I want to retell the experience I had with my family in this apartment, the worst in this trip so far.
We arrived at the place following Paola's recommendations, which were all given in Italian (neither in Spanish nor in English)
When we returned home after dinner the first evening and tried opening the second door, the key broke, half of it getting stuck in the keyhole.
I must say that almost all keys looked alike and were not clearly differentiated.
We managed to prove that the key broke because it was worn off.
What followed was a nightmare: We called Paola to explain what had happened and try to solve the situation.
She hung up on us and would only communicate by WhatsApp. As she doesn't write English or Spanish well, she understood a different situation from what had happened.
It seemed as if her only interest was to make it clear it had all been our fault and we would have to pay for all the expenses.
Far from calming us down in such a stressful situation, she answered our messages with lots of exclamation marks, altogether exaggerating the repairs we would have to do. (She spoke about changing all the building hostesses' keys, and calling the firemen to pull down the door)
After long 45' of misunderstandings, she mentioned an extra key that was hidden somewhere near, which let us enter the apartment.
The following day Elia came, a very kind and quiet guy who, on considering the whole situation, told us he would fix the problem the following day, because as it was a Sunday the cost of the repair would be extremely expensive for us.
Without notice and doing exactly the opposite of what we had agreed on verbally, they had an alleged specialist come and repair the problem on the same day, supposedly due to a neigjbour's complain.
After that, they sent me a letter (no invoice) for €200 that we were unjustly forced to pay for.
We explained that it was shared responsibility, because:
- the key was worn off (Anybody can realize it is impossible for a 20 year old girl to break a key without forcing it)
- All the keys looked alike and were not clearly differentiated.
- They did exactly the opposite of what we had personally agreed on.
The flat is contradictory; it is very well decorated, but at the same time the toilet is incorporated into the shower site (which is very uncomfortable as the floor is wet most of the time)
It has a sauna in the middle of the living room which takes up too much space. (It's up to the readers to decide how appropriate it is to have a sauna in the middle of the living room...Check this out! If you use it, you'll be charged for it).
Very few plates and cutlery. Not homogeneous. No electric kettle, microwave oven, toaster or washing machine (But you've got a sauna, ha!)
Airbnb messages are confusing: You are told something but then you are told this was not for you.
To sum up, I'm not coming back to this apartment because we didn't feel welcome or well assisted.
I assume Paola will answer this message with exclamation marks and accusations but I don't care. Supposedly the rate of your stay at Airbnb not only assures a bed for you, but a welcoming reception and help in any difficult circumstance you may find yourself in.
I'm very sorry for Elia, who was kind, helpful and respectful at all times. The only guy who faced the situation and seemed to be sorry for it.
I don't want to argue, I just want to enjoy the rest of my holidays (which have been such an effort to afford) and forget all about this.
But at the same time I need to warn the Airbnb community that staying at this place may result in unexpected hard times if faced with small problems.
To conclude, I feel at ease when I think that money comes and goes and justice is always done in due time.
Thank you.