NOTE: Negligent host and ROACHES
NOTE: a short term stay might avoid the many issues we had, and roaches might be gone through september 2022. We however stayed for over 4 months to complete our student teaching.
Our experience at this apartment and with Mariko was bad from beginning to end. The only reason that this is a two star review is the location. Now onto the many issues.
When we checked in the apartment was not very clean. Mariko said a cleaning person did come, but oddly the fridge and freezer were left with the last guest’s half eaten and some spoiled garbage. When we informed Mariko of this, she told us to throw it out ourselves.
We very soon spotted the first of many cockroaches. When we told Mariko, she took her time responding to the problem. She first just got us some crappy amazon roach traps which did not work. Then a while after she had her landlord’s buddy come, who did very little to solve the problem. When it of course did not go away, it took weeks for her to take more action. And again, that action was incredibly insufficient: her landlord came and sprinkled a bit of powder. Only when the problem got so unlivable that I threatened to move out early did she get an exterminator. This was probably sometime in March and the treatment lasts for 6 months, so anyone coming in September (2022) or later there WILL BE ROACHES.
We also know for a fact that our apartment was creepily entered several times without us knowing while we were at work as the thermostat had been changed.
At the very end of our stay we found what we believed to be a bedbug. We informed Mariko of this, and her response was that she would tell her landlord, and that we needed to keep more neat and tidy. Meanwhile my girlfriend was getting new bites every night. I called an exterminator who said they believed it was a bedbug, and this was the last straw. We were horrified of bringing bedbugs home, and we knew that Mariko would be too cheap and negligent to do the right thing with so little of our money left to lose at this point. I fought it through airbnb who thankfully altered our checkout time beyond Mariko’s control.
Only when her precious money was at risk did Mariko get an inspection from an exterminator of her choice who, surprise surprise, did not say it was a bedbug. Because we obviously left in a rush and a struggle, to put all out belongings in garbage bags and somehow prepare to move to a new location, we were unable to leave the apartment perfectly clean. Mariko left us a nasty review because of that.
She claims that we stole things because I once opened a door that had an opened lock on it for a roll of toilet paper and paper towels. She informed me that it was actually meant to be locked, because she uses much of the very little space to store her belongings, and does not provide these amenities to guests. She left horrible comments about how we left the apartment because we left food in the fridge, which is ironic as it was filled when we arrived. She claimed we destroyed her old crappy uncomfortable chairs, which literally just decayed with use; the covering was so old that pieces of it continually fell off.
If you can bear a terrible host and a very unclean cramped pest-infested apartment, the location is nice. But I will never ever stay in it again, and I would not recommend it to anyone. If you choose to stay here anyway, good luck to you.