We are so happy to hear that Tesa and Guy have finally decided to deep clean this home. We are considerably less impressed with their attempt to extort money from us, the very guests who suggested they deep clean it in the first place.
20 Battiscombe has stunning views, however, the upkeep is severely lacking. We mentioned in a message to Guy on February 2nd, one day after check in, that the property had not been properly cleaned before we arrived, and that many things were broken or missing.
Guy asked if he could come over the next day so that he could see and hear in detail what the issues in the apartment were. We agreed, in the middle of a global pandemic, to allow him into our bubble. He claimed he wanted to do better and thanked us for our open communication. We didn’t want to leave a bad review and preferred to let him know directly. That was our first mistake.
We should have written in a review that we were greeted on February 1st by ants marching across the kitchen counter tops, underneath the toaster, over the cutting board, and into the hot water kettle. The guest before us had recently cooked pasta; we know because there was still tomato sauce spilled on the stove. The table tops were sticky as if they’d never been scrubbed. (This, in a property that advertises enhanced clean!). Many of the utensils had food caked onto them and there were visible crumbs on the floor underneath the oven.
We’d cleaned much of it before Guy came to visit on February 3rd, as it only takes a bit of time and elbow grease. Not 428 dollars. We could, however, show him the moldy, dirty window blinds with dead moths stuck to them. Those were in every room, including the bedrooms. We could only close the curtains at night, as the mold is a hazard to our children as well as ourselves. We also showed Guy the chairs that were falling apart and the disgusting utensils. This was two days after moving in; clearly, that level of dirt predated our arrival.
Speaking of our arrival, Guy claims he allowed us an early check in. This, like much of what comes out of Guy’s mouth, is only partially true. We requested an early check in, and Guy replied that he could only confirm an early check in on the day of arrival. We are busy and on the road with children and careers, and cannot work like this. We made other plans and arrived well after 3pm.
During our stay, we realized more and more things were broken or dirty. The washing machine had obviously never been properly cared for, and we had to clean out the gooey, mucky mess that had built up in the detergent drawer. The extended nozzle kept falling off of the Hoover (which we tried to fix with tape just so that we could use it!). And the refrigerator broke. We did call guy about the refrigerator, and he wanted to bring a new one by. At this point we had 3 days left and were tired of being involved in the maintenance of Guy and Tesa’s place. As stated above, we have our own work. We asked that he install it on his own time. Guy had already paid us a visit once, and having workers trudging around while we are paying to stay there is completely inappropriate.
Guy did say we could use the refrigerator downstairs. We opened it, and inside were the rotting clay hand creations of children who’d stayed in the home previously. (We also found the unknown children’s school schedules lying around elsewhere in Guy and Tesa’s home.) The clay was so old that there were either bugs or mold in them. We looked only close enough to know that we wouldn’t be putting our food in there. We used our own camping cooler instead.
We were genuinely surprised to see someone drive onto the lawn at exactly 10am on leaving day. Not least because we only realized that morning that check out would be 10am. But also, we’d imagined the priority would be a new fridge. We did depart an hour late, which was our second mistake, although hardly a $428 offense. Besides, given the soiled underwear we found in the bedroom, the moldy clay hands, and the school schedules, it is entirely possible that this uncommonly early 10am checkout has left other guests frazzled as well. We left a sweater and a hat. Should Guy and Tesa really be so strapped for cash, they should consider selling them.
We outright dispute the claims that a couch, the carpet, and a curtain were damaged. It’s possible they were dirty, which just means YOU CLEAN THEM. This seems to be what Guy and Tesa do not get or refuse to accept. In order for something to be clean, one must clean it, and this is their property and their responsibility. Any color used by our children is nontoxic and washable, which again, means that any marks are ABLE to be WASHED off. One simply must care enough to do it. Our children never painted in the laundry room, by the way. It is a strange place for art. Perhaps the children whose clay hands are rotting in the tiny refrigerator painted there?
Guy and Tesa should be more concerned with the mold in the bedroom blinds, and the fact that they do not think they must remove the covers from the couch cushions and wash them before each guest. It’s a scary thought during a global pandemic, when these measures are not just good business practice, they could help contain the spread of Covid-19.
We are certainly guilty of leaving late, and not being honest with our fellow Airbnb guests about this property in an attempt to show Guy and Tesa kindness. That ends now.
We agree that 20 Battiscombe needs a good