Renting my Apartment in BsAs. The Good, the Bad and the Plain Filthy.
Apr 3rd, 2009, 12:17 PM
#41
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Of all the posts on this thread, there are only 2 people who have actually stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment.
I tried but we brought a dog with us and finding an apartment that takes dogs is very difficult.
I can only respond here from my own apartment rental experiences here ( twice for 5 months total) and from living here and learning my way around this issue and others.. namely The Way Things Are Done in Buenos Aires... which is often quite different from The Way Things Are Done Back Home...
Some things go without saying. In a huge city, Paris, London, NYC, or Buenos Aires, balconies and terraces get dirty every day.
And in big cities, thieves and robbers are not just robbing the apartments on the ground floor, most top floor apartments have special precautions to protect from people who come in (down) from the roof top or from another apartment next door. All one has to do is look up as they walk along and you can see the protective fencing, wires, sharp metal things that keep people from getting on to terraces... and along with that come terrace doors with no outside door handle.
A visitor does not need to know this, but then most people are happy to inform visitors of these issues and visitors usually are appreciative of the information.
I tried but we brought a dog with us and finding an apartment that takes dogs is very difficult.
I can only respond here from my own apartment rental experiences here ( twice for 5 months total) and from living here and learning my way around this issue and others.. namely The Way Things Are Done in Buenos Aires... which is often quite different from The Way Things Are Done Back Home...
Some things go without saying. In a huge city, Paris, London, NYC, or Buenos Aires, balconies and terraces get dirty every day.
And in big cities, thieves and robbers are not just robbing the apartments on the ground floor, most top floor apartments have special precautions to protect from people who come in (down) from the roof top or from another apartment next door. All one has to do is look up as they walk along and you can see the protective fencing, wires, sharp metal things that keep people from getting on to terraces... and along with that come terrace doors with no outside door handle.
A visitor does not need to know this, but then most people are happy to inform visitors of these issues and visitors usually are appreciative of the information.
Apr 3rd, 2009, 01:14 PM
#42
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Scarlett,
You bring up a very good point. "Of all the posts on this thread, there are only 2 people who have actually stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment."
Guess what, neither of the 2 people were at all satisfied with ApartmentsBA.
No one who has stayed there said one word in defense of this company.
Thank you for bringing the correct closure to this thread, lots of opinions, but the fact that the only people who stayed there had negative opinions, and this is very telling of the company.
You bring up a very good point. "Of all the posts on this thread, there are only 2 people who have actually stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment."
Guess what, neither of the 2 people were at all satisfied with ApartmentsBA.
No one who has stayed there said one word in defense of this company.
Thank you for bringing the correct closure to this thread, lots of opinions, but the fact that the only people who stayed there had negative opinions, and this is very telling of the company.
Apr 3rd, 2009, 01:53 PM
#43
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No, I don't think 2 people out of the many many people who use ApartmentsBA is " telling" at all. Maybe on this thread but not really in the larger scheme of things.
The Buenos Aires forums on TripAdvisor have many more postings and many more people giving trip reports, advice and you can get a better picture of things from there. .
The Buenos Aires forums on TripAdvisor have many more postings and many more people giving trip reports, advice and you can get a better picture of things from there. .
Apr 3rd, 2009, 02:12 PM
#44
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Scarlett,
Have you been reading the postings on this thread?
Raquel_z, who is a well known expert on Costa Rica and TA, said
"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."
Avrooster's description was as follows: "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."
Scarlett, are you shutting your eyes to these comments or are you just trying to help out Mr. Koh?
Might the two of you be friends or acquaintances?
Honestly speaking, I've never met anyone from any of the South America posts in person. Can you say that?
Have you been reading the postings on this thread?
Raquel_z, who is a well known expert on Costa Rica and TA, said
"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."
Avrooster's description was as follows: "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."
Scarlett, are you shutting your eyes to these comments or are you just trying to help out Mr. Koh?
Might the two of you be friends or acquaintances?
Honestly speaking, I've never met anyone from any of the South America posts in person. Can you say that?
Apr 3rd, 2009, 04:52 PM
#45
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I have never met Mike Koh...
I would like to meet dr dawggy some day and I have met a couple of other posters from the TA boards .. who live in my neighborhood, so that would be normal, I think.. they are friends who post on the forums.
I was not aware that AVRooster or raquel had stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment. That is what I said. And for someone to give a call out to Fodorland for someone to post here, and no one answers.. doesn't really mean anything, now does it ? This is a slow forum .. Ask on the BA forums at TA.. you can hear from more people .. I am sure there will be those who agree with you.. I am not saying you are wrong in what happened.. only that some things are beyond our control and cannot be blamed on the company. Your perfect holiday that you planned and worked hard to take, didn't turn out to be 100% perfect.. the apt was not as clean as you wanted and the terrace was rusty.
(I will refrain from telling you about the time we went to Bermuda and I had to be flown home with food poisoning) .. a Perfect holiday is rare.
But did Buenos Aires not make it all worthwhile anyway? Did you not love it? Were you even in the apartment that long, other than to sleep?
I don't need to help Mike Koh. He seems to be quite eloquent on his own. I did not think it was fair nor do I like to see people , in anger or whatever, accuse others of dishonesty..name calling, immature stuff like that. . I believe ApartmentsBA has been successfully in business here since 2003 or something like that... so I also think there are some satisfied customers out there too.
I hope your next holiday is perfect for you and that someday you will look back on this one as not really that bad... after all. Chau ..
I would like to meet dr dawggy some day and I have met a couple of other posters from the TA boards .. who live in my neighborhood, so that would be normal, I think.. they are friends who post on the forums.
I was not aware that AVRooster or raquel had stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment. That is what I said. And for someone to give a call out to Fodorland for someone to post here, and no one answers.. doesn't really mean anything, now does it ? This is a slow forum .. Ask on the BA forums at TA.. you can hear from more people .. I am sure there will be those who agree with you.. I am not saying you are wrong in what happened.. only that some things are beyond our control and cannot be blamed on the company. Your perfect holiday that you planned and worked hard to take, didn't turn out to be 100% perfect.. the apt was not as clean as you wanted and the terrace was rusty.
(I will refrain from telling you about the time we went to Bermuda and I had to be flown home with food poisoning) .. a Perfect holiday is rare.
But did Buenos Aires not make it all worthwhile anyway? Did you not love it? Were you even in the apartment that long, other than to sleep?
I don't need to help Mike Koh. He seems to be quite eloquent on his own. I did not think it was fair nor do I like to see people , in anger or whatever, accuse others of dishonesty..name calling, immature stuff like that. . I believe ApartmentsBA has been successfully in business here since 2003 or something like that... so I also think there are some satisfied customers out there too.
I hope your next holiday is perfect for you and that someday you will look back on this one as not really that bad... after all. Chau ..
Apr 3rd, 2009, 04:56 PM
#46
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I am sorry, did you realize that I live in Buenos Aires? I might not have been clear on that :- )
Chau, Scarlett,
TABADE
LOL.... sorry, I saw someone sign their name like that elsewhere on Fodors and thought it was so goofy ..
Chau, Scarlett,
TABADE
LOL.... sorry, I saw someone sign their name like that elsewhere on Fodors and thought it was so goofy ..
Apr 3rd, 2009, 10:30 PM
#47
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No - I have never stayed in one of ApartmentsBA's apartments. My comments related to threads I have observed on TA. Many of them did go rather bad to say the least with all sorts of deleted posts etc or even the complete thread being deleted. .
My comments were pretty general. I will reiterate what I said before - with an addition that I would say the same of for example the Alvear or 4 Seasons or any place
"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 XXX and others who are willing to listen know"
And I guess I will add that the management of course has the right to their side of the story - which ApartmentsBa took.
Like with most apartment companies - some people have excellent experiences and some don't.....
raquel
My comments were pretty general. I will reiterate what I said before - with an addition that I would say the same of for example the Alvear or 4 Seasons or any place
"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 XXX and others who are willing to listen know"
And I guess I will add that the management of course has the right to their side of the story - which ApartmentsBa took.
Like with most apartment companies - some people have excellent experiences and some don't.....
raquel
Apr 4th, 2009, 03:04 AM
#48
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About: "I was not aware that AVRooster or raquel had stayed in an ApartmentsBA apartment.", I have not seen such a thing said anywhere.
I'm a local and obviously would never stay in a short-term rental apartment, no matter how "amazing" it may seem on the corresponding website.
I DO know that TA destination expert for Costa Rica Raquel_z is absolutely right when she repeats that when this apartment rental company is discussed on TA many of the pertinent threads "...go rather bad to say the least with all sorts of deleted posts etc or even the complete thread being deleted."
The interesting question is why does that happen?????
I'm a local and obviously would never stay in a short-term rental apartment, no matter how "amazing" it may seem on the corresponding website.
I DO know that TA destination expert for Costa Rica Raquel_z is absolutely right when she repeats that when this apartment rental company is discussed on TA many of the pertinent threads "...go rather bad to say the least with all sorts of deleted posts etc or even the complete thread being deleted."
The interesting question is why does that happen?????
Apr 4th, 2009, 12:04 PM
#49
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Avrooster,
You bring, brung brought and hammered an interesting point.
I'm not on TA all that much, so I'm not totally clear on its inner workings. Nor do I look to see what's really happening on the site.
Is is possible that ApartmentsBA is an advertiser on TA? If so, do advertisers have the ability to "influence" TA on which threads or comments to delete?
My hope is that TA would be above that, but then, we all thought Bernie Madoff was above bilking his customers, friends, etc...
You bring, brung brought and hammered an interesting point.
I'm not on TA all that much, so I'm not totally clear on its inner workings. Nor do I look to see what's really happening on the site.
Is is possible that ApartmentsBA is an advertiser on TA? If so, do advertisers have the ability to "influence" TA on which threads or comments to delete?
My hope is that TA would be above that, but then, we all thought Bernie Madoff was above bilking his customers, friends, etc...
Apr 4th, 2009, 12:49 PM
#50
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Hi Rastaguy, I took 5 weeks off all the travel internet forums. I couldn't read all of this last thread, but you didn't deserve such a messsy place or situation. You are so helpful, and I thank you for it.
As you may remember, I decided against an apt. because we are just there in BA for a week and went for the Mine Hotel, prebooked, because it's during a holiday season. I know it's a bit expensive, but it's cheaper than a place in SF and really gets suprelative after superlative on TA. Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your posts as I plan my trip.
As you may remember, I decided against an apt. because we are just there in BA for a week and went for the Mine Hotel, prebooked, because it's during a holiday season. I know it's a bit expensive, but it's cheaper than a place in SF and really gets suprelative after superlative on TA. Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your posts as I plan my trip.
Apr 4th, 2009, 01:11 PM
#51
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Rastaguytoday:
The apartment rental firm we are discussing DOES advertise on TA and I can prove THAT. It is obviously not a crime to advertise on TA.
Beyond that, I can speculate all I want, but I cannot PROVE anything.
However, it is a FACT, as I have said above, that a lot of posts often get deleted on TA when this subject comes up.
The apartment rental firm we are discussing DOES advertise on TA and I can prove THAT. It is obviously not a crime to advertise on TA.
Beyond that, I can speculate all I want, but I cannot PROVE anything.
However, it is a FACT, as I have said above, that a lot of posts often get deleted on TA when this subject comes up.
Apr 5th, 2009, 07:37 AM
#54
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I wish there was a way posters could go off line and email each other. You could then debate this topic ad nauseum. I'm planning a trip to BA next year - but reading this ongoing argument is just a waste of time.
Apr 5th, 2009, 12:18 PM
#55
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Susan,
You've been around long enough....
Haven't you noticed that 99% of threads that are posted either wither away because of the original question or, as you've put it, turn into a derivative of itself, ad nauseum?
If this thread bores you, go find another thread to bore yourself with.
You've been around long enough....
Haven't you noticed that 99% of threads that are posted either wither away because of the original question or, as you've put it, turn into a derivative of itself, ad nauseum?
If this thread bores you, go find another thread to bore yourself with.
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