Holy Mackerel, Donna!

Can we display images here?

StripedShirt, you can display images here if they're already hosted on some server. Just click the button below which says "Switch to Full Reply Screen", then click the button (4th button from the left) which, when hovering over it says "Enter an image", then enter the direct URL to that image.



Saludos, MadridMan

Good

Would you mind if I put up the images of my dire Seville apartment? I can't get TA to display them for various bureaucratic reasons (like, I don't own the apartment; it's not a review of a Seville attraction, it's not an hotel etc etc)

Sure! Post your photos if you like as long as they're already "housed" on a server to which you can directly link to the photos.

Saludos, MadridMan

Great, thanks MadridMan.

All over internet travel forums you see people asking about apartment rentals, and can the photos posted by letting agencies be trusted? Now I know that in this case their photos can be trusted, as long as you look at the place from exactly the same camera angle and at exactly the same time of day, and don't look sideways, up or down, try to operate the applicances or actually try to live there in the case of this one, in Seville, in September this year.

The kitchen sink: I took this photo after removing a dishcloth which had been draped over it....



Refridgerator interior (not the freezer, the fridge), which froze all the liquids solid overnight...



The view from the one and only window ......



The "internal patio" i.e., a well, and the reason why the whole apartment smelled of damp......



Unfinished wiring in the bathroom.....



More unfinished wiring in the sitting room.....



The ironing board.....



Yes I did tell them. No they were not interested.

Some people go through life saying "It's All Right Really, we're only here for a few days, don't make any fuss". I'm not an It's All Right Really person but that don't make me one of life's Complainers with a capital C either.

If no-one says anything, nothing gets fixed and everyone goes around in a state of blissful ignorance (the apartment rental agency in this case) or in dashed expectations (the previous and subsequent renters of this apartment).

People should take photographs and post them if disappointed with the reality and dissatisfied with the total indifference of response. People SHOULD complain more! They are doing everyone else a service!

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I'm sure my Madrid apartment in December will yield only wonderful photos of everything being exactly as depicted on the website.

OH--MY--GAWD. That's just awful! Just goes to show that people will try to get away with "selling" anything. I'm sure the agency's photos of this same apartment were just wonderful, though, smartly avoiding the patio and unfinished wiring. My "favorite" photo was the wiring holding the bare, dangling low-consumption light bulb on the wall.

Thanks for posting your photos, StripedShirt. Not sure why "the system" forced you to post them twice unless it took a moment for them to be "extracted" from Flickr.

Saludos, MadridMan

Again, should I worry?

15th November I emailed them asking for a later check-out than 10 am. I can see from their bookings screen that no-one is coming in the day we leave, so a 10am check-out seems rather stringent. They've got three whole days to clean the place, i.e., change the beds and empty the wastebins.

There was no reply, so 21st November I emailed the boss saying very mildly that there was no panic, but some sort of clarification would be nice.

Again, no reply. Yet.

They're not a two-man outfit, MadridMan. When I had to call them last month about some detail about payment, it was a busy bustling office.

Hmmmmm...... I sure hope everything's ok in their world. I'm really looking forward to this Christmas trip, not least because we're going to meet some nice people there!

I´ve stayed , like MM , in hotels and hostales across Spain and Portugal and some of them , frankly , do not have a sense of business . In London , I always ask for a late check out ( maybe midday ) and I always get it without extra charge . Here in Madrid it can be more difficult . They will allow you to leave luggage behind the desk but wil often not accept a late check out . The cleaners all have a schedule and that´s it ! I would keep calling them though .. maybe on the phone and demand an answer to your question . Whatever happens , you´ll have a great time in Madrid !
Oh and I only just saw the pictures you uploaded of your last accommodation . Man , that was horrible ..! I hope all goes well for you this time .

My Seville apartment rental with Sevilla 5 worked out reasonably well. I paid 320 Euros for the whole 7 days, and I wasn't expecting much. When the apartment turned out to be halfway decent, I was happy. It was Arfe 4 a small duplex apartment that housed a rather quirky art collection in the Arenal area.

The woman who came to check me in from Sevilla 5 spoke no English, but I suppose they correctly assumed from my Spanish surname that it wasn't necessary. She brought me an internet modem I had requested that worked very well.

On the wall in the kitched was some kind of big tank. When I turned on the hot water in the sink you could see a roaring fire blazing in a window of this tank. When I turned off the hot water, it would stop. I never saw such a thing in any apartment I rented in Europe or South America. What was that? A kind of gas heater?

I emailed a request for a later checkout due to a flight change caused by those Iberia strikes, and Manuela fron Sevilla 5 was very cooperative and said I could stay as late as I needed to.

I would use Sevilla 5 again, but I can understand why Striped Shirt was unhappy after seeing those photos.

That tank would have been a gas boiler unit . They are very common in Europe . I have one in my apartment and always had them when I owned property in England .