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CLIENT:
Filippa Freed
Harbour View
Paseo Joan de Borbo 50
1. How did you hear about Akaza S.L.? BarcelonaConnect com
2. What is your opinion about the web site and the booking system?
I found it working well
3. Why did you choose to book an apartment over a hotel?
Possibility to keep the family together (2 small kids)and not split up
in two hotelrooms Very few offer family rooms Less formal than an
hotel, possibility to keep our own schedule, freedom basically
4. The service and assitance provided by Akaza and the owners of the flat?
GREAT!
5. Comments about the flat, location, layout, facilities, cleanliness etc.
Worked just perfect with Akaza although it was very hard to get through
on the ph n given to the landlord as it always had some kind of message
in Spanish - receiver not accepting calls or something That was VERY
frustrating But then I called you guys and then it worked just fine
Landlord forgot to inform us that we couldn't leave a key on the inside
of the door ( we had two sets, one stayed in the apartment and one came
with us, most natural to leave it in the door ) So we got locked out
with all phone numbers inside and 2 very tired kids Obviously we were
not happy Luckily landlord had mentioned that he lived just down the
road on no X, so I actually managed to get into the building and find
his boyfriend who could come over and try to help us But that could
have gone very wrong, so information to customer is key when letting a
flat!!!!
6. Rating from 1-10: 8
7. Additional comments:
Cheers to the boyfriend who helped us out Recommend landlord to be
clearer about keys, things don't work the same way everywhere In
Sweden you can leave a key in the door on the inside and still unlock
from the outside
Dear Andrea,
I am more than happy to respoond to your inquiry regarding our stayin Barcelona.
We enjoyed the city immensely. I wish we could have said the same for
the apartment and its owner. We stayed at Harbor 1 at Joan de Borbo
#50. To call this a 2 bedroom is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
All that was done here was to take a studio apartment, put up 2 false
walls to create 2 cubbyholes and put beds in. Unfortunately, the
pictures on your website were utterly deceptive and phony. For that
you bear responsibility - after all they appeared on your website, not
on the owner's. In addition, nowhere on the site for the apartment
does it mention that there is no central heating nor does it mention
that there is no shower for all practical purposes. To call placing a
fixture right next to the toilet with no separation a shower is, again,
an insult.
Quite frankly, I don't know who stays in that apartment comfortably.
Whoever it is must not come from much better wherever they may live.
I, for one, was insulted that you would have even referred that
apartment to us after I gave you the specifics of what I wanted. I
took it for granted that in the year 2006, heating and a decent shower
would be givens. I never assumed I would have to specify those
necessities.You were referred to us by our son and daughter who stayed
in one of your listings in December.
In addition, the owner entered the apartment while we were absent on
the pretext that the downstairs neighbor called because the air
conditioning unit which we had on heating was leaking. He lied and
admitted as such. He had no right to enter while we were not there.
He accosted us on the street as we were walking back to the apartment
and ludicrously accused us of trying to burn down the building simply
because we had the nerve to turn on the heat! We left 2 days before
our scheduled departure and checked into the Claris Hotel in order to
be able to salvage any good impressions we had of Barcelona from the
negativity of that experience. The most you could say for that
apartment is that it had an elevator and a great view. But you can't
get a decent shower in an elevator and the view does nothing to keep
you warm!
I would be more than happy to post something in your guestbook on the
Internet, but I am sure you will delete it. I will, however, find
another way to make sure no other visitor to your city has the
experience we had.
Since you are, as you say, "a young company," my suggestions to you are as follows on ways to improve your service:
1. Be sure you check out all of your apartment listings
personally to be sure that what you post on your website is true - it
is your responsibility to do this.
2. Those renting the apartments should have contact only with you
or someone in your office - they never should have any contact with the
owners.
After all, you are collecting a commission - you should be the ones
responsible for giving the renters the keys and making sure they are
satisfied as soon as they arrive.
3. You should not hesitate to drop a listing when you find dissatisfaction.
4. You should not be so hungry for a listing that you will list such deceptions as we stayed in.
You can be assured that I will not be giving your company as a
reference to anyone who plans to go to Barcelona. That is regrettable,
because we so much hoped that our experience would have been a positive
one.
Stevia Lynch
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