Izumi Graf Mariko Okada, Mieko Ishii, Mark Sulavka Last minute cancelation. New York City, New York

I wanted an apartment for a week in NYC for myself and four relatives & friends coming from Germany. I found two listed on Flipkey via TripAdvisor's website that seemed perfect with the same contact info. I always spoke to Mariko, but some emails came from Mieko at the same address. I mailed a $50 deposit check and signed Lease to Izumi c/o Mark at the address provided. I got several emails from Mariko saying that the check hadn't arrived. I offered to have a replacement sent by overnight delivery. She didn't respond to that.

Instead, I got an email from her just six days before we were scheduled to arrive saying that the prior tenant had ruined the floor so it had to be redone and the apartment wasn't available. A day later, she sent me another email saying she might have something similar, but each day I called for three days it was always "maybe tomorrow I'll know".

My check was never cashed, and the amount was so small that I wasn't really concerned, but the hotel rooms we had to rent cost us almost double what we'd agreed on with her. When I went back to the Flipkey listings, in addition to all of the prior good reviews, I found two new ones saying that she had canceled at the last minute on them, too. The listings are now gone.