A la Carte Paris Apartments

Old Jul 30th, 2010, 03:15 PM
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A la Carte Paris Apartments

I am new to this style of communication, but found this site when researching a trip I am planning and thought I would try it. I live in Australia and I am taking my 2 daughters and son-in-law to Paris for Christmas, this has special meaning for us as my wife and the girls mum recently passed away due to Inflammatory Breast Cancer and she wanted us to take some of her back to her favourite city. We have found an apartment we have tentatively booked through A La Carte Paris Apartments and I am wanting to know if anyone has any experience with this group and if they are reliable and honest, especially in relation to the use of Credit Card details. I look forward to your comments, many thanks maw1957
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 04:16 PM
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First of all, my heart goes out to you and your family. Hopefully healing will begin as you experience a wonderful city. We generally rent apartments when we travel to Paris, but have never used a formal site. My only recommendation would be to positively book/pay for it with a credit card if possible as generally your credit card will stand behind you should anything happen.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 05:12 PM
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I'm not sure if a la carte represents individuals owners or has their own apartments, but there are two reviews of apartments rented through them on slowtrav: http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/list.asp?r=Paris

Just scroll down to find them.

We were in Paris over Christmas a few years ago and enjoyed that time of the year. There is plenty to do and the holiday decorations are fun. I'm so sorry for your loss and hope Paris provides some consolation and renewal.
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Old Jul 30th, 2010, 06:17 PM
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As a side note Parisian officials are seeking to elimiate much of the a la carte apartments which take up valued living space for ordinary Parisians - so this may not be an option in the future.
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Old Aug 2nd, 2010, 04:30 AM
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We stayed in an apartment booked through A La Carte Paris in June. Please email me at [email protected] so that I can share with you our experience with this booking agent and the apartment which was not at all favorable!

I would never use this booking agency again nor would I recommend them!!!
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Old Aug 13th, 2010, 02:55 AM
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Hello,
As the founder and owner of A la carte Paris, I thought I'd give some facts regarding plufmud's comment:

- This client was unlucky enough to find a mouse sharing her apartment! This is very rare, but in a historic city like Paris, it happens about once every 2 years over our entire portfolio of 60+ central apartments. To make things worse, the fan was inoperative and she could not connect to the wi-fi network.

- To the best of my knowledge, we made sure that these issues were sorted within one working day, as our policy is to be very responsive to apartment imperfections when they crop up.

- We have in our contract, an obligation called Triple-R garantee. This means we have to Repair, Relocate (if we can't repair) or Refund (if we can't relocate).

- Quite understandably, our client was not happy with meerly having the mouse problem "repaired", and wanted to change apartment. Frankly, I would have demanded the same, as it's a disturbing issue.

- We therefore offered to relocate to an apartment of similar ranking, comfort and location.

- Our client refused the relocation proposal and simply abandoned the property. Although our terms dictate that simply abandoning the property does not give rise to a refund, we decided to refund 50% of the stay.

Alex Wagner
Founder and Owner
A la carte Paris
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Old Aug 13th, 2010, 05:08 AM
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A La Carte Paris,

There is much more to this than you have stated. The reason I gave my email address is I felt it would be more professional than airing all the "dirty laundry" on Fodor's.

Key issue: NO ONE ANSWERED OUR MANY PHONE CALLS FROM SATURDAY UNTIL MONDAY because A La Carte Paris doesn't work on week-ends. Thank goodness hotels and restuarants don't have that same policy.

As soon as we discovered we had some problems on Saturday, we called the owner, the man who let us in the apt., the emergency number and Julie, the A La Carte booking rep. NO ONE ANSWERED OUR MANY CALLS!!!

Late Monday morning A La Carte Paris still had not contacted us even though we had left numerous messages on the machine for them. Not one time during this unpleasant situtation did they initiate a call to us!!

Julie, our original booking rep, would not speak to us on the phone because she was "promoted" and had a new rep, Katie, speak with us.

On late Monday morning, an electrician came to the apt. to fix the fan in the bedroom. No success. The apt. was so hot in the bedroom without the fan that my sister slept in the kitchen on a bench and BIL slept on sofa in living room for 2 nights.

The contract stated we would have Wi-fi however the elect. could not fix that either. My husband is corporate and MUST be connected.

We saw mice on several different occasions. Elect. said he would purchase rat traps and return later. A La Carte Paris told us they were aware of the rat problem and was told it was taken care of but obvivously it was not due to electrician saying rat traps were the solution.

When we finally reached them by phone, Katie offered to relocate us to another apt. After having the problem with A La Carte Paris not responding to our repeated calls, we did not feel confident with this agency. We told her we were just going to hit the streets and find a hotel and Katie said she she totally understood and that our money would be refunded. Katie aked for our banking information to wire the full refund. She told us to try to enjoy the rest of our holiday and the money would be wired to our accounts.

We lost 2 days of precious time in Paris and did not want to chance having the last five days spent in the same manner.

We found a hotel at last minute..............not a easy task. Wasted 1/2 day finding hotel, packing and unpacking once again.

We left feeling confident A La Carte Paris would uphold their promise to refund knowing ALL the problems we encountered with the apt.

As soon as our feet hit US soil, we received an email stating that A La Carte Paris would not refund the money.

After spending hours calling back to Paris from the United States, they finally issused a small refund.

This entire situation could have been resolved quickly if A La Carte Paris, the emergency contact number or owner, had just reponded to our numerous calls for help on Saturday.

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR A LA CARTE PARIS NOT TO RESPOND TO REPEATED CALLS ON THE WEEK-END. THEY ARE AFTER ALL THE
AGENCY THAT REPRESENTED THE APARTMENT AND COLLECTED OUR MONEY.
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Old Aug 13th, 2010, 10:52 AM
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Plufmud,

Although our office is closed on weekends, we do have an emergency cellphone line, whose number is given to each client and is repeated in the apartment guide booklet and on the office answering machine. Having weekend support staff and a corresponding telephone line is nothing less than essential, as problems (water leak, faulty amenity, etc.) don't always adhere to office hours!

I now understand that the root of your dissatisfaction was not being able to reach us, which I can understand must have been frustrating.

That said, I'm not sure that it's very fair to be posting such inflamatory posts on travel forums, as these don't do justice to our dedication to quality and service.

Hence, I will email you privately and also interrogate staff to find out why exactly cellphone contact could not be made on the saturday of your stay. I will also see how exactly we can bring you full satisfaction.

Alex Wagner
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Old Aug 16th, 2010, 11:57 AM
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My wife and I have been researching Apt's in Paris and we now will have one less to look at. Sorry Plufmud, it sounded like a nightmare.
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Old Aug 16th, 2010, 12:14 PM
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We have had complete success with www.guestapartment.com

From the beginning email, through our entire stay, their service was commendable.
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Old Aug 16th, 2010, 12:46 PM
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Thanks TPAYT. They were not on our list and at first glance on their website we are interested. Anyone else stay with Guest apartment?
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Old Aug 16th, 2010, 02:00 PM
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I haven't stayed at Guestapartment but they uniformly get good reviews. They are on my list to look at for next time, if I can't rent from parisvacationapartments.com. Their apartments are also lovely and arrangements went smoothly. We have also rented successfully from parisianflat.com.
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Old Aug 17th, 2010, 03:26 PM
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Last spring there was a long thread about another rental company. The poster had big problems with apartment they had rented and getting service. I believe that this company has been around for awhile and has had many satisfied customers (and continues to be very popular). Unfortunately odds are that someone will have a problem when you are a service based company with lots of people staying with you. No excuses for the problems that were encountered at the a la carte apartment, just wanted original poster to realize that. I have looked at a lot of apartments for rent in Paris and I do think that a la carte has some really lovely places. We reserved one last year in the Marais, got very prompt service, but ended up staying in a hotel. I love staying in apartments, but you definitely give up the convenience of having a 24 on call front desk.
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 06:10 AM
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I would like to return to the topic of the apartment booking agency, A La Carte Paris. While it is inevitable that bad experiences do happen on occasion with accomodation, our experience with our A La Carte booking and our accomodation in Paris was excellent. The agent who met us was polite, helpful, on time and provided us with her contact number for further help. The accomodation was spotless and beautiful. I experienced no issues at all. I congratulate A La Carte Paris on their beautiful accomodation options, I am yet to see a website with so many lovely apartments in the centre of Paris. K Martin, Perth, Western Australia
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 07:26 AM
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Your reply to this particular thread seems a bit questionable since this is your first entry and I received this email yesterday, January 31, from A La Carte Paris.

Hello Elaine,


I am contacting you a bit out of the blue... because we have launched a new policy called "100% Satisfied Clients".


Because I recall making a real mess of your stay (in particular not being reachable on your weekend), I just wanted to touch base to see what outstanding points I can address in order to make sure that you are satisfied.


Can I give you a telephone call?


On what number can I reach you (and what city, for timezone purposes)?


Thanks.


Kind regards,


Alex

--
Alex Wagner
Founder & CEO
---------------------------------------
A LA CARTE PARIS
Designer Paris Apartments
4 rue Martel, 75010 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 46 42 57
Fax +33 (0)1 45 23 50 67
www.alacarteparis.com



My intent for this entry was not to damage A La Carte Paris but to prevent other visitors from losing 3 precious days in beautiful Paris. It is puzzling why Mr. Wagner wants to make amends almost a year later when I have returned to the US.
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 07:42 AM
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There is a similar thread going on tripadvisor.
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 12:14 PM
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15. Re: A La Carte Paris Apartment Rental Review - A Bad Experience
Jan 23, 2011, 5:16 AM
We have also just had an extremely bad experience with A La Carte Apartment Rentals in Paris. We took a lot of time to carefully select a suitable apartment both in size(2 full bedrooms) and location (St Germain) and then, as requested, paid for the apartment in full. This was atleast 6 months prior to our arrival in Paris,which was to be a stay of 8 nights from New Years Eve. 2 days prior to our arrival (at which point we were already traveling within Europe), we received a call from A La Carte to say that we could no longer have that particular apartment as the hot water service had burst and could not be repaired in time. We were then offered an alternative apartment in the Marais District. We advised that we did not wish to stay there,but specifically in St Germain, so unless they could find something else in that district, we would prefer a refund. A La Carte was unable to provide another apartment in St Germain similar to that which we had originally booked and started to become quite rude towards us and refused the refund. With great difficulty (being New Years Eve, Paris was very booked up) we managed to book into the Esprit Hotel in St Germain - (we even had one child in our bed for the first night until another room was available, but we were desperate) The Esprit were amazing in their kindness and helpfulness. Anyway, on our 2nd day in Paris, my husband just had a feeling that something did not smell right. We naturally had the address and door code for our original apartment, which was just around the corner from where we were staying, so we went by,let ourselves in the gate and upon hearing voices, knocked on the door, whereby we discovered a very nice American gentleman staying in OUR apartment!! Yes, he had booked through A La Carte, yes, he had arrived the same night we were due to arrive and he had booked it for a couple of weeks. So they had a better booking and bumped us!!!!!!!! When we confronted A La Carte with this, they naturally immediately knew they must refund us; however even then, they wanted us to sign an agreement that we would not speak badly of them. We wanted to ensure we received the refund before we left Paris, as we did not trust them, but even this was such a lengthy exercise, the whole thing left us incredibly upset. The fact that we had to waste so much time, energy and angst on such an issue when were supposed to be on a fabulous family holiday. We naturally did not sign their silly agreement and I will ensure that everyone I know is advised of their shocking behaviour.

15. Re: A La Carte Paris Apartment Rental Review - A Bad Experience
Jan 23, 2011, 5:16 AM
We have also just had an extremely bad experience with A La Carte Apartment Rentals in Paris. We took a lot of time to carefully select a suitable apartment both in size(2 full bedrooms) and location (St Germain) and then, as requested, paid for the apartment in full. This was atleast 6 months prior to our arrival in Paris,which was to be a stay of 8 nights from New Years Eve. 2 days prior to our arrival (at which point we were already traveling within Europe), we received a call from A La Carte to say that we could no longer have that particular apartment as the hot water service had burst and could not be repaired in time. We were then offered an alternative apartment in the Marais District. We advised that we did not wish to stay there,but specifically in St Germain, so unless they could find something else in that district, we would prefer a refund. A La Carte was unable to provide another apartment in St Germain similar to that which we had originally booked and started to become quite rude towards us and refused the refund. With great difficulty (being New Years Eve, Paris was very booked up) we managed to book into the Esprit Hotel in St Germain - (we even had one child in our bed for the first night until another room was available, but we were desperate) The Esprit were amazing in their kindness and helpfulness. Anyway, on our 2nd day in Paris, my husband just had a feeling that something did not smell right. We naturally had the address and door code for our original apartment, which was just around the corner from where we were staying, so we went by,let ourselves in the gate and upon hearing voices, knocked on the door, whereby we discovered a very nice American gentleman staying in OUR apartment!! Yes, he had booked through A La Carte, yes, he had arrived the same night we were due to arrive and he had booked it for a couple of weeks. So they had a better booking and bumped us!!!!!!!! When we confronted A La Carte with this, they naturally immediately knew they must refund us; however even then, they wanted us to sign an agreement that we would not speak badly of them. We wanted to ensure we received the refund before we left Paris, as we did not trust them, but even this was such a lengthy exercise, the whole thing left us incredibly upset. The fact that we had to waste so much time, energy and angst on such an issue when were supposed to be on a fabulous family holiday. We naturally did not sign their silly agreement and I will ensure that everyone I know is advised of their shocking behaviour.

15. Re: A La Carte Paris Apartment Rental Review - A Bad Experience
Jan 23, 2011, 5:16 AM
We have also just had an extremely bad experience with A La Carte Apartment Rentals in Paris. We took a lot of time to carefully select a suitable apartment both in size(2 full bedrooms) and location (St Germain) and then, as requested, paid for the apartment in full. This was atleast 6 months prior to our arrival in Paris,which was to be a stay of 8 nights from New Years Eve. 2 days prior to our arrival (at which point we were already traveling within Europe), we received a call from A La Carte to say that we could no longer have that particular apartment as the hot water service had burst and could not be repaired in time. We were then offered an alternative apartment in the Marais District. We advised that we did not wish to stay there,but specifically in St Germain, so unless they could find something else in that district, we would prefer a refund. A La Carte was unable to provide another apartment in St Germain similar to that which we had originally booked and started to become quite rude towards us and refused the refund. With great difficulty (being New Years Eve, Paris was very booked up) we managed to book into the Esprit Hotel in St Germain - (we even had one child in our bed for the first night until another room was available, but we were desperate) The Esprit were amazing in their kindness and helpfulness. Anyway, on our 2nd day in Paris, my husband just had a feeling that something did not smell right. We naturally had the address and door code for our original apartment, which was just around the corner from where we were staying, so we went by,let ourselves in the gate and upon hearing voices, knocked on the door, whereby we discovered a very nice American gentleman staying in OUR apartment!! Yes, he had booked through A La Carte, yes, he had arrived the same night we were due to arrive and he had booked it for a couple of weeks. So they had a better booking and bumped us!!!!!!!! When we confronted A La Carte with this, they naturally immediately knew they must refund us; however even then, they wanted us to sign an agreement that we would not speak badly of them. We wanted to ensure we received the refund before we left Paris, as we did not trust them, but even this was such a lengthy exercise, the whole thing left us incredibly upset. The fact that we had to waste so much time, energy and angst on such an issue when were supposed to be on a fabulous family holiday. We naturally did not sign their silly agreement and I will ensure that everyone I know is advised of their shocking behaviour.
15. Re: A La Carte Paris Apartment Rental Review - A Bad Experience
Jan 23, 2011, 5:16 AM
We have also just had an extremely bad experience with A La Carte Apartment Rentals in Paris. We took a lot of time to carefully select a suitable apartment both in size(2 full bedrooms) and location (St Germain) and then, as requested, paid for the apartment in full. This was atleast 6 months prior to our arrival in Paris,which was to be a stay of 8 nights from New Years Eve. 2 days prior to our arrival (at which point we were already traveling within Europe), we received a call from A La Carte to say that we could no longer have that particular apartment as the hot water service had burst and could not be repaired in time. We were then offered an alternative apartment in the Marais District. We advised that we did not wish to stay there,but specifically in St Germain, so unless they could find something else in that district, we would prefer a refund. A La Carte was unable to provide another apartment in St Germain similar to that which we had originally booked and started to become quite rude towards us and refused the refund. With great difficulty (being New Years Eve, Paris was very booked up) we managed to book into the Esprit Hotel in St Germain - (we even had one child in our bed for the first night until another room was available, but we were desperate) The Esprit were amazing in their kindness and helpfulness. Anyway, on our 2nd day in Paris, my husband just had a feeling that something did not smell right. We naturally had the address and door code for our original apartment, which was just around the corner from where we were staying, so we went by,let ourselves in the gate and upon hearing voices, knocked on the door, whereby we discovered a very nice American gentleman staying in OUR apartment!! Yes, he had booked through A La Carte, yes, he had arrived the same night we were due to arrive and he had booked it for a couple of weeks. So they had a better booking and bumped us!!!!!!!! When we confronted A La Carte with this, they naturally immediately knew they must refund us; however even then, they wanted us to sign an agreement that we would not speak badly of them. We wanted to ensure we received the refund before we left Paris, as we did not trust them, but even this was such a lengthy exercise, the whole thing left us incredibly upset. The fact that we had to waste so much time, energy and angst on such an issue when were supposed to be on a fabulous family holiday. We naturally did not sign their silly agreement and I will ensure that everyone I know is advised of their shocking
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 12:15 PM
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So sorry~ did not mean to copy 3 times!
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 01:04 PM
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I am the person who initially posted the above topic (A La Carte - a very bad experience) on Trip Advisor. I received an "alert" today that linked to this site and felt I should advise those reading this site that our issues with A La Carte have been successfully resolved. Mr Wagner was most sincerely apologetic for our problems and I feel that he will be more on top of things in future.
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Old Feb 1st, 2011, 01:12 PM
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Katstrov,

Did you read the problem that we experienced with A La Carte Paris? Our "bad experience" was June/July of 2010~8 months ago. Mr. Wagner has contacted us by email however I am a bit skeptical to speak with him.
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