Saturday, January 25, 2014

Fortuna Studio Downtown (Zurich) - WATCH OUT, SCAMMERS!

So, this is a horror story about Fortuna Studio Downtown (Zurich, Switzerland). I apologize for the title of this post, but it's important for client to understand who they're dealing with.

TL;DR: They owners evicted us before the checkout date, without any reason, and without notice, while we weren't in the room, because of an error in their schedule, even if I told them in advance that they had an error (they ignored me). They didn't help at all, and refunded the expenses for a night at another hotel, after a month of complaints. They said plenty of lies to cover their continuous negligence.

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We (2 people) booked the studio-apartment for a few days (Thursday, checkout on Monday), via booking.com; I had a sports competition, and I wanted a very simple room.

First of all, the advertisement on the booking website is false - it says that there is air conditioning in the room, while there isn't. Good luck when the temperature goes over 30°.

On Friday, I call them asking if I could do a late check out on Monday. They say that would be ok, but that the checkout is on Sunday. I say that they're wrong, but they reply that they have it in their schedule. I explain that I have the booking confirmation in front of me, and it says checkout out on Monday. They say that it's ok and they will check.

During the Sunday I do my competition, early morning to late evening, and come back after midnight. I find everything outside the apartment, and the lock changed. I turn on my mobile, and find that they wrote me several messages, during the day, warning me that they were about to evict me.

I call back and tell them that I've told them already that my booking was until Monday, and I ask them why they didn't listen. They say the would call back in 5 minutes. They call me and they say that they've done a mistake.

They don't come to fix the problem and pay, but they say that they will pay for a taxi and a room in another hotel.

So we carry everything down from the third floor, including a 15 kg 130x95x40 cm box (no elevator, and very narrow staircases), we take a cab, and we move to the other hotel.

All of this took more than a couple of hours, and we were exhausted - I just had a 16 hours-long competition.

After a week, they still didn't refund us. I call, and they lie, saying they would have completed the payment shortly.

After a couple of weeks, they lie again with the same story.

After a month, I ask their legal address, so I can initiate a lawsuit. They say a circumstantial lie, saying there has been a misunderstanding (again!), and that they would have refunded us shortly.

Finally, the payment comes, with a miserable additional refund of around 20€.

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