PSA: Rental apartments...

Did you ultimately get a second set of keys?

I assume this is a situation where the apartment owner or manager lists with the booking site. So the booking site is not directly responsible for the inconvenience caused by the 2:20 delay in getting access to the apartment. If you haven't already, you should post a review on the booking site.

Lessons learned are useful: make sure to have the same credit card with which the booking was made.

And the even better lesson: don't let a screw-up at the beginning of your trip affect your capacity for have a great time. So glad you loved your visit to Paris!

Congrats on maintaining a sense of humor about the whole thing. Your experience is not exactly rare, based on the online complaints I've encountered. I try to avoid private apartments when I'm shopping for lodgings online precisely because of the things that can go wrong when you have to meet with someone who may be welcoming many other renters the same day. It's not something a booking website can really control, though I guess if there are enough negative reviews, they may boot the listing.

I'm sorry to say that my check-in experiences at small hotels have not been without issue, either. The issues, such as they were, were magnified by the fact that I don't bother with having cell-phone service in Europe. That placard in the window with a phone number on it--what precisely am I supposed to do about that?

Usually when something like this happens, we say to ourselves "this will make a funny story later." Did you hear our story about getting locked inside an apartment building waiting for the agent ?
Glad the rest of the trip was great.

Thanks for this cautionary tale. I hope your friend whose credit card was needed has adequately compensated you (perhaps in wine) for not staying there himself to do the transaction. And glad your visit was good otherwise.

Your experience is one reason some of us don't recommend apartment rentals to people making short visits to a city. Your wasted hours weren't as bad in the context of a 10-day stay as they would have been for a 3-day stay. What bothers me, though, is that apparently you got a completely different apartment from the one advertised. I guess it was an adequate substitute, but if so you were lucky on that score. And I can imagine your concern about possibly being evicted later.

I hope you, or your friend, will describe this experience in a review on the big blue website. Others need to know about it. And the apartment owner needs to know what happened so he/she has a chance to correct it.

Laura B,
Couldn't help but chuckle when I read that you'd been locked inside an apartment. I once got stuck at a rental in Paris in the vestibule between two sets of locked doors Took me a while to figure out how to "escape."

Keys are sometimes hideously expensive in Paris. That's why you only get one set of them, because everyone assumes you leave as a "couple".

Yes, the part about the keys is one of the hassles of apartments. I've never had anyone be that late, though - that stinks! I'd leave that as a comment in the review.
Airbnbs in the US usually have some sort of electronic system - no need for key appointments, just use the code to enter anytime after your appointed time. I've seen this in Europe, but not as often - probably hard to install the system in older buildings?

If renting an apartment and getting in before the key drop time, I always ask the host if there is somewhere to store bags. Sometimes they point me to an office or have another arrangement for just this situation. In Rome, the apartment owner was related to the hotel owner down the street so the allowed apartment guests to drop their bags at the hotel desk. So asking is helpful, but if they don't have anything it is still good to consider finding a place to leave your bags. Train stations often have lockers, some cities have private luggage storage locker businesses, etc. That way you can wander and sightsee until the agreed-upon time.

Re - getting the right apartment - are you 100% sure you booked the specific apartment pictured? Sometimes the "big blue website" lists multiple apartments from the same company/same building together and if you don't click on your specific one it's hard to tell which pictures are which. For example, my Siracusa apartment was a 2 bedroom with terrace, but there was also a 1 bedroom and a smaller 2 bed in the building with the same owner. The main page had pictures of all of them mixed together, until I clicked on the one I chose, then I saw just its photos. If you are sure the "wrong" apartment was subbed for you then I would also leave that in a review.

the credit card problem was our fault.

Not necessarily. Did the confirmation materials specify that you had to show a credit card, and that it had to be the same credit card you reserved with?

I love how they didn't give you the apartment you thought you had booked, but insisted that you couldn't vary the credit card you gave them!!

What a huge pain on arrival day.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

No we never did recieved a second set of keys. We did manage fine, it would've been convenient for a few of the evenings though. I would expect a 3 bedroom/6 person apartment to have 2 sets minimum! Surprised they didnt mention this in the ad...though it is not like them to mention potentially problematic details in the ad is it!

Yes we certainly wrote up a review afterwards with our problems. However I find this big blue website quite decietful in that the negative reviews are not very visible, it takes some clicking to actually see them all clearly. However the positive reviews (no doubt some written by the agency itself) are right there at the top of the ad!

All we could honestly criticize though was the service from the agency. The apartment itself was fine. Clean , fantastic location, newly renovated, modern appliances, and actually good value for money too. I think the problem is we caught the agency on a bad day...also the agency is probably a very large one without much care for the guests, they just focus on turnover. After all it is central Paris, and they probably have all their apartments fully booked for the next 6 months at least. And even if some guests cancel due to bad service , they can probably fill it up with new ones on the same day or the next! Definitely a city where the owners have the power. Thankfully I knew about this so I wasn't so surprised with the experience. My French friends explained it to me on trips earlier in my life when I complained about the Parisian attitude to customer service. They said the city is so popular that there is always new customers around the corner, and the Parisians living off the tourist dollar know this... Of course its not always the case and I believe things have gotten much better. Just remember in Paris do not expect everyone to be all smiles and friendly..some of them are even obviously annoyed by you! Its all part of the Paris experience though, and it's usually a funny story in the future. This is the best attitude.

" ...... in Paris do not expect everyone to be all smiles and friendly ....."

Personally, insincere smiles and phony friendliness are not what I want when I travel, whether in Paris or elsewhere.

A word to the wise - if you're considering Paris Attitude for a rental.

I would NOT recommend Paris Attitude. I was referred to them by another agency, which I trusted but had no apartment availability for our dates. Our early communications with Paris Attitude were lovely and prompt, but as soon as we arrived in our apartment and discovered problems with it and essentials that were missing, Paris Attitude took days to reply. They said they would work with the manager of the apartment, and they continued to stall in their replies to our calls and emails; eventually, they stopped replying altogether. In the end, they charged an agency fee of 1/3rd of the value of the apartment rental fee but they provided NO services whatsoever in advocating on our behalf with the manager (who was also not responsive) - even for something as simple as an additional fan for the apartment. Beware that they seem polished and professional at the outset, but they will not help you at all should you encounter any issues once you’re in the apartment. In addition, I don’t know that the apartment management companies that they deal with are held to any standards, so I would definitely steer clear and book elsewhere.

So the OP wasnt clear about what site this apartment was booked with. Was it Booking.com? Please confirm.