Is this Extortion or Someone Being Nice?

[Stephanie365]

My last guest decided to cancel after his first night and wants a refund for his last two nights.

The reason: He said my cats were being too noisy. What he actually heard was me making more than one trip to the restroom.  I am very quiet, but in an old house, floor boards do creak.

In my "potential for noise" I do mention my cats. I also mention you will hear normal household noises.  These are also mentioned in my house rules under "Things you must acknowledge". 

At first, he tried to contact me off the platform, by texting my phone directly saying there was a problem with his stay. I responded to him on the platform...
"What was the problem? AirBNB requires we communicate through the platform."

He messaged back, "OK, not a problem. I was kept up for much of the night because of the cats running around above the bedroom. I hate to complain, especially because your place is lovely and you've been very friendly, but I'd like to cancel the rest of my stay and be refunded for the last two days. I'm happy not to give a negative rating if you'd like, since I read your materials and know that's important to you."

I responded with, "I'm very sorry they disturbed you. But I am a bit confused. Honestly, with the exception of when I got up around 1 am and they followed me around, they were sleeping with me (and my knee kept me awake most of the night) so I'm not sure when they were making noise? What time was this?"

His response: "Between 10:30 and midnight, and then again at 1am"

My reply: "I am very sorry I disturbed you."

His response:  "No worries, these things happen. I'm going to take off. I'd appreciate it if you can please fully refund me the remaining two nights of my stay. I'm happy to resolve this between us without complaining or leaving a negative rating, since I saw that Airbnb unfairly downranks you for that!

On one hand, I apparently did disturb him when I got up during the night.
On the other hand, he booked a home share with disclosed potentials for noise and he wants a refund for what was disclosed.
He's mentioned not leaving a negative rating in the same context as receiving a full refund for the remaining two days.

Thoughts?

[Stephanie365]

Ok, so this guy just keeps digging a deeper hole.

He just messaged me again through the platform saying he has already left me a negative review, but he will be happy to remove it if I refund the rest of his money. 

I have messaged AirBNB to ask them to remove it. The burning question is, can they do this before I leave my review for him so it never appears on my listing? Or do I have to publish my review for him and make them both visible before they can take action?

[Sarah977]

  Jeez, this guy sounds borderline insane. That he booked for a supposed "romantic weekend" makes it all the more nutso. I'm sure Airbnb is capable of blocking a review from being posted, but what they usually tell hosts is to wait until it's posted and ask for it to be removed after if it's negative. 

But since he's already told you he's left a negative review, and you have all these endless extortion attempts they can see,  I would at least try to get them to block his review. And not only is he trying to extort you, he is endlessly harassing you- mention that. The thing is, they might not let you leave a review, either if they don't post his, and other hosts really need to be warned about this guy. I'm quite sure he does this everywhere.

@Stephanie365

[Stephanie365]

Not only did they remove his review before I wrote mine, so it never showed up for anyone to see, but I was then able to write my 1* review of him and it's still there. 

[Brian2036]

@Stephanie365 

Wow. What a moron.

I’m guessing that nobody can remove something that hasn’t been posted… although I guess if he actually did write it and send it, his review is floating around out there somewhere.

 The quick way to find out is to post your response. I would include his latest extortion attempt in my response and rate him 1* across the board.

Eventually CS will remove his review, if he actually wrote one. Clearly you can’t believe anything he says.

[Stephanie365]

I have two more days to write his review. I'm going to see what AirBNB says before I review him. I can't believe they don't have access to it.

He's already getting 1* across the board with the word EXTORTION in all caps front and center.

[Stephanie365]

I woke this morning to a message from AirBNB saying they have removed his negative review. While I never saw it, I'm sure it was filled with fabrications.

I wouldn't doubt it if he actually wrote in his review, "I offered not to leave a negative review if she would refund me". 

I'm just so happy that AirBNB upheld their policies and removed his review before anyone could see it.

The only thing left to do is leave his review....

[Marie6762]

👏🏻!!! “Another one bites the dust” 🎶 

[Marie6762]

Oh!  Didn’t realize I was resurrecting an old thread....

[Richard531]

@Stephanie365  So what was the review?  Really enjoyed this whole story!

[Stephanie365]

I never saw his review. They removed it before it went live. 

Mine was, "I do NOT recommend Matt to future hosts due to his repeated violations of AirBNB's EXTORTION policy and for leaving my home unsecured and unlocked when he departed.  Matt said he wouldn't leave a negative review if I refunded him. He repeated these statements at least THREE times over 12 days so there was no mistaking his intent to extort a refund. I reported him to AirBNB. They agreed he violated their Extortion Policy and removed his negative review.

[Brian2036]

@Stephanie365 

Congratulation!

Thanks for the information. It’s good to know that CS can and will do something in cases like this.

 I hope they allow you to post a review despite blocking his. I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t.

[Patrick568]

Its extremely frustrating when guests create issues from the Ether.