Rental in Rome - Problems

[GRAMMYTAN]

Having stayed in nice hotels in Rome both pre cruise and post cruise a few times, we opted to rent an apartment with our friends for 5 nights post cruise this year. We were well aware of cultural differences and took these things into consideration. We enjoyed shopping at the local Despar supermarket as well as the open market vendors and cheese shop and meat shop and bakeries around Campo di Fiori, where the apartment was located.

 

We did enjoy the apartment experience once we got settled in but experienced some problems with the agency we used, Rental in Rome. Almost a full year prior to our trip we contacted this agency with a list of things we would like in an apartment and with our dates, number in party etc. Included in our list of needs on our very first email were Heat and A/C, two separate bedrooms – no sofa beds, two bathrooms, clothes washer, kitchen, ground floor or lift. We received a list of 6 to 8 apartments in the Camp di Fiori area which had all of these amenities and selected the Alibrandi Palace Apartment. We even did a google street search to look at the building and neighborhood.

 

I had used Stefano for all of our transportation needs on previous trips with wonderful results but the agency sent us a great video about their transport service and since we knew they would know exactly where the apartment was located we decided to use this service.

We had vouchers showing our pickup at the airport at 1:30 pm with arrival at the apartment at 3 pm and to be greeted by an agent at the apartment to show us everything and to receive our refundable deposit.

 

We arrived on time and were greeted at the airport by a gentleman in a suit holding a sign with our names on it. He was haggling with 4 other people about a transfer. He immediately turned us over to a young man who would be our driver. This young man was not well groomed, wore a tee shirt and jeans and the van was not clean. We handled most of our own luggage to the van. There was a baby seat in the back and our friend had to climb over the seat to get into the van. She apparently lost her eyeglasses in doing so. The young man did speak a little English in the van when we asked questions.

 

At the apartment, he basically dumped us and our luggage out front and asked for full round trip payment as was “customary.” He proceeded to leave and we had no idea where the apartment was in the 3 story building. He conveniently understood no English from this point on. We were insistent and he finally used an intercom system to buzz someone in the apartment. A young man came down to bring us to the apartment and understood no English. He and a woman were still cleaning the apartment even though it was past 3 pm. We kept trying to find out where the agent was and he somehow got someone on his phone to come over.

 

When the man from Rental in Rome arrived he was quite rude and was not informative at all, telling us that Phillip was the agent who was to greet us but he was busy since we were expected at 7 pm. I told him we were scheduled to arrive at 3 pm and he insinuated that we were lying until I produced my voucher. At that time he said “my mistake” with no other apology. He could not show us how to use the dishwasher, washing machine TV, A/C etc., which were completely different from anything we have ever used at home. The TV and Satellite system had 6-8 remote controls that you had to use and the ridiculous written instructions included using all of these just to watch TV. We tried several times and could not use either the TV or DVD player. The TV in the bedroom was not even hooked up. The next day an Italian man in a neighboring apartment stopped by to see if we could help him with his TV as he couldn’t work his either. We had requested an iron and ironing board for our clothes as we were on a 12 day cruise prior to arrival and knew we would need to do some laundry. We finally found a small ironing board and a place for an iron, but no iron.

 

Before the agent arrived, I went into the kitchen and ran my hand across the marble counter and my hand was black with dirt. I showed this to the agent and he had the lady clean the counter, but I cleaned it again with soap and towels. There were plenty of dishes, pots and pans etc., but not even a basic pantry of salt and pepper or even paper towels. There were two dishtowels that appeared to have been used over and over without benefit of being laundered. We were left with two tiny bars of soap for 4 people and we had 4 batch towels and 4 hand towels for the 4 of us. When I asked about this and explained that we were there for 4 days he said it was not customary and we could order more towels for 5 euro per towel and a 5 euro delivery charge. I had brought some of the shower sponges and went out and bought wash cloths.

 

He was only concerned with our leaving the apartment cleaned and taking out the trash to recycle bins but could not tell us where to take the trash. Of course trash bags were not furnished either. Once he left our friend took of his shoes to relax since he has gout. He immediately found the soles of his feet to be black. We called the agent and they argued with us about an iron, which we never received, and could not understand why we needed air conditioning when we told them it did not work. They did send another young woman out to mop the floors but she used one bucket of water for the entire apartment and never rinsed the floors. We wore sandals for the next 5 days in the apartment.

 

We settled in and accepted the cultural differences and went to the grocery store and market for a few items – coffee, soda, water, wine, beer, paper towels etc. When we attempted to wash up our coffee cups and glasses there was no hot water. Again we called to see if there was a switch that we needed turn on. We were told “no hot water in kitchen.” So we found a kettle and large pot to heat water on the stove each time we wanted to wash dishes. We tried the dishwasher but it was cold water as well and we had to hand wash those dishes as well. We shuddered at the thought that the first glasses and cups we had used had been washed in cold water only.

 

Still, we enjoyed the freedom of the apartment and tried to enjoy our next few days in Rome, making the best of the situation, chalking it up to “live and learn.” The agent who “greeted” us on the first day said he would be back at 8 pm on our last night with our deposit and to check the apartment. He showed up at 4 pm instead, took a quick look at the apartment and left our deposit – again reminding us of garbage – which we had been taking out every day. Someone in one of the other apartments showed us where to take the garbage the first day. He told us again to leave the keys on the table before we left the next morning and called the driver to remind him to pick us up and finally asked him about the eye-glasses that were lost in the van. We never found those.

 

The next morning our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 5:45 am for an 8:45 am flight at FCO airport which is a good 30 -40 minute drive. At 5:30 am we had taken all of our luggage down the 19 steps from the “ground floor” apartment and were waiting in an alcove inside a the huge, heavy wooden doors to the apartment. We had locked the keys in the apartment and it had turned quite cold that night. It was still dark out. By 6:30 am we knew that the driver was not going to show up and we had tried calling every single phone number on our vouchers and either got no answer or a recording that it was not a working number. So my husband and I (in our 60’s) left our even older friends with the luggage in a dark and cold alley way to run approximately 4 blocks to a taxi stand to secure a ride to the airport. We were able to get two small taxis to bring us back to the apartment and load our luggage and us for the trip to the airport. Thank goodness traffic was light at that time of morning. That driver drove like a bat out of H*LL but he and the other driver got us to the airport at a little after 7 am. Check in for International flights say 3 hours, but the agency was insistent that we would be fine with two hours. They also charged us an extra 20 euro for the early morning pick up.

 

We barely made our flights. By the time we reached the airport and got in line with our luggage, my head was swimming and I felt like I would pass out but kept myself together in fear that we would not be able to board. My poor friend was really upset as well. Once we were on board for an 8 hour flight to Atlanta our friend became very ill, I suspect much from the stress of the morning and being abandoned at the apartment.

 

When we reached the airport in Atlanta for our flight change, she barely made it off the plane. Before we could even get to customs I had to help in the bathroom as she was violently ill and said her head was exploding. By then she could not even stand. I had her lay across the counter and asked other ladies to watch her while I ran out to get her husband to ask for a wheel chair. When I went back to get her she said she needed a paramedic. I had her put her arm over my shoulder and walked her out and we propped her against the cool tile wall with wet towels on her face and neck. A policeman came and then a Delta employee and brought a wheel chair. Delta was wonderful with their assistance. They rushed all four of us through customs and found a place for us to sit while we waited for the paramedics. They checked her out and at first thought they could treat her in the ambulance, but her condition worsened and she had to go to the hospital for treatment and finally was able to come home the next day. She is in good health and had no problems on the trip until this stressful situation with Rental in Rome. As I said, Delta was fabulous is helping them with the ambulance, rescheduling flights, and working with us to expedite us all through customs and for us to get their luggage home along with our own.

 

I have contacted Rental in Rome and await their response. As I said, we finally were able to acclimate ourselves to the apartment and enjoyed our stay but the fact that they did not honor their statements, misrepresented their services, and employees was probably enough for us to not use their services again, but when they abandoned us and almost made us miss our flights and brought on stress related illness to our friend, we just said “enough.” I have sent them a numbered and detailed list of our problems and asked them to respond to each item and have asked them to refund the 100 euros we spent for transportation to the airport. I have put this company on notice that I expect a full apology and refund of our additional costs, and pending an answer from them, plan to report them to all Italian agencies as well as the U.S. Embassy.

 

Our friends did purchase trip insurance on our advice which will help cover extra medical and flight expense. My apologies to anyone who thinks that this post is too long, but I felt that I needed to list all of the problems we encountered with this company to show that this is not a trivial complaint. If anyone has any information on Italian agencies that I might need to contact, please post here. Thank you Cruise Critics friends.

[wantocruisemore]

Thank you so much for posting!

 

We rented last year in Rome and will be renting again this spring, but neither time with Rental in Rome. It's always good to know ahead of time about a rental agency.

 

I also tend to not book with the rental agency for transport. I had actually heard they sometimes will subcontract and I don't wan to have the situation happened like you experienced. I used Rome in Limo last year and no problems.

 

Glad your friend is now ok and hopefully your trip was great otherwise.

[GRAMMYTAN]

Thank you. Our friend is doing much better now and is finally home and resting. We had a wonderful trip including a short stay in Barcelona pre-cruise, 12 days Med on the Carnival Breeze and our 5 days in Rome. We had basically just decided to chalk up the initial problems to "live and learn," and not let it mar our trip but being abaondoned in the cold and dark and the resulting medical issues of our friend, was just the last straw.

Stephano Costano of Rome Cabs is wonderful and I wish I had gone with my instincts and booked him.

[euro cruiser]

It is hard to know in advance. It's too late to help you, but for others considering apartment stays I suggest checking on the Slowtravel web site (www.slowtrav.com) and their message boards (www.slowtalk.com/groupee). This web site specializes in apartment stays and has lots of reviews and experienced renters you can ask questions of. This particular agency, Rental in Rome, has been well known on Slowtrav for years for exactly the type of problems you experienced.

[lisiamc]

I'm sorry your apartment wasn't very nice. For what it's worth, some of the things you are willing to write off as cultural differences are just poor customer service. Other things I would class as a cultural difference.

 

For example:

 

Cultural differences:

 

Towels - usually one bath towel and one hand towel per person, with a charge for extras. In many parts of Italy, it is not unusual to be supplied with smooth or waffle-weave, non-terrycloth towels. Wash cloths are not normally used or supplied, and in my fairly limited experience with self-catered apartments, no tea towels or dish towels are supplied. I also wouldn't normally expect things like salt and pepper or paper towels, unless they were left behind by a previous guest. In an inexpensive place, we normally expect only two bars small of soap at the most - one for the basin and one for the shower.

 

Air conditioning: Only switched on during the height of summer, and then is prone to switching off in the middle of the night. It rarely reaches the low temperature expected by guests from the USA.

 

Hot water: Most European appliances like dishwashers or washing machines have only a cold fill and heat their own water as they go. However, it is normal to expect hot water from the kitchen tap.

 

Not a cultural difference:

 

Cleaning: Your apartment sounds very dirty. Usually any hotel room or apartment in Italy is cleaner than clean, no matter how cheap or basic.

 

Again, I'm sorry that your apartment was not very good. I hope you have a better experience next time.

[GRAMMYTAN]

It is hard to know in advance. It's too late to help you, but for others considering apartment stays I suggest checking on the Slowtravel web site (www.slowtrav.com) and their message boards (www.slowtalk.com/groupee). This web site specializes in apartment stays aned has lots of reviews and experienced renters you can ask questions of. This particular agency, Rental in Rome, has been well known on Slowtrav for years for exactly the type of problems you experienced.

 

Thank you for this info re: slowtrav.com - it's really not too late as I now have another place to post and warn other pax about this agency.

I'm sorry your apartment wasn't very nice. For what it's worth, some of the things you are willing to write off as cultural differences are just poor customer service. Other things I would class as a cultural difference.

 

For example:

 

Cultural differences:

 

Towels - usually one bath towel and one hand towel per person, with a charge for extras. In many parts of Italy, it is not unusual to be supplied with smooth or waffle-weave, non-terrycloth towels. Wash cloths are not normally used or supplied, and in my fairly limited experience with self-catered apartments, no tea towels or dish towels are supplied. I also wouldn't normally expect things like salt and pepper or paper towels, unless they were left behind by a previous guest. In an inexpensive place, we normally expect only two bars small of soap at the most - one for the basin and one for the shower.

 

Air conditioning: Only switched on during the height of summer, and then is prone to switching off in the middle of the night. It rarely reaches the low temperature expected by guests from the USA.

 

Hot water: Most European appliances like dishwashers or washing machines have only a cold fill and heat their own water as they go. However, it is normal to expect hot water from the kitchen tap.

 

Not a cultural difference:

 

Cleaning: Your apartment sounds very dirty. Usually any hotel room or apartment in Italy is cleaner than clean, no matter how cheap or basic.

 

Again, I'm sorry that your apartment was not very good. I hope you have a better experience next time.

 

Thanks for your input on this. It is very concise. I agree that many of these items are normally due to cultural differences. However, I did ask about the Heat and A/C in my very first request to this company. I'm aware that in Europe they do tend to use heat and air on a limited basis and at certain times of the year. Due to some breathing problems - I did ask up front about their policy and availability during the time we would be there.

As for the dishwasher, this one did not have hot water and apparently did not heat the water. We pretty much pre-washed the few dishes we used before putting them in the dishwasher and they came out greasy and were still wet.

The bathroom fixtures were clean when we arrived and the sheets were clean and fresh (thank goodness), but the counter tops and floors were not clean. Also the windows were quite dirty.

As I stated before, we chalked up the problems with the apartment to cultural differences and some bad customer service and enjoyed our stay. The problem with being abandoned really was the last straw though.

By the way, my friend is back in the hospital again tonight for treatment. We feel that most of the problem is directly related to the stress of this situation.

[lisiamc]

I'm sorry your friend is ill. The way the agency let you down on the transport back to the airport is inexcusable. I can understand why you all felt stressed!

[texancruzer]

We have also rented apt in Rome but our booking was very different. The apartment was listed on a website but we did all our pre-booking discussion and booking directly with the owner. When we arrived they were there to go over everything with us. They owned the whole building and lived upstairs. A quick phone call away. Altho we really didn't have to call them it was nice to know they were right there. On our last day (before boarding our cruise) they kept our luggage in their apartment while we did our Vatican Scavi tour. They had people coming after us and needed to clean but were more than happy to keep our luggage for us.

 

It sounds like you got a bad apple.....there are always those in the barrel. I will say that I much prefer to book condos/apartment etc directly through the owner and usually will utilize a website where this is how it is done. VRBO or Homeaway are two that we have used and come to mind.

 

Sorry to hear your friend is having problems caused by the stress. Seems older people feel it more and have problems with "rolling with the punches" of international travel. We have learned that problems traveling are never so bad as to get ourselves that upset. The sun will still come up tomorrow even though we may have to take another flight or alter our plans in some way. Seems every time we travel lately we have had major flight issues and while it is a hassle I just won't let it get me that stressed.

 

On the other items: I will say in all the times we have rented condos/apts there have never been condiments or paper items except for toilet paper. And even then in Rome there were limited amounts of that. Sometimes there will be some left by previous tenants but usually those are removed when the unit is cleaned. In the condo we stayed at in Honduras, the maids came in and split up our "leftovers" before we even left ;) Towels are usually minimal

 

As for our kitchen, we also had only cold water in the kitchen. I just made sure to wash with plenty of soap and wash well. The bathrooms did have plenty of hot hot hot water tho !!!!!!

 

Have never been abandoned for our pickup altho after renting an apartment in Ostia Antica outside of Rome after one of our trips, we had requested a large van since there were 4 adults and a ton of luggage (my sister in law brought everything she owned) for a very early flight out of FCO. Well, the driver showed up a tad late (not bad) but in a regular small cab. HAHA..... he somehow managed to cram us and luggage all in and we must have looked like a circus clown act getting out at the airport since I was sitting on dh's lap and she was on her husbands lap and every other inch of empty space was luggage.

 

Again, we have learned to "roll with the punches".

[GRAMMYTAN]

I'm sorry your friend is ill. The way the agency let you down on the transport back to the airport is inexcusable. I can understand why you all felt stressed!

 

Thank you for your kind words. I have wished a hundred times that we had used Stefano for our transfers. He has never let us down.

[GRAMMYTAN]

We have also rented apt in Rome but our booking was very different. The apartment was listed on a website but we did all our pre-booking discussion and booking directly with the owner. When we arrived they were there to go over everything with us. They owned the whole building and lived upstairs. A quick phone call away. Altho we really didn't have to call them it was nice to know they were right there. On our last day (before boarding our cruise) they kept our luggage in their apartment while we did our Vatican Scavi tour. They had people coming after us and needed to clean but were more than happy to keep our luggage for us.

 

It sounds like you got a bad apple.....there are always those in the barrel. I will say that I much prefer to book condos/apartment etc directly through the owner and usually will utilize a website where this is how it is done. VRBO or Homeaway are two that we have used and come to mind.

 

Sorry to hear your friend is having problems caused by the stress. Seems older people feel it more and have problems with "rolling with the punches" of international travel. We have learned that problems traveling are never so bad as to get ourselves that upset. The sun will still come up tomorrow even though we may have to take another flight or alter our plans in some way. Seems every time we travel lately we have had major flight issues and while it is a hassle I just won't let it get me that stressed.

 

On the other items: I will say in all the times we have rented condos/apts there have never been condiments or paper items except for toilet paper. And even then in Rome there were limited amounts of that. Sometimes there will be some left by previous tenants but usually those are removed when the unit is cleaned. In the condo we stayed at in Honduras, the maids came in and split up our "leftovers" before we even left ;) Towels are usually minimal

 

As for our kitchen, we also had only cold water in the kitchen. I just made sure to wash with plenty of soap and wash well. The bathrooms did have plenty of hot hot hot water tho !!!!!!

 

Have never been abandoned for our pickup altho after renting an apartment in Ostia Antica outside of Rome after one of our trips, we had requested a large van since there were 4 adults and a ton of luggage (my sister in law brought everything she owned) for a very early flight out of FCO. Well, the driver showed up a tad late (not bad) but in a regular small cab. HAHA..... he somehow managed to cram us and luggage all in and we must have looked like a circus clown act getting out at the airport since I was sitting on dh's lap and she was on her husbands lap and every other inch of empty space was luggage.

 

Again, we have learned to "roll with the punches".

 

Thanks. I've read a lot of your posts in the past, particularly in regards to European travel and have always found good, sound advice from you. My husband and I do try to roll with the punches too - he is still much more laid back than I am though. :)

Even with the disappointsments we had with the apartment and the lack of greeting, etc., we were doing just fine until we were abandoned. The other couple with us had never been to Europe and had asked to join us since we had already been there a few times. They are both in the real estate profession and were appalled at the way things were handled as far as the greeting and showing us the apartment. But, they were game for the adventure and we enjoyed being able to have room to be together and make coffee, light meals and have wine together - which we could not have done in a hotel.

I have sent an email to both the rental agent and their affiliated pick up service and have not yet received a response. I am looking for any type of tourist advocate site that I can report this to. I will be posting a review on them as well on Trip advisor and the Slow travel site suggested, but want to give them until Monday to respond. I may send a copy of my complaint to the US Embassy in Rome as well. If anyone knows of any advocates for Rome tourism, please let me know.

[ksps cruise fan]

I have sent an email to both the rental agent and their affiliated pick up service and have not yet received a response. I am looking for any type of tourist advocate site that I can report this to. I will be posting a review on them as well on Trip advisor and the Slow travel site suggested, but want to give them until Monday to respond. I may send a copy of my complaint to the US Embassy in Rome as well. If anyone knows of any advocates for Rome tourism, please let me know.

 

 

I have a recommendation for another person/institution to contact rather than the Embassy in Rome, which has nothing to do with consumer affairs.

 

Consider writing to the Travel Ombudsman for Conde Nast Traveler magazine. This column selects interesting travel issues and intervenes on behalf of the traveler when normal efforts at resolution/restitution have failed. The one caution I have is that results often take as much as one year to extract money from the "culprit." Right now, you're carrying a lot of anger and stress. Working through Conde Nast will delay your ability to put this episode behind you.

 

I'm speaking from personal experience when I write about moving on. My husband and I were scheduled to fly to Bangkok on March 13, 2011 via Narita airport in Tokyo. When the earthquake/tsunami hit Japan March 11, we began getting voice messages from Japan Airlines with proposed later dates of travel. We re-booked our tickets for three days later and via an entirely different route. When we filed a claim with the travel insurance for the lost nights of hotel accommodations we had pre-paid, the claim was denied. According to some web site that the travel insurance industry treats as gospel:

o Narita never closed operations

o our originally scheduled flight operated March 11, 12, and 13

 

Admittedly, none of our outrage was complicated by worry over the health of a friend. My husband and I said some rather pithy things about the travel insurance company and walked away from the situation, including never using that company again. I do regret not having sent our travel problem along to the Conde Nast Ombudsman, but now I'm happily at a place where this episode has no power to upset or anger me.

[texancruzer]

Very good advice ksps.......

 

I agree the Rome Embassy is probably a waste of time since they do not deal with these issues.

 

I also think you would be shocked and amazed at how many people who book pickups with companies/individuals that are not well known are left hanging. Most of the "fly by night" transport services are not well organized, have employees/drivers that don't stay long and the really early morning pickups are the worst. Now a service booked thru Rental in Rome should have been ok.... but well, someone dropped the ball somewhere.

 

Hopefully you hear from them soon and receive a refund for your transportation costs and can move on.

 

And..... hopefully your friend gets much better soon !

[GRAMMYTAN]

Thank you both for your responses. I had completely forgotten about Conde Nast and had actually subscribed to this magazine for quite a while. It is worth a shot. This is not really so much about the extra money we spent, as it is about principal. People need to know the practices of this company and others who treat their customers this way.

Also thank you for your words about our friend. She is back in the hospital again after having another episode this weekend. The doctors now think she may have suffered a small stroke during the flight.

 

[GRAMMYTAN]

This is the link to the video that Rental in Rome Pickup Service sent to us to entice us to book their services. This is such a misrepresentation from the beginning to end.

 

 

 

http://rentalinrome.com/limousineservice.htm