tony s.

I made reservations to rent a specific apartment months prior to my departure, as I was taking my entire family on a European vacation. We ultimately rented an apartment online, and had several follow up conversations with a company called "Home Away. The reservation was secured on May 4,2016. The stay was for July 25th, 2016. My family and I left the United States, and landed in Paris early Monday morning, July 25. We had traveled for approximately 24 hours straight, and were jet lagged and tired. We wanted to simply get to our apartment as soon as possible to shower and to rest. As my family and I arrived in Paris, I checked my emails and saw that nothing had been sent to me regarding any changes in our accommodations that we had already paid for. There were 8 of us traveling and, as such, I secured an apartment that had 4 bedrooms in order to accommodate all of us. Unbeknownst to me, the driver who picked us up had been given a different address than the one I had been provided. It was pure coincidence that it even came up. I immediately contacted the person representing the owner of the apartment, who casually advised me that our apartment was no longer available. Until that moment, there had been no effort by anyone related to the apartment we had paid for, that it was not available. According to Fredereic, the representative, there was damage to the apartment such that we could not stay there. Frederic then advised that the driver was taking us to a different apartment to see if we liked it. I asked how many bedrooms there were, and confirmed that Frederic knew there were 8 of us traveling. The new apartment only had 3 bedrooms, and not enough beds for all of us to sleep. Frederic then suggested that he could go buy a couple of air mattresses and put them in the living room. I expressed, in an undeniably frustrated tone, that 3 bedrooms and air mattresses was clearly NOT what I had bargained for. He said that was the best he could do.

Literally, and they had a much smaller apartment for us to stay in. The apartment was not going to accommodate myself and my family as there was 8 of us traveling together. We were left to find another place to stay. While in the car on the way to this unseen and unknown apartment, I worked with my assistant in the U.S. to locate alternative accommodations. (I woke my assistant up at 3am my time to help me). I found a hotel that had 4 rooms available, and ended up staying there, at a rate significantly higher than what I was going to pay for the apartment.

I attempted to call the owner of the property to discuss the issue and to discuss a refund and, to date, there has been no return telephone call. We have left numerous voicemails. Having no other alternative, I disputed the charge directly through Citi bank. In its simplest form, I paid in advance for an apartment rental, and the persons from whom I rented it told me it was no longer available. Frankly, any effort on their part to keep any portion of the money would be fraudulent at best.