13 regarding your reservation made on 12÷14÷12 last month and the schedule mix-​up for cabin …
I regret that the circumstance of the schedule confusion occurred. Regardless it did occur, and I am deeply sorry. We notified you as soon as we were aware of the problem.
With respect and good faith to you I offered you a move/​upgrade according to our contract, of two cabins for price of one, extra kitchen, laundry, baths, space, closer to dodge etc. We would absorb the extra cost and cleaning fees.
You respectfully declined. Which is your privilege to do so.
Our contract also states that we can move for any reason. We did our best to make the situation work according to the Best Common Practices in our industry. Mishaps do occur in this industry all the time. Examples of upgrade or equal value moves can occur when a computer or human error occurs, hotels double book, if there are rental damages, acts of God, weather, frozen pipes, water damage, downed trees, impassable roads, power outages, any number of reasons. I could have lied to you and gave you any one of these reasons at the last minute, but I told you the truth as soon as possible.
We have notified you weeks in advance and done everything possible. The only option we have is to refund your account. Which puts you in right standing. That refund will be credited today and your credit card company will post in their usual manner. If you should choose to reserve with us again we can give you a week at the cost of four nights at the cabin of your choice.
We appreciate your patience and kindness in this matter, again deeply sorry.
Sincerely, DVC
Although I did reply immediately, I knew we were out of luck. Certainly, Darlene made a mistake and double-​booked the cabin. Otherwise, it would have been simple to tell the other family that the cancellation policy was clear. Note that she basically praises herself in the email about how «she could have lied but didn’t.» Like that gives her credibility — GEEZ!
It was a holiday weekend, and as a result, EVERYTHING was booked there and in Tahoe in our price range and with a large group. We were out of luck.
I talked to a couple of people who I knew from that area, and have heard that this is not the first time it has happened. I have three small kids and a busy life but felt like folks needed to know about this and AVOID doing business with Darlene.
(As a side note, we miraculously found a cabin due to a last minute cancellation and will still make our trip)

Darlene’s Vacation cabin #7
Awful Awful Awful… and what’s sad is that I found that out in the first 10 minutes when I kicked off the stay with 45 minutes unblocking one of the upstairs sinks.
The place was pretty much falling apart. A death trap of a heater in the main kitchen area, and formica cladding most every wall.
The bunk house had in it bunks that were barely screwed together, and in fact rails fell off while we there. Blinds (if you can call them that) were held up by a bamboo stick and two nails… If you looked at them, they fell down… took your mind off the dank mold smell though.
Keep clear

I would NEVER EVER rent a cabin from this business again. EVER. They were rude when I booked it and that should have been my first clue. There was a room tax which was not disclosed either on the website or on the rental agreement. It just showed up on my credit card. The cabin was dirty, it was freezing cold and the heating was a joke… no heat upstairs, a fire hazard space heater downstairs. A downstairs wall heater could only be used if furniture was moved. The wood was all wet and could not be used. The deck had not been shoveled and when the weather warmed up it turned into a huge block of ice thereby making the deck unusable. The TV was a circa 1990 13inch… a joke not to mention that the DVD player was broken. You have to take garbage to another town to put in the dumpster by the rental office. A broken stair was «repaired» by nailing a board on top of the carpeting… resulting in a very dangerous condition going up and down the stairs. The whole experience was a disaster. I am really sorry I did not do more research before renting from this company. NEVER EVER AGAIN!

Upon talking with the leader of my group, he said that when he called Darlene’s to inform her of what happened he quoted that «she hung up on me when I told her that I didn’t like the place and that she said I was a bad Christian»

All I can say, is that I’m glad that we read these reviews before our trip. Because of that, we expected the worse and came prepared. We brought all of our own firewood which I am so glad we did because all of the wood was soaked. We stayed in the reunion cabin, which was very clean inside so I was pleasantly surprised about that. Because of the storm the cabin was completely snowed in, we did have to call Darlene to call the the snow plow so we could park our cars (we were able to dig ourselves a hole to get inside the cabin). The plow was there within an hour. Other than that the cabin was a pretty good experience, but I really think it would have been way worse if I hadn’t read all of these reviews. Darlene should step up her game or she is gonna start losing a lot of business! I probably would return, but would still be very cautious and prepared!

Terrible experience!
I agree with all the other renters. The cabins were only so-​so, definitely not what I was expecting for the price we paid.
Darlene was rude from the day I booked our cabins going forward. Treated me as if I was a hassle even when I asked for a receipt!
Will not stay here again, mostly because of Darlene and her incredible rudeness.
I would advise you to look elsewhere!

How pathetic that I had to start a list of everything that was broken, or not working, filthy or missing… during my 3 day weekend. I should’ve Unilocaled this place first… shame on me.
So shortly after 4 PM on Friday, we arrive at the cabin– looks to be ok from the outside. Upon arrival first thing we notice is it’s freezing… from the instructions provided, it mentions to not leave the cabins thermostat off, and set it at 45 degrees, so we were under the impression there might be a thermostat/​heater, but apparently, those are just general instructions, so we had to start a fire right away, or freeze. Mattresses were cold and damp that first night!
As we start unpacking, we start to notice, this place is not so clean. The miniblinds in the kitchen were FILTHY! Granted the appliances are EXTREMELY dated… again we try to keep in mind this is a cabin rental. The next thing we notice is the filthy floors… obviously had not been washed. The carpet in the family room, filthy… stains everywhere. We noticed not a single clock in the whole cabin… nor phone. Between the 3 couples staying, none of us had service on our cell phones… so with no phone and no cell phone, it was not exactly reassuring. Maybe Darlene should add that to the filthy, dirty, yucky manual that is in the cabin… it says only two cars can park in the driveway, meanwhile my instruction and the description online for cabin #10 say we can park 3? Only issue with this is they could tow our vehicle away… ok, great.
As far as the rest of the stay… the oven, well piece of crap, that burned everything, had a broken handle. So, every time you opened the oven you had to re-​screw the handle back on… fun to do when its 400 degrees. One of the kids got shocked plugging in the air hockey table… come to find out the wires are coming out of the plug… nice. Not one single trash container… we know we had to bring our own bags, but at least some container to put the bag in somewhere would’ve been nice-​esp the bathroom! When it came time to sit down for dinner, half the chairs seats are not screwed into their frame, so you had to be careful not to pull the seat off every time you moved.
The carpeting in the upstairs bedrooms actually had gum, OLD gum, gummybears, corn kernels and eye makeup remover pads still on it… the walls of the staircase had orange cheeto fingerprints… the door to the bathroom in the master bedroom had fingerpaints in quite a few colors on it. The lights switches and fridge had filthy dirty drips of god knows what on them. The queen bed they claimed to have, was actually a full, with a queen bed topper… their idea of updating their mattresses is just to put mattress toppers on them. bleh?
Last but not least, the washer, didn’t really spin all that well, and with heavy snow clothes… wringing them out to get the extra water out was a pain. The TV upstairs… supposed to have cables hook up to the DVR… yeah, no. And the only channel to show the playoff game on Sunday, had no audio.
We got back today and I called Darlene to let her know that my cleaning deposit better not be deducted for any of this… she really didn’t care. Apparently, nobody else has ever complained– really? I guess she hasn’t searched her business on Unilocal yet. For every one of my items on my list, she had an answer… very cut and dry, and really, didn’t give a sh*t. Needless to say I will never go there again. She didn’t even offer me a discount, or perhaps some of my money back. As for the phones, they’ve never had one… and she told me I could call 911 from cell phone even without service. I dunno? And apparently, by arriving after 4PM, it doesn’t ensure an inspector has actually gone out and inspected the cabin to be clean, even though, 4PM is check in time. Again, I guess that’s my fault. And yes, you have to drive about 15 minutes back to find the dumpster to throw out your garbage… and the other crap that was left behind… or not cleaned. gee thx.
I just noticed that the 5 star reviews are by people who are all first timers? how convenient.
FYI THIS IS FOR CABIN #10– AKA FAMILY FUN CABIN… MY FAT A**.

I was not a paying customer just a friendly tag along guest and I would be pretty disapointed if I had to pay for cabin #14. You have to carry all of your luggage up and down stairs (which would be almost impossible in snowy conditions). She requested that we use the wood burning fireplace and not the other heating however, she provided no kenneling. The logs were damp as well. The heater we used was either cold or on fire no between. The beds were awful and loud. There was no washer and dryer when it was posted that there would be one. She provides no toiletries, trash bags, towels, etc. When you bring your trash out you have to bring it to a completely different town. DVD player would not work (not good with small children). The toilet knob broke as well as the chain to manually flush to toilet. I could go on and on. Skip these cabins and have a great time somewhere else.

I would sleep in the open snow before I would use one of her cabins again. This was one of the WORST experiences I’ve ever had. I actually yelled at Darlene I was so pissed — and thought about hiring a lawyer. I called my credit card company and had her BS charges reversed (which they did). Can’t believe she is still in business.

Darlene will take your money and stab you in the back. Or in my case, pierce you with a giant splinter from the poorly maintained handrails.

Don’t waste your money. Like the other reviewers wrote, most of the furniture and appliances are broken. When we arrived, the drive-​way and the porch were not shoveled. We could barely get into the cabin. When we called to ask where the shovel was, she kept telling us to look and that it should be there. When we said it wasn’t and we couldn’t get inside, it took her over an hour to send someone to deliver a shovel. She also got very mad when she found out that we allowed a neighbor to snowplow our driveway (he offered), saying, «well it should have been plowed and if it wasn’t you needed to call the 800 number.» In my experience, when you have guests staying at your cabin, you check to make sure they can actually get inside. We live out of town, remember.
There is NO HEAT in the cabin. You CANNOT change the thermostat and the fireplace does NOT heat the cabin-​everyone was freezing! The firewood is also damp and does not light well. We could never keep a fire going for very long. I would not recommend this place to anyone, even as a last resort. Stay at the Christmas Tree Hotel up the street.

A big group of family friends and such just rented about 3 cabins from her and although one of them was not that bad, the other two were HORRIBLE. It was disgusting. Everything was broken, there was no screens on more than half of the windows, it smelled, lots of the furniture was broken, the showers didnt work well, when you want to take out the take out the trash its in a different town and i could keep going. When we finally called to complain a bit and just let her know she was very very rude and in the end she hung up on us. We were paying up to 4000 dollars for one cabin and it was the worst one.
Everyone in my group was very disappointed.