Cambridge City Rooms by Paymán Club

There is no front of house staffing here, so access depends on being able to open a combination box on the side of the building. This (self-evidently) requires a combination to be provided. I had not been given the combination or any instructions for how to access the property before I arrived, so I was stuck outside for over an hour in 30 degree heat whilst a series of phonecalls to the provider went unanswered. This was bad enough already, but worse was to come. Eventually - i.e. after about 45 minutes of fruitless phone calls and messages, I was given a link to click on "in order to confirm my booking". This was the first I had heard of needing to confirm anything, as the accommodation had already been arranged through my university, and I had heard absolutely nothing from Payman club. Notwithstanding that my university had already arranged the booking, I then had to go through a lengthy process of providing a whole range of personal details that I'm not sure were necessary (or indeed in compliance with GDPR), including scans of photo ID. This whole process took a further 20 minutes. But as I say, worse was still to come. The final straw came when the provider asked me for a £100 security deposit, on top of the £250 or so that had already been paid to stay in the room. I was assured that this would be returned after my stay, and so in good faith I paid the £100, expecting it to be re-credited to my account on departure. However, I was very wrong. I checked out of the room on 6 September and left the key in the "Returned keys" box by the front door (which incidentally does not have a lock on it!). I chased up the return of the deposit on 7 September, having heard nothing, to receive a reply confirming that the funds would be returned in 14 business days. It is now over a fortnight since I stayed in this place (the only positive of which was that the room was at least tolerably clean, though it smelled damp because the ensuite extractor fan did not work). I am STILL waiting for my £100 deposit to be returned as promised. I have chased this numerous times by text and phonecall, but to no avail. There is absolutely no reason for the provider to keep hold of my deposit for so long: in the meantime they have had the benefit of £100 of my money that I was not told in advance that I would have to pay, and which they are withholding unreasonably. DO NOT STAY AT THIS PLACE. STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE.