I hoped to avoid writing this review and to resolve our differences through the Airbnb support center. However, the story cannot remain one-sided. For anyone reading this, this is written blind to the contents of Vincent's review on my profile which I'm sure will be a delight (!) to review.
I am surprised by how many glowing reviews this listing has received because when we walked in, not only was the place dirty on multiple levels (that we were blamed for further down the line, if you keep reading), but the apartment is old and slanted. You can hear your neighbor's TV shows through the "charming" brick wall, along with every other sound you can imagine. It is also in one of the least cute areas you could stay, in the beautiful city of Montreal.
Upon arrival, we walked up some of the oldest and most crooked stairs I've yet to see in the city (read: sketchy). At least he advertises that the stairs are not ideal for moving heavy items or individuals with mobility issues because this is true. You walk into an old apartment with a "trendy" kitchen up the second flight of stairs. Up until now, nothing is too far off from the listing details. Unfortunately, besides the surface appearance, nothing is clean. The coffee maker, toaster, and kettle all have stains and are sticky to the touch. The kitchen cupboard (where garbage was clearly kept) smells like death. There is still food and food residue in the fridge, as well as a sprinkling of human hair. Oh! And the best part? There was dirty cookware just sitting there, growing things, in the oven.
You make your way into the bathroom, and you'll experience some of the worst lighting you might ever see. If you like showering and putting your makeup on in low lighting, this is the bathroom for you! If you experience an extremely uncomfortable, musty smell, like us, don't be surprised if the guests before you get blamed! "The guests left some wet towels sitting in the washer" was the explanation we received. Okay, so that doesn't explain why they didn't smell like they were washed before we arrived, though? All I had to do was run them through the washer once, and they smelled brand new!
When we raised the above concerns to Vincent, he admitted that they may have missed some things, that "the towels were fine," and told us they would "consider "letting us cancel if we wanted to leave. I should have turned and run the other way upon receiving that response because this attitude comes up again later in the story. We didn't realize at the time that if we had contacted Airbnb, they would have helped us sort out alternative accommodations for the duration of our reservation due to these issues. Since we thought our only option was to stick around this place or be responsible for seeking out alternatives, we decided to stick it out.
Since we weren't willing, nor did we have time, to give the place a whole cleaning overhaul, we stuck to surviving off of takeout and microwavable items for the duration of our stay. We had to sanitize every plate, cup, and utensil before using it. Since there isn't a dishwasher, I strongly recommend anyone staying in the future do their due diligence with ensuring the hygiene of the kitchen items, after everything we've seen...
Then, after a few months of getting by under less than ideal conditions, we woke up to an alarming ceiling crack over the entry that appeared overnight. Many other spidery cracks circled the entire ceiling and walls surrounding the area. You know, the kind of crack that drapes down, so it either looks like water or structural damage? If you've ever lived in an Earthquake zone or followed the news and saw the residential building collapse in Miami, you know not to take a ceiling crack lightly. The day we saw this appear, we quickly contacted Vincent to inform him of the situation. We made urgent arrangements to move out, both for our safety and so that Vincent could address this issue as soon as possible. We informed Vincent that we would be trying to leave as quickly as possible, and he was on board with the reservation changes confirming that "Airbnb would take care of the refund" for the days we didn't stay. However, later, he tried to minimize the situation and called the crack cosmetic without any professional proof backing that statement up.
Due to the last-minute nature of our move out and the urgency involved, we did a superficial sweep of the apartment, and we were on our way to alternative accommodations within 36 hours. This is where the fun starts. When I went through Airbnb to request the refund for the days we didn't stay, to put those funds towards the place we had to move into; instead, Vincent turned nasty. He tried to shame us about not having had a chance to deep clean the place before leaving. We were trying to leave as quickly as we could, and yet we were expected to professionally clean the space from top to bottom when we had been wholly unpacked and living our lives just hours before? You've got to be kidding me, man. Worry about the integrity of your apartment! You can pay a professional $200 to do a better cleaning job than you've probably ever done yourself. He went on to send us pictures of drains and toilets and added his own request for payment through Airbnb (attempting to increase the total multiple times), adding his own dramatic comments to effect. He complained about dog hair (sir, we have cats), and dog hair was all around when we arrived. He blamed us for dirty dishes, residue, and food in the fridge (sound familiar to what we walked in on and communicated to him, above?). I didn't realize we were responsible for cleaning up