Positive:
Before our arrival communication with John was fast, friendly and cooperative. Check-in 1 day earlier and late check-in no problem. Internet connection working very fast. Nice residential area.
Negative:
Court & garden much nicer/bigger on the pictures than they are. Rooms much smaller than on the photos and really run down. Mattresses saggy, springs coming through.
Flat was smelly. Doors, radiators and furniture dirty/sticky throughout. Kitchen was the worst, nearly impossible to ever get it clean again without heavy chemicals: cooker hood totally greasy, also the oven and cupboards in/outside, thick limestone all over the sink. Spider webs on walls/ceiling, wallpapers came off. Pans, pots, dishes dirty. Floors in all rooms not vacuumed in months, bed linen and towels definitely not fresh.
Hallway outside the flat smelling from cooking and people smoking inside the house which was forbidden per the house rules. No one cared, smoke came in through our door.
Next day we asked John to come over to discuss issues with the flat - I was very friendly in comparison to the condition of the apartment. John said he wouldn't come that day but only the "next few days" and if this flat was not OK for us he would be happy to give us the money back. I was very surprised about his answer as he hadn't even asked what the issues were.
As Airbnb policy is to register complaints within 24 hours I insisted on him coming the same day. I asked him why he wasn't interested in our claims or in trying to solve them. He didn't offer cleaning, instead repeated he would prefer to give us the money back as the flat wasn't suitable for us (which I never said). It appeared the place was for low budget people rather than a holiday/business apartment and that we didn’t suit the apartment.
We lost 3 days of our business stay discussing with John and finding another place, had many troubles, also financially. No one expects to pay two flats at once!
I don't understand Jeremy’s comment of April 2013 that the flat was clean. We checked in on 27th May. There's no way that this dirt was from normal usage in one month. It seemed this flat got renovated some years ago, since then never thoroughly cleaned by/between tenants. It definitely hasn't been cleaned in months or the last tenant messed it up completely in just one month which would be really admirable. Other possibility is that the newer comments are fake.
However Airbnb customer care was good and reliable. They sticked to their policies they advertise on their website. They were available per e-mail, answered in a reasonable amount of time and refunded us the money without problems.