Welcome & Fair Warning

No doubt Jodo looks pretty from the photos and online promo video but these obscure that Jodo is a remote island destination and is not as luxurious as it appears. From the rocky beach entrance to the huge unexpected insect population you need to be prepared for a little bit of roughing it but with a premium price tag. The main entrance to the property is so washed out that we and all service providers use the back/side driveway entrance. The back entrance and side of the home is like a small junk yard with an old boat and electric vehicle in pieces maybe used for parts that should be stored off property or in the garage. Its an eyesore for a luxury property. The Photos show my daughter and wife after most of the bite marks and welts subsided. You will also see the cockroaches that were killed. Also look closely at the photo to the left. The loungers (5 that we were provided with) were wooden. Regine the local property manager tried very hard to assist us. She even brought cushions since all of the beach loungers cushions were lost in the last hurricane and never replaced. How cheap can a luxury property landlord be to think his guests are ok suntanning on what can be compared to warehouse skids. Solid wood frame with solid flush wood straps.

See for yourself that the maximum speed of ceiling fans in the family room and kitchen area are too slow to provide relief from sauna like heat. Also listen to the fan in the guest house upper bedroom which was the only non airconditioned bedroom. That bedroom was unusable and cause for 2 or 5 adult children to share a bed in the main house. Listen to the disturbing noise it makes - (about 10 times louder in real life). Also see the camera enhanced lighting for the living, eating and kitchen area. Thankfully we were supplied with additional lamps to see at night. The camera adjusts the lighting brighter by about 50% brighter than it actually was.  See for yourself at https://vimeo.com/381931175. Click watch more videos to see the top speed of fans relied on but were broken and moving at a snails pace.

Here is a lesson and documented evidence of our claim and experience and more precisely how not to create raving fans in social media for your property or product.

Thu, Dec 19, 7:57 PM (10 days ago) Hi John. We finally arrived for our holiday. I have to say your place is quite nice but already there are issues. The refrigerator shelf was broken on one side and collapsed with several glass bottles shooting glass all over the kitchen. We had to contact regine to get a dust pan which didn’t exist despite the hard surface flooring. It is so dark due to lack of adequate lighting in the kitchen and eating area that we could barely clean up the broken glass properly. Additionally the lack of air conditioning in the great room should be compensated by the ceiling fans but the main 2 fans must be broken as maximum speed is 1 revolution per 2 seconds. It’s stifling hot in all the common areas where guests wish to congregate. We are not off to a good start and it’s not due to your people here because they are very good. I have to say it’s for lack of upkeep here at Jodo. Simple inexpensive plastic containers for leftovers are plentiful but there are no lids to fit containers. Usually VRBO properties provide a few basics like aluminum foil especially where there are bbqs and Saran WrapTo cover leftovers. We purchased all but these items. Drawers in cupboards are broken. As a real estate professional I am seeing deferred maintenance which is not good for your business or your investment. Seriously you need to deal with the lack of lighting and working fans or fans and air conditioning. The master bedroom ac is in the sitting room and not the bedroom. That’s odd and does not adequately cool the master bedroom. The location is beautiful but Jodo is not living up to what’s advertised. There are also no pads for the loungers at the beach. We were told that they disappeared in the last major storm months ago. Why have they not been replaced. What good are 5 wooden loungers without pads. You have 6 bedrooms which means you should have 12 loungers at the beach. We would be pleased with 7 being the size of my group.   Disappointed so far and we have never been disappointed with a VRBO rental in the last 7 years and never felt obligated to send such a note. 

Here is his response a week later on the day of our departure without first ever checking in with his on island manager during our stay or prior to this rant. Is this a normal response from a host to his guest? You decide!

Fri, Dec 27, 2019 at 1:30 PM

To: me David

Cc: JodoResort <jodoresort@gmail.com>, John <John owner@gmail.com>

Hi David,
Thank you for your email which I received on Christmas December 25th at 6:04pm.You checked in on December 19th, so this is the first time I am hearing from you about any issues on the day before you checkout the morning of the 27th.  I really do wish that you would have contacted me immediately at the beginning of your trip either here on the VRBO discussion or the directly like you did with the approximately 50 emails you had sent directly to me or Regine which were all replied to promptly. 

I sure am glad I threw in completely free to you the entire 2 bedroom 1 bath  guest villa which usually goes for approximately $650 per night in addition to the rate of the Main Villa. I suppose this counts for nothing?
You suggest lack of upkeep?  However, I have at least three previous guests immediately prior to you who were all over the moon happy? I can surely get them to submit written affidavits refuting your issues if necessary with perhaps the exception of timing the ceiling fans.
So just that I am clear, on the day before you are scheduled to leave you are just now currently upset about not having aluminum foil, no lids for the Tupperware, you broke my refrigerator shelf? putting too much alcohol on it and were upset at dim lighting to clean up the mess, the placement of the one AC unit in an all concrete structure bothers you, fans are rotating too slowly when you time them, and no cushions for the outdoor teak beach loungers.
I am somewhat shocked at this email as my kindness of including the guest villa for FREE has never been met with such a response.  JODO must not have been too bad as you have stayed basically the entire trip before I am hearing about this from you.
You being an obviously very successful real estate professional have no idea what getting things done on North Caicos is like so let me share some of the processes of what it takes to get anything to North Caicos and PLEASE keep in mind electricity costs about 5X what it does in the US/Canada, gas is about $6 gallon, and there are also no Home Depots or Walmarts down the street.  
So lets say I order a $1,000 piece of furniture in the US. We are so very blessed in the US/Canada that we get upset if it can't be delivered that week.  Now, let's compare getting it to North Caicos ok?
First we have to hope that whatever it is we are ordering is in stock (sometimes we have to wait a month for certain things), so that $1,000 piece then gets delivered to a shipping consolidator who charges a fee to get it through US customs, a fee to ship it to the main island of Providenciales.  So now we have added about $500 to that piece. It now arrives in Provo where we are charged 40% tax on the item and the shipping! So add another $600. I also have to pay a broker to clear the item = another $300 lets say. I then have to pay Regine to go over to Provo $60 ferry, rental car, and her time to do the paperwork to claim it and set up a truck to ship it ($200) to the next barge to bring it to North ($200), then another truck to bring it to JODO ($250).If the item should be broken = it is no ones fault.  So as you can see that $1,000 item that is so easy to get in the US/Canada comes close to costing about $3,000 by the time it is sitting at JODO. 

I am also very disappointed with myself for giving my generosity where it is obviously not appreciated at all. If you would have communicated with me at the beginning of your trip any and all issues would have been immediately addressed (just like your 50 direct email questions) and that is why I am shocked and confused at the timing of your correspondence - the day prior to your departure? We even had more teak loungers in the garage if you would have emailed me. JODO means "Pure Land of Gods Will", my entire crew and myself take each and every guests stay to heart so I am perplexed at this situation.

I truly hope there are no malicious motives behind your email as I have only had to deal with a defamation/ extortion attempt once before, they were people with nefarious intentions from the beginning who attempted to do harm to my business, my reputation and my crew which would have caused egregious monetary damages.

I’m glad you had a good trip to Jodo up until your last day and I hope you enjoyed the free Guest Villa. 

May your heart fill with gratitude. 

Dec 27, 2019, 2:06 PM (2 days ago)<John owner@gmail.com>

Shocked and confused?????   Why have you not had contact with Regine ??? My email note to you was sent on dec 19 th. Our day of arrival. I can send you a screenshot with the date stamp.  The refrigerator shelf was already broken on one side and inconspicuously re attached likely by your last guests. Regines assistants were there to witness that it fell off once we placed 2 bottles of Corona on the doomed to fail shelf and helped with the clean up. How dare you suggest that we over loaded the shelf and it’s our fault before having a conversation with Regine.  Additionally I was in contact with Regine regularly. She and all of the local staff and cleaners we had assist us were great. Regine brought us some cushions from her home as well as some lamps to compensate against the darkness in the kitchen, eating area and great room. You obviously have not been in contact with your staff. If there was stronger and brighter lighting and working fans to circulate the air in this area it would be quite good particularly on still humid nights. Similarly the billiards room is a great place but requires 2 additional fans to circulate the air so as to make the heat bearable. Anyone with internal heat issues such as menopausal women should be warned about the extreme heat trap these rooms can be. The worst part and the icing on th cake was the bug bites received during the day and night. They were relentless and uncontrollable. We tried 25 part deet deep woods off, baby oil and other local recommendations. Nothing worked unfortunately. Additionally I will send you photos of some dead cockroaches. Despite emptying the garbage daily and hiring cleaning staff 3 times during our short stay I was taken aback by those sizeable cockroaches living under the sink. I expect that all the bugs are simply a fact of island life but I think people need to be better prepared which they would with greater disclosure. I appreciated that you provided the guest house without extra charge but unfortunately we could only use one room that was air conditioned. We had our two daughters share a bed in the main house. 

I appreciate the cost associated with island living am fully aware of the differences. Recall that I travel with my family every Christmas between destination islands in the Carribean and parts of Mexico for many years. The island holidays are always more costly. Feeding a family of 7 out for dinner in a place like Barbados can run close to $800 USD. 
Although Jodo has a nice beach, the island is very pretty and the building’s are great,  the lack of adequate lighting and either high speed ceiling fans and /or air conditioning in the family living spaces was very disappointing. 

The front driveway is almost unusable so we and all staff used the back entrance. Unfortunately the back driveway has an old boat and a vehicle that must be used for parts. If you care about first impressions you may want to move these from the property or keep them locked up in the garage. 
I am surprised that you prefer to argue with me rather than listen just a little. All I am telling you and more can be confirmed with Regine who as I said was very helpful. You are fortunate to have her. I will send you photos and video and you can decide whether your place is worth another $20k in wall mount air conditioning and or fix the ceiling fans that are clearly not working. Again you don’t have to listen to me. Ask Regine whom you did not consult prior to your email assault. I see now that you also have take great care to threaten me with a suggestion of some action being legal or otherwise with defamation or extortion?? Really??? Have I asked you for $1. I just re read your note. Now I am mad and you decided to pick a fight with the wrong person. You are far from a business man and will not be enticed to say what I really think by your lack of commitment and your approach to dealing with business of jodo. Good luck.

David,

I am listening loud and clear and trying to figure out how this went sideways.

I really did receive your email on December 25th at 6:03pm ....see below:

Wed 12/25/2019 6:03 PM EST

So I need to figure out the disconnect - is this an issue with VRBO delaying emails?

If I need to replace those fans, consider it done!

I am not trying to argue, threaten or make you mad, I am frustrated to be honest.

All I wanted was for your family to have a great time and make you happy.

My Final Response and Message to the Jodo Resort OwnerFri, Dec 27, 2019 at 1:30 PM

To

Cc: JodoResort <jodoresort@gmail.com>, owners personal email edited@gmail.com>

Attached is the date stamp jpg from my initial email to you which was in-fact sent to the Jodo email and to you directly. More factually it is that you did not bother to check your email, nor contact Regine your property manager ( who was attentive and in contact with us since you were not and did not respond to my email of December 19th, 2019) and on island representative until our day of departure. However, in the face of both these facts, instead of owning them, you deflected and decided that our claims were impossible, Jodo was infallible and that my mere suggestions for improvement represented malice and intent to extort you. What kind of decent business person does this? You and you alone came to these conclusions. What kind of person then sends an essay on island living costs, insults his guests and decides that our troubles were nothing more than an attempt to extort you. You are a compassionate-less host and a horrible person to do business with and you know exactly nothing about me and my family other than you have insulted me and my family. I would say if there was any laws broken here, "Mr Extortion", it was you who who perpetrated a fraud with your lack of disclosure about Jodo and your omission of what a family seeking a beach holiday should consider at your property.  I dont take lightly to threats, innuendo and disparaging my family for its most challenging and troubled holiday in the 10 year history of me taking my whole family on exotic and expensive beach vacations every Christmas. You came to stupid and unsubstantiated conclusions because your an asshole who didn't check your email. As I noted earlier you picked a fight with the wrong guest.

Additionally below are few sample additional photos in support of the matters I have tried to bring to your attention.

This interaction is a true account and copies of our email. There were a few other emails and the owner  never did not apologies for his insults and poor service. 

Hopefully this website provides you with some level of disclosure about this host and his property that you would not otherwise find in advance of making an expensive holiday choice. Please note that we highly recommend VRBO and Home & Away and their sister web sites to book a holiday. They offer a fantastic service. This host is in no way indicative of the thousands of great hosts utilizing those services to rent their vacation property. Despite this very poor host I think he is clearly an exception.

This web site is in no way a reflection of what to expect from the island and people of North Caicos. North Caicos is a beautiful mostly undeveloped island in the Turks and Caicos. The people are warm, inviting and very nice. Crime is negligible. I encourage you to visit North Caicos but be prepared and better informed. I would say that the island is better for eco-tourism with its beautiful and varying landscapes, ocean scapes and personality. Likely not the best idea for a beach vacation since sand fleas and insects are in great abundance due to the lack of development. There are a few well supplied general stores, and some quaint family restaurants like My Dees, and Ms B's as well as the Munjin Harbour Bar & Grill which is a must visit. All of this information is readily available online and more. If you are thinking of visiting the Turks and Caicos for beach holiday, no go to Jodo as it would be much better to stay in Provo but do visit North Caicos when you visit.