A story with everything. Bad guest, thousands in damages, criminal activity and a bad review!

[Laura4076]

We rented to 2 young guys who had come from New Jersey.  We live about 2 hours away from the rental so our check in process is done contactless where they ring the doorbell camera and we can see it's the guest and remotely open the door.  Once in you get keys and a garage door clicker.  After that most guest don't really go thru the front door as the garage is attached. These guys originally booked for 2 weeks then extended for another 2 weeks.  They tried to extend again but I declined.  When we got to the house it was completely wrecked with damages estimated at approximately $4000.  Not only had the managed to completely smash our shower doors the broke our sofa in two and burned all of our nightstands with cigarettes and weed.  Nearly every room had the remnants of marijuana and the house stunk of smoke and weed.  They even broke a locked gate to get to a storage area where we store our various personal items.   We felt violated and completely in shock.  I immediately messaged him asking why they'd done what they'd done and he said that's what they pay cleaning for.  He did not care one bit about any of the damage he caused and even started sending me laughing emojis!   As we cleaned the house we noticed our personal mail was spread all over the house.  That raised immediate red flags so I went to the mailbox and found a 3" stack of mail from the EDD.  For those not from California the EDD is the unemployment department that's in charge of pandemic relief for those in California that are unemployed due to the pandemic.   Someone filing just one of these claims could easily get between $30,000-$50,000 maybe more.  It's been plagued by fraudulent claims from the beginning.  The one day of mail the we got after he'd left had 6 separate claims.  When the police went to the house yesterday they found another stack with around another 10 different claims.   Our mailbox is on the street approximately 45 feet from our front door.   Our doorbell camera is motion activated but we only get notified if someone rings the doorbell so we had no idea what he was doing.  Thank god the footage saves for up to a month because when we went back and looked you see this guy going and checking our mail everyday..sometimes 2-3 times a day.  When he goes in you can clearly see the EDD envelopes that he's carrying.  He set up a full EDD scam at our address and was collecting all of the California Pandemic relief even thou he isn't even from California.  We called the police who made a report and because it appears to be a large operation they put us in contact with the Department Of Justice who also have a fraud division.  The doorbell camera is in plain site and faces the street it's also in our add that we have security cameras.  If it weren't for the footage it would have basically been my word against his.

So while all of this is ongoing I'm also trying to communicate with Airbnb and let them know not only about all of the damage but the criminal activity.   As anyone who's every has had to deal with Airbnb will tell you it is not easy to get anyone on the phone.  I was also extremely busy trying to clean up my house.  I started sending messages immediately after I discovered the damage and also did as was instructed and sent the damages to him to pay first.   He denied everything and said he'd reported me to Airbnb.    As soon as he'd been asked to pay damages  he left a 1 star review where he claimed we lived in an RV across the street and spied on our guest.  He also stated we have cameras inside our house.  Both statements are complete lies but I can't get anyone at Airbnb to get back to me.  I  find it very funny that Airbnb lowers my rating if I don't reply within 24 hours to inquiries yet I'm still waiting after 3 days.  Keep in mind I've been sending them updated messages every single day since this started.  Today I woke up to find my account has been "temporarily suspended" because he claims I have cameras in my house! Are you serious?? I'm now absolutely livid so once again I've called and was put on hold for over an hour.   I had a meeting to get to and ended up having to hang up with the promise the will message me.   My ratings were perfect and no one has every said a bad word about me I'd fully expected to become a super host in October,  yet they take the word a someone who had never even used Airbnb before and suspend my account!   I am more then disgusted with what had happened and cannot be more let down by Airbnb.   This needs to change people can not continue to get away with this type of behavior and Airbnb condone it.  

[Olivier906]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Airbnb learned from Amazon. It's exactly the same for third party sellers on amz. You're doing great then you lose everything overnight... All the support you get is from bots or automatic messages that make no sense.

[Laura4076]

@Olivier906  it’s shocking! I’ve not heard anything and I’ve turned in all police reports, photos and videos. What’s scary is we are 2 hours away from our house and only can go up on the weekends. When I checked the mail today it’s empty.  When we left last Saturday the mailbox was full  of all his claims. When the police went on Monday it was full of all his claims. Today after 3 days of us not being able to check it…it’s empty. I think he’s stayed in the area and has been stealing our mail!  I’m here by myself and I’m terrified!

[Leslie-And-Larry0]

That's really awful and we are sorry it happened to you. Airbnb certainly does not stick up for hosts. We had a milder awakening to this a few years back. A misunderstanding about guest access was treated by Airbnb reps as if we were scamming people -- despite being superhosts forever with really high reviews. They treated us like criminals. We realize they deal with a lot of unsavory hosts, but they ought to at least check the host's history before assuming the worst about us.

[Laura4076]

@Leslie-And-Larry0  This is where the problem is only going to get worse.  To become super host you have to meet a certain criteria. There is no way if you were a dishonest host that you could be a super host.  The reviews wouldn’t allow it. While anyone can sign up to brand new Airbnb account book someone house, wreck it and then make up some outrageous excuse and Airbnb will side with them.  Then it’s up to the super host to prove the guest is lying.  Where does that make any sense?

If you haven’t already you should read @Barry346  story.  He’s got multiple properties, been on Airbnb for 5 years with well over 200 perfect reviews. Look what they’ve done to him! 

Before this happened to us we’d only ever had lovely people stay at our house.  I was way too naive.  I also put to much faith in where Airbnb claimed someone was verified.  I will now not let anyone stay that does not have some type of Airbnb history. 

[Olivier906]

@Laura4076 it's amazing that your suspension still hasnt been reviewed properly by a human being.

[Aurora18]

@Laura4076 Thank you for sharing your story. I was about to post the following on Twitter: New guest couple arrives. A domestic dispute ensues. Police called. Airbnb report filed. Guests are now threatening to disturb my home and neighbors. Feeling threatened and vulnerable. Still waiting for @Airbnb two days later. They told me not to cancel this reservation until I hear from them. Have you contacted your attorney? I'm considering calling mine. Are there any class action suits underway for hosts?

I feel lucky that this is all that has happened to me given everything you have dealt with at your place.  All the best to you, Laura.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Aurora18  dont wait for the call from airbnb, cancel this reservation and call the police if they don't want to leave, without active reservation they are trespassing

[Laura4076]

@Aurora18  I’m with @Branka-and-Silvia0  do not wait for Airbnb to get back to! Cancel the reservation and call the police.  I’m still waiting on Airbnb and it’s been a week today! Airbnb DO NOT care about host as much as you think your protected you are not.  Be prepared the fight with Airbnb will probably be worse then your dealings with the “guest”.

[Laura4076]

@Aurora18  Also if they are still in your home there will likely be damages. Be sure to photograph absolutely everything.

 It may sound silly but I’d go with your gut feeling. I had that same feeling the week before this guy checked out.  I would message him making sure everything was alright and he’d reply with short one word answers. Then he kept trying to extend his stay.  I knew deep down something wasn’t right and I only wish I’d acted on it sooner. 

[Diana-And-Lando0]

Oh my! I am so sorry that this has happened to you.  There are some really bad people around!  The theme on this community center seems to be not only issues that hosts have had, but the terrible service from Airbnb  lately.  I saw a bunch of hosts in the same situation with a bad guest, them reporting the host and then Airbnb suspending their listing.  

[Laura4076]

@Diana-And-Lando0  it’s truly shocking when you see how big the problem is!  I’ve had so many replies from hosts with horror stories with nightmare guest who Airbnb side with. @Barry346  put it best when he says with hosts “it’s guilty until proven innocent” problem is you can’t just call up and deal with a live person at Airbnb, you deal with email and bots. I’d say 99% of all of these problems could be dealt with in 1 phone call person to person. Instead you are forced to wait while they “investigate”.  I’m still suspended after a week and have yet to hear back from anyone at Airbnb. 

[Laura4076]

So just an update I’ve just received an email apologizing for everything that’s happened and stating that my account is reinstated.   They’ve even finally acknowledged our damages which hasn’t happened for 7 days.  While I’m glad it’s been reinstated I’m disgusted it was ever even suspended in the first place.

I absolutely do not intend on giving up on this fight!  Something needs to change these situations should never even happen to begin with.  The HOSTS are the people who make Airbnb even possible they need to be treated fairly.

[Juley0]

This is why I no longer rent to people (that plus the Town doesn't allow rentals of less than 30 days at a time).

Have you tried contacting a consumer advocate in the media? In the SF Bay Area we have Michael Finney & Contact 4. They have ways of reaching Airbnb bc they air these cases on TV, and it's amazing how positive the outcomes are after people have been stymied in every attempt they make.

When I filed a case with Finney, they wanted us to try EVERYTHING, so we got the corporate HQ address & sent a Certified Letter explaining the circumstances and demanding a response. We kept a list of dates and times of every attempt we made to reach them by phone. Sometimes you can find email addresses of VPs and such, by checking the Annual Report they generate for investors. Amazing what you find when you google, if you know where to look.

I wish you the best and I really empathize. We had a nasty situation once or twice, but not nearly as bad as yours. Ultimately, you could go to Small Claims, but that can be an uphill battle when you try to collect after you win a judgement.

Don't despair. Don't ever give up. Tenacity has taken me far many times when I thought I had no recourse.

[Laura4076]

@Juley0  Thanks for all the information!  I did find the email for Catherine Powell who is the Global Head of Hosting at Airbnb.  I emailed her yesterday. I’m not sure if it was all the fuss I’ve been making on this community board or someone actually saw my email but things remarkably overnight started happening.  

They removed my suspension and have finally started to address the damages.  They’ve refused to remove his bad review but I’m not giving up.  I’m lucky as we live in Los Angeles and have numerous media outlets that we can go to.  Plus the EDD fraud is so bad here the news would eat up this story!

[Helen427]

What a horrific situation you have found yourself in @Laura4076 , it can and does also happen to others who rent properties through other avenues, not just ABB.

We tend to only hear about the one's through ABB unless there's a court case involving the Tenancy Tribunal here in New Zealand and some of those cases are abhorrent.

What is it with people these days to be so brutal and disrespectful of others property and think they can rip people off, including fellow tax and ratepayers?

I hope your camera is set to pick up on where your letterbox is to see if it's them collecting the mail.

You could always reach out to those in the neighbourhood and see what camera footage they have as they to need to be made aware there's criminals in the area, and may be able to assist in getting a successful prosecution.

Have a browse through other listings, including Private Rooms and see if you can get someone to Co-Host and check on the property when you are unable to get there during the week.

I hope they have not checked into another nearby ABB.

You may like to ensure @Catherine-Powell follows up on that to from the back room.

Bless the Superwoman she is at the moment to deal with all these cases.

Meanwhile take it easy on yourself @Laura4076 and good on you for your bravery in dealing with these thugs.

Keep safe