The place was okay

Taking over to write this review on behalf of my parents with poor english, as I stayed at the flat with them. The experience was terrible. My mom called me almost in tears the day before the trip saying that the host wasn't replying, they didn't confirm if the could check in early like they had requested in the booking, and was not telling them how and where they were going to get the keys. I tried to message, call and text the host myself and they were not replying, even on the morning of the booking, leading us to believe until the last second that we got scammed. My parents had to camp with their luggage at Peckham library for hours, not knowing if they were going to be able to get in the flat or if they would have needed to get a hotel. At last the host replied and we managed to get in, and we found an okay flat, not particularly pretty but not ugly either, which however was not set up to host three people, as per our booking. There were literally two spoons, forks and cups in the cupboard (how? are they not sold in sets of four?), two towels, and no blankets or sheets for the third person to sleep on the sofa bed. And the cherry on top: the host demanded for my parents to pay them a deposit outside of booking before the trip, for I think around £200. They tried to pay via revolut and then I think settled with a transferwise. Upon leaving, the host let them know that it was only going to get returned on a british bank account. Was the host trying to scam foreign tourists? I don't know, thankfully I live in London and the trip was for my parents to visit, so they gave them my bank details and I received the money - three weeks later. But what would have happened if my parents didn't have a british bank account?

Easy access and the host was quick to answer any queries.