Resoution for roach infested home

[Sajah0]

I recently stayed in a home the was infested with roaches. I have pictures, videos, texts etc. I reached out to the host, to get them out to resolve the issue. Nothing happened. I requested a refund for my stay, I got nothing and Air Bnb did nothing also. During this stay I easlily spent 90% of my stay driving around away from the home. I have asthma and severe allergies so I cannot be swarm by them without medical complications. Can someone advise the best steps to resolve this. I am thinking this needs legal action.

[Anonymous]

@Sajah0  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/544/what-is-airbnbs-guest-refund-policy-for-stays

The slow waiting times for customer service issues these days means you might be stuck waiting a week or more for a response. But under the policy, if an issue like this prevents you from completing your stay, you're entitled to a refund for the unused nights. So I hope you left early, so you can at least get something.

If you completed the stay up until your checkout date, you'd be out of luck. The property being unsuitable doesn't entitle a guest to stay there for free.

[Sajah0]

Unfortunately I didn't have any where else to go. I drove in my car most of the stay. I stayed in contact with the host who ended up saying they couldn't resolve the issue.

[Heidi588]

Those were some hardcore roaches if they were texting you. You should have called the police. 

Seriously, though, if your condition were that severe, you wouldn't have been able to stay there 10% of the time.

I'm not a host, I'm a guest who has 25 of years of customer service work experience at every level as well as a finely honed detector for manipulation. It sounds to me like you're trying to get a free stay after the fact. I would have to see the pictures (and the texts from those little terrorists) before making a judgment call, but this has set off my detector so hard, I wouldn't be surprised if you brought the roaches with you and planted them, or at the best, that you didn't bring them and oh my god, there were one or two roaches when some food got left out, let's capitalize on that. If it was really that bad, by all means, quit brandishing threats and go for the legal action. It's a very old scam to go to a fancy restaurant, eat most of a fine meal, drop a roach in the food, complain loudly, and threaten a lawsuit. 

You have no previous reviews, the host took a chance on you, and now you'll likely pull the entitlement/scam card and either write a false review or blow tiny things way out of proportion because the host didn't cave to your threats and give you a freebie.  I'll need to set myself a reminder and watch your profile for the host review and then see how you reviewed them. I've got the popcorn ready, I'm expecting quite a show. I really hope I'm wrong, because it's honestly sad to see people treat each other this way. 

P.S. I hope you changed your number. Roaches are the worst. They'll give out your number to all their friends and blow your phone up day and night, but especially at night. 

[Sajah0]

You are not my parents, my children, my husband or my God so I will not waste my energy explaining myself to you. Clearly you have nothing better to do with your life than to troll people online. You came here with no intentions of being helpful or "community" like. You can be miserable alone because I am blessed and highly favored. God knows my heart and yours. Praying for you though.

[Anonymous]

@Sajah0  It's unfortunate that you felt you had nowhere else to go. But that is your personal problem, not the host's.  You generally have to cancel your booking in order to be eligible for a refund. 

Look at it this way - if you buy some pants at Macy's and they turn out not to fit you, you can only get your money back it you actually return them. If you refuse to do so because you don't have anything else to wear, you don't get your money back. Where did you ever get the idea that the world worked differently?

Sorry if you don't like what you're hearing, but this is the honest truth. If you want different results, I guess you can try praying for them. But if your God actually favors you so much, why did he put all those roaches in your Airbnb?

[Sajah0]

I didn't have any issues with what you said. I also never said that portion was their issue. The honest truth has nothing to do with accusations the woman above said to me because she doesn't know the truth. Since you want to give examples, if I order food that has bugs in it, they don't want the food back, it's of no use to them just as the room should be removed from use until they resolve the issue. The company usually just wants to see it and offer to refund you or make up for it. My only expectation was for the host to make it right which I gave space and time for them to do but he was unable to do anything. I reached out hopes for him to resolve it not for money. When nothing happened, that's when I reached out to to Air Bnb for a solution.

**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Anonymous]

@Sajah0  This doesn't really change anything. You were right to give the host a chance to resolve the problem, but when that fails,  all you can really do is find somewhere else to stay and vacate. 

It's possible that Airbnb will grant you a token discount or travel credit due to the conditions you reported, but that's really up to the whim of the operator you speak to, rather than the actual policy. Everyone has their own opinion about what "making it right" would entail when there's a problem, but that doesn't really matter when the agreement you've entered into has a different process built in.

[Sajah0]

Well I agree with different opinions. The solution here should not be NOTHING however and I am seeking them to even attempt any remedy at all but was seeking support from the community but clearly people here only want to insult and blast someone seeking help. I do know that this host had prior knowledge of the issue and did not disclose or pull this home from the site. Which I do know is a violation and Air Bnb did acknowledge that as true. This issue should be straight forward in terms of some sort of action being taken.

[Anonymous]

@Sajah0  At this point, the solution is not NOTHING - it's to write an honest review of the property, as I hope you've already done, and move on with your blessed and highly favored life.

Airbnb may or may not choose to penalize the host, but they usually don't disclose the nature of any actions they take along such lines. Multiple reports of roach infestation would hinder the listing's ability to get future bookings, and for anyone who does choose to stay at this place you certainly can't say they weren't warned.

[Heidi588]

You said in your message to the host that the reviews said it was pretty much that way the previous month. So you've admitted you were aware. If your health issues were that extreme, then I don't understand why you would make the reservation, and I don't think a judge would either.  

[Sajah0]

I also have documentation for a judge that the review was not posted at the time of my booking. So I was not initially aware. This was the stay just prior to mine. I called the host out on it because he had been made aware and should have cancelled my reservation or notified me. But thanks 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Sajah0  You say you had nowhere else to go, but did you try to look for another Airbnb in the area? Did you tell Airbnb about the situation and ask them to try to rehome you? 

Also, as you didn't post the link to the listing, I have no way of knowing, but if you just looked for a cheap place, you have to keep in mind that you get what you pay for. There's no excuse for a place to be infested with roaches if someone is going to rent it out, but at the same time, you have to be wary of a place if it's the cheapest thing out there.

Quite honestly, I think you may end up getting a refund eventually if you point out to Airbnb that the person who stayed previous to you, and whose review wasn't posted yet when you booked, also complained about roaches, yet the host obviously did nothing to mitigate the problem and continued to accept bookings when they were well aware of the issue.