Another rant about Customer Services - discount applied without consulting me

[Eileen0]

Monday: the boiler stops working in my flat, no heating or hot water

Monday pm: message guest due to arrive on Wednesday for a 6 night stay to let them know, that a plumber will visit the next day but can't confirm the outcome, say I can ask ABB to find them somewhere else, or offer a discount for the days without heating or hot water. Guest receives my message, says she cannot find alternative booking and would still like to stay.

Tuesday 06:17: message from Customer Services to say there is a "violation of the host standard" and that a 20% discount would be applied across the whole of the 6 night booking.

Tues 06:38: (I'm awake now) I reply saying a plumber has been booked and the boiler may be repaired tonight. And that any discount should be at my discretion and only for the days without heating/hot water

Tues 06:54: Customer Services says that the 20% discount is "according to the policy"

Tues 07:06: (I'm fully awake now and furious) I ask Customer Services for a link to the policy as I have not heard of this one

Links sent, but no mention of such policy, I message Customer Services about the policy again

Tuesday 07:13: Customer Services replies: "we cannot leak it because it is an internal policy" !!

And so it goes for a while with me saying they should at least let me see the policy, that I am very unhappy with this interference in my booking, and absolutely furious that there is a discount applied to the booking without my agreement.

I was absolutely outraged, how dare Customer Services take it upon themselves to give this discount without checking with me first.  

In the past when something similar happened, I would chat to the guests and we would work something out that seemed appropriate to both of us.  Why has this choice been taken away?  

If I am not in control of my rates and my hosting, what is the point!!

[Gillian166]

@Robin4 October is looking to be a strong month here. There's been a LOT of new places opening up these past few months. I feel like every time I do a bit of recon I find another new host. Luckily they aren't really direct competitors, a couple of boujie places with higher pricing, a few large homes that sleep 6+, and a few private rooms with zero clue about styling/aesthetics. There's room enough for all those niche markets! I met the lovely mrktg manager for Howards Vineyard and she told me they are fully booked for weddings right through to April, that alone should provide plenty of opportunity. Likewise the Brae and Lot100 are no doubt equally booked. filling in the weekdays is a little more challenging but we'll enjoy the few days of break here and there before summer hits and we'll be fully booked for sure. I opened up the xmas week and got a booking the same day (clearly was too cheap! lol). Enjoy your time away, may the blue swimmers be plentiful! yum. 

[Robin4]

@Gillian166 

We always get a good feed of Blue Swimmers Gillian.......

I have made up a plastic crate on wheels which I pull around across the sand to store our catch in, and we make sure we only ever take legal size specimens, and we always return females with eggs.

When you invent something you have to give it a name so, while we are out in the shallows crabbing I call it my 'Crab Cobber' , and when on the jetty fishing with a rod or two, I call it my 'Jetty Janitor'  so we don't leave a mess behind on the jetty.

Weather forecast doesn't look too bad so we are looking forward to a great week!

Apologies to @Eileen0 , I didn't mean to hijack your thread!

Cheers........Rob

[Jenny]

Absolutely loving your crabbing photos @Robin4 - thank you for sharing!  

Jenny

[Robin4]

@Jenny 

Jen, I believe this life is not a dress rehearsal for something to come.....we are here for a limited amount of time and it is up to us to make the most of what we are given!

Here we were last year up to our high-jinx over at the same place we are headed for today. It was to celebrate my birthday and you can plainly see why I like to make a d*ck of myself when in company...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtzjJNrzppk&ab_channel=RobinShannon 

I know a bit stupid but it means we have lots of friends, and why I am a great Airbnb host!

Cheers.........Rob

[Jenny]

Thank you @Robin4 , for a joyful video to watch on a Monday morning!  

I hope you have lots of high-jinx planned for this year too - I'll be keeping an eye out for any updates!

Have an amazing time.

Jenny

[Jenny]

Hi @Eileen0 

Sorry to hear about this.  I just wanted to let you know that I've been in contact with Airbnb Support about your experience, and I'm waiting to hear back at the moment.  I'll make sure that someone updates you as soon as they can.

Thank you to @Huma0, @Gillian166, @Helen3, and @Robin4 for popping onto the thread in the meantime to give some advice and show some support.

Jenny

[Eileen0]

@Jenny thank you, please do look into it.  I did message @Sybe this morning, but also happy for you to look into it as well.  My gripe is that a discount was applied without my consent, and that it should surely be up to me and the guest as to an appropriate mutually agreed discount.  

[Jenny]

Thanks for letting me know about that - I'll check in with @Sybe and between us we'll do our best for you!

Jenny

[Pat9257]

We just rented a place in Portland and had no hot water two days but thankfully only one of us got the cold shower on first day. The fireplace didn't work and it was chilly but we never contacted CS just owner and if we got a discount my travel friend who booked never mentioned it. We also nearly got a parking ticket parking on street that they said was where we should park. I talked very kindly to Mr ticket man. He made a fortune two days in a row.  So many places are not living up to the info listed. I wrote not as described on one place and she left me the craziest review. If you say you have a laundry room with washer/dryer then I expect one not telling me no one needs to do laundry if staying only five days. She left wet towels and wanted to dry the two towels. 

[Robin4]

@Pat9257 

Hi Pat, I am sorry to read of your recent experience in Portland. It infuriates me when we see posts like this because it reflects badly on all of us, most of whom try their very best to make their guests stay an enjoyable experience.

Hosts like this one of yours do not deserve to be in this hospitality industry, if this is the level of service they are providing they should be forced out of the industry and rent out a parking station where their only obligation is to rent out a concrete vehicle space!

Unless you complain to Airbnb the company have no idea of deficiencies that might exist in the properties they are promoting. The first thing you should do when finding out the property is not as described is ask the owner to address the problem, give he/she the opportunity to put things right. If they dismiss it or refuse to make an attempt, then report accurately and objectively what the discrepancy is to the Resolution Centre. Don't be aggressive to either the owner or to Airbnb, ask for help and direction. If you are pleasant you will get far further than being demanding.

It shouldn't be this way but, it appears the support person you reach will have the most sympathy for the party they can negotiate easiest with.  If this host gets a number of similar complaints Airbnb will suspend or de-list their property and everyone benefits, it lifts our self esteem as hosts, and it lessens the guests chance of having an unsatisfactory experience.

Pat, there is nothing in my property I don't have a back up for! We produce our own electricity so everything in the listing is electric. If our electric water heater should fail I have a propane gas unit I can switch to at a moments notice. I have electric blow heaters should the reverse cycle system fail and a portable cooler sitting in the shed should it be hot. I have a spare toaster, electric kettle, two burner hotplate, all bought from the local charity shop for a handful of coins just sitting there in case of a failure. I even have battery lighting back-up should a power circuit fail at night.

The situation never arises here where the guest does not have the use of something in my listing description. And most hosts are like me, we realise we have an obligation to a paying guest.

Pat please don't judge us all by your experience, inform Airbnb of how you were treated and next time search for properties that are promoted by Superhosts where you have a much better chance of having a great experience. All the best.

Cheers.......Rob 

[Gillian166]

@Pat9257  yeah, that's not cool. But just a quick heads up, the host didn't leave you a bad review due to your review. Both reviews are done blind. Just had a quick peek and looks like her water issues remain, and her nasty replies to bad reviews says a lot, i would never stay there. Also looks like she currently isn't hosting anyway. 

[John5097]

@Eileen0 

As I recall ABB was to encourage guest to sort out any issues with host first. 

Along a similar experience, I recently had power disrupted after high winds from hurricane. I wasn't sure when it would be restored. A couple was staying and I told them that I was flexible and whatever they wanted to do: if they wanted to cut their trip short, or partial refund. I had some extra flashlights and battery backup. Thankfully, it was restored that same night, so was out of about 8 hours. The couple didn't request any kind of refund. 

That being said if the couple had contacted Customer Support and got a 20% discount for nights without power I would have been ambivalent. I see your point that it was applied in advance and not in retrospect. Although would rather get paid 80% instead of nothing. For five nights that's like one free night which I have offered myself when AC broke (that was less than a year old and still under warranty.) and didn't involve CS. 

I'm just wondering what you think the proper discount should have been? To  me that doesn't sound unreasonable. I'm anticipating when appliances and such get near their end of life, I'll have more disruptions and partial refunds, which is the host responsibility. 

I also had internet disruption where a main fiber optic line had been damage and without internet for 4 days the week before the hurricane. Its just stressful. Thankfully that guest really didn't use it. I issued $25 refund which they appreciated. It maybe could have been more, but its not my fault the server was down from unexpected damage. That kind of disruption should be expected. For heat a host can have a back up. Mine has baseboard heaters that are off as the primary heat is a ductless heat pump.

Id also like to see host and guest first sort it out. We have had this discussion several times. But I can also see how a reasonable 20% discount would be applied as sometimes host can also be unreasonable.

In the end I would be very happy with 80% payout, 5 star review, after heat and hot water went out, pending repair. Either host or guest could have canceled under extenuating circumstance policy. 

[John5097]

Wanted to add that host should be more specific on exact amount of refund, and what their options are, when they inform guest of disruption or repair.

When AC broke I let them know I would issue one night refund if they wanted to stay the first night without AC, and allow AC company access to make repairs the next morning. Or they could cancel their reservation. Had I just said sorry don't know when it will be repaired and we can sort it out later, I would expect them to contact CS. For no power at all, I would have agreed to half refund or even a free stay, thats why I told guest to just let me know. They gave it their best shot and if it something major like no heat, hot water or power I would expect a hefty discount. 

I would have offered 30% for nights that had no heat or hot water with option for them to cancel if it couldn't be repaired. That would have kept CS out of it and guest would have felt reassured. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

I think the point was that a repairman was coming before the stay had even begun, so there was a good chance that this wouldn't even have been an issue during the stay. However, @Eileen0 did the right thing by informing the guest that it could be an issue if the repair was not successful and offering either to fully refund the guest if they stayed elsewhere or partially refund them if they chose to stay (and the issue hadn't been resolved).

For Airbnb to then refund 20% for the whole stay in advance without even consulting the host, is just plain wrong. Of course the guest should be entitled to a partial refund if the problem wasn't sorted, but at that stage, it was not even certain that there would be a problem during the stay and the host had already offered to refund IF it was.

Are you saying that if your power issue was resolved BEFORE the guests checked in, you would have given them a 30% refund anyway?

[John5097]

@Huma0 



If you could please read my post "I see your point that it was applied in advance and not in retrospect. Although would rather get paid 80% instead of nothing. For five nights that's like one free night which I have offered myself when AC broke (that was less than a year old and still under warranty.) and didn't involve CS. "

"I'm just wondering what you think the proper discount should have been?"

"Id also like to see host and guest first sort it out. We have had this discussion several times. But I can also see how a reasonable 20% discount would be applied as sometimes host can also be unreasonable."

But yes, as I said in my follow up post I would have been very clear exactly what refund I would have offered. I did say 30% but now thinking I would offer guest at least 50% discount for a place that has no heat and no hot water with the option to cancel if it can't be repaired. Both heat and hot water are a basic requirement for our basic living standard for a house to be considered habitable. 

I would have avoided having CS involved at all and offered a discount they would have been agreeable with a major issue such as no heat and no hot water. I also mentioned that older appliances which includes heating AC, that are old would also be a liability. This was advice I was offering because having things breaking can lead to being delisted. So that's why I was offering suggestions to avoid that outcome. 

I understand how stressful and frustrating this can be. Maybe it was all new equipment, boiler etc. That is one of the reasons I upgraded my listing with a ductless mini split. If the AC goes out again they have that as back up also. I'm also installing a generator incase power goes out. If its out more than a day I would expect guest to cancel for full refund. I also have to notify upcoming guest that there is no power and I might not know when it will be restored. Some situation. But in the future I can add that I have a backup generator and can offer say 50% discount or first night even a free night if they keep their reservation. If its not restored then then can cancel. I think thats pretty much what CS did by offering 20% discount up front. 

If guest stays host would not be obliged to refund anything once they have been paid. Its a done deal. That's why I said to be very specific in writing in the Airbnb app about exactly what discount host would offer. I also gave a few examples of recent similar experiences. I just had 6 cancelations, lots of communication, rebookings, refunds, etc with recent hurricane. I managed to keep the place booked, except one night, where Airbnb blocked off 4 nights waiting for guest to pay. 

In the end I don't think guest should be fully dependent on a host to decide on refund. Thats why I suggested being up front. I think 20% discount in this situation where there is no estimate for repair is reasonable. Once again I have always figured out a way not to involve CS by clear communication with guest.