We have used Cooke for 6 years now. Very easy to work with and very friendly.
I would definitely reconsider using this company to rent any vacation home in Ocean Isle Beach. I have rented many vacation homes at this price point and by far this one was in the worst shape I have ever seen! While I understand that furnishings are chosen by the owner, it is Cooke Realty's responsibility to portray that property adequately. The pictures used on the website appear to have been taken when everything was brand new. Wear and tear has certainly taken its toll on the property, but my biggest complaint was the filth. The couch looked like it had come straight out of a frat house. There were coffee rings on the counter top when we arrived. Food crusted on the tablecloths. Old cheerios under the couch. Water stains on the ceiling. Stains on the couch and carpet. Cockroaches and water ants in the kitchen. There was carpet padding that sat in front of the house our entire stay. My assumption is that the garbage removal company does not remove trash unless it is in a can. I am sure it has been sitting there for months. Crusted food on the grill. Piles of old ash and foil from the grill in the yard. An old razor and shaving cream left in the outdoor shower. Cabinets falling apart. Lack of utensils. (8 forks in a place that sleeps 15). We were unable to connect to wifi. This took until Tuesday after several phone calls to get the wifi connected.
We called housekeeping when we checked in and they did come over and spent about an hour cleaning. They removed bath mats and did some spot cleaning, but that only scratched the surface of the filth in the place. They left with promises to stock the kitchen with more supplies and to replace a shower curtain rod that was broken. They never showed up to replace the items that they took out. We had to use our own towels to sop up water from the shower adding to the amount of laundry we had to do on vacation. We also had to purchase cleaning supplies to make the place livable.
If Cooke Realty should respond to this review, I am sure that they will say that they "made every effort" to rectify our situation. The fact remains that the place should not have needed extra cleaning in the first place. It should have been clean when we arrived!! They are trying to place the blame on us for our negative experience because we didn't call them with every problem that we encountered and that if we had, they would have done something to help. But, when you are on vacation, the last thing you want to do is call maintenance and housekeeping constantly. Our impression was that they were not going to do anything regardless of our complaints because they were unable to follow up on our wifi issue or follow through with their promises to replace items that we requested on day 1.
The bottom line is that Cooke is all about collecting their paycheck and moving on to the next renter. They could care less about their customers or their experience. I highly doubt they have made any of the changes that I suggested and I bet that carpet padding is still sitting out front of the rental. If you want a nice clean house and a relaxing vacation then I would go with any other rental company before choosing this one. I will say that Cooke has at least agreed to compensate us for our cleaning fee.
Go some where else. Paid in full then had to relocate do too problems on there end ..
they gave no better options
Amy and Debbie were awesome at helping us book our Memorial Day vacation! Would recommend Cooke Realty to anyone!
This place does not even deserve one star. Go with Williamson Realty instead. They saved the annual family vacation Cooke tried to ruin!
Terrible experience. House was beautiful however when we arrived the upstairs A/C was not cooling properly. Found that the return filters were clogged and disgusting and dated over 14 months old. After being constantly given excuses and the run around nothing was ever handled. We had 80 degrees plus dinners in the main part of the house all week. Jim, the maintenance director, was completely incompetent and was very well versed in coming up with excuses and not getting anything accomplished. We are a very easygoing family however when you pay over $4300 for a weekly rental you would hope to have an operating a/c system. We enjoy a week at the beach every year and we will NEVER do business with Cooke Realty again. A simple sorry and a small monetary reimbursement would have done wonders for us, however they were very condescending and showed zero customer service. Shame on you folks
Aaron
Appalling lack of communication and nonexistent customer service, Withholding reservation hold funds for over seven months after reservation cancelled.
Unprofessional and subpar.
Allison Manning
I would recommend you avoid Cooke.
Our beach vacation was ruined. If you and your family are looking for a stress free experience, you will want to avoid Cooke.
Thanks to the Cooke team for all their help making our vacation a wonderful experience. The beach house that we stayed at was perfect, it was a newly built house across the street from the beach. The house had all the conveniences we could imagine and all 5 bedrooms were so comfortable. The pool was a delight, surrounded by palms. Ocean Isle Beach is a wonderful place for a family vacation.
We have rented from Cooke Realty 3 times now and the past two have been horrible. Anson 21 has to be one of the most disgusting houses I have ever been in. The first time we rented this property we had to spend the first few hours cleaning floors and the kitchen. The second time, this past week was much worse. The shower liners are black from mold, there is dust stuck to the walls, lamps are falling apart, the floors are full of sand, "white" living room furniture is brown from dirt and the cushions are ripped. The lag bolts holding the walkway into the dock completely come out at low tide causing a very unsafe walkway. Anson 21 needs to be completely gutted and a huge remodel completed. To make matters worse, the black mold and dust have given me a sinus infection and upper respiratory infection. Nothing like being sick on vacation due to the disgusting house you stay in. We liked this house due to the dock on the concrete canal but we will never rent from Cooke again now as this is obviously par for the course with them. I am sure that Williamson, McClure or Sloane Realty will be a much better experience in the future.