I cannot recommend Rifat as a host, I am sorry. I rented his apartment and pay for it two months in advance. However, when we arrived instead of the apartment I was given a very small, unfinished and depressing room; I could not change into the apartment until the following day at one in the afternoon. We arrived really late in the night and we could not unpack our things because if I have done it, I should have had to pack againg for the move. My first day in Istanbul was wasted because of this; we had no kitchen to have breakfast and were wearing the same clothes as the previous day, and we had to stay around to meet with Rifat to change into the apartement, unpack, have a shower...
I think that he should given me the opportunity for a full refund and the chance to decide if we stay at his place or not. I knew about several airb&b aparments that I liked as weel as some hotels. I just chose his place because he had good reviews, but he was very rude with us. In the end he made me a discount of 20€ so instead of 60€ I paid 40€ for a room that I did not want and I did not freely chose.
This is a terrible thing he did to us. No discount could compensate it, of course. I am very angry with him and always will have this awful memory about my arrival in Istanbul, where I have had a really wonderful time later.