La Demeure Avesnoise

The parking underneath the apartment was the one thing I appreciated. Inside, though, it was damp, dusty, and smelled of pellets, with cobwebs around. We arrived on a cold evening at the end of September and found a stove and a bag of pellets, but no instructions for operating it. We had to look online. Hot water took several minutes to come through, though it did eventually get hot. The place felt cheaply put together. The floor shifted when we went upstairs, and the TV wobbled on its cabinet. Shelves were coming away from the walls, the bathroom door wouldn't shut, and the furniture needed cleaning. In the kitchen there was no kettle, and making coffee meant searching for pans. The only pot we found looked ancient, and we didn't feel comfortable using it. The sponge and other kitchen items were dirty, rusty, or chipped. We'd picked this apartment in a hurry while travelling through France, just needing somewhere to sleep. The reviews seemed good, so we didn't expect this. The staff were difficult to identify, and phone availability ended at 9:00, too early for us to call after our evening arrival. The place was left unlocked with the keys in the door. In the morning an older gentleman greeted us and said goodbye, but he told us he didn't speak English. We only passed him briefly in the doorway anyway. We've stayed in all sorts of places across France, and this was by far the dirtiest and worst of them. I can't understand the positive reviews.