Problems with Paristay

[Anne]

I have been trying to make a long term rental with Paristay and had a very bad experience with them, so beware .

My eldest daughter is going to be a student in Paris from September onwards and we wanted a totally furnished and equipped studio for the duration of the University year . I found a small one that we really liked, close to Luxembourg garden and within walking distance of her university rue St Guillaume .

So I sent a request about this appartment. Soon received a detailed quote for the apartment, confirming the price and the availability for my dates . I confirmed them that I was very interested in this apartment and could they just answer two questions about the contract .

Next working day, I received a new quote for the apartment . At first I thought that the guy had mistakenly sent it again and was about to delete it when a figure caught my attention : the price had changed since the previous day, about 10% up ! And not a single word of explanation to go with it !!! I immediately sent them a new mail, asking them (very politely and naïvely) what the hell was going on . But I already knew what was going on : the price had been changed on the website too …

No answer from them, so I wrote again, asking whether they could please explanain the sudden price increase . Answer was no explanation but :“This apartment has just been rented I’m afraid !” and asking whether there was another one that I was interested in . The nerves that they had ! My exact answer was : “No thank you . I'm VERY surprised that you rented it after I had expressed a strong interest in it and you had quoted it as available . Not to mention the sudden increase in price ... I would rather not go into business with your company, with this experience and the ones that I read about on Tripadvisor .”
If a company tries to scr*w before you are even in business with them, you'd better run away ...

And then the icing on the cake : I discovered later on their website that the apartment had actually only been rented until the 15th of September, while I had wanted it from the 10th onwards, for a duration of 9 months . Which raises quite a few questions :
- why would they accept a short rent (the studio had already been booked until mid-August I think) which would blow a 9 months one ?
- why would they take a short rent for a flat which is advertised as “minimum rental : 7 months” ?
- even if they had been incredibly careless about the previous points, why didn’t they come up and say “look, sorry there has been a mixup, but we could accommodate your daughter in another of our studios until she can move in this one on the 15th” ?

The only answer that I can find (apart from the fact that short term rentals are more profitable for them than long term ones) is that they knew that they were legally bound by the first price quote that they had sent me and they saw that I was not going to accept the new price . Anyway, there is no way to know, they never answered my last mail (not that there was much to answer ...) .

So from my experience, Paristay is unreliable at the very best, and more likely dishonest . Their their long term fees are higher than Paris Attitude or Lodgis, yet they don’t even have a contact phone number on their website nor on the French directory .

As a note, daughter and I were in Paris Thursday and Friday and we rented a studio that we really love, directly from the owner (pap website) . So no regret at all about the Paristay one, but I am still shocked at their behaviour .

[Jody]

I think you are absolutely right . And they certainly did not handle the matter in a very professional way. They booked a 5 day rental and lost a 9 month, crazy!

Glad you found something suitable so quickly. I hope she has an extra bed for you!!

[Shoesy]

Anne - Sorry for that very annoying experience , and I will exalt you for taking your time to share it as a warning to others. Naturally, I'm happy that you've found other accommodations for your daughter. You must feel relieved knowing that she'll be in good surroundings. Just remember : The world consists of both meanyheads and honest, kind-hearted people .

[PariS]

Anne, I'm sorry to hear more of your Paristay experience (I'll definitely be crossing them off my list!), but I'm really happy to hear you did find a nice place for your daughter! I looked up the street her school is on, and remember the neighborhood from a walk on our last trip. Should be a really fun area for a student. But of course, she'll be too busy studying to enjoy much of the fun

[paristay]

Dear Anne,

I am Simon, the agent with whom you corresponded at Paristay last year.

As I believe you were aware, at the time of your request the long term rental agent was away from the office (on vacation) which will have had a direct effect on the workload I had to deal with.

The apartment which caught your attention was added to paristay in July 2009.
There was an extremely high number of requests for this particular apartment, quotes were sent out to many customers who were equally as enthusiastic.

Unfortunately this was the owners first experience with our agency, after seeing that their apartment was so popular they made the decision to raise the price.
I did attempt to dissuade the owner from increasing the price, unfortunately the owner had made up their mind.
In the end the apartment was rented out privately by the owner and has since been removed from paristay.

To speak honestly I must have been overwhelmed by emails from people unhappy with the price change/unavailability and decided the best thing to do was to move on and ask if there were any other apartments of interest.

Paristay is made up of a small, hard working, friendly and honest team of people who arrange hundreds of successful rentals every month.

The large majority of customers are very satisfied with our service and are more than happy to recommend us to their friends and family.

Wishing you all the best,

Simon from Paristay.com

[sunshine817]

Anne, did you receive a private response, or is this the only reply you've received?

[Anne]

No Sunshine, this is the first response I've received since my last email to them in July 2009.

Simon, too bad that you have to stumble on a "public" review about your agency to feel the need to come up with an explanation more than nine months later. Too bad also that you have no contact phone number. Regardless of the price increase, I still don't understand why the studio had suddenly been rented until mid September while I and obviously other people were interested in a long term rental which was what the apt was advertised for, but honestly I don't care. This is an old story as far as I am concerned, but I'm afraid that I still wouldn't feel comfortable about being in business with your agency.

[sunshine817]

sadly, that's what I'd guessed.

[Truffaut]

I'll go on record as saying that I'm not entire comfortable with the conversation. Simon, if you wish to participate on OurParisForum is a general sense, you are most welcome. I will not, however, allow it to be used simply for the furtherance of your business interests. Anne and Sunshine, I completely agree that a private response several months ago would have been far preferable. I'm not going to remove this posting, but I will be watching the ensure that it doesn't spin out of control and whether Simon has any further interest than defending his own business practices.

[zrinska]

Wow, I guess that the only way to get in touch with Paristay when having problems is by posting it in public!! Terrible way of dealing with clients...
Unfortunately I am one of those who still have problems with Paristay, and I would not advise anyone to sign a contract with their agency.
I rented an apartment for a long period, I payed the agency fee of almost 500 euros just for seeing the photos of the studio on their website and signed the contract with the landlady.
I gave her 1 200 euro deposit, I moved in, I payed the rent on the 1st of each month, without exception, and within 60 days after my departure she was supposed to give me back my deposit. More than 60 days have passed, then I finally got a mail from her representative saying that "unfortunately she cannot give me back my deposit"!
I could not believe my eyes! Her excuse was the fact that there was some cleaning to do after my departure, and that there were electricity bills to pay. OK, but you cannot charge 1 200 euros for some cleaning and 4months of electricity!!
And Paristay, the agency who "found" me that apartment: not a sign from them!
I contacted the agent whom I contacted before, Camille, and all that she replied to my mail was: has the situation changed? Well, of course it hasn't changed unless you help me, I moved out from Paris, I cannot go back there just to talk to them in person!
So, my advice to anyone who reads this: do not put your trust in them, once they get the money from you, they don't give a d**n abot you and your landlord!
Pathetic...

[Jody]

That is dreadful. I've often seen cleaning fees listed seperately but they are included with the payment and I've never seen one much above $50.00. I've also never heard of having to pay for the utilities you've used.

I think you are getting a bad deal all the way around. I think I'll stick to Vacation in Paris or rent from friends like Luc , Doug or Annette.

I can't think of who you could complain to. If it were a US company you could take them to Small Claims Court but in Paris???

[PariS]

I actually have seen some agencies that charge for electricity on longer stays (1 month or more), but they also give a break in the price for stays that long. Also, some agencies' fine print states that they allow you a certain number of units of electricity during your stay, and you must pay extra if you consume more than that (Guest Apartment Services is one, and I think we ran the AC some the week we stayed with them, but did not exceed the limit).

But yes, Zrinska, it definitely seems you got ripped off! From Paristay's website: "Telephone and electricity are charged according to consumption (about 50€ to 100€ / month, depending on the size of the flat and on how much you use electrical heating and hot water)." I would think the MAX they could possibly rationalize charging for utilities (at 100€ per month) and cleaning (at 50€ per month, even tho they only cleaned before and after your departure) would be 600€. I would ask for copies of their utility bills for the months you occupied the flat to prove their charge, if they continue to maintain that you used that much.

Hopefully you will eventually get at least a partial refund. Doesn't look good for Paristay--another strike against them!

[parisstudent92]

I've had a similarly harrowing experience with Paristay. Once they receive the money from making the connection between you and your potential landlord, they do very little to mediate the relationship. I've had many problems with my landlord, who has turned out to be quite a nasty person.

Moreover, they initially miscalculated our rent, and only when we pointed it out to them did they recalculate it, but in doing so, they changed the commission that they took from the rent, which also ended up being a miscalculation. They don't seem to have their act together, despite their intentions.

I have overall been incredibly unhappy with their service. I agree with the others who have posted in this forum. Try using other ways of looking for apartments! (But also beware, there are many scammers out there on the Paris apartment scene.)

Best of luck to all in your apartment hunt!

[marym]

hello !

Im trying to rent a long stay apartment in Arrond 7, for my daughter ...and found you as Im having bad experience with paristay.com trying to book from them
Can anyone suggest any good agency or maybe connect me directly with owners of apartments ?....it has been sooooo difficult...paristay dont answer and as you know there is no phone number to call, parisattitude.com says yes than no and doesnt have a nice -attitude- is always busy, another 2 companies i have contact tells me to get to them again by the end of june and book-a-flat.com also, says yes to my options and than no......
Waooo this has been exhausting ...

help !!!

[denise]

Hi Maryam. Welcome to the forum.

Sorry you are having such a tough time with Paristay.

Sorry I can't help with long term rentals. Maybe Anne who started this thread will be more useful.

Good luck with your search.

Denise
Loe from England

[Jody]

HI Maryam, Welcome to the group.

Sorry I can't help as I only ever use Vacation in Paris and I don't think they do long term lets.

Hope Anne Sees this soon so she can helpout. Love your remark about ParisAttitudes!!

[Anne]

Welcome here Marym.

This happened almost 2 years ago so I honestly cannot remember the agencies that I contacted back then but I remember that I only found very few which provided this type of service. My first post mentions Lodgis in addition to Paris Attitude, have you tried this one ?

Then there are the "standard" agencies which also offer a few furnished rentals, but they are less flexible on the duration of the lease, and also they often cannot give you a very quick answer once you've left your application record with them because they first need to go back to the owner in order to submit him the different application records, unless the owner has delegated the whole management of the rental to them.

We founded what we wanted on this website, which is direct rentals by the owners themselves :
www.pap.fr/?lang=en
This other site works the same way, only it doesn't seem to have an English version :
www.entreparticuliers.com/inscription/InscriptionAnnonceLocation.aspx
The nice thing about these sites is that there aren't any agency fees, and also the owners will give you a very quick or even immediate answer once you've met them and visited their place. Because the problem here is that I very much doubt whether you can find an owner who will agree to a lease at a distance. Also the nice places get rented extremely quickly. Are you planning a visit to Paris before your daughter settles in ?

The real problem about these rentals is that the parisian market for small apts is totally imbalanced, there are much more demands than offers, therefore the owners can afford to be very picky about the application records, the duration of the lease, etc ... This is especially true about the 7th arr because of the number of the universities around. Does your daughter really need to stay in the 7th ? My daughter's university is in the 7th but we rented a place in the 15th, it's less than half an hour walk or else she has a direct metro. Maybe you could consider a few other arrondissements around the 7th provided that she has a direct metro line to the place where she will work or study.

Will your daughter will be a student at a French university ? If so, many of them have rental offers files, and/or the students' union have some too. These files often mention additional types of offers like for joint tenancy or people who rent a furnished bedroom to a student in their appartment. Both solutions are much cheaper than a standard rental and also save you the hassle of making electricity, internet, etc ... contracts.

[phipes]

This is a horrible story, does anyone know of a vacation rental agency that has a better reputation than this one?

[holger]

We use perfectlyparis.com. Gail and Preston are great. Gail replies promptly to emails and there is always someone to meet you at the apartment and should you need assistance during the stay to be readily available. They were recommended to us by others both from this site and on other sites. In turn, we have recommended them and there have been no difficulties.
You will also find people here who have used other agencies they like and some who are owners with satisfied renters.
But as to long term stays, that may be more difficult although one of the apartments on perfectly paris has been occupied by a long term renter for at least a year.

[phipes]

May 26, 2011 6:13:22 GMT -5 holger said:

We use perfectlyparis.com. Gail and Preston are great. Gail replies promptly to emails and there is always someone to meet you at the apartment and should you need assistance during the stay to be readily available. They were recommended to us by others both from this site and on other sites. In turn, we have recommended them and there have been no difficulties.
You will also find people here who have used other agencies they like and some who are owners with satisfied renters.
But as to long term stays, that may be more difficult although one of the apartments on perfectly paris has been occupied by a long term renter for at least a year.

ok , great, I will give it a look, any apartment in particular you would recommend?