Camden Place Apartments

What People are saying

Unkempt, shabby & Tired looking

Lisap43on 04/11/2012 23:44

We booked this apartment at fairly short notice and as it was half term and we are a family of 5 we didn't really have much choice. It took a while to find the place as there are no signs outside. Once inside my heart sank, it was damp, dirty and dropping to bits, holes in the walls, dirty looking bathroom, insect infested in the children's room, I could go on! On the second day there was a very loud knock on the door and a male just walked right in, he was very rude and asked when we were checking out ( which was the next day as I had stated on the booking!).It is such a shame as these could be made in to nice apartments and with easy access to central London too.

BEWARE! This place is run by a bully!!

Culturekiosqueon 09/07/2012 02:13

We booked this place because it was the only place we could book at a reasonable amount for our family of four traveling to London during the peak Olympic Games season and the Wimbledon. The free parking was a huge plus too as we drove from Paris in our rented car. When we arrived, there was no one to meet us at the door, nor there was any message left for us. We had to use our phones (on roaming) to call the number provided on our booking confirmation. After a few tries, we managed to reach someone who said a caretaker is on the way with the keys. We had to wait for a while before he came. We were given the top floor (3rd floor, no lift, 5 flights of stairs). That was fine but it was a challenge to bring all our suitcases up through the narrow stairwell.

The room we were given was ok in terms of cleanliness. The sofa was a sofabed that could accommodate my two teenaged children. The furniture were bulky and ill-thought of, considering how tight the space is. The sofa when used as a bed doesn't leave any more room to maneuver around. It was hard to reach the refrigerator, moreover, to open it! And we are average built.

The toilet didn't have any towel bar so there was no place to hang our towels to dry. Worse, the shower curtain rail kept on falling off. The vanity mirror's shelf was also broken so there was no place to put our toothbrushes and other toiletries.

The bedroom was also tight. The bed slats were not properly secured so they kept on falling off, making the mattress fall off often. You could be sitting on it and it would just fall off the floor! It even hurt my foot once when it got caught underneath while I was sitting on the edge blow drying my hair.

All these inconveniences could have been forgettable and forgivable BUT the one thing that really got on our nerves was the rudeness and bullying of the so-called undertaker - the same person who came to give us our keys. The check-out time was at 10 AM, and for a family of 4 with just one bathroom to share, we were not able to check-out on time. However, had their strict policy regarding check-out time been properly explained to us when we checked-in, we would have happily obliged. At exactly 10AM at check-out day, the cleaners were knocking at our door already. We were still packing (we have many stuff as we are gone for a month- long holiday) so we were not yet ready. My son and husband started bringing down our luggages by half past ten. By then, this big bully of a man started mocking my son who was struggling with the heavy suitcase down the stairwell. Instead of offering help, he started shouting at him and yelling "What are you still doing here? Why are you still here?" My son is a 17 year old boy, and this man is a big and burly African man (he sounded like it, I could tell from his accent) who was much bigger in size was taunting him instead of offering help. He then knocked on our door and I was the one who opened it, suitcases on hand and all stuff. He started taunting me too by saying "I pay my cleaners to clean, not to wait for you all to finish getting ready. That's not very nice isn't it??" in a tone that was very confrontational. I was stunned but I decided to keep my composure nevertheless. I apologized instead while struggling to go down the narrow stairs with our suitcases. He just stood there and gave me and my daughter a mocking stare. He then went in our room and started yapping at my husband who was checking if there was any more things left behind. He just yapped and yapped and yapped. My husband then snapped at him before he kept quiet finally.

In all these, this rude and bully of a man acted like he did us a big favor by letting us this apartment. Like we were not paying customers!! This was the same man who made us wait for an hour or so - outside in the cold - before he came over to give us our keys. No apologies. No explanation. Nothing. He even avoided blame by saying he was just a caretaker and it was his day-off. Again, it was like he did us a big favor by having to drive over just to give us our keys.

I would never recommend anyone to stay in this place. This is not even a serviced apartment as its name implies on the website we booked it from. This was by far, the worse place we have ever stayed in all the places we have ever gone to. We are a well-traveled family who have stayed in both ritzy and budget accommodations. This place ranks on top of our list as the worse ever! We have never came across such rude and utterly offensive behavior. This man was a very threatening individual, so provocative, a big bully who behaved more like a street gangster. Had we not kept a cool head, I was very sure something ugly could have happened. Just beware and if you have other choices, better spend your money on some place much more worth it. Spare yourself the nightmare.

Dont fall for it!

lolita1974on 30/10/2011 18:21

We booked this apartment for 5 people (3 adults and 2 children) as it had parking included in the proce, which is unusual around London. We were on route to the destination when we had a call from the agent stating that the owner had called to say there was a problem with the accomodation (never found out what) and that we had been relocated to a four bedroom house. We had to accept the accomodation as we had 2 tired out children. Added an extra hour to our journey and we were unable to access the property on arrival as it was being cleaned. All looked ok at first glance but in fact the place was shoddy!!! the carpets were stained, the wall marked and damp, in fact the whole place was falling apart and was filthy. I have now just read another review and the same thing happened to someone else, think it is all a big con!

Interesting...

Siastar75on 07/09/2011 17:20

Had a huge problem at first. Booked this place through booking.com and it was originally listed as free cancellation. When I cancelled they would NOT refund my money and insisted it would be kept as a credit. I had proof that their policy had not originally stated that, but booking.com was completely UNhelpful in getting this issue resolved. We then ended up being able to go so we decided to use our "credit".

Croydon is a great place to stay as its quite near the centre of London (ten minute train ride from East Croydon Station to Victoria Station).

Now on to the hotel:
The location is SUPERB. A relatively quiet street across from Army Barracks. There is a pub right down the block. East Croydon Train station is a five minute walk and there is a tourist centre right before the station (wonderful!). Whitgift shopping mall is also a 5-10 minute walk and while underwhelming from the outside, it was beautiful on the inside and had all sorts of shops including a Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer, Next, etc.

Free parking spots in front of the apartments a huge plus!

The system for getting in was a bit unusual but we managed. However, the management told us the wrong apartment number. So at 4 am we trudged to the top floor only to wake up the people already in the apartment (My apologies!). We finally kept trying doors and found our apartment right on the first floor. The outside door leaves quite a bit to be desired in regards to security.

The apartment itself was very clean and nicely decorated. The only issue we had is that the refrigerator seemed to be an afterthought and didn't quite fit in the space allotted so it leaned to the left and would move every time it was opened, rather like a table with a dodgy leg. The TV also wasn't working but we ran into the handyman and he had it fixed right away (Thank you!).

The only other things I would recommend besides new, more secure doors and locks is a new coat of paint as some of the walls were quite scuffed. A landline telephone would also be nice as some of the take out food places didn't want to deliver to us as we only had German mobiles with us.

If you're looking for a good solid budget place I would definitely recommend it. We stayed in the one bedroom and it was perfect for my husband and me as well as our three children (there's a good sofa bed in the living room). We paid 85GBP or approximately 125 USD a night and honestly I haven't seen anything cheaper in London besides hostels. You'll be hard pressed to find something this good quality for this price in my opinion.