Kiev Services / Edem Club
I thought I should share my experiences or warn members of the pitfalls using the services of these people. Although the information may be placed in the General Info section, I've posted in the Kiev section due to it's relevance to Kiev.
To set the context, the proprietors / operators of Kiev-Service and Edem Club are Ludmila or Sergey Kulik
[url]http://www.kiev-service.com.ua/contact.html[/url]
The services agreed and paid for my trip were:
- 4 nights accommodation at apartment 2038 @ USD 150 / night located at [url]http://kiev-service.com.ua/apartments/item/2038/[/url]
- Airport transfers from airport to apartment and vice versa @ USD 30 / trip
- 4 hours of translation services @ USD 25 / hour and translator scheduled to meet me at the airport.
This is what transpired…
Arrive at Boryspil, clear immigration and customs without any hassles. My greeting party are not at the arrivals gate, I have to wait about 1/2 hour before the translator, Anna arrives. Ok, not a big deal, I work in ex-Eastern Europe so am accustomed to their definition of service. We stop at a service station to fill up on the way back, not sure why it couldn't have been done when not on a job but fair enough it's part of the FSU experience.
Arrive at an apartment, strange as I thought we passed Bessarabka market which is near the location of apt 2038. We are greeted by Sergey Kulik at the apartment who takes us (Anna & I) into the apartment. Fortunately, I printed and brought the details of apt 2038 so I immediately identified the apartment I was shown was not the same. I asked where I was and which apartment I was in, he can't speak English so via Anna he confirmed he had taken me to [url]http://kievservice.com.ua/apartments/item/2034/[/url]
As soon as I discovered the apartment swap, I adamantly explained the situation. I simply explained it was not acceptable to do this as they had confirmed and accepted payment for the other apartment. Although the price is the same on the website, the practice is still unacceptable as they could exploit the situation and stick me in a "dog box" out in the sticks. I reminded him we had already paid him good money and if they had provided advance notice, I could find a cheaper apartment located in a better position. The other problem was I had already given apartment 2038 details to my friends where we going to stay with me later in the week.
He attempts to justify his actions by saying the current tenant in 2038 had extended their stay another day. I replied it was not my problem, I didn’t see why I had to wear the cost of the inconvenience. He asked me what I would do in the situation, I said he should have moved the tenant to 2034 and given me 2038 as per the original agreement.
Anyway the arguing continued for about 1 hour, whilst he called his wife Ludimila for consultation. Eventually, I agreed to stay in 2034 if he compensated me USD 50 / day. I also demanded he give all four days of payment totalling to USD 200 upfront which I would refund for days when they move me to 2038. He begrudging but threateningly agreed to the deal and handed over USD 200 and left. The next 2 1/2 hours are spent with Anna showing me around Kiev to exchange money, buying a pre-paid SIM card, shopping and so on. I let her go with 1/2 hr to spare.
The next day, Ludimila who speaks average English arrives to move me to other apartment. I said although about 500m away, I need a taxi as I had bought a lot of bottled refreshements and supplies which where heavy to carry. Anyway we catch a cab to 2038 and later discover she lost her phone in the taxi. In the apartment she is trying to explain to me that it is normal practice in Ukraine for people to extend their stay with no notice. I said that's fine but told her if it's standard practice then they should factor it and not accept bookings for a number of days after a current booking. The fact they accepted 'back to back' bookings was their problem and poor business practice, I also explained that unlike a hotel the impact of switching apartments and location is significant for visitors who are not familiar with the city or the local language.
I checked the apartment and settle the paperwork and I proceed to take my wallet out of my bag, open my wallet and return her USD 150. I should have anticipated this, but then she complains about the impact on her margins and blah, blah of the USD 50. I also ask about my return airport transfer and she "claims" my correspondent agent had not paid for it nor had paid the amount in full. Of course this was bullshit and merely a ploy to squeeze me for the USD 50. I told her she was wrong and left my bag with my wallet in the room with her for about a 1 min to go and retrieve the receipt from my correspondent agent in the bedroom. I show her the receipt but says she wants EUR 10 to cover the shortfall in payment and then she will provide an airport transfer. I think, fuck it, and just pay her the 60 hrn to get her out of there.
I have to mention, I could not withdraw cash as I had accidentally brought an expired debit card plus I had not reset nor knew the pin for my credit cards. This meant I was screwed for cash and had to rely on the meagre cash funds brought with me to carry me through the trip and hence given the dire nature, knew my cash position with exact precision. Anyway later in the night as I counted funds to go out, I had not gone anywhere or done anything since her visit, I realised I was USD 100 plus the equivalent of USD 25 of my other currency short less the USD 150 I gave her. I re-counted and checked a number of times and I was definitely short USD 100 and a large denomination of my other currency.
Fuck, I know strong acqusations but my only conclusion is she (Ludmila) must have grabbed those notes when I left the room to get the receipt.
Although I couldn't prove anything, I called her the next day (may as well fuck up her day as she had fucked up mine) and told her I knew she took my money and told her the other currency couldn't be exchanged in Ukraine so she may as well give it back to me. As you can imagine, she started hurling abuse at me, saying I had a hooker all night and who had stolen ALL my money. It was amusing because if hypothetically it was true, how would she know and secondly why would a hooker only take a few notes.
I figure Ludimila only stole enough to cover her inconvenience and not rob me blind. What annoyed me though is I played fair and stuck to the original compensation agreement but they started this whole mess and screwed me initially and exploited my trust to screw me again.
Amazingly, the driver did arrive at the apartment to take me to the airport. I had visions of being drived down a wooded paddock and shot so I had prepared a contingency of taking a taxi but fortunately it was the same driver who picked me up before so I felt a bit better however I was still on edge and at attention in case he pulled out a pistol to blow me away.
Anyway an interesting twist to my Ukrainian experience.