It's no exaggeration to say that this is the worst accommodation I've ever stayed in, but I have a lot of travel experience and it's hard to scare me with everyday problems. This was my third time in Istanbul, I always stay in apartments, not hotels, so I have something to compare with. I am always ready to close my eyes to minor domestic shortcomings, but not in the case when staying in an apartment is one big problem.
Everything that you see in the photo in the ad is really in the apartment. The problem is what's left behind the scenes, and the hostess who receives the guests.
In general, this is an old apartment, which was partially tidied up with minimal costs, saving on everything. At the same time, the rental price is the same as if you are renting a good house.
The apartment is very dirty. According to the hostess, they did the cleaning before our arrival, but we did not notice her. The remnants of someone else's food were waiting for us in the dirty refrigerator, on the balcony a bucket of dirty water, crumpled dirty napkins in the drawers of the chest of drawers. The mirrors are smeared, there are clouds of dust in the corners, mold on the ceilings.
Everything we found from the essentials was left behind by the previous tenants. For example, there were three shampoos in the bathroom, but not a single shower gel. The kitchen cabinets were full of cans with incomprehensible contents, but there was no tea. There are no guest slippers (but a few old and dirty ones), no soap, no first aid kit, one bath towel for two.
The condition of the outlets and wiring is such that it is either scary to use, this is already a matter of safety, not aesthetics. The light in the living room goes out every time when the neighbors downstairs turn it on (you can also hear them perfectly).
The house stands at the intersection of two streets, one of which is packed with cars almost round the clock. The bedroom windows overlook her, and it is almost impossible to sleep there. With the windows closed, there is nothing to breathe in the apartment because of the stuffiness and the strong smell of mold. The nets on the windows are not fixed and they clap loudly from constant drafts. The bathroom was dark, only a hole in the ceiling remained from the soffit above the mirror.
And although everything described already sounds like the worst recommendation, the main problem at home was the owner.
The washing machine started leaking the first time it was used. My friend turned to the hostess on this issue and heard that it was she herself who was to blame for this! By the way, it was an attempt to wash women's underwear, not a blanket or something heavy. It was very rude and unfair. The shower broke on the first use, the nozzle just fell apart in my hands. We also heard that previous tenants were to blame, and there was no further reaction. After my reminders, a day later, the hostess pretended not to understand what the problem was, and only a day later we had a replacement shower, in which the hose immediately broke. The hostess said that the reason is that the house is very old (what kind of connection can there be? She just bought the cheapest shower head possible) and we can use a leaking shower. If this does not suit us and we want to have a normal shower, then she will look for a plumber, and we have to sit at home and wait for him. Of course, we came on vacation to another country in order to adjust our plans to solve everyday problems in a rented apartment!
Thus, communication was built on any issue - we were never told "No" directly, but further communication consisted of passive-aggressive constructions and shifting responsibility onto us. It was easier to accept the problem than to try to solve it.
The door lock device is such that you cannot just push the open door and get into the apartment, you need to turn the key to the side, since there is no handle outside that you can press. When the door was slammed shut by a gust of wind with a key inside the lock, we could not open it on our own and called the hostess. I must admit, the issue was resolved within 5 minutes, and we did not have to sit under the door for a long time, a neighbor with a special device got up from below, who immediately opened it. The surprise was that we were required to pay 100 liras for this! When the hostess heard that we were not going to pay for the fact that her castle contradicts all logic, the price of the service dropped sharply to 50 liras, as if we were bargaining in the market. Be careful with the door if you decide to rent this apartment! This whole story looked like some kind of worked out fraud scheme.
It was all like a Pandora's box, because any open cabinet or appliance we tried to use was broken and fraught with new problems.The toilet cistern was also leaking, and a puddle was constantly forming on the floor of the toilet. We told the hostess's husband about this when he came to fix the shower, and there was no reaction. I had to lay a rag on the floor and squeeze it out regularly. I ended up slipping on it and hitting the shower door. This was the last straw, we decided to go out a day earlier and packed our luggage in a one hour. We waited for hostess for over half an hour to return the key, but she didn't come. No apologies, no goodbyes, no questions about leaving a day earlier. In the end, we