We had a very unpleasant experience with Blueground as a whole for the entire stay.
In summary:
- Could not check in
- Thrash lined the doorstep of the building everyday
- Plumbing issues
- Booked a 2 bath apartment, informed on several occasions we would only able to use 1 bathroom
- Tasked to supervise repair works, on 4-5 occasions, often with as little as 2 hours notice. Clean up was left wholly to us as well.
- Gave us an option of either 1) physically staying in the apartment for 2 full working days (in addition to the above 4-5 occasions) to help them oversee the plumbing works or, 2) moving us from a zone 1 central London apartment to a zone 3 apartment, 3) ending the tenancy early with no alternative accommodation or support provided.
- Ultimately left with no choice but to vacate the property early and look for alternative accommodation
- Failure to refund close to 2 weeks worth of rental
Ultimately, we understand that things don’t always go the way they’re planned, but it’s how they are handled that matter the most, and clearly, Blueground flat out failed to take any responsibility for the situation.
If you’d like to read the longer version:
We received instruction that check in would be via a lockbox at the apartment building where we could retrieve the key. When we got there, there was no lockbox at all. We called them on their hotline, where we were told to continue looking for the lockbox as it should be there. After investigating, Blueground then informed us that there was no longer a lockbox on the property, and we would have to retrieve the key from a convenience store outside of the neighbourhood. 3 senior citizens waited out in the cold while I carried my baby with me to retrieve the key.
The very next day, a neighbour came knocking on the apartment door and barged in with his plumber saying that our toilet was causing a leak in his apartment. Over the next few weeks, Blueground made minimal effort to resolve the issue, often notifying us a few hours in advance that someone was coming to fix the issue. My parents then had to spend their holiday here helping Blueground to supervise the repairs in the apartment. Across several days, we were also told NOT to use the bathroom.
Finally the plumbing issue got so bad we were informed by Blueground that we could either help them to supervise 2 full working days / 16 hours of plumbing works (we were informed they would not be able to send someone to oversee the works), move to high gate (in zone 3, when we booked a central London zone 1 apartment in Marylebone near Bond street), or end the tenancy early. We effectively had no choice but to end the tenancy early, with an assurance that a refund would be made. Initial calculations of the refund were 30% less than what it should be.
Having said all that, it has been three weeks since the tenancy ended, and not a single cent has been refunded, even after attempts to contact them about it. Needless to say, compensation has not been mentioned at all.