I am just going to say that this is a negative review and I am going to keep this short as possible (if you would like additional information you can email at imz192@gmail.com)
I booked 2 nights at John's apartment and like many people I place a high value on the ratings - John had exceptional ratings. I booked in quite late and I was really exhausted and just wanted to get some sleep as I had an entire day of meetings.
I noticed that there was mold on the ceiling of the main bathroom and near the end of the next day, after all my meetings, I informed John that there is mold and that I am going to be staying at a different place for the evening. I did several times apologise for the late notice and I did indicate to him that I was really busy with back to back meetings the entire day (according to Airbnb, the notice was actually late but I wasn’t aware of this). I felt a bit bad and I even said I am happy to stay again in the future and I won't write a review now because I know mistakes can happen. My only request was to cancel the night or to do a partial refund. John immediately phoned me (I thought wow amazing service) and apologised and said he will come and check it out later. I did inform him that I would be gone by then but the mold was pretty evident and I thought this will be a simple issue. I even gave the keys in to the security and went to find another accommodation (that’s how much I thought this would be a simple process).
I packed up everything and left everything in a clean state and went to another hotel/place for the night. I later get a get a call from John. He apologised for the mold but said it wasn’t so severe to justify leaving the apartment and said the best refund that he can do is R300-500 because I gave him late notice and no chance to fix it. I was quite annoyed about this given that the rates were about R1 100 a night without including the cleaning service (the cleaning service was also a couple hundred rand). I think most people would be a little upset to hear that they are getting very little back when there is a problem in the bathroom….especially with Covid.
There was a great deal of back and forth and it seems like he didn’t like what he was hearing and just told me that this isn’t going anywhere and he has other things to do and cut the call on me. I phoned him back to let him know that I didn’t appreciate him cutting the call and honestly we went through more back and forth and just agreed on the refund he mentioned above (I just wanted to end things on a good note and be done but knowing there is no bad blood between the 2 parties). I later thought it would be wise to summarise the conversation on the airbnb app and I just informed John how I felt (he cut my call on me during the back and forth and accused of me trying to manipulate him out of the night – like how do you even go from 0 to 100 so quickly?). I think most people would defend themselves and not be calm but again I was trying to be nice and end things on a good note. Honestly, I was really upset by the way I was spoken to but I just thought at least we came to a resolution and we go our separate ways.
I later receive a message saying that after review John and someone else (his father I believe) have decided not to process a refund and gave a whole bunch of reasons...I thought to myself what happened? He also indicated that there is no mold and if I have evidence that I should prove it and they will consider a refund? Like what on earth is that (you clearly said on the phone that it should n’t be there)…. I tried phoning him and he refused to answer any of my calls and at one point I was blocked from his phone (like I was some sort of teenager). He made it clear to me that I must now go and deal with Airbnb....
I can appreciate the fact that he doesn’t have to converse over phone call but he opened the line of communication first and it just seemed like he had a change of heart about the refund. My issue is not about the money (it really isn’t a lot in the bigger picture) but rather the way I was spoken to and how we have an agreement to changing your mind (the mold was there).
I can't tell how many times I messaged him asking him to end things on good terms (or note). I have so many SMS about ending things on a good note and that I am actually a nice guy (he literally accused me and called me manipulating but I am trying to show that I am a nice guy?)
He consistently refused to converse with me and my biggest regret was not keeping everything on the airbnb app (he phoned me first so I thought this would be fine but was also the first person to cut off that communication).
During my entire dealings, I always treated John with the utmost respect and I never accused him of anything. He told me on the phone that there was mold on the ceiling and that it shouldn't have been there but it wasn't severe enough to justify me leaving the apartment.
Long story short, he refused the refund (after agreeing), he refused to acknowledge the mold problem when there was clearly stuff on the bathroom ceiling