Barcelona Visit Barcelona, www.visit-bcn.com

I am absolutley appalled with the service I have received from Visit-bcn.com. The day before we were due to travel to Barcelona they rang us and said the apartment we had booked was unavailable and tried to offer us a hotel on Las Ramblas (not a suitable alternative when you have a two year daughter). Two months later they have still not refunded us our deposit. I spoke to them today and was basically told that I am not getting a refund - I asked for the name of the company manager but the person refused to tell me. Do not use this company - they have basically stolen £160 from me and continually lied to myself and my wife about the whole matter.

I had a dreadful experience with Visit Barcelona from start to finish. We arrived at their office a 3pm to be told the apartment we had booked had a fault with the boiler. We then waited around for 3 hours while they came up with somewhere else. They put us in an aparmtment that was filthy, in a crime ridden area (where one of our party was mugged) had small rooms and no air conditioning. On return to the UK the apartment we were given was cheaper than the one we had paid for, even though we were assured this was an upgrade! We were offered no compensation and no apology for what happened and were treated as though we should be thankful to have a roof over our heads at all.

Unfortunately I have some common experience with others when dealing with visit-bcn. I had to repeatedly chase them to confirm my booking, and eventually received 3 confirmations within minutes of each other.

I was ignored when I asked to pay the remaining balance via the internet before leaving for the holiday, though they clearly state this is possible.

I'd been told to call their office when we arrived and someone would meet us at the apartment. When I called they instead asked me to come to the office, (which is not at the stated address on Las Ramblas but just off it, in a completely different building) and the rep then insisted we get a cab to the apartment (I was never, ever going to pay for this and thankfully wasn't asked to).

The apartment was not clean when we arrived, meaning we had to go back out again after a tiring day of travelling, or sit around and look at someone's bum-hair clinging to the toilet seat. The air conditioning didn't work either, meaning we had to sleep with windows open onto a noisy neighbourhood and didn't get much sleep due to heat and noise. The neighbourhood is not visit-bcn's fault; our having no choice but to listen to it was. They'd been so hopeless with everything else that, frankly, I didn't even bother to complain about it.

Buyer beware.

I had terrible troubles with Visit Barcelona which made our short tip extremely stressful. The apartment was not very clean. The internet did not work, even though they claimed that it should have been working and it was a fault with our computer. Luckily however we were able to pick up other signals without a problem on the balcony - but it was November and my husband ended up having to work in the freezing cold, as they did not get their act together to sort it out. I had to make lots of calls to them to get answers from them and organise a cleaner to come around. The company refused to compensate me for the expensive calls I had to make on my mobile (other than a discount on any further bookings - but after my experience with them I would certainly not contemplate ever staying with them again). I had to call them several times when back in the UK to find this out as they never bothered to call me back or mail me either. Their argument was that I already had a discount when I booked, in other words it seems, you forfeit your right to a proper customer service when you happen to book at a time when they offer a discount.

At first I was nervous because I have never booked an apartment from internet. And also I did not know what I will receive. Contact persons were very kindly and helpful. I was lucky because I had a holiday with a group of friends. We rented an apartment in the center of Barcelona. We did not need too much time to see all sightseeing. This apartment was well equipped, furnished and very clean. The important point is we could accommodate all together. I truly recommend this for everyone for having a best holiday. I truly recommend it.