Inn on Ocean & Merry Widow BEWARE
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 8/20/06
The Inn at the Ocean and the Merry Widow are both owned by Victoria Clayton. She owns other rentals too so run like the wind if you should call or email a place in Cape May and get her. Our problems started when one of the bedroom doors in our two-bedroom apartment (The French Turret Suite at the Merry Widow) got locked from the inside. I called Victoria repeatedly beginning at 3 in the afternoon, leaving numerous messages on her voicemail. I didn't get a call back until 7 pm. On the phone she immediately starting accusing me of doing something to the door and was huffing and puffing about how she was out of town and couldn't take care of it. When I suggested she contact a locksmith she replied she would be over in 5 minutes. Out of town, eh? That was the first of many lies. I won't go through all the gory details of what transpired that night but we endured her ranting and arguing and accusatory comments the entire night via phone and in person until the door was finally unlocked at 11pm. She came and left a couple of times that night because she had an "important meeting". Clearly her guest are not important. She was even trying to kick us out-threatening to call the police-as another reviewer mentioned that she said to his family. I too wondered why she thought she should call the police on us. I should have called the police on her. We were harassed and our rental agreement was not fulfilled. I should of know there was a problem with her when she I first reserved the place 6 months ago and I had to call her back three time to confirm my own reservation. She never sent us anything in the mail as she said she would. No less than 4 times (over 6 months) did she ask me for my credit card number. She would say, "Oh I am so security conscious that I shred the numbers". You would think she would charge the credit card before she shreds the number! Oh and then there is the gift basket. She asked me on 4 different occasions, twice in the week prior to our arrival, if I wanted vodka or tequila in the gift basket that we get with our place. I answered each time figuring she was a bit forgetful and probably busy. The funniest this is that there was no gift basket at all! There was no ocean view. There were no fresh flowers as advertised. There were 4 steep flights of stairs to climb to get to the apartment that were never mentioned. The house is apparently haunted (it's on the Cape May ghost tour) but that was left out of the advertising too-illegal not to disclose that in New Jersey. The plants on the deck are dead and the railings are falling off of the outside stairs. Don't look under the beds if you care about cleanliness. OMG nasty! All of those things would have been tolerated as although I am particular I do go with the flow. However Victoria Clayton will make your stay unbearable. The coup-de-grais was her call at midnight that night after she had disrupted everyone to the point of tears and say "I'll meet you at 9am tomorrow and bring your gift basket and get your credit card number". I simply said no thank you, we are leaving. What a joke. What an experience.