On the morning of January 24th at 7 a.m, the power went out at 63 Atlixco in Condessa, where 10 of us were gathering from around the United States for a reunion and to celebrate my birthday. At this point we has been on property for 14 hours. We immediately notified Pauline, the young woman who had met us the previous day to let us in and show us the place. The impression given was that Pauline was the manager of the property and that she was there to support anything we needed. Given that I did not activate cell/data in CDMX (intentionally to be away from my phone, to rest, relax and recover from a very stressful job), one of my family members reached out to Pauline immediately to let her know that we were without power. A few of us took cold showers (most of us didn't shower as it was cold in the space as well) and headed off to Teotihuacan hopeful that it would be resolved when we returned in the afternoon.
When we returned at 4pm, nothing had been done. An electrician arrived and assessed that it was a utility problem but given that it was now the end of the day, nothing could be done. I explained to Pauline that our cell phones were dead and needed to be charged and that there was only one working flashlight. I requested that she find a generator so that we could, at the very least, have a means to charge our electronics, and possibly plug in one heater in the common area. She returned with cheap dollar store candles (many of which were scented and could not be used due to allergies of several family members( and no flashlights. I don’t think she even took the generator request seriously.
One of the reasons that we chose Airbnb, and this particular location, was so that we could be together as a family, play cards and games, and cook in order to save money. Several family members are retired and on fixed incomes and one sister is on disability. In the cold and dark, we weren’t able to. People went to bed early because it was dark and cold. Pauline assured us that she would be there first thing in the morning and that everything would be taken care of.
Friday, my birthday, we awoke to more cold, cold showers (or no showers) and not the prepared breakfast we had planned as there was no power and food was starting to spoil. We left on another excursion with promises that everything would be fixed upon our return. When we arrived back in the afternoon, nothing had happened and there was not indication that anything was going to happen. Since it was my birthday and we had dinner reservations nearby at 7:30, we decided that we needed to abandon the house and our vision of a reunion together in one place, cooking meals, playing cards, and connecting after many years apart. Several of our party went to a cafe to get internet and triage, try to find a hotel that was reasonable and had 5 rooms available.
We came to find out that Cristy and her partner Abdeel were in Spain and that Pauline was just a friend. They always had the ability to communicate with us through Pauline, who was designated as our contact, and yet they chose to try and communicate through the AirBnB platform which I could not access given that I did not have data in Condessa or Wifi, since there was no power. They said that it was our fault that the power blew, as if we had somehow introduced inappropriate electrical appliances to the property. In fact, it was 40 degrees out at night and we each had the one electric heater provided in each apartment plugged in. At the time the power went out, that is the only thing that was plugged in. No one was using the toaster oven, no one was brewing coffee, no one was using a hair dryer. Incidentally, we should have been able to use all of those things as no instruction was given about power issues in the building that we should be careful about. Also, there were circuits accessible in the courtyard, none of which were tripped. This whole idea that this situation was our fault is so infuriating and deceitful. To add insult to injury, they refused to issue us a full refund. Of the $3800 we paid Airbnb for 5 nights, only $1500 has been returned. We had power for exactly 14 hours and were never able to take hot showers in the 36 hours our things were there. Had we known Friday morning that another day would pass with no resolution, we would have left sooner. What was supposed to be a magical experience, ended up becoming an expensive disaster. Food we bought spoiled, we couldn't cook meals and ended up eating out, we had to spend money on transportation that we shouldn't have and last minute hotel reservations in CDMX were expensive. Cristy and Abdeel are not good people. I urge you to not patronize there business.