anonymous on
13. Feb 2013:
 | It was very roomy. There were some nice amenities: washer, iron, hair dryer, well stocked plates, glasses. The neighborhood was wonderful. Despite the negatives below this place could be fantastic with a little simple fine tuning. |
 | It is difficult to put this in just a few words: The cleaning person showed up with us at 13:51 (we had told them we would be there at 14:00) and we were told that we were early. They told us that they needed an hour to clean so we left and ate lunch. When we returned the apartment was locked and no one was there to give us any information. When I attempted to get in the apartment the lock simply spun without engaging. When I turned the lock and pulled on the door it popped the lock off(when I checked all of the screws for the lock were stripped as the person who fixed it admitted because the door was a problem, in fact the lock was only held by a screw which was leaning up against a small lip on the lock). We could not use the door until it was fixed and this occurred only after Cross-pollinate was involved. At that point someone and a friend simply pounded on it and I am guessing added longer screws. The internet never worked. On the plus side we were left a small refund though we told them we did not want one (it was much more important to me to have ready access to the internet so I could keep up on my office). We received no instructions on how anything worked or where anything was. There was a partial roll of toilet paper and no more. We received one towel a piece and no others, i.e. hand or face towels. There was one kitchen towel which was covered in grime. |
 | While Cross-pollinate aided getting the door repaired, I was unhappy with several aspects of the course of dealings. The door was so obviously a problem the screening should have noticed it. I am not handy by any stretch of the imagination but I could see that a screw put in crooked to lean against the side of a lock so it lightly overlaps a lip is a safety concern. I was also concerned that I was my cc'ing Cross-pollinate on e-mails with attempts to get the internet fixed were met with a response that the owner had spent money to fix the lock so I should not expect a refund. The lock was something that should have been repaired before our arrival. Frankly, pounding and adding a screw or two could not have cost much. We were not looking for a refund but just to get the internet working. It is important to have access to it during down times of the trip. I sat on the curb to check my e-mails. I would have expected a response that was solicitous of our concerns not defensive. |
Admin on 20. May 2013:
I'm sorry that it seemed we were unresponsive. The owner tried his best to get the internet working again but couldn't, so instead he offered a discount. This was unrelated to the lock, which he also fixed that same evening at a big expensive, which of course the guests weren't asked to pay for. Since the owner was responsive about the internet, there was no need to send for me to send multiple emails, really. It is worthwhile to note that this apartment is not well stocked. One towel a person and little toilet paper. The problem is that to keep the costs low they really have to skimp on consumables because when they leave more, people really go through it (can be on the excessive/wasteful side), literally using towels to wipe their feet with and ruining them.
Appartamento Urbana 2
