Recent stay at London Connection apartment

I don't get this. Nice location, nice people, but the place sucked? Can you be more specific? What did you pay? Which questions would you ask? If London Connection has one sub standard property they probably have others. How could you tell ahead of time?

What was wrong with the flat? Which one was it?

Can you give us some details, please.
"we did have some hitches with the apartment itself"
Please list said hitches.
Sorry to hear the flat (apartment) was a disappointment.
Hope your London trip was enjoyable other than this problem with the flat.
We'd like to hear what the high points were of your trip.

Sorry for the vagueness of my earlier post. Here is a summary of the issues we experienced at the Rosary Gardens apartment in Kensington.
1) When we arrived, Ricardo, from the London Connection, showed us how to work the front door lock and when I opened the door, the lower hinge broke off completely - he had to go out to a hardware store, buy a new hinge and install it. Not a problem since we arrived mid-afternoon on a weekday, but if it had been late in the evening and/or after the stores closed, we could have had a bad situation with a front door hanging on only one hinge.

2) When showing me the bathroom and explaining the faucets, the faucet to the bathtub/shower pulled off in my hand - Ricardo showed me that it would pop right back on....and explained that due to the age of the fixtures, they were having problems getting a replacement.

3) Ricardo showed me how to use the combo washer/dryer. However, when I went to use it, I could not get it to operate correctly, and it ran through several wash cycles and wouldn't move to spin/dry. My clothes were "locked in" the machine. When I advised Ricardo, he came over in about an hour and shut down the machine, got it to drain, but the dryer function never worked. He offered to go get a new machine right away and have it installed, but we elected to simply air-dry the set of clothes we had washed.

4) While the unit had very comfortable beds and bedding, there were no "blackout" or dark shades - and we were awake every morning at 4:45 a.m. or so when the sun came streaming in....so we didn't get a lot of sleep on the trip.

All that being said - our airport pickup/drop off service, which was arranged by London Connection, was EXCELLENT. And Ricardo was a very nice man, who rose to the challenges quickly and took care of them - and we very much enjoyed visiting with him while he was working in the apartment.

Okay - forgot to add the high points....
1) Kensington Palace and the Princess Diana fashion exhibit
2) wonderful evening concert at St. martin in the Fields
3) Buckingham palace - didn't see the changing of the guard, but saw the horses and carriages, as well as the band marching down the mall.
4) tea at Harrods -
5) dinner at Olives for our anniversary

A good ride from the airport and a nice guy does not make up for a place with deferred maintenance. They should have moved you to another unit. You've sold me on never using this company.

Indeed. A door that falls off its hinges and a faucet that comes off in your hand (and which they say is completely known to them, no surprise?!!). I've got better things to do on my vacation than babysit someone replacing a door hinge while I worry about how to secure my stuff in an apartment that won't close.

We have had wonderful stays in London Connection apartments twice, although not at that property.

After staying in dozens of vacation rentals in many countries in the past 7 years, we have come to recognize that it is often not a matter of deferred maintenance, but a lack of reporting of problems by prior guests. The owners/managers cannot know there is a problem if no one tells them. We've had one semi-disastrous apartment and a few annoying deficiencies over these many stays. Funny, it seems once there is one problem they start to stack up and something you might overlook as a one-off becomes part of a larger pile of defects.

Thanks for the details. I'm with Alan....They should have moved you to another unit. I am disappointed with London Connection for not doing this for you.

Glad to hear you had some high points during your visit to London!

We have been moved to other upgraded apartments when there were problems, one in Paris and another in London.. You ahould not have been aubjected to all of this.

Wow - I would call those more than hitches. I am assuming that the exact problems you encountered will be listed in your review for the apartment on their website. It will be interesting to see if they show up in their apartment review. All of the current reviews are very good with the exception of someone mentioning minor problems but without specifics. I know things break down and fall apart but it seems odd that all of these things happened to just you, and only you. I hope when you write your review you will list the specific problems and not just generally refer to them as "hitches".

What were the dates of your stay at this apartment?

I have rented from LC for this fall (although not this particular apt.) and am interested in seeing if this shows up on the website.

Did they offer any recompense for your problems?

About eight years ago, I rented a London flat from that company. The location was superb, the price was reasonable, and based on that one experience, I would readily rent another apartment from that company. However, I also remember some minor maintenance issues in the apartment. They were not as substantial as what jkottka experienced (and frankly I can't remember what specifically they were, except I vaguely remember there were issues with the washer or dryer, and a light). But there were some minor issues related to maintenance that needed to be addressed and that were greater than what I have normally seen in Destin beach condos that I have rented over the years.

NEW UPDATE: I did hear back from London Connection thanking me for my feedback.

Just wanted to provide an update. I gave detailed feedback to two representatives from the London Connection on 6/29 and to date, have received no response from either of them.

I'm looking at their website right now for reviews of that apartment - all good reviews. I don't see any reviews that recount the problems you experienced. So was your review not published or was it published and cherry picked by them, leaving out the problems that you experienced?

Your problems with your London Connection apartment sound like very legitimate complaints, but I had such a good experience with them in April that I think I should speak up. We rented the Thames View apartment, and everything went very well, from our pickup at the airport, to meeting Ricardo at the apartment, to our final departure when they found us a last minute driver when we hadn't thought we would need one. We had a few hiccups with the combo washer/dryer but marked it up to probable user error.
I've rented a number of European apartments over the years and have come to accept that they are rarely quite as nice as the pictures. This LC apartment was exactly as pictured. I have another week in another of their apartments on the books for June.

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience with your rental. Of course one thing can go wrong, but 2-3 things? Ugh. It is always a bit scary to take the chance and rent an apartment, yet there are so many positives to doing so. I'm glad you were able to appreciate your vacation despite some glitches.

For those who are wondering whether or not to take the plunge and rent an apartment, just wanted to say I've rented in many locations and have always had positive experiences. In fact, if I have my way, I'll never stay in a hotel again. I usually use vrbo.com (vacation rental by owner) and have had fantastic options, so don't cross off apartment rentals.

(Note: European washers/dryers in apartments seem to be mysteries unto themselves. It frequently has taken 2 hours to do one very small load of wash, and things are rarely ever really dry. If I were in a hotel room I would not even have the option so I try to take "having a washer/dryer" with very low expectations.)

(Note: European washers/dryers in apartments seem to be mysteries unto themselves. It frequently has taken 2 hours to do one very small load of wash, and things are rarely ever really dry. If I were in a hotel room I would not even have the option so I try to take "having a washer/dryer" with very low expectations.)

LOL! Too true, SuzieQQ! And so rarely does anyone bother post instructions of any sort. I have become quite adept at figuring out how to get our clothes done, if slowly. One of the things I value most living back in the U.S. after years in Italy is the ease -- and speed -- of doing the laundry!