All reviews of Aleksandr
Review about: SPOTAHOME
Room rental
I would like to share my wonderful experience with the Spotahome website. This is the second time I have applied to this company. The first experience was also not very successful, but the second one surpassed everything that could be done.
I have selected a room on this site. I agreed with the price and saw that it would be necessary to pay the deposit.
Next, I contacted the owner and asked him to make a contract for rent and registration at the place of stay, since I am studying on a student visa, and these documents are very important to me. He did not agree very willingly, took a photo of our passports with the girl in advance and said that he would go to the administration and let us register. A couple of days before arrival, I wrote to the landlord again, and reminded him that registration was needed – he said he hadn't done it, but when you come, we'll figure it out. Don't worry.
The day of arrival has arrived. We came to the apartment and it started.
The first thing that became a problem was that the photos on the site and in reality are very different. There is no piece of furniture as in the photo, there is no TV, everything is in very poor condition, the door handle is falling off, some nails are sticking out of the wall near the head, everything in the common kitchen is in very poor condition and ... There is a terrible stench in the room, which does not go even after opening the window (it has been 3 days – all my things still smell of this smell). Since we had nowhere to go and we had a lot of things with us, we decided that all this could be tolerated for a while.
Next, the landlord said that we should leave a deposit. We knew about this, were ready and agreed to it, but for our own safety, guarantees and other things, we asked you to draw up a room rental contract for us, register the condition of the room there, so that later there would be no complaints against us, indicate that we had taken a deposit of 650 euros and that they would oblige us to return it if we We won't break anything. The owner refused to give us such documents. He told us that a verbal promise that he would return it to us was enough. Since we are foreigners in this country, we insisted that we need these documents, that we cannot just give a pledge without a contract and confirmation from him, this is a very big risk for us. And moreover, we were promised in advance that all these documents would be done. So the conflict broke out. The landlord started shouting at us, tearing out our luggage, trying to throw it out into the hallway, and pushed me hard. We decided to call the police and settle the matter with them. We asked for a peaceful settlement of this issue, we simply asked for a refund of the money that we paid a month in advance, since we are not ready to live in this apartment, since it is in terrible condition, since we cannot be guaranteed a refund of the deposit, since the landlord rushes at us with strong aggression and tries to physically to influence.
We called Spotahome support. We asked them to help resolve the issue, we told them that it was written on their website that in case of problems in the first 24 hours upon arrival they would help us, and if anything, they would find new housing and compensate all expenses. But they didn't listen to us. We were told that the room is in good condition and that the photos on the site are just indicative and approximate, that you can clean up there with the owner, that you are not required to provide any documents, and since you do not pay a deposit, you can leave and lose all the money. We couldn't get anything out of this site that evening and had to urgently look for other accommodation for the weekend.
Since Monday, we have been in contact with Spotahome support for a long time. We asked them to help us, explained the reasons that the apartment was in terrible condition, that the aggression of the landlord was taken out on us, that we were not given any guarantees of repayment of the advance. But they didn't help us in any way. We were told that it was your own fault, that we couldn't help you in any way. According to your photos, there is nothing terrible in the apartment, you are not required to provide any documents. We have rules that we strictly follow and so on and so forth. I asked them to settle the issue peacefully – to return the money to us and would be generally pleased with their reaction. I would continue to rent other apartments through them, pay them a commission each time and recommend them to my acquaintances and friends.
What are the conclusions: We are submitting an appeal to the police. We are submitting an appeal to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, we are preparing a court complaint with an attorney. This is the worst rental company I've ever seen. They place unverified ads, in case of problems they will never refund your money, they will not help you in any way and they will throw and throw you at the very moment you need. In contrast, when we had problems with renting through Booking.com – we were reimbursed for financial losses, and were given a lot of bonuses and helped resolve any issues.