My family rented an apartment from Izumi for the week of July 6-13. Although her web site said that she accepts credit card, she called me the day prior to arriving and insisted that the only payment she would accept would be cash, and she insisted that she receive all of it upon arrival. When we arrived around 7 pm, we found the apartment to be dirty and hot, but we didn't have much choice, as we had traveled all day, and we already had $700 of deposit money that we had given to her, so we handed over the cash for the rest of the week, and were given a key.
The apartment had 2 small bedrooms, and a small living room, just large enough for the futon and the TV. There was 1 air conditioner in one of the rooms, and a small window fan in the other bedroom. The room with the A/C was comfortable, but the other bedroom was uncomfortably hot. (The web site said that there would be an A/C in each bedroom.)
There were other minor problems with the room including the closet that was taped shut with scotch tape because the pins had been removed from the hinge, no doors on the closet in the bedroom, the floor lamp light bulbs hanging by wires, partially empty paint cans on the floor, a leaky toilet that ran off and on all night long, and several windows without any blinds or curtains.
There was no coffee maker, as was promised on the web site and the next morning, the cable for the television had been shut off and the phone had been turned off.
We called Izumi, the landlord twice before heading out into the city. She didn't return any call.
After touring NYC for the day, we arrived back at the apartment around 10 pm to find a mouse scurrying around the apartment. It was also sweltering in the room without an A/C.
Again, Izumi was called without any answer. The man who let us in to the room the day prior was called without any answer, and we finally called the driver, who doesn't work for her, who did answer. Somehow, he was able to get a key to the apartment below us, and arrived 1/2 hour later to allow us to go into that room, but it was dirty, and it hadn't been cleaned from the prior guests staying there.
We were forced to leave the apartment, and check into a hotel.
We called Izumi the next day, and in the middle of the day, she finally called me back, but I missed the call. She left a message saying, "I heard that you are looking for an aparment in the New York area. I have an apartment in the Times Square area for $300 per night. Call me if you are interested in renting this." It sounded like she didn't even know what was happening. She left a number that I was never able to reach her at.
The driver contacted me with a name of another landlord who also had an apartment, but by then we were happy with the hotel. He recommended that I email Izumi as she tends to answer emails better than phone calls. This was done on July 9,10 and 11, without any replies by email. She was called daily on the phone, and messages were left, all without any reply.
Finally, on the afternoon of July 11, I returned to the apartment to take some photos. While in the room, I heard her voice from the apartment below. I talked with her about all of the above issues, and the lack of reply to my many calls, and she claimed that she never received any of these calls. Of course, I have email logs and cell phone logs that will prove her wrong. She refused to give me anything more than my $100 deposit.
We feel that she was completely unresponsive to our needs, and didn't deliver an apartment as advertised.
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