Expat Community > Uruguay

Inesita
Joined 2016
Posts: 62

Swindled by Urban Heritage

8 years ago

Hello to all those who are about to come to Uruguay and are booking your stay through "Urban Heritage". My husband and I arrived to one of their units which we booked from the States and the story is quite different now that we're here. The owner or these units named Olenka, claims to be an architect from N.Y., She posted in AirBNB and VRBO, pictures of a studio which looked adorable from abroad, but when we got here, we found out that she mingled photos from two different units to make this one look larger and more appealing. In addition to that, among other units in the area, we decided to rent this one because, 1) It's located right in the heart of Ciudad Vieja, only steps away from the big market where all the restaurants. 2) Because knowing that the unit is located on a pedestrian street, we expected quiet mornings, rather than cars and busses driving by blowing horns. 3) Because the unit has a tub rather than a shower and I'd enjoy taking hot baths every day to warm up my body after spending time out in the cold of the season. That being said, we decided to pay over 1200 US Dollars for only 3 weeks and give ourselves a little self-treat as our first visit to this country by paying a little extra to stay here for all the reasons mentioned above.
Now that we are here, we find out that this so called "NY Architect" only installs in her units 25 little water boilers that run out on a blink of an eye and is not enough to even take a shower. I have to shower first at full speed before the hot water runs out and when I'm done, my husband has to wait for the boiler to heat the water again before he steps in to also shower at warp-speed. I have to decide whether to shower or wash my hair, but not both at the same time. Once we're both showered, I have to again wait for the water to get heated so I can wash separately my hair in the kitchen sink, just like in the jungle. In the listing of this unit, this woman also posted a picture of the unit that has nothing to do with the actual unit that we're in. In addition to all that, she never disclosed the fact that there is a construction site right opposite our windows, where workers start coming at 7:30 every morning in their motorcycles, talk loud to each other, start hammering, sawing wood and dril with all kinds of loud equipment. We can not open any of our windows to let some light in because the workers are constantly looking in and we have no privacy at all. We're living like in a bunker. The construction just started and it will take many months before they finish building what so far appears to be a 3 story building, The bathroom is an "igloo" and there's no heating in it either. My husband and I are now starting to develop the flu symptoms because the cold temperatures in this unit. It's been 5 days since our arrival and my husband is now in bed feeling week, cold and has a sore throat. Yesterday, someone came over with a gas bottle to heat the bathroom but no heater to connect to it. Today a heater was delivered that we're not familiarized with at all, and we were asked to get it out of the box, connect it to the gas bottle and get it to work. I refused to do it and demanded to have someone come over who knows how this works and set it up for us. Remember we're talking abut gas here! Since this unit is so cold, I decided to turn on all the burners of the electric cooking range, but the electricity goes out after five minutes after turning them on because the voltage doesn't put up with the amount of energy required to run the stove and the water boiler simultaneously. Neither "architect", nor her husband, had the courtesy to personally come over to take care of matters or even apologize for all the problems we've been experiencing since our arrival. Meanwhile, the hammering starts at 7:30am until about 6pm every day, we're still waiting for the heater in the bathroom, and are getting sicker as the days go by. Welcome to Uruguay with Urban Heritage!! We booked this place until the 30th of this month. Now we're looking for a 2 bedroom unit where we can stay for about 6 to 8 months. It has to be fully equipped, safe, clean, must have plenty of hot water, a tub, enough towels, wifi and cable tv. If anyone out there know of somebody who can rent us a unit that meets this criteria for around U$S700 to U&S800 a month in a nice area, please let us know. Thank you all and remember that I warned you about Urban Heritage!!

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SJB Global

SJB Global is a top-rated financial advisory firm specializing in expat financial advice worldwide, offering retirement planning & tax-efficient solutions with a regressive fee model.
Learn More

SJB Global

SJB Global is a top-rated financial advisory firm specializing in expat financial advice worldwide, offering retirement planning & tax-efficient solutions with a regressive fee model.
Learn More

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Swindled by Urban Heritage

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