Firstly, I rarely ever leave bad reviews, but I do not appreciate dishonesty.
It’s not enough to simply seem nice or merely present yourself as thoughtful and caring. It is important for your words and your actions to be in sync. Although communication with Hossein, the host, was always pleasant, his actions failed to convey that same level of care. Also, the listing on the Airbnb site was a little misleading. It stated that the property was air conditioned, but only the living room had a small portable AC unit which only cooled that area. So we complained about the sweltering heat in the bedroom the first night we were there (there was a crazy heat wave during that period). Hossein kindly apologized and stated that he’d install a portable air conditioner in the bedroom that weekend, but he didn’t actually deliver the device until four days before the end of our one month stay. Additionally, it wasn’t hooked up or installed like he said it would be…we checked out a whole day early, and it was still in the box!
We also complained about an ant invasion and that problem wasn’t resolved until the end of our second week there. My 8 year old literally pulled an ant out of his ear while sitting on the living room sofa! I have video footage of ants in the living room, kitchen AND in the bedroom near the bed too. Note: We NEVER eat anywhere other than the kitchen. I also did not leave any food out, and cleaned thoroughly after each meal and snack. We each had multiple ant bites on our hands, arms, legs and feet. Thankfully our home wasn’t too far away and we were able to find some relief by sleeping there many nights during the week and EVERY weekend.
Our family was in the process of moving to LA from Orange County to be closer to our kids’ new school. Hossein’s place was in the perfect location and he was willing to work with us on the cost of a two month stay since we were still paying rent on our house in the OC. When things started to go awry, I decided to cancel the second month. Airbnb didn’t really do much to help us in this situation., so we decided to try a different short term rental agency which catered to corporate leases, and we are very pleased with the service thus far.