I'll start off saying that this was the 4th or 5th time my parents stayed at Sabine's, and we only had positive experiences so far.
However, this time was different. The first, minor thing is that Sabine did not follow up on a complain for broken lamps in the main apartment area - more than half the bulbs were broken
and she did not do anything to have them fixed. You should know: Sabine does not live in Berlin and relies on other people (with no specific skills whatsoever)
to fix stuff in the flat when needed.
Now the big thing: at some point the hinge of a door failed and the door fell on the floor. For sheer luck it did not smash the heads of both my daugthers, who were right there.
When I reported the incident to Sabine, with photos and a video, her reaction has been to suggest that my daughters must have done something that made the door fall.
It didn't matter that I showed her exactly why the hinge failed (it was poorly installed by herself and her unskilled friend, I learned later), nor the fact that my daughters
are 3 and 5 years old and could hardly lift off a door from its hinge (it's a solid door, it must be 40+ kg)
After that, she sent her friends to see what happened, and again the couple (who, btw, entered the flat without ringing the bell, using their copy of the keys without caring whether anybody was in)
was only concerned to point out that "somehow your daugthers must have done something that made the door fall". Obviously, the only thing that mattered to all of them were the terms of Sabine's liability.
As I was (impatiently, at that point) explainig to that woman what in fact had happened, her partner (a fairly large man, 10 cm taller than me) stormed into the apartment and raised his hands on me pushing me like a teenage bully,
scaring my daugther into tears. It's only because I kept calm, that the situation did not escalate further. I reported that too to Sabine, but to this day I haven't heard from her (more than 1 week).
So, here is the gist: as long as everything goes smoothly, that remains a good, if pricey, accommodation. But don't rely on help and, more importantly, if you go there with kids make sure they
are not around, should you ever need the help of that violent man.