148 Richdale Ave

AirBnB rental

DAYS: 123<br/><br/>This review is in response to our experience and is based on the host not meeting several of the basic requirements/expectations as required by AirBnB: Photo documentation supporting our review has been provided to AirBnB. Conditions considered acceptable by other tenants are not of our concern and unrelated to our review. <br/><br/>In Boston for Co-Op, my female roommate moved in Jan 2, 2019, I arrived Jan 11, 2019. For the reasons listed below, we vacated Jan 12, 2019 and moved to a clean, safe, secure and heated rental.<br/><br/>1) "Keys to house were not provided" <br/><br/>� Jan 2, 2019: My roommate moved in and experienced the following:<br/>o Keys to the Exterior Door were requested, but NEVER provided <br/>o Keys to our Private Room were requested, but NOT provided until Jan 9, 2019�ONE WEEK after move-in. Every day she left the premises for work, etc. - for a week - she was unable to lock any door, exterior or interior � an obvious safety & security issue for her and her belongings.<br/><br/>� Jan 12, 2019: Ironically our concerns for safety were further justified when, one of the on-site hosts told us of an incident within the past year or so, after complaints by tenants about missing items, the hosts found someone living in the downstairs art studio. The squatter was able to gain access to the home over a period of time because she knew the hosts didn�t lock their front door.<br/><br/>2) The heat-- room heater failed 1/4/19. The temporary heaters could not heat the room above 64F and dropped to 56F at night.<br/>My roommate texted the on-site host her concern about the heat. Additionally, a text from her to the off-site host shows he, too, was aware that there had been no response or remedy from the on-site host. <br/>� To have some heat, she moved the heater from the bathroom into our room.<br/>� When ultimately provided, one of the two space heaters did not work.<br/>� When additional blankets were requested for warmth, my roommate was given used blankets from the host�s sofa.<br/>� Jan 11: informed that the heater would not be repaired until Jan 15/16, more than 10 days after failure. <br/> <br/><br/>3) "Portable heaters"�Host responded �we did provide a replacement heater and would have provided more upon request. When I visited them on the night of January 11th, the room was well above 70 degrees and comfortable. All of them had taken off their coats. Neither I nor my dad received any more complaints about the heat after the one correspondence I had with the roommate.�<br/>This is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts, <br/><br/>Each of us had on wraps, sweatshirts, etc. and took turns standing in front of the one working space heater. Time and date stamped photos show the room temp readings on the heaters as summarized below which show a maximum of 64F and a Saturday afternoon temp of 56F. Despite already having paid for this room, the inadequate living conditions (insufficient heat) caused us to secure a hotel room at an additional cost. <br/><br/>� Friday, 1/11 @ 4 PM<br/>o Inside temp: 64 degrees<br/>� Friday, 1/11 @ 5:44 PM<br/>o Inside temp: 63 degrees<br/>� Saturday, 1/12 @ 12:52pm<br/>o Inside temp: 56 degrees<br/><br/>4) �Broken shower water diverter" <br/>My roommate personally informed the on-site host that half the water was coming out of the bathtub spigot, rather than the shower head.<br/><br/><br/>5) "Bathtub had large chunks of black stuff"<br/>It clearly needed to be cleaned, as did the air vent and window sill. During my roommate�s stay, (in the room adjacent to the bathroom) she rarely heard or saw any other guests use the bathroom, therefore they would have most likely not reported about it. The fact that the hosts live directly across from this bathroom and never checked on the cleanliness speaks volumes.<br/><br/>6) "Refrigerator unsanitary" <br/>My roommate cleaned the inside of the refrigerator. Upon seeing this and the condition of the room, she requested cleaning supplies. She was given three (3) Clorox wipes.<br/><br/>7) "Floor rug was dirty"<br/>The original rug provided was dirty. Host replaced with another dirty one.<br/><br/>8) "Comforter and sheets dirty and stained"<br/>� The unclean state of the bed cover, host promptly provided another quilt as stained as the first.<br/>� The sheets also had a variety of stains, dirt and other things.<br/><br/>9) �Bath towel had an unpleasant smell�<br/>As part of the host�s responsibility clean towels/washcloths were to have been provided. In fact after being told �all household items are included with the price of rent,� when my roommate requested a washcloth, she was given a rag torn in two.<br/><br/><br/>10) "Mattress unacceptable"<br/>In response to our complaint that the �mattress� was nothing but hard springs, the on-site host replied �I was told that, but felt she�s young, she won�t notice�.<br/><br/>To his credit, he did replace the bed later that evening. Being clearly aware of this problem, this should have been done before our Jan 2nd arrival.<br/><br/>My roommate did her best to communicate with the on-site host and resolve each situation to the extent she felt comfortable doing so. She endured more discomfort (physical and emotional) than anyone renting from a host on AirBnB should. From our overall experience, there was no reason to believe the accommodations would have been resolved in a satisfactory or timely manner.<br/><br/>10 days living in these conditions were enough justification that we could not, should not, continue to stay in this unsafe, unclean environment.<br/><br/>