We have rented several times from Rome Sweet Home. They are decent and nice. We rented 4 weeks from Halldis. The experience was outrageous. Halldis charged a 700E damage deposit which somehow I did not see when I priced the rental. On arrival they told us that we should not keep the keys in the door when in the apartment, because you cannot get in if the door is shut when you go out and you forget that the key is in the other side. We were not comfortable being locked in the apartment without the keys in the door, as getting out fast could be life or death in a fire or earthquake, so we did end up getting locked out. Halldis said they called a locksmith whom we did not see as we were out. They did not have to change the lock as they gave us another key and we found the original keys inside the apartment, so we wonder if they called a locksmith or their maintenance man. The electric stove shorted when I turned on the oven, and they brought in various repairmen including their own maintenance man who was very polite. But the owner also called an appliance repairman. After waiting all morning for the repairman, as soon as he came, then he wanted to leave and come back later. We objected as it was already parts of 3 days we had to wait for a repair/maintenance man. Halldis maintenance had brought a two burner hotplate which had to be propped up on cardboard to sit flat on the electric burners. Not stable--dangerous. A large electric cord had to run across the dining room wall and part of the kitchen to it. They got the stove working but not the oven. I think they already knew the oven wasn't working before they rented the apartment as there were no pans for it in the kitchen. There was not even a pot holder and there were no small bowls, etc--it was a very unworkable set up in the kitchen you had to go out to the dining room and lift a heavy lid on a chest which was where you would put an arrangement or set aside things from the table, in order to get the silverware. It was absurd. The owner came from some distance. She was nice, but not paying attention to making her apartment livable, she thought Halldis should do it. It seemed that she did not trust Halldis and was deciding to remove the rental from their books. She mentioned having had bathroom fixtures broken by clients. We bought a blender to make smoothies as cooking was so difficult there, which we had to run on the living room floor, as the kitchen electric outlets did not work. To turn on the electric stove one had to climb upstairs and turn off the hot water heater because there was not enough current and the fuse would blow necessitating a trip down to the ground floor and back. Absurd as they could ask for more current, but it would cost more. The apartment was not cheap. They said it was quiet in the listing. It was extremely noisy-- above where people poured out of a disco late at night, often yelling and talking loudly until 4-5 am. There was no double pane glass, so it was loud. When we left, someone came to check us out and did not find anything wrong with the apartment. Later Halldis contacted us saying one of the bathroom fixtures had been broken. It is possible, as a soap dish which is very heavy sits on a rack and if the soap sticks to it, it falls to the floor. This happened in the dark once, but we never noticed any damage. Their maintenance man sent a photo of the fixture being glued back together. We were charged the 700 E deposit, not credited anything for days of lost time, inconvenience, a non-functional kitchen. The bathroom fixture they repaired was a very cheap one. Halldis should not maintain a hazard which can easily break a fixture. Apparently this had happened before. Nor should they have a lock on a door where you cannot get out of the apartment fast in an emergency or you must risk paying a locksmith if you keep the keys in the door so you can get out. They wasted a lot of our time, the kitchen was barely functional.
Posted by
Central Valley, California
293 posts
Yuck - sounds like a nightmare. I have read and noted, thanks.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11377 posts
What a terrible experience! I commiserate and am sorry you had such difficulties.
I have to say, though, after almost 5 years living in Roman apartments (as well as many vacation rentals traveling about Italy), it all sounds rather Italian to me: small, unworkable kitchen, odd storage, limited power, marginally functional appliances, kludgy locks and doors. Charming and yet annoying.
I will say that in a vacation rental we never stick around for repair/service people. That is the rental agency's problem and we never let that stand in our way of our day plan.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks, all true, but we have lived in Italy the last ten years and have spent a major amount of time in Italy over the last 25 years, have rented many apartments and houses in Italy, and somehow, out of all of them, this experience was the one that seemed beyond the pale... which is why I took the time to write it up. We are familiar with the average state of affairs in Italy. And it is true that often certain things are often a bit lame in Italy. However there were some unique elements in this experience--the high damage deposit-- the fact that they kept--exactly-- all-- of the deposit, yet submitted no itemized billing for the costs, the fact that they sent a guy to check us out who did not present us upon departure with the cost for opening the door, or note the damage to the bathroom fixture they later billed us for. It is very odd, that we, ourselves, there were three of us that morning who used that bathroom, and one of us was a sharp eyed expert builder who would likely notice that sort of thing, but none of us noticed damage to the bathroom fixture. After we left, were notified and billed for-- exactly-- the entire damage deposit-- exactly 700 E. No details of the accounting. The repairman sent a photo, as I noted, we can never know now whether it was the case that we damaged the fixture. It would have seemed correct if they sent someone to check us out, for him to have noted any damage when we could look at it ourselves. Was it of damage we did? It is possible, but it is questionable as I have noted.
And it is one thing in Italy to have only 3 KW of electricity and have to turn off the hot water heater to turn on the stove, and another if you have to climb a floor to do it every time you want to use the stove or the hot water. It would be easy enough to drop a switch down to the wall just outside the kitchen. Despite the time wasted and the electrician's attention, when he left the electric outlets weren't working in the kitchen, and neither was the oven. (Given the total absence of pans for the oven, I wondered if it had not worked for some time?) The stove itself sometimes shorted out, according to the repairmen, apparently because it is next to the sink and humidity gets into the burners.
And it is yet another problem, to advertise an apartment as "quiet" when it is subject to lots of late night traffic--drunk people yelling after exiting a disco, getting louder and louder as it gets later at night. The apartment has only single pane glass in the (cheap, not antique or historic, windows). Only 3 windows would have to be changed. (Why would you not put in double pane windows if you are going to ask a lot of money for an apartment which is so loud one cannot sleep before the wee hours of the morning--not just Saturday night, but many nights of the week? Instead you advertise the apartment as quiet???? ) Two of the beds in that apartment are right near the loudest window. In fact, our guest near that window was unable to sleep until about 5 am, and we had to get up at 7am.
By the way, the agency asked us if we could be there when their repairman came, and then returned several times, and then with the electrician several times. And the electrician was hours late. Italy. It is likely, from comments the repairmen made that the electrical problems in the old kitchen unit were not new problems. If it is not possible to turn on the hot water heater and stove at the same time, shouldn't they tell you? And no compensation was offered. We were polite and did not ask for compensation, yet they had no hesitation to bill us a large amount of money for damages in dubious circumstances, and without specifying why it came to the exact amount of the large damage deposit.
Part of what is so annoying is that the apartment is a well-located, nice apartment and they want their (substantial) price for it, but don't want to offer it actually functional and livable. I would never rent from Halldis again.