Spotahome

So here's the deal. I was checking out apartments on Spotahome and applied for a place in Dublin. But I didn't adjust the move-out date, so it ended up being set for this month by default. Then I entered my credit card info and submitted the application like normal. According to what their site says, the payment gets taken out automatically once the landlord confirms your booking. The rent was 1,950 euros, plus an agency fee of 639 euros. I tried to change the dates, but guess what? This platform wouldn't even let me submit the request. So I thought, okay, maybe I'll just cancel and rebook. But when I went to cancel, they said I'd only get a full refund if I canceled two months ahead of time—and oh yeah, the agency fee? Not refundable at all! Seriously, what kind of nonsense is that?

This platform doesn't offer basic stuff like letting you change your lease duration. They charge over 4,000 euros as some sort of agency fee, then basically just hand over the landlord's contact info and tell you to figure it out yourself. And honestly, nowhere on pages P1 through P3 of the application did they mention anything about the agency fee. They totally mixed it in with the rent to confuse people. Plus, they never told me the reservation fee wasn't refundable until after I had already applied. That's just a ridiculous clause right there.

It feels like Spotahome spends all its money on Google ads instead of actually improving their service. Both Spotahome and the landlord (City Break Apartments) are super unprofessional and don't seem to care about solving problems. I've been emailing them every day since March 4th, but no one will help me. They just keep passing the buck back and forth. The landlord says to change the lease duration, but the platform tells me I have to do it online. Well, news flash—Spotahome's system is garbage and doesn't even let me submit the change request properly.

And then there's another kicker. The platform lets you book for up to 10 months, even across years. But last week, the landlord told me

Hello, I am Luka Maisuradze. I will rent an apartment with the help of your group from 16.04.2024 to 15.11.2024, and I paid a deposit of 1190 euros and a registration cost: 586 + 211 euros (Overall 1910 of deposit).

I left the apartment tidy, except for a broken chair and spilled juice in one spot. I missed cleaning because the door was locked. The owner is not returning my money, for reasons that are incomprehensible to me. I understand that he should keep the money for the chair and the cleaning fee, but I do not understand why he is keeping the rest of the money.

As a foreign citizen and student, I feel vulnerable because the money that is due to me has not been returned to me for reasons I do not understand. I request you to intervene and return my deposit (minus the cost). I would also like to inform you that the people living in the other room there confirm that the owner has not changed anything. I am also attaching a picture of the floor stained with juice.

If you do not help me, I have witnesses and records of people who confirm that the owner has not changed anything in the room and that there is an attempt to extort money from me, which I have already paid. I will wait for your response and then we will act. To this day, I continue to use your company's services, I hope I am not mistaken. Thank you.

I was hoping to get some response from you. It seems the owner is tired of the tales that follow. Otherwise, he would have written it off. Now let's get back to the refund issue.I categorically demand the money that belongs to me.

My parents, who are involved in this case, will not leave it like this, I am not alone, I have parents, quite educated
And looking into the matter, I didn't think it was necessary to involve them until now, but it seems you've decided to oppress my 19 boys.

We won't leave this issue like this, will you give me an answer or not? Happy day,

I booked through Spotahome and had a horrible experience. The apartment was dirty, extremely hot, and had a very old, non-functioning air conditioner.

I got sick and had to find an alternate home after just four days. I informed the landlord and she said that I simply didn't 'know' how to make the ancient AC machine work, but she offered no help. I had to find and rent a different apartment altogether. Even though I informed the landlord two days before leaving, she did not return any of the money I paid for the one-month stay.

I contacted Spotahome, and they simply said 'there was nothing they could do about it'. So in summary, this company doesn't check the properties they rent, and they will do nothing to protect you as a client.

I decided to leave the apartment after only 4 days because not only my room was dirty when I arrived, but it was very very hot, and the air conditioner offered is not working. I communicated this to the landlord, because I wasn't able to sleep at all.
I asked about the possibility to be charged for the entire week (even though I only stayed 4 days), and have the landlord reimburse the rest of the 3 weeks of stay.
The landlord is now not responsive, I finally was able to find Spotahome customer support after a long search through the internet (through the app it doesn't work) Unlike companies like Airbnb, Spotahome cannot take responsibility for the state of the apartments they endorse through their pages, and they leave it all in the hands of the landlords.
If you get "lucky" the landlord will respond decently.

But if you are not, the landlord can just decide to keep your money even when the room they offered was not what was promised.
Spotahome response "There is nothing we can do". The big lesson here is to always look for well established companies that honor the customer.

I will never use Spotahome again
I do not understand why they charge a commission then. What is their role?