Deb's place is a solid deal for many budget travelers, but it wasn't the right place in the end for us. My handicapped mother from out of town stayed here while visiting me and grandkids, but left early primarily due to safety concerns, but also some lesser comfort concerns, including never receiving some of the amenities supposedly included and asked for (a fan for circulation, a hair dryer), but never provided; plus no response on some other requests (like an extension cord since there is no outlet in the bathroom) and info about checkout procedure (we put locked up and put the keys in the house mail slot and messaged Damian, but weren't sure if this was the right thing to do or not).
Deb's place was chosen based on location (very close to my home) and how clean and private it looked. Deb was consulted about accessibility before booking and the few stairs into the basement apartment seemed okay. The space was very clean, apart from a dirty tea pot with old tea water that had been overlooked in the kitchen.
On her second night there, my mother mentioned she wasn't sure what she'd do if there was a fire at this Airbnb, which led me to look around. Since it was a basement location, especially, I was concerned after not being able to find a smoke or carbon monoxide detector anywhere (they are listed under amenities). I also noticed that apart from the front door, all other doors/exits were locked, including the three small windows in front, which were barred and padlocked. The front door is also misaligned slightly on its hinges, making it scrape to open and creating a situation where you have to lift and push it to close properly. Both things not a big deal to most, but a little more difficult for my mother, who has severe arthritis.
I contacted the host, Deb, who was on the West Coast, and she said there were smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (and also a fire extinguisher), but did not say where. She wrote back and suggested I contact Airbnb for help finding somewhere else to stay. I did locate a fire extinguisher and the next day a smoke detector was put on a shelf next to the dishes in the kitchen (much appreciated), but no carbon monoxide detector was found in the four days of the stay.
I also contacted Airbnb at Deb's suggestion, which inadvertently created a "case" that had not been my intention. (Deb had suggested that they would be able to help book something else, but they actually asked me a bunch of questions about concerns first.) To be clear, I never once asked to cancel my stay or for any refund, though Deb kindly offered to refund any nights not used. In the end, I did write to Deb and ask her if we could leave two nights early.
At this point, though, she had become unresponsive and never confirmed with me. After I hadn't heard from her and we had already left, I ended up confirming the cancellation of the last two nights with Airbnb (not the host), and then reached out to Deb one last time to say thanks and good bye since I hadn't heard from her. I also apologized for the headache with the "investigation" which had never been my intention. She wrote back to say: "There was nothing for me to say and tired of the back & forth with you & Airbnb." And that was the last she said to me.
I've never had a bad experience with a stay before and I was sad to have this one not work out. My ultimate assessment is that Deb is a fair and honest host with a solid budget accommodation that many should find passable, but it just had a few things that did not feel right for our situation. We also encountered mixed responsiveness while there (a broken bathroom doorknob was fixed the next day, but other things that were asked for were never provided—even if supposedly part of the Airbnb amenities—and other questions were left entirely unacknowledged "Do you have an extension cord we could borrow or should I stop and pick something up?")
As others have noted, the wi-fi is also somewhat unreliable (we asked the first day to have it reset as the router signal was good, but the internet connection was not working) and very slow. This actually did not bother my mother at all, though as someone who works while traveling it would have been an inconvenience for me.