The apt is undoubtedly beautifully and unusually decorated and furnished but it doesn’t look so good from inside the elevator with really angry Argentinians yelling at you because the alarm bell is beeping non stop and the lock into the apt is jammed
Eventually we gave up and decided to enter through the fire escape in the dark.
Sebastian will tell you we were shown how to unlock the door to the fire escape but it took the extremely helpful young woman ages to unlock and show us, and I remember saying ‘I hope there won’t be a fire in here. I’d hate to struggle like this to get out!’
She later found a small piece of a broken key in the lock which took till midnight to fix, which is why we had so much trouble getting it unlocked in the dark.
Sebastian offered me the cleaning money returned as I sent him the picture of the shaving hairs in the sink upon our arrival. That’s not to mention that in the other bathroom there wasn’t any toilet paper. He will now tell you this has never happened before which is why he offered us the cleaning money back. I didn’t accept this as I felt we needed more!
We arrived at 3.0 and went out immediately and returned to the apt about 8.30 after having tea with friends (no alcohol!) to change before we were due out for dinner! We never made it out as the young lady their caretaker, took till mid night to fix both the lift entrance and the fire escape door. Let me explain. There is a gate to open on arrival at the third floor. The then is a sliding thick metal door to open. Once those two are open the alarm starts to beep loudly. Then there is are two painted metal doors that has a lock and is the entry into the apt and is painted by them. This is the lock that was jammed. Obviously we had to try to unlock it and enter.
We phoned the caretaker and she came after about three quarters of an hour, by which time we had, with difficulty and in the dark entered through the fire escape door three flights up.
She was great and took till midnight to correct both locks
Day two was ruined as we were both mentally and physically exhausted from the stress of being stuck in the elevator, and having to enter by the fire escape up three flights in the dark. It was a huge trauma for us!
The lock on the front door of the apt was easily rectified with oil in the lock. That cannot be the job of building maintenance, as Sebastian maintained.
The security of the whole building is not good. The main door was rarely shut tight and as for the lock on the apt door, we were advised by the caretaker it was better not to lock it.
Therefore on top of everything the apt is not secure enough.
But it’s pretty and we gasped with delight on entering at 3.0pm on our first day. That all changed a few hours later!
I believe we should have had our money returned for the first night. Make of this what you will.
We have rented through Airbnb many many times including several in BA but also in Cambodia Thailand Vietnam Barbados Mexico and have never ever had a problem previously!
We have never requested money back in the past. This was a truly shocking situation for us. We have received no compensation from them.