kitkat1

When we were asked to chose an alternative apartment Jeanette gave us the website www.parisrentaparts.com she has an agreement with them. Unfortunately, because we waited until two days before we were due to arrive (we were really hoping that the Odeon apartment would pass inspection), we only had a choice of 2 apartments.

laughingd2

Update: After talking to Jeanette, we're going to keep our early Spring 2008 reservation. She says the plumbing repairs (which were caused by a tenant) will be finished long before then, and they've taken this opportunity to update the apartment. I choose to believe her, and I'll keep you all posted.

gardngrl

It has been 6 weeks since we returned from Paris and we still have not received our damage deposit(300E). Jeanette has said she needed to spend and extra 300 E when she relocated us due to the sewage problem, but we don't see that as our problem. She has written back each time we inquired, saying that a refund should be arriving in PayPal, but still no luck. The last excuse was that the owner was bounced of of PayPal and had to get reinstated. I've hesitated to write this because I really do want to believe that Jeanette is sincere, but just has had a spate of bad luck. I will post if our ship comes in but we're not waiting at the dock.

nonnafelice

I am updating this topic to report on where things stand with our rental. It appears that the Rue des Quatres Vents apartment is still not available. Jeanette sent us the parisrentaparts site to choose an alternate, and the only ones available that were acceptable to us are more expensive. I told her which ones we would accept, and she has more or less promised one of them to us at no additional price, althugh it isn't signed and sealed yet.

Her last message said that she was stuck in the transit strikes in Italy and couldn't get back to finalize the changed arrangement until Monday. Naturally, we are getting pretty nervous about this whole thing because our rental is due to start next Friday.

Anyway, I will post again with the final outcome of this saga -- but in the meantime, anyone else who has booked or is thinking about booking this apartment might want to know that its problems apparently are still not fixed.

And it is also disturbing to hear about the non-refunded security deposit because of "PayPal" problems.

We were planning to give her the deposit in cash, so I will make very sure to get a receipt. But I wonder what my recourse would be if I do give her cash and it's not refunded when we leave.

rudydog49

Thanks for the update. We have reserved the apartment for early January and are in a situation very similar to yours, although we are still being assured that the apartment will almost certainly be ready, which at this point I seriously doubt.

Jeanette sent us to the same website and told us we could pick an apartment from there as a "back-up," but like you, I don't have an assurance in writing that we will get the replacement apartment for the same price.

At this point I would really like to back out and find something else, but I worry about getting our deposit back, so I guess I'll stick with this for now and hope for the best.

Have a wonderful time in Paris, and let us know how this all turns out..

NeoPatrick

Boy this saga kind of goes on and on. I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt, but with all the possible rentals in Paris, I'd sure be looking for a new one in this case -- not the least problem of which is not knowing if you'd have to pay more for a replacement apartment or if you'll get your deposit back. If it were me, I'd try to get out of this situation before it has the chance of getting worse.

nonnafelice

OK, here is (I hope!) the final resolution of our situation. That apartment on Rue des Quatres Vents is now, according to Jeanette, officially off the market. The owner isn't able to resolve the problems and is tired of dealing with them.

Jeanette called us several times today to work this out, and she is putting us in another apartment in the 6th -- it's somewhat smaller, but it does have an elevator, which the first one didn't. I don't like the location quite so well, but it should be fine -- near the Luxembourg Gardens, on Rue Madame. The apartment lists for 100 euro more than we were paying, but Jeanette said she would make up the difference.

However, we do have to pay 100 more for the security deposit, so I hope we don't run into the problems described by gardngrl!

Gardngrl, if you see this, can you tell me which apartment you ended up with? I just wonder if it is the same owner as the one we are renting.

Also, rudydog, I expect Jeanette has been in touch with you, since she told me that only one other person was still on her list to rent the apartment. But if not, I'd suggest that you contact her asap, so you can line up a replacement and get it confirmed.

rudydog49

Nonnafelice - Thanks so much for updating me on the status of the apartment. I'm happy to hear that it's worked out for you and you have a place you're satisfied with.

I did get a brief message from Jeanette yesterday telling me that she would confirm our apartment arrangements Monday. I haven't yet heard from her, and it's now Tuesday in Paris, so I'm hoping she contacts me tomorrow with a new apartment (for the same price!)

I hope everything works out for you. Have a wonderful trip!

nonnafelice

Just a quick update from Paris. I want to warn Rudydog, who has been dealing with Jeanette Coussins, that I think you should try to get out of your contract if at all possible. I am not at all pleased about the way Jeanette has handled our situation. We are in an apartment, which is okay, but Jeanette has not be straightforward with us about the payment, and I have no guarantee that we are going to get back the money she owes us. I don't have time to go into details now, but wanted to post this quick update.

rudydog49

Nonnafelice - Thanks so much for updating me on this. I was getting an increasingly bad feeling about the whole situation and this confirms it.

Jeanette was supposed to contact me Monday regarding a new apartment and I have not yet heard from her, so I just sent an e-mail asking her to return our deposit so I can look elsewhere.

Enjoy Paris - it is so beautiful at Christmas time - and worry about Jeanette later!

nonnafelice

Rudydog, I think that is a good decision. I will say that I like the Rue Madame apartment that we are now in, but what has happened is that we ended up having to pay its full 900 euro weekly rental directly to its owners, after we had already given Jeanette a deposit of 400 euro for the first apartment that fell through.

Jeanette had told us she was arranging for us to get this other apartment at the 800 euro price we had contracted for the Rue des 4 Vents apartment. But when we arrived in Paris yesterday, the Rue Madame owners insisted that we pay them directly and work out the refund with Jeanette.

Jeanette is currently in Cannes and difficult to reach. She did eventually contact us by phone yesterday and has promised to refund the 500 euro she owes us. If she follows through, I will update this thread as I don't want to be accusing her falsely. However, after what was posted previously about someone not getting her security deposit back, I won't believe her promises until they come true!

Even if we do get our money back eventually, the whole thing has added a lot of stress and last-minute confusion which nobody wants to deal with on vacation. It's bad enough having to worry about the transit strikes in Paris nowadays!

dots

I know this won't help you guys who've already travelled to Paris, but for those of you who are planning a trip, when doing some research for my forthcoming visit I found this website which has a number of different Paris apartment options :
http://www.holidaystoeurope.com.au

nonnafelice

One more update, in the all's well that ends well category -- I am happy to report that we DID get our 500 euro overpayment refunded by Jeanette. So bottom line -- we are in an apartment that we like very much, and only had to pay 800 euro for the week, although the full price is 900.

I would recommend the apartment we ended up in for anyone who wants to stay in the 6th:
http://www.parisrentaparts.com/PBCPP...&ID=132319

The neighborhood is great, and the apartment is very nice, extremelyl quiet and comfortable, with plenty of space for 2 people and lots of mod cons -- washer, dryer, microwave, dishwasher, elevator,and wi-fi. Also, the rental agent for parisrentaparts (not Jeanette) was very nice and good to deal with.

rudydog49

Nonnafelice,

Thanks for the update. I'm happy to hear that everything turned out well for you. And glad to get an apartment recommendation for future trips!

After waiting a over a week for Jeanette to answer my inquiries about arranging for a new apartment, I finally booked with another agency. I'm sure she would have come up with something acceptable, but I wasn't willing to wait any longer. I'm sure our new place will be fine, and I'm just happy to finally have everything settled.

Sounds like a happy ending all the way around!

nonnafelice

Rudydog,

Did you get your deposit back? I hope you won't have any difficulty with that. Jeanette actually does seem like a nice person when I have spoken with her, but I think she is a bit disorganized and perhaps has a lot of other things going on in her life. I don't think booking apartments is her primary business, and she probably has other priorities. Good luck, and I hope the other apartment turns out well for you!

gardngrl

No, despite numerous e-mails and promises we have not received our deposit. Very disheartening--and expensive.

rudydog49

We have not received our deposit back yet either. I just sent yet another e-mail to Jeanette a couple of days ago, with no response. This is indeed very frustrating.

NeoPatrick

I was backing off my earlier recommendation to avoid this agency as it seemed my judgment might be a little harsh. I now withdraw any doubts. This place SHOULD be avoided by anyone looking for an apartment in Paris in my book. There are too many other options to put up with this kind of disorganization, whether it is purposely dishonest or not!

nonnafelice

Jeanette told me that this apartment was being withdrawn from the market, but I see that the ad is still showing up on the site linked above, in the first post. I asked someone I knew to request more information, just to find out if they are still trying to rent it. That person told me they never got a response to their request ... but I see that the apartment listing shows that it has been supposedly booked in April and May, so I hope no one else will be out a deposit.

I guess we were lucky not to end up out of pocket, and I must agree with NeoPatrick that this apartment is one to avoid.

amelie

namaka -

Did you ever do a trip report? If so, I can't seem to find it. I'm really interested in how you liked the apartment. It seems like one I'd be interested in. Thanks.