Prior to arriving at the location & settling in Joel provided excellent communication information in terms of making sure that both my guest an I were able to access the property with the August locking system. The issues that I have are upon visual inspection of the actual rental space.
First, there is no private enterance, the same door you access on the side of the house can be accessed by anyone living on the upper floors. Also, there is no basement door, which is a major reason that I left within 2 hours of checking in.
As my guest and I were changing clothes, we were startled by a knock on the bedroom door. Joel had come down to “greet” us, but since there was no door preventing him from coming into the private space that we paid for, he could walk down the stairs any time he felt like it.
Now getting into why the space listed was not up to the standard I had expected. I’d like you to take heed that the photos used for this listing DO NOT adequately represent the space you’ll be staying in.
There are 4 pictures that I can say are moderately represented & those are the tall coffee table with the 2 stool chairs in the bedroom, the bar with accompanying bar stools, the August door lock device & the Deli on the corner. Everything else is a misrepresentation. The other photos listed are pulled from the internet and not actual photos.
The Queens borough attractions shown are not located in the same neighborhood or anywhere near the residence & could take hours in travel time via public transportation if you choose to visit any of them but do not own a vehicle. The only commonalities they share is the fact that they are in the same borough of Queens, which is the largest borough on NYC sized at 109 square miles.
The appliances (fridge & stovetop) were filthy, the mirrors were wiped down with what appeared to be a milky water instead of windex, the pot & pan set isn’t even there idk why it’s shown, there is no bathroom sink, it is located in the next room which was the laundry room, the shower was filthy with mold and mildew and nowhere near as new or clean as it appears in the photograph.
Furthermore, the bed is not the one shown in the photographs either. Now as terrible as that sounds, that’s not where this journey ends. One of the closets had a leakage problem with mold growing around the bottom, there are tiles missing from the floor, holes cut out in the ceiling in the bedroom as if there is ongoing construction.
This is not meant to be a Five-Star hotel stay but when I’m paying for a service and am lead to believe that the space I’m renting is a modernized & clean space,I expect it to be that way. I don’t expect to pay for an unfinished construction project. When I’m told that I’d have a private entrance, I expect a private entrance, you know, for PRIVACY. I don’t expect the owner to be able to walk down to my “private floor” from his kitchen just because he wants to say hello. I should have to open a door to allow them entrance once I check into the space, especially since we really don’t know what Joel looks like from the profile picture to be able to verify whether it’s the actual Host or not. So if you want my review of this property, it’s a PRIVATE BEDROOM with a Queen size bed & ACCESS to a bathroom, kitchen & washing machine. You do not get a private floor.
Joel did reach out with the communications skills that I spoke of earlier to offer his help in rectifying the situation & offered a full refund due to the unfortunate situation & tried to ease the level of dissatisfaction that my guest and I endured.