Paris Attitude — Local services in Paris

Where do I begin? I've lived in Paris several times & have attempted to use Paris Attitude twice but have only succeeded once. Years ago I reached out & they eventually stopped responding so I ended up going with Lodgis.

I decided to try again with them during the pandemic, as they happened to have an apartment on the exact street I needed to live on, for complex pandemic related reasons. I want to be clear this is the only reason I chose to rent with them, as the Google reviews made me anxious.

The apartment was COVID discounted , but still insanely overpriced for a building with no amenities. I've lived in Paris long enough to know that it's expensive & that you can't expect many amenities like in other large cities. The apartment was beautiful & well furnished. However for that $$ w/ no cellar use, no concierge, & faulty security, it's pricey. Additionally, when I requested to change my name on the DIGICODE system, I was asked to pay something near 200€, I declined & w/ no concierge, this lost me many packages over the months.

My rental advisor was the same who’d stopped responding to me years ago. But I am not here to write negative things about him. He did his best to be helpful. We had some unpleasant exchanges, but mostly due to my frustrations with the landlord.

The landlord, who I won’t name since she's a prominent lawyer, is the absolute pinnacle of a useless landlord. Generally unwilling to help, rarely responsive. The building was not being maintained as it should (was always smelling of mildew, had a flood in the lobby that was left for over a week). Her emails were always rude/dismissive & the two times we met in person she conveniently refused to speak in English regardless of the fact that we went to the same school in London (which you couldn't attend without above decent English).

My upstairs neighbors were ABSOLUTELY horrible people. The absolute noisiest beasts imaginable. I have months and months of recordings & videos as proof & still the landlord sided w/ them often; likely because they purchased their apartment, were typical upper-class French family (bankers apparently) vs. short term renting, American single woman with a more "unique" CV. Even after I confronted her about her preferential treatment, she denied it. I lived for 7 months in absolute misery because of them. My career & mental health suffered because of their antics.

Moving on….there's a common chimney sweep scam in Paris. I was a victim of it & became aware that it was a scam midway through. I began recording the man who had entered our building somehow as I chased him out of my apartment. He ended up physically assaulting me & I caught it on video. Police were no help, unsurprisingly. I didn't send it to the landlord until after I moved out but as of now have received no recognition, no apologies, not even a receipt of the videos which I only sent for the safety of the remaining tenants & the neighborhood.

So, you can trust Paris attitude with 1000s of euro a month and still they seem to have low standards for their landlords? Post-checkout, the team that does the inventory wasn’t in contact about my deposit, it's took nearly 4 months. I had to contact them & their response was that I left the apartment in horrible condition & tons of stuff needed to be replaced. It's ironic because when I arrived in the apartment it was FAR from spotless.

They literally wrote to me that I didn't uphold my responsibility in the way I left the apartment, but every other apartment I've lived in, Europe, US, Asia has a very thorough cleaning process between tenants & this has increased tenfold during the pandemic which is EXACTLY why I did only surface-level cleaning. This also makes me wonder if their COVID-19 safety standards are legitimate.

I finally got my deposit back but PA is simply breaking the law. 90 Days is the legal maximum if the property needs repairs/replacements. I only got my deposit AFTER I mentioned I would report them to...

I wrote the reviews to inform fellow American citizens of my experience, not to claim that Paris Attitude broke any laws. The landlord provided one invoice but added extra damages after the final inspection. As your own response acknowledges, “These items were not included in the entry report.” These are facts.

Your response did not address the comment allegedly made about Americans — “Ils sont Américains, ils ont de la tune” — which I find highly inappropriate and discriminatory. If this kind of profiling is tolerated or ignored, I must assume it is considered acceptable behavior by your company, which is troubling.

When asked about my country of origin, I answered Costa Rica, where I currently reside. As you may know, Spanish is spoken in Costa Rica. The relevance here is not the language but the profiling and assumptions made based on nationality or perceived wealth, which is unacceptable.

AMERICAN CITIZEN BE AWARE

I will start by we know we will not get our deposit back, however we want American to be aware of the current practice followed by Paris Attitude.

In August 2023, our son moved to Paris and rented an apartment in the 17th arrondissement. For some contexts we are an American family, our primary language is English, but I am fluent in French as I am originally from France.

During the initial inspection in August 2023, I overheard the Paris Attitude representative speaking about our family, stating, “Ils sont Américains, Ils ont de la tune.” At this point, I did not consider this remark significant.

Moving forward to the final inspection, the representative did not appear to question the condition of the apartment. « normal wear and tear is expected after two years of continuous occupancy by the same tenant « . The representative did mention that the toilet seat would need to be replaced.

A few hours after the inspection, I received an email from the landlord that was insulting and contained false statements. The email stated, “J’attire votre attention sur le fait que votre dépôt de garantie ne suffira pas à remettre l’appartement en état de relocation.”

Over the past two years, speaking to family and friends in France, all of whom had stated that « you should not pay the last month of rent because the landlord would not return the deposit and would use it to remodel the apartment « clearly a custom practice in France.

Last week, I called Paris Attitude to inquire about the deposit. I spoke with a male representative regarding the deposit and was informed that we would not receive any deposit back.

He sent us the quotes that the landlord had sent them to “fix” the apartment, no wear and tear were considered, items were added to the list without witnesses.

During our conversation, the Paris Attitude representative asked me where I was from. This was highly questionable, as it was the second time that our country of residence had been mentioned by Paris Attitude representatives. The representative did send me a link to open case regarding the deposit, suggesting not the first time a tenant from Paris Attitude is questioning the practices.

After investigating, I discovered the following:

The landlord sent pictures after the inspections without any witnesses stating that other damages were done, although these damages were not included in the report. Paris Attitude will accept one quote for the work, which is highly surprising as in the United States, organizations usually request three quotes. Paris Attitude will not send someone to check if the work has been done; pictures from the landlord are sufficient.

The process is highly questionable and unethical. I believe that landlord will use the system to remodel their apartment, as it does not protect the tenant deposit.

Does Paris Attitude treat Americans differently than French? Yes. I deliberately spoke French to some representatives and English to others, and the attitude was extremely different.

Fellow American be aware...

WARNING! THIS COMPANY WILL LITERALLY STEAL YOUR MONEY. WORST EXPERIENCE.

I come here after having tried everything. I don't usually leave bad reviews, but then again, I do not usually receive this treatment. I have tried emails, phonecalls and nothing has changed; they owe me 300€, and after a month has passed since I left the apartment they have not given my money back. Since the beginning I had a really bad experience with the company: I reserved my apartment a month in advance and payed in full so there would not be any inconveniences up to my arrival. Well, two days, before I arrived they send me an email saying that staying in the apartment I rented and HAD a contract with will not be possible. They tell me they can't do nothing because it's the owners choice (and do nothing about having a contract signed), immediately I tried to look for solutions instead of them helping me get to a hotel, apartment or whatever. They sent me nothing, they basically said that they could do nothing unless I wanted to rent another apartment in their site. By looking on the web the apartments offered for the dates I needed were super expensive (01 JULY to 01 AUGUST, 2018) plain turistic season. I went to their website and chose 3 apartments that I liked for revision, (they have to check if it's available the information in the website is not refreshed). My advisor told that one was available but 4 days later after my arrival. My advisor (Mehdi), which was the most unhelpful person I have ever met, even told me to hurry up with my decision and quoting "You have 20 minutes to decide", this was on Friday and I was arriving on Sunday, he even said "hurry up I have a life" this was at 4p.m. in the afternoon. I had to stay in a hotel for 4 nights which cost me around 500€ and it was located in La Defense (it was the cheapest I could get), then I went to the apartment the 5th of July, they even asked me to make an additional payment because there was a change in rates of the apartment, even though it was their fault. The owner of my apartment (Référence # 11461) in the website, was very nice at first, then I never saw her again. If I had a problem with the apartment I could not even speak with her. When I left, she charged me for "services of the apartment" when I left and never gave an invoice for what she charged, she just kept the money. When I asked for the invoice she kept giving me excuses (which I have photos of). End of story I ended up paying the nights of the hotel 500€+, plus they haven't given my security deposit back (300€). I even payed a professional cleaning service (even though the apartment was very clean) when I left because I knew the owner would have done anything to not give my security deposit back (since no one complains and everyone let's it go) it's basically a business for them. BY NO MEANS RENT AN APARTMENT THROUGH THIS COMPANY. WORST...