I feel a bit conflicted leaving this review as my tendency is to assume things got a bit "lost in translation" during our stay at Fatima's apartment.
The best part is that the location is great. Lots of restaurants and bars around, and grocery right across the street. Apartment is high enough up that we didn't notice street noises. Elevator was great... while it was working.
Here's where things felt uncomfortable.
We couldn't figure out how to put the heat on in the apt, initially not realizing that there were separately controlled radiators in each room. Fatima came over and it turned out that the radiator in the living room (where we were spending the most time because we were working during our stay) was broken. She said she would look for someone to fix it (at first saying "I don't know who to even ask to fix this?") and showed us how to turn on the radiators in the other rooms. Over the next few days, we kept the radiators on in the other rooms but they honestly didn't seem to give off much heat unless you were sitting right in front of them. Fatima texted me that she had left messages for several companies to come fix the radiator, and I responded "thank you! it's freezing - i have on 4 layers and a blanket." I didn't think there was anything wrong with my answer but it seemed to rub Fatima the wrong way (this is where the possible lost-in-translation thing comes into play). She explained that people don't always come to fix things when you ask, and said "what else are you expecting me to do?" and then proceeded to mention again how the other radiators had been turned off when she stopped by the first time.
I chose not to respond to her message as there wasn't really anything to say and her tone made me feel weird. The following afternoon, 1.5 days before we were leaving Paris, Fatima messaged me saying that no one would be able to fix the heat until after we left, and then "suggested we shorten our stay" at her house and find a new place to stay for our last night in France (she was not offering to help us find a place, only for us to leave early). Her wording was "I understood from your messages on What’s App that you were frozen because of this situation, despite the fact that the radiators in the dining room and the bedroom are working perfectly, radiators that you didn’t turn on when I came last time to see the radiator in the living room." Just to note, we never denied that the other radiators were not originally turned on, but at this point we had been staying at the apt for several days. It was just a very weird vibe... not sure how else to describe it.
We wrote back saying that it would be a huge inconvenience to find a new place to stay with one day's notice and that we weren't even sure why she was suggesting it, seeing as we hadn't written her AT ALL complaining about the radiator, and that we couldn't help that we still felt cold. SHRUG! The whole thing was just awkward... to be honest, we traveled through France for 2 weeks and stayed in 4 airBnBs, and this was without question our least favorite.
Ok anyway, a few other things:
• The elevator stopped working halfway through our stay. This is obviously not Fatima's fault, but just a warning that, based on other reviews, it seems to happen fairly frequently and it's a HIKE to the apt
• Bath towels are tiny and stained
• Bed pillows look like they could've come from an airplane and feel like they're stuffed with cotton balls
• At least one of the chairs at the dining table has broken legs, which I didn't see noted. Glad I didn't try to sit on it...
• Nearly all cabinets, drawers, and wardrobe doors are locked or taped shut, save for a select few. I understand that people like to keep some things private but there's something about it that makes you feel like you're not to be trusted. Maybe I just haven't stayed in many BnBs where people actually live but it felt odd.
• Fatima came by again when we were checking out and it felt like her focus was on the apt much more than how our stay was. Her first words to me were "Have you anything to declare?" And when I asked her what she meant, she said "is anything broken?" Which seemed to sum up a lot.