At first, I liked the apartment. It matched the pictures, the balcony was big, and the bed was comfortable. About 45 minutes walk from Acropoli, or along the tram line.
However, some things were not actually as listed, and I had a very bad experience with the landlord.
The street can be noisy, it's near a main road and construction. Dirt and dust collected on the balcony from the main highway and construction.
Tenants on other floors smoked and the secondhand smoke came into my bedroom where I had to breathe it in.
The wifi didn't work well, I was unable to do basic computer functions.
The freezer didn't work well, my frozen food became rotten.
The stove didn't work well, it was unable to properly boil food. When I asked for help, the landlord changed the stove for another that functioned similarly and didn't fix the problem, then told me to just deal with it.
The listing originally cited there's washing available. But actually, you can only wash your clothes once a week on Mondays before noon.
Several times I asked for help on WhatsApp, and the landlord didn't reply, even after they returned to their working hours the next day.
Construction on the building's sidewalk began during my stay at 8am every morning and I was not informed.
On the day of check out, the landlord was aggressive, demanding, and made me feel unsafe.
Then they tried to charge me 70 EUR more to exchange an old used kitchen table with a minor stain, for a brand new one. The stain didn't seem like a big deal so I never mentioned it. The table works just fine.
I've never had problems like this with a landlord. My cat and I have many good reviews from our global travels.
I made one mistake - I rescue animals in Athens, that's my job. I missed that the rules said no pets. I apologized for this, no damage was caused by my cat, and the landlord allowed me to book a second month afterwards.
When I addressed my complaints on check out day, they started complaining about me. Even though they already left a positive review for me on Airbnb, and allowed me to book a second month, showing they were happy with me UNTIL I complained about them.
This was a poor experience for an expensive $800 apartment in Athens. I paid extra in order to have the best experience, and I was disappointed. You can find much better and cheaper housing elsewhere.
If you need housing with people you can trust to deliver what's in the listing, best to look elsewhere.