*BEWARE*
We are a family of 5 with 1 young child, an infant and 2 elders. We are not 1st time users of airbnb platform and have always had great experiences with our stay. When shortlisting apartments, our criteria is very specific. Amongst other criteria, the place must have 2 toilets/shower facilities to accommodate my group; as we are travelling during winter period basic amenities such as water heating facility must be provided; place must be near to train station and convenience store; a bonus would be a child friendly house with basic facilities for kids (baby chair, sterilizer etc). This listing had everything that we were looking for. Our stay was for for 6d5n.
The apartment is managed by a family. This is just 1 of several apartments that they manage. Before our stay, the owners appeared to be very friendly and responsive. They agreed to provide all the children amenities I've requested for and also allowed us to place our baggage in the apartment before check in time.
According to the listing, check out time is strictly at 11am and check in time at 4pm. We arrived at the apartment at around 2pm and 1 of the owners met up with us and brought us up. The unit is located in a super old residential building. The lifts were ancient looking and there were notices noticed residents to be careful as the tiles were falling apart. Upon arrival, the unit was in a total mess! Beds were not made, towels and rubbish everywhere. Of course these were left behind by the previous guests but it was clear that the cleaning team had not started on cleaning at all (which is unacceptable since check out is strictly at 11am). The owner proceeded to show us around the dirty unit. We left the unit after a brief rest to wait for the unit to be ready. It was close to 6pm when the owners informed me that the unit is ready. That is a 2 hour delay and the beginning of our nightmare.
We returned to the apartment at about 9pm. Upon close inspection of the unit? It was already clear to use it was not maintained satisfactory. There was water seeping through the floor on the area outside the common toilet in the living room. There were several depressions in the flooring in the master room. 1 of it was so bad that the tiles were damaged and protruding out of the floor. Extremely dangerous as anyone could just trip and fall. Apparently, the owners knew about it as I took pictures to inform them of the problem, they responded by saying that previous guests damaged the floor. However they did not inform us of this problem beforehand nor did anything to cover up the damage. It was only after my feedback did they suggest to place a carpet over the damaged portion the next day.
While my husband went to shower together with my son, to his horror, the hot water suddenly became ice cold. The 2 of them had to stand naked in the toilet to wait for hot water again. When it did come back, it was burning hot and quickly turned into ice water again. After about half an hour of agony, they managed to complete their shower. Initially we thought this happened as my mom showered at the same time using the common bathroom outside. But this was not the reason as we took turns of shower after that and the hot water problem persisted. We had to keep turning the shower off and on in order to have 2 mins of hot water before it turned ice cold. We had to endure this problem for 2 days before it was fixed. Even so, owners told us we cannot use both bathrooms to shower at the same time.
The unit came with washing machine and a separate dryer for our use. The dryer door was damaged completely and could not close at all. Again I took pictures and feedback to the owners. It was only replaced after my feedback.
On the 3rd day, while using the kitchen sink in the morning, there was sudden flooding in the kitchen. I informed the owners and it was cleaned up in the afternoon. At night while using the washing machine, the flooding was so bad that the living room was flooded as well. This happened late at night at 11.30pm. The owners were informed and I requested for them to come to the apartment. It took about 30mins for 1 of them to arrive. During the wait, my dad who is in his mid sixties, had to try to fix the plumbing issue and clear the water with a broom and dustpan. There was no mop in the unit. During our wait, the owner who met us on the 1st day was on the phone with me. At no point during our conversation did he truly apologize for our ordeal so far. He even told me my family was unlucky to have met with so many issues in a joking manner. Honestly, that comment was down right inappropriate and offensive. Anyways, the owner came, cleaned up the living room, told us they will get it fixed the next day and left. By that time we could truly rest, it was already close to 2am.
Up till this point, we did not receive a single sincere apology from any of the owners for putting us through this misery. The majority of our trip is spent on liaising with the owners about the house issues.
The next day (our last full day in taipei), 1 of the owners came to fix the flooding issue and apparently, it was resolved. However at night when we used the washing machine, the kitchen flooded again. By then, nothing fazes us anymore. I informed the owners promptly and it took them 2 hours to respond with a sorry.
Our entire trip is ruined