A bad experience with Donald, although the apartment is good, and the location is great – is a brief summary of my experience with this host.
Given the number of positive reviews on Donald’s page and his Superhost status, which both are playing against my opinion's weight - a new user with a nearly empty profile - I decided to just write in details this experience and bring it to the attention of those travelers, who carefully plan their trips.
I booked Donald’s place for four nights. When I checked in, there was a WiFi issue: a strong Wi-Fi signal inside the apartment, but no access to the Internet. Since I had a late check-in and did not want to disturb Donald in the night, I reported this to him next morning. Donald asked me to restart the router and said he just called Spectrum (The Internet provider), and they reported not any problems in the area. I restarted the router, It did not help, WiFi still wasn't working, the symptoms were the same: strong Wifi signal, no access to the Internet. Then Donald shared with the provider my phone number to make communication easier as they needed my assistance with remotely resetting the router. They called me twice and both times when I could not talk (yes, it was my first time in LA and I had to see a lot). So, I appointed them appropriate time in the evening, they said they will call, but never did.
I had to report this to Donald, and also to Airbnb this time as my stay was 4 nights only, but at the end of the second day I still did not have WiFi. Moreover, it seemed that its fixation is going quite slow. Donald was pissed that I contacted Airbnb: Anton this is 2 times that you could not speak with spectrum, and now you filed a complaint?, - he wrote. I had to correct him as it was not a complaint, but rather a help request. The same help request as I sent to him.
The day later Donald went to the apartment when we were not there, and when we came back late in the evening, WiFi worked. We were happy. Next day, coming back to the apartment after a beautiful morning walk at the Venice beach, I met Donald at the entrance and thanked him for fixing WiFi. I should not have done that, since when I entered the apartment, I found the issue is back. I reported it to Donald again, expressing my understanding that he probably is tired with the topic, but so am I. Donald's respond was video shots from his CCTVs where I’m saying at the entrance “thank you Donald, WiFi is working now” and wrote, look, everything is working now.
Then a series with Donald's guesses started: he said I might have a problem with my device. When I told him that I have multiple devices and all of them have the same issue only at Donald’s place, he came up with another guess: it is too many devices, they may overload WiFi, and added that he just bought some premiere TV-packages, and I’m welcome for them (why one would offer TV when I’m asking for WiFi?). Then he added that his CCTV system is connected to WiFi and works properly, and this is a direct evidence my claim is invalid. And the videoshots with me saying “thank you, WiFi is working now” was sent to demonstrate WiFi-connected cameras are working, hence WiFi too. So, Donald’s multiple cameras, constantly sending video-data back and forth do not overload WiFi. Overload is created by my phone or computer trying to load google start page. I'm not even talking about receiving / sending a regular working PDF presentation of 10Mb. I literally could not load a simple google start page.
So, WiFi was not fixed and it was fourth day already. When I checked out, Donald wrote me a message, that he entered the apartment and found what was the real WiFi issue: someone wrongly connected the router. I'm sorry, but the only moment I went closely to the router was when Donald asked me to press the restart button. Then he accused me that I am just phishing for a refund and added another not really pleasant stuff like that. It was very sad for me to read this about myself, because I did not ask for anything supernatural. I paid for the apt with Wi-Fi, and I wanted to have it.
Sorry for the long reading, but I believe and hope it will help Airbnb community.