Pre-arrival Communication

The pre-arrival communication for our trip was unprofessional and essentially non-existant.  Following are several examples:

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  1. As directed by Stan Ingram's office, I first reached out to Colin Albury via email about two months before our arrival, to introduce myself and ask a few basic questions.  I never received a response to my email.  Stan's office then recommended texting.  I tried this to no avail.  Finally, as suggested I tried calling Colin's cell phone.  It would ring three or four times and then just go dead (i.e. no voice mail).  I tried calling this number several times and finally Colin picked up but said he needed to call me back.  He never did.  I tried calling and texting more after that, but again got no response whatsoever until a couple weeks before our arrival.  Colin had a few items to get back to me on from that call and didn't until four days before our arrival.

  2. Stan Ingram and I discussed the issues in point 1 above on a couple occasions.  While I understand Stan is working with Colin on his communication, it was still unnerving and frustrating.  Further, I did not get a response the two times I emailed Stan's office and asked that he contact me (having unsuccessfully attempted to reach both Colin and the office multiple times prior).  I did finally receive a response from Stan when I used the staywithstan email address, and recommend others use this email address in the future.  By the time I spoke with Stan we were within a week of arrival.

  3.  Additionally and as mentioned above, I emailed the Gulf Style Rentals office multiple times when trying to connect with Colin, following my initial email to him.  Most times I did get a prompt response, but the name of the person responding was never shown, nor the name, address, logo, and other contact information for Gulf Style Rentals.  The email simply ended with the text of the message.  Although prompt, the fact that these messages appeared to perhaps be fake and further did not deliver the result of getting answers or a response from Colin added to the concern and frustration.

 

All this caused angst as to whether I was being scammed.  Did Colin really exist?  Did Sea Glass Found really exist?  It also made it difficult to coordinate details with my three adult children and their spouses, who were trying to pack and otherwise plan to bring seven children on the trip, including four who were five years-old and under.