Renting my Apartment in BsAs. The Good, the Bad and the Plain Filthy.
Apr 1st, 2009, 04:34 PM
#21
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Avrooster,
If you ever have a wife that talks non-stop at you, while you're trying to concentrate, then you might understand lapses of spelling, grammar, and everything else.
Thank goodness her mother, who talks even more (small joke as mom's last name is Moore) lives 900km away.
BTW - she's still talking.....
If you ever have a wife that talks non-stop at you, while you're trying to concentrate, then you might understand lapses of spelling, grammar, and everything else.
Thank goodness her mother, who talks even more (small joke as mom's last name is Moore) lives 900km away.
BTW - she's still talking.....
Apr 1st, 2009, 04:55 PM
#22
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Well, as we sit and wait for an OK from my husband's orthopedic surgeon whether we can travel in July....we have canceled three trips in the past year and a half......I have avoided the BA travel boards in general, so as not to be upset if we have to cancel again. Somehow, the subject of apartmentsba made me come out of my gloom.
Rasta, Mr. Koh will more than likely respond to your post, but he tends to blame the messenger, as he did with us. Pipes burst in the early morning as we were going to Iguazu, "we should have called for more than the two towels provided, having used them to mop up the mess". But the office was closed at 6 a.m!
There were small roaches in the kitchen, we called Augustina, she forgot to pass it on, and "we should have called again".
There was no coffee maker, toaster, microwave,and no answering machine, although they were listed in the description........."they got fried during a recent thunderstorm". But funny thing, whoever checked a client into the apartment two months before had left the inventory list on the kitchen counter, with their signature........and none of the items appeared on the two month old inventory either. They did get them that afternoon except for the answering machine. I called Augustina several times on that one, and was told that we did in fact have an answering machine. What happened to the customer is always right?.....read on. After she called me back, and it rang 30 times, she finally admitted that we did not have an answering machine. Mr. Koh's response was that I "should have asked them to buy one".They are the luxury agency, why didn't they offer to send one over right away? BTW, this was an apartment owned by Mr. Koh, so no owner to blame. And, believe me, I am leaving out many highlights and lowlights of our stay.
But to get back to AV's question, and Scarlett's comments.....first of all, Apartmentsba targets a certain clientele,and should have the ammenities that were promised, and there are things that should work or be there, no matter what.We stayed in an apartment that promised a jacuzzi, that turned out to be a bathtub with jets that sputtered and the handles fell off in our hand. Is this something that I should have called in? Does anyone believe that the owner was not aware of this? We were supposed to have a lovely glass door to our bathtub/shower/jacuzzi, but only half of the door was ever put on, so water splashed all over the floor, and we had to use our two precious towels to mop up the floor. Mr. K, in his response to me said that this is the way some European shower doors are. I know the shower doors that he refers to, and they have two parts to them that meet in the middle. They was no evidence of a second door ever having been attached to the wall. Some things were truly structural in nature, and would have required a plumber, a real jacuzzi, where as other things a handyman could have checked in-between rentals. But uncomfortable furniture in an apartment that is rented as a luxury apartment, that would have called for a visit to a furniture store if you called in to complain. When you go on vacation, it is not your job to do a punch list (if your knowledge of Americana fails you, AV, it is a list that you give to a builder once you have lived in a brand new house for a certain amount of time, long enough to find things that need to be adjusted.)for the owner. However, I did leave a list on the counter of things that should be looked into, probably because we have two rentals ourselves, and it is just the way my mind works. And in fairness, we chose not to complain about minor things because I believe that the fewer people coming in and out of your apartment, the less risk there is of things missing. Not everything fits in a safe deposit box. Our only other option was to wait around for the repair person to come in and then lock the dead bolt after we left. But again, I did not come to Buenos Aires to wait around for repair people. I agree with Scarlett..... broken pipes and bugs should be called in because I am not crazy about them. Those sorts of things happen and no rental is perfect, but the more expensive ones should set the bar a little higher. I know that we all differ on what constitutes customer service, but when an agency touts itself as providing you with a hassle free, seamless vacation, it should pride itself in doing so.
By the way, Mr. Koh refunded us $200 via paypal, but did not send it as though as a payment, but rather as a refund, so we were dinged for 6%, which struck us as not too high and lofty.
Rasta, Mr. Koh will more than likely respond to your post, but he tends to blame the messenger, as he did with us. Pipes burst in the early morning as we were going to Iguazu, "we should have called for more than the two towels provided, having used them to mop up the mess". But the office was closed at 6 a.m!
There were small roaches in the kitchen, we called Augustina, she forgot to pass it on, and "we should have called again".
There was no coffee maker, toaster, microwave,and no answering machine, although they were listed in the description........."they got fried during a recent thunderstorm". But funny thing, whoever checked a client into the apartment two months before had left the inventory list on the kitchen counter, with their signature........and none of the items appeared on the two month old inventory either. They did get them that afternoon except for the answering machine. I called Augustina several times on that one, and was told that we did in fact have an answering machine. What happened to the customer is always right?.....read on. After she called me back, and it rang 30 times, she finally admitted that we did not have an answering machine. Mr. Koh's response was that I "should have asked them to buy one".They are the luxury agency, why didn't they offer to send one over right away? BTW, this was an apartment owned by Mr. Koh, so no owner to blame. And, believe me, I am leaving out many highlights and lowlights of our stay.
But to get back to AV's question, and Scarlett's comments.....first of all, Apartmentsba targets a certain clientele,and should have the ammenities that were promised, and there are things that should work or be there, no matter what.We stayed in an apartment that promised a jacuzzi, that turned out to be a bathtub with jets that sputtered and the handles fell off in our hand. Is this something that I should have called in? Does anyone believe that the owner was not aware of this? We were supposed to have a lovely glass door to our bathtub/shower/jacuzzi, but only half of the door was ever put on, so water splashed all over the floor, and we had to use our two precious towels to mop up the floor. Mr. K, in his response to me said that this is the way some European shower doors are. I know the shower doors that he refers to, and they have two parts to them that meet in the middle. They was no evidence of a second door ever having been attached to the wall. Some things were truly structural in nature, and would have required a plumber, a real jacuzzi, where as other things a handyman could have checked in-between rentals. But uncomfortable furniture in an apartment that is rented as a luxury apartment, that would have called for a visit to a furniture store if you called in to complain. When you go on vacation, it is not your job to do a punch list (if your knowledge of Americana fails you, AV, it is a list that you give to a builder once you have lived in a brand new house for a certain amount of time, long enough to find things that need to be adjusted.)for the owner. However, I did leave a list on the counter of things that should be looked into, probably because we have two rentals ourselves, and it is just the way my mind works. And in fairness, we chose not to complain about minor things because I believe that the fewer people coming in and out of your apartment, the less risk there is of things missing. Not everything fits in a safe deposit box. Our only other option was to wait around for the repair person to come in and then lock the dead bolt after we left. But again, I did not come to Buenos Aires to wait around for repair people. I agree with Scarlett..... broken pipes and bugs should be called in because I am not crazy about them. Those sorts of things happen and no rental is perfect, but the more expensive ones should set the bar a little higher. I know that we all differ on what constitutes customer service, but when an agency touts itself as providing you with a hassle free, seamless vacation, it should pride itself in doing so.
By the way, Mr. Koh refunded us $200 via paypal, but did not send it as though as a payment, but rather as a refund, so we were dinged for 6%, which struck us as not too high and lofty.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 03:57 AM
#24
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Milltown,
Sorry to have heard about your experience. I guess more of us have to speak up, just as has been occuring with GM & friends. Don't buy crappy products or services.
BTW, I had the same kind of shower doors, yes, the handles in our bathtub fell off, and many more irritating things occurred.
At least you managed to get Augustina to respond to you. That's much more than I can say.
With an apartment we are required to pay 100% cash (not credit card) up front, and pay a cash deposit, we don't have the option of changing hotels. When you get a lemon apartment, you are stuck with it. It's just like getting a lemon car.
It's beginning to sound like Mr. Koh is one of those shady used car dealers. Lots of glitz advertising, but sawdust in the transmission and an odometer that has been turned back.
Oddly enough, I have yet to hear from anyone who has actually stayed at a Koh apartment, step up and say what a great time they had.
I guess we're back to caveat emptor.
Milltown, thank you for validating that my experience wasn't an aberration of my stay in Buenos Aires.
Sorry to have heard about your experience. I guess more of us have to speak up, just as has been occuring with GM & friends. Don't buy crappy products or services.
BTW, I had the same kind of shower doors, yes, the handles in our bathtub fell off, and many more irritating things occurred.
At least you managed to get Augustina to respond to you. That's much more than I can say.
With an apartment we are required to pay 100% cash (not credit card) up front, and pay a cash deposit, we don't have the option of changing hotels. When you get a lemon apartment, you are stuck with it. It's just like getting a lemon car.
It's beginning to sound like Mr. Koh is one of those shady used car dealers. Lots of glitz advertising, but sawdust in the transmission and an odometer that has been turned back.
Oddly enough, I have yet to hear from anyone who has actually stayed at a Koh apartment, step up and say what a great time they had.
I guess we're back to caveat emptor.
Milltown, thank you for validating that my experience wasn't an aberration of my stay in Buenos Aires.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 06:01 AM
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Rastaguytoday: about your "Oddly enough, I have yet to hear from anyone who has actually stayed at a Koh apartment, step up and say what a great time they had.", you simply need to know where to look. You'll find MANY such posts on TA, which is a much better advertising vehicle than Fodor's.
If you look there, you may notice that a significant percentage of the posts which extoll the virtues of this apartment rental firm are from one-time posters, who only post for this purpose and are never heard from again.
If you look hard enough, you may also be "amazed" to realize that a significant percentage of the comments posted whenever this rental company is discussed are deleted by the censors. I'll leave it up to you to guess whether those deleted posts were negative or positive.
If you look there, you may notice that a significant percentage of the posts which extoll the virtues of this apartment rental firm are from one-time posters, who only post for this purpose and are never heard from again.
If you look hard enough, you may also be "amazed" to realize that a significant percentage of the comments posted whenever this rental company is discussed are deleted by the censors. I'll leave it up to you to guess whether those deleted posts were negative or positive.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 06:14 AM
#26
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Avrooster,
I get your meaning. It's like raemac above, who made a one-time post to advertise bastay.
Could it be that Mr. Koh actually "advertises" on Trip Advisor and gets TA to delete the negative comments or to even delete the posters who are negative to him? Why, that sounds kind of dishonest!
Seems like someone told me this a couple of months ago, but I was already committed to the Koh apartment.
I get your meaning. It's like raemac above, who made a one-time post to advertise bastay.
Could it be that Mr. Koh actually "advertises" on Trip Advisor and gets TA to delete the negative comments or to even delete the posters who are negative to him? Why, that sounds kind of dishonest!
Seems like someone told me this a couple of months ago, but I was already committed to the Koh apartment.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 06:38 AM
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Rastaguy,
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Although there are a lot of things about TA I like (or maybe I have sold my soul to them for a little green badge
) most of the threads about Apartments BA have been exactly as AV describes.
It would be an interesting experiment for you to post your review on Trip Advisor (as long as you are prepared for the one time poster fallout) and follow it and see what happens and how the thread turns.
My opinion is that for the prices that the above is charging and the promotion and marketing and just his attitude, you have a right to have high expectations . when the property does not meet the promised standards, you should let Mr. Koh and others who are willing to listen know.
good luck
raquel
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Although there are a lot of things about TA I like (or maybe I have sold my soul to them for a little green badge
) most of the threads about Apartments BA have been exactly as AV describes.It would be an interesting experiment for you to post your review on Trip Advisor (as long as you are prepared for the one time poster fallout) and follow it and see what happens and how the thread turns.
My opinion is that for the prices that the above is charging and the promotion and marketing and just his attitude, you have a right to have high expectations . when the property does not meet the promised standards, you should let Mr. Koh and others who are willing to listen know.
good luck
raquel
Apr 2nd, 2009, 07:08 AM
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Raqueluche! It's great for this forum to have the "amazing" privilege of the presence of the TA destination expert for Costa Rica!
This shows you sold only PART of your soul for that tin star or little green badge TA graciously awarded you! LOL!!
Of course, I couldn't agree more with what you say above.
This shows you sold only PART of your soul for that tin star or little green badge TA graciously awarded you! LOL!!
Of course, I couldn't agree more with what you say above.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 07:23 AM
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Rasta,
I wrote a long review on TA in 2006 and people posted fast and furious, including Mr. Koh, who said that I was one of those people that couldn't pleased, etc. etc. However, in private e mails, he would admit that I was right, that I had in fact made the calls, and that all the people that I had dealt with had stated how nice we were. I do speak Spanish better than English, grew up in BA, and speak Rio Platense castellano with the best of them, which he did not know. He tried to say that maybe I had been misunderstood when I called. Unfortunately, I posted my review, and went out for the day. By the time I got back, there were about 80 responses, and all I had time for was one quick response, before the topic got closed, and then deleted.
There was another long topic awhile ago were customers complained about not being able to contact anyone after hours and on weekends. He promised to have an emergency number, with a live person on the other end, and that apparently never happened. Also deleted.
There was a recent topic about a couple who, at check out, were charged for breaking a glass, and were almost charged for a couple of towels that were dirty. Poofed, too.
And yet the positive reviews on TA keep coming. And you are made to feel as if yours is the only negative one that he has ever received. It is not, but, by posting it here, it is more likely to stay posted.
I hope you enjoyed your stay in Buenos Aires. We made the most of that trip in spite of the apartment issues. On later trips, we used VRBO...except for an apartment that I loved on the website, with an owner minutes away from where we live in MD. I passed on it after he told me that Apartmentsba managed it for him.
Best of luck to you!
I wrote a long review on TA in 2006 and people posted fast and furious, including Mr. Koh, who said that I was one of those people that couldn't pleased, etc. etc. However, in private e mails, he would admit that I was right, that I had in fact made the calls, and that all the people that I had dealt with had stated how nice we were. I do speak Spanish better than English, grew up in BA, and speak Rio Platense castellano with the best of them, which he did not know. He tried to say that maybe I had been misunderstood when I called. Unfortunately, I posted my review, and went out for the day. By the time I got back, there were about 80 responses, and all I had time for was one quick response, before the topic got closed, and then deleted.
There was another long topic awhile ago were customers complained about not being able to contact anyone after hours and on weekends. He promised to have an emergency number, with a live person on the other end, and that apparently never happened. Also deleted.
There was a recent topic about a couple who, at check out, were charged for breaking a glass, and were almost charged for a couple of towels that were dirty. Poofed, too.
And yet the positive reviews on TA keep coming. And you are made to feel as if yours is the only negative one that he has ever received. It is not, but, by posting it here, it is more likely to stay posted.
I hope you enjoyed your stay in Buenos Aires. We made the most of that trip in spite of the apartment issues. On later trips, we used VRBO...except for an apartment that I loved on the website, with an owner minutes away from where we live in MD. I passed on it after he told me that Apartmentsba managed it for him.
Best of luck to you!
Apr 2nd, 2009, 09:46 AM
#33
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I'm not doing a Buenos Aires trip report as, for me, there was not much to see. My wife's luggage went to Zurich and didn't arrive in BsAs until 4+ days later.
I was the designated person who had to wait and see if they were going to deliver the luggage. This is the downside of renting an apartment, no real concierge to receive your luggage for you.
The luggage was always coming manana (No - AV - I have not figured out Alt 1-6-4 yet).
I had about 1 1/2 days of seeing BsAs, not nearly enough for a trip report, much less meet Avrooster.
I was the designated person who had to wait and see if they were going to deliver the luggage. This is the downside of renting an apartment, no real concierge to receive your luggage for you.
The luggage was always coming manana (No - AV - I have not figured out Alt 1-6-4 yet).
I had about 1 1/2 days of seeing BsAs, not nearly enough for a trip report, much less meet Avrooster.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 03:16 PM
#35
Sorry to hear of all of your apartment rental and missing luggage problems.What a bummer. After a few luggage problems, we started only carrying on and it has created stress free travel, whether for a week or six weeks.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 04:07 PM
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First of all, I wanted to say I'm sorry if this client didn't feel they got good value for the money they paid. Fortunately we almost never hear this and almost all of our clients are very pleased with the service received and the properties. I am never happy to hear of a client that does not feel they received good value for the money paid. But I think all feedback is important.
I also wanted to apologize to this client that they say the floors weren't cleaned. Apartments are cleaned before each arrival. As Scarlett correctly mentioned, on very busy streets like Las Heras if you keep the windows or doors open then they can very quickly get dusty and dirty as the air quality is very bad in Buenos Aires on high traffic streets with the soot from the many buses.
I wish this poster would have emailed me or called my office. Certainly he had my email address and I would have ensured that we sent a maid over ASAP to re-clean the floors if he felt they weren't cleaned. ApartmentsBA.com strives to address problems or concerns ASAP and had the client called our office we would have addressed this.
As far as the "overarching cash requirements" I truly believe that if any person has a problem or issue with any company's established payment requirements then they should avoid it from the onset.
It isn't really fair to complain about this when the policy is posted ahead of time and agreed to by the client. I'll be the first to admit that many things in Argentina are frustrating when it comes to banks and finances. It's a complicated country when it comes to this. We always suggest to clients to take the most economical route they can and save money by paying the final payment in cash at the check-in and also it gives them a chance to pay the final payment when they check-in and inspect the property first.
I'm sorry if the concierge didn't response quickly enough to your emails. We always strive to get back to our clients quickly. If this wasn't the case with you, we sincerely apologize. We resent when you say "they kept pushing their door to door service". That simply is NOT true. Yes, it's mentioned in the initial email as it's in the template that gets sent out. We feel it's very efficient to have a known company we have worked with for several years to bring our clients from the airport directly to the city. They have proven to be reliable, ethical and hard working. It's not fair to say this is "pushed on our clients". The truth is we don't make 1 penny from this service. We refer this service because they have proven to be reliable over the years. I'm not sure why you didn't get a confirmation but maybe we never got your email. We strive to answer emails in the same day or at the worst 24 hours later.
I'm happy that someone else was able to negotiate a better deal for you at Paradores Draghi but your post insinuated that we mark up the prices which is not true. The concierge simply passes posted prices that are told to us. We don't mark up prices and never do.
Another thing misleading in your post is that you try to make it seem like we were late to the scheduled check-in which is not true. You were always scheduled for a normal check-in at 2 PM. We have dozens of check-ins a day and check-in times are pre-scheduled ahead of time. All email confirmations clearly noted a check-in time of 2 PM. Clients are given the chance to pay for an early check-in and if it's declined then the check-in is 2 PM. Most clients that don't want to pay for an early check-in simply arrange to go to a cafe or restaurant until their scheduled check-in. The fact that you did not was your own decision. There is a cafe at the bottom of the building to the right literally 20 feet away.
Yes, the apartment was fully renovated in 2005 and our clients have really enjoyed that property. In fact, we had a client that stayed immediately before your stay email us to let us know how much he enjoyed the property. His stay was 3/5/09 to 3/11/09. I believe your stay was 3/13/09 to 3/20/09. We have many comment cards from past guests that have loved this property, including several shortly before your stay.
To be fair, I will say the balcony was not renovated in any way. The railings were painted back in 2005 but you could be right that it needs to be repainted and we will send someone to follow up on this. We haven't had any complaints but then again, most people probably don't utilize the balcony other than to take a quick smoking break. Las Heras is an extremely busy street with a lot of noise and bus traffic. We are sorry if there was some rust on the balcony railings and this detracted from you enjoying your vacation.
We are sorry if the washing machine handle was broken. We will certainly take a look at this ASAP. Did you call our office to report this so we could send a handyman to fix it? We strive to address reported problems ASAP.
Unfortunately in any apartment rental in the city things come up time to time and it's the nature of the business but we strive to address reported problems quickly and efficiently.
The apartments are cleaned before arrivals. Did you report that it wasn't cleaned to your satisfaction at the check-in? We could have immediately sent a maid to clean it again. Did you leave the door or windows open? Las Heras has a lot of traffic and unfortunately if you leave the door/window open the dust can cause the floors to get dirty easily.
The floors are indeed mopped and the guest before you didn't have any issues or problems.
I know this apartment and I agree with the other guests that have stayed in it. In my opinion it's a great value for the money paid. You had 4 people stay in the unit. You paid an effective rate of $139 + tax per night total or $69 + tax per night per couple. In my opinion that's an excellent value for the money and we aren't happy that you disagree but we believe that we can agree to disagree in life and are happy that 98% of our clients are happy and feel they received good value for the money paid.
Certainly I agree with you that there is no excuse for a dirty property and I wish that you would have contacted us immediately so we could have addressed these things. That's what most reasonable clients do when renting a property or staying in a hotel.
I travel extensively around the world and have stayed in both apartment rentals, house rentals, and hotels and many times I could sit around and play the "who can find something wrong with this place" game but I choose to make the most of my vacation and enjoy the city that I am in. It's evident from your post you sat around and played the "what can I find wrong with this" game.
We do quality control checks on properties every now and again and we also have comment cards from our clients to help control feedback. I respect your opinion that you wouldn't rent from us again. But for you to imply that we don't do business ethically is wrong. We work very hard and I'm proud of my team. We do everything possible to provide a good quality service and provide great properties.
I wish I could say the "customer is always right" but unfortunately that isn't always the case in the service business. Anyone that owns a business knows this to be true. As far as responding to tenants, I will always take the time to respond to a client that contacts me. This client had my personal email address and had I been emailed I would have done my best to immediately responded and helped out. I was never once emailed. Not once nor to my knowledge did this client call my office to report any problems during his stay.
My clients are extremely important to me and I will do the best I can. We operate in a framework of ethics and hard work. And I can assure you our clients are very important to us.
I'm certainly not going to blame the messenger here. I already posted that I'm sorry if he had issues but I wish that he would have contacted me or my office during his stay.
As for Milltown, we do acknowledge that she had legitimate issues during her stay. We apologized for it repeatedly and it seems she is the type that can't accept an apology. This was for a stay I believe was over 2 years ago and many things have been improved as we constantly strive to improve our services. She is also wrong when she says I personally owned the unit she stayed in. That is not correct. It's owned by one of my partners. Not that it's an essential part of the story but just that part isn't true.
Milltown had legitimate problems and I personally refunded all money we made from it and more which I thought was fair. Since then, there have been NO complaints in the property she stayed in. Unfortunately things can happen during apartment rentals and I agree that the property manager or owner should work to fix any problems ASAP which we do.
Rastaguytoday, as far as you not hearing from anyone that has actually stayed in one of our properties there are many. You might want to read unsolicited and objective reviews from respectable magazines and newspapers around the world. In fact, two years in a row New York Time reporters stayed in properties of ours and did not tell us ahead of time and reported about their great experiences in our properties. They felt they received excellent value for the money paid. We have also been featured in several travel guides around the world that have stayed in our properties and objectively reported on their experience.
We have NEVER solicited anyone to post their experience (positive or negative) on Trip Advisor or any other message board. Any rental business in Buenos Aires and probably the world will have some negative posts or clients that had problems. Unfortunately in this business it happens. It's also laughable to suggest that we have any control with posts getting deleted from Trip Advisor or any other message board out there. AV's suggestion that we have any control over this is untrue. There have only been maybe 5 posts in 6 years that we have requested to be removed that were patently false posts. No other posts were requested by us to have removed.
Rastaguytoday, your suggestion as well that we have any leeway to get posts deleted is not true.
Milltown I never had anything to do with any posts by you getting deleted. NEVER. As far as your suggestion that we didn't implement a 24 hour emergency # that is also not true. That has been in place for a while now. I never had any part in any posts you suggested getting deleted. You might not have had a good experience but thousands of others have which you seem to have a problem with.
So again, Rastaguytoday, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your property and I wish you would have contacted me during your stay. I wish you the best of luck for 2009 and beyond. Cheers all.
ApartmentsBA.com
I also wanted to apologize to this client that they say the floors weren't cleaned. Apartments are cleaned before each arrival. As Scarlett correctly mentioned, on very busy streets like Las Heras if you keep the windows or doors open then they can very quickly get dusty and dirty as the air quality is very bad in Buenos Aires on high traffic streets with the soot from the many buses.
I wish this poster would have emailed me or called my office. Certainly he had my email address and I would have ensured that we sent a maid over ASAP to re-clean the floors if he felt they weren't cleaned. ApartmentsBA.com strives to address problems or concerns ASAP and had the client called our office we would have addressed this.
As far as the "overarching cash requirements" I truly believe that if any person has a problem or issue with any company's established payment requirements then they should avoid it from the onset.
It isn't really fair to complain about this when the policy is posted ahead of time and agreed to by the client. I'll be the first to admit that many things in Argentina are frustrating when it comes to banks and finances. It's a complicated country when it comes to this. We always suggest to clients to take the most economical route they can and save money by paying the final payment in cash at the check-in and also it gives them a chance to pay the final payment when they check-in and inspect the property first.
I'm sorry if the concierge didn't response quickly enough to your emails. We always strive to get back to our clients quickly. If this wasn't the case with you, we sincerely apologize. We resent when you say "they kept pushing their door to door service". That simply is NOT true. Yes, it's mentioned in the initial email as it's in the template that gets sent out. We feel it's very efficient to have a known company we have worked with for several years to bring our clients from the airport directly to the city. They have proven to be reliable, ethical and hard working. It's not fair to say this is "pushed on our clients". The truth is we don't make 1 penny from this service. We refer this service because they have proven to be reliable over the years. I'm not sure why you didn't get a confirmation but maybe we never got your email. We strive to answer emails in the same day or at the worst 24 hours later.
I'm happy that someone else was able to negotiate a better deal for you at Paradores Draghi but your post insinuated that we mark up the prices which is not true. The concierge simply passes posted prices that are told to us. We don't mark up prices and never do.
Another thing misleading in your post is that you try to make it seem like we were late to the scheduled check-in which is not true. You were always scheduled for a normal check-in at 2 PM. We have dozens of check-ins a day and check-in times are pre-scheduled ahead of time. All email confirmations clearly noted a check-in time of 2 PM. Clients are given the chance to pay for an early check-in and if it's declined then the check-in is 2 PM. Most clients that don't want to pay for an early check-in simply arrange to go to a cafe or restaurant until their scheduled check-in. The fact that you did not was your own decision. There is a cafe at the bottom of the building to the right literally 20 feet away.
Yes, the apartment was fully renovated in 2005 and our clients have really enjoyed that property. In fact, we had a client that stayed immediately before your stay email us to let us know how much he enjoyed the property. His stay was 3/5/09 to 3/11/09. I believe your stay was 3/13/09 to 3/20/09. We have many comment cards from past guests that have loved this property, including several shortly before your stay.
To be fair, I will say the balcony was not renovated in any way. The railings were painted back in 2005 but you could be right that it needs to be repainted and we will send someone to follow up on this. We haven't had any complaints but then again, most people probably don't utilize the balcony other than to take a quick smoking break. Las Heras is an extremely busy street with a lot of noise and bus traffic. We are sorry if there was some rust on the balcony railings and this detracted from you enjoying your vacation.
We are sorry if the washing machine handle was broken. We will certainly take a look at this ASAP. Did you call our office to report this so we could send a handyman to fix it? We strive to address reported problems ASAP.
Unfortunately in any apartment rental in the city things come up time to time and it's the nature of the business but we strive to address reported problems quickly and efficiently.
The apartments are cleaned before arrivals. Did you report that it wasn't cleaned to your satisfaction at the check-in? We could have immediately sent a maid to clean it again. Did you leave the door or windows open? Las Heras has a lot of traffic and unfortunately if you leave the door/window open the dust can cause the floors to get dirty easily.
The floors are indeed mopped and the guest before you didn't have any issues or problems.
I know this apartment and I agree with the other guests that have stayed in it. In my opinion it's a great value for the money paid. You had 4 people stay in the unit. You paid an effective rate of $139 + tax per night total or $69 + tax per night per couple. In my opinion that's an excellent value for the money and we aren't happy that you disagree but we believe that we can agree to disagree in life and are happy that 98% of our clients are happy and feel they received good value for the money paid.
Certainly I agree with you that there is no excuse for a dirty property and I wish that you would have contacted us immediately so we could have addressed these things. That's what most reasonable clients do when renting a property or staying in a hotel.
I travel extensively around the world and have stayed in both apartment rentals, house rentals, and hotels and many times I could sit around and play the "who can find something wrong with this place" game but I choose to make the most of my vacation and enjoy the city that I am in. It's evident from your post you sat around and played the "what can I find wrong with this" game.
We do quality control checks on properties every now and again and we also have comment cards from our clients to help control feedback. I respect your opinion that you wouldn't rent from us again. But for you to imply that we don't do business ethically is wrong. We work very hard and I'm proud of my team. We do everything possible to provide a good quality service and provide great properties.
I wish I could say the "customer is always right" but unfortunately that isn't always the case in the service business. Anyone that owns a business knows this to be true. As far as responding to tenants, I will always take the time to respond to a client that contacts me. This client had my personal email address and had I been emailed I would have done my best to immediately responded and helped out. I was never once emailed. Not once nor to my knowledge did this client call my office to report any problems during his stay.
My clients are extremely important to me and I will do the best I can. We operate in a framework of ethics and hard work. And I can assure you our clients are very important to us.
I'm certainly not going to blame the messenger here. I already posted that I'm sorry if he had issues but I wish that he would have contacted me or my office during his stay.
As for Milltown, we do acknowledge that she had legitimate issues during her stay. We apologized for it repeatedly and it seems she is the type that can't accept an apology. This was for a stay I believe was over 2 years ago and many things have been improved as we constantly strive to improve our services. She is also wrong when she says I personally owned the unit she stayed in. That is not correct. It's owned by one of my partners. Not that it's an essential part of the story but just that part isn't true.
Milltown had legitimate problems and I personally refunded all money we made from it and more which I thought was fair. Since then, there have been NO complaints in the property she stayed in. Unfortunately things can happen during apartment rentals and I agree that the property manager or owner should work to fix any problems ASAP which we do.
Rastaguytoday, as far as you not hearing from anyone that has actually stayed in one of our properties there are many. You might want to read unsolicited and objective reviews from respectable magazines and newspapers around the world. In fact, two years in a row New York Time reporters stayed in properties of ours and did not tell us ahead of time and reported about their great experiences in our properties. They felt they received excellent value for the money paid. We have also been featured in several travel guides around the world that have stayed in our properties and objectively reported on their experience.
We have NEVER solicited anyone to post their experience (positive or negative) on Trip Advisor or any other message board. Any rental business in Buenos Aires and probably the world will have some negative posts or clients that had problems. Unfortunately in this business it happens. It's also laughable to suggest that we have any control with posts getting deleted from Trip Advisor or any other message board out there. AV's suggestion that we have any control over this is untrue. There have only been maybe 5 posts in 6 years that we have requested to be removed that were patently false posts. No other posts were requested by us to have removed.
Rastaguytoday, your suggestion as well that we have any leeway to get posts deleted is not true.
Milltown I never had anything to do with any posts by you getting deleted. NEVER. As far as your suggestion that we didn't implement a 24 hour emergency # that is also not true. That has been in place for a while now. I never had any part in any posts you suggested getting deleted. You might not have had a good experience but thousands of others have which you seem to have a problem with.
So again, Rastaguytoday, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your property and I wish you would have contacted me during your stay. I wish you the best of luck for 2009 and beyond. Cheers all.
ApartmentsBA.com
Apr 2nd, 2009, 04:12 PM
#37
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Also, I'm sorry to hear the airline lost your luggage. I'm sure that was very frustrating. That has happened to other clients of ours. Please always note that if that happens, almost every rental company in Buenos Aires will allow you to have the bags sent to their office. We have done that several times before for other clients.
Unfortunately lost bags seems to be a problem more and more at EZE as we've seen that happen several times with clients.
No matter which rental company you use, always ask them to assist and odds are they will help however they can.
Unfortunately lost bags seems to be a problem more and more at EZE as we've seen that happen several times with clients.
No matter which rental company you use, always ask them to assist and odds are they will help however they can.
Apr 2nd, 2009, 04:46 PM
#38
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The following words are from a comment posted above by raquel_z, a highly respected poster here and a great TA "destination expert":
"most of the threads (on TA) about Apartments BA have been exactly as AV describes."
I don't "suggest", I post facts and the following are exactly that, FACTS:
1) "a significant percentage of the posts which extoll the virtues of this apartment rental firm are from one-time posters, who only post for this purpose and are never heard from again."
2) "a significant percentage of the comments posted whenever this rental company is discussed are deleted by the censors."
No one has to take my word for this. They can check these facts for themselves.
"most of the threads (on TA) about Apartments BA have been exactly as AV describes."
I don't "suggest", I post facts and the following are exactly that, FACTS:
1) "a significant percentage of the posts which extoll the virtues of this apartment rental firm are from one-time posters, who only post for this purpose and are never heard from again."
2) "a significant percentage of the comments posted whenever this rental company is discussed are deleted by the censors."
No one has to take my word for this. They can check these facts for themselves.
Apr 3rd, 2009, 06:42 AM
#39
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Folks,
I guess I have to put my 2 cents in, again.
Quoting Michael Koh
“As Scarlett correctly mentioned, on very busy streets like Las Heras if you keep the windows or doors open then they can very quickly get dusty and dirty as the air quality is very bad in Buenos Aires on high traffic streets with the soot from the many buses.”
The website ad also states “There is a huge balcony along the living room with an amazing view of the city.” There was enough room in the ad to put the word “amazing” in 7 times, but not enough room to state that if you went out on the balcony, the apartment would likely get dirty. It does sound like he missed some important facts about the apartment.
Further Quoting Michael Koh
“Milltown had legitimate problems and I personally refunded all money we made from it and more which I thought was fair.” Quoting Milltown in this link, while leaving out her many legitimate complaints “By the way, Mr. Koh refunded us $200 via paypal, but did not send it as though as a payment, but rather as a refund, so we were dinged for 6%, which struck us as not too high and lofty.” It looks like Mr. Koh’s sense of fairness did not make Milltown whole. The whole point of customer service is to make a customer whole, even if you have to take a loss once in a while.
Further Quoting Mr Koh
“I wish this poster would have emailed me or called my office. Certainly he had my email address and I would have ensured that we sent a maid over ASAP to re-clean the floors if he felt they weren't cleaned.” I don’t keep owner’s email with me. I don’t have an Obama Blackberry, nor do I want one on vacation. We were given a number for the concierge, who was to attend to our needs. We tried three times (I don’t have Milltown’s patience for 30 rings) with no response. If you try three times and get no response, do you spend the rest of the week trying to get a response or do you try to get on with your vacation? Why would I continue to call Mr Koh’s office when they don’t respond in the first place?
Regarding the check-in time…I got the impression from Augustina that because she was specifically arranging a pick-up time and the fact that the apartment was already vacant for 24 hours that we would be checked in. I didn’t ask and she certainly didn’t volunteer to tell me that I would have to wait in front of the apartment for 90 minutes.
Further Quoting Mr Koh
“Rastaguytoday, your suggestion as well that we have any leeway to get posts deleted is not true.” These comments were really made by others that seem to be much more veterans of both TA and Fodors.
As I am a business person, I learned what I call the “rat theory” early on. This was taught to me by a person buying a small portion of my company. He said “If you see a rat, there are 10. If you see 10 rats, there are 100.” The business side of the theory, is that if you see one problem, there will be 10, etc….
My point’s been pretty well made. It seems that others have seen substantiations of issues with apartmentsba and the mysterious deletions of negative comments. Time to go about my business and write my trip report about San Antonio de Areco and Mendoza.
If it wasn’t so early in the morning, I’d probably open a Malbec about now.
I guess I have to put my 2 cents in, again.
Quoting Michael Koh
“As Scarlett correctly mentioned, on very busy streets like Las Heras if you keep the windows or doors open then they can very quickly get dusty and dirty as the air quality is very bad in Buenos Aires on high traffic streets with the soot from the many buses.”
The website ad also states “There is a huge balcony along the living room with an amazing view of the city.” There was enough room in the ad to put the word “amazing” in 7 times, but not enough room to state that if you went out on the balcony, the apartment would likely get dirty. It does sound like he missed some important facts about the apartment.
Further Quoting Michael Koh
“Milltown had legitimate problems and I personally refunded all money we made from it and more which I thought was fair.” Quoting Milltown in this link, while leaving out her many legitimate complaints “By the way, Mr. Koh refunded us $200 via paypal, but did not send it as though as a payment, but rather as a refund, so we were dinged for 6%, which struck us as not too high and lofty.” It looks like Mr. Koh’s sense of fairness did not make Milltown whole. The whole point of customer service is to make a customer whole, even if you have to take a loss once in a while.
Further Quoting Mr Koh
“I wish this poster would have emailed me or called my office. Certainly he had my email address and I would have ensured that we sent a maid over ASAP to re-clean the floors if he felt they weren't cleaned.” I don’t keep owner’s email with me. I don’t have an Obama Blackberry, nor do I want one on vacation. We were given a number for the concierge, who was to attend to our needs. We tried three times (I don’t have Milltown’s patience for 30 rings) with no response. If you try three times and get no response, do you spend the rest of the week trying to get a response or do you try to get on with your vacation? Why would I continue to call Mr Koh’s office when they don’t respond in the first place?
Regarding the check-in time…I got the impression from Augustina that because she was specifically arranging a pick-up time and the fact that the apartment was already vacant for 24 hours that we would be checked in. I didn’t ask and she certainly didn’t volunteer to tell me that I would have to wait in front of the apartment for 90 minutes.
Further Quoting Mr Koh
“Rastaguytoday, your suggestion as well that we have any leeway to get posts deleted is not true.” These comments were really made by others that seem to be much more veterans of both TA and Fodors.
As I am a business person, I learned what I call the “rat theory” early on. This was taught to me by a person buying a small portion of my company. He said “If you see a rat, there are 10. If you see 10 rats, there are 100.” The business side of the theory, is that if you see one problem, there will be 10, etc….
My point’s been pretty well made. It seems that others have seen substantiations of issues with apartmentsba and the mysterious deletions of negative comments. Time to go about my business and write my trip report about San Antonio de Areco and Mendoza.
If it wasn’t so early in the morning, I’d probably open a Malbec about now.
