Screwd over by Airbnb so called impartcial agent who completly ignored me and refunded the guest, despite me having mounds of evidence he was scamming

[Shaun124]

I recently got a message from Airbnb that there was a situation with one of our guests.  I had informed Airbnb that I was extremely unhappy with this guest and I would send them information as soon as they required it.  All I got back was a ruling that they had refunded the guest. I had no input or no rebuttal or don't even know what the guest had said to Airbnb but I got left out in the cold in a completely unjustified situation

Unfortunately the guest must rank as one of our worst guests we have ever hosted.

We have all heard of the person that waits till the last bite of pizza, just to say its terrible and wants his money back for his pizza, well that's how our experience went with this guest

Late on day 2 of his 4 day stay he mentioned slow wifi and could we check to see what the issue was. We checked our app and it showed we were online but slow speeds. We reached out to Spectrum, our local provider and they had to reset the signal from their end. Once reset, we reached back out to the guest  to check if it the signal was better and he confirmed it was but still seemed very upset that his streaming had been disrupted and wanted to speak with me, as the owner.
Unfortunately, I along, with the rest of my family were unavailable that entire weekend due a medical emergency and a family member in the ER.

The guest  then later that evening reached out again saying that he had just noticed that the toilet appeared to be rocking in place. Our guest relations manager put a call in to the plumber who responded saying he would get it on the schedule and as its not an emergency type call out and would let her know when he can come out so she could pass it onto the guest

The evening of the night before check out , I was notified the guest was still complaining about the lack of owner response, the lose toilet and the internet issue. I told our guest relations manger to offer him am Uber eats gift card for the issues as these were completely out of my control and we were dealing with a medical emergency. the guest declined the offer.

Guest then responded with complaints saying he could smell sewer gas from the toilet, see the trash cans from one of the windows, there was dust on the broom that he had used for 4 days, there was scuff on the base boards etc. He had a valid concern of black mildew spots in the shower that the cleaner may have missed, we do however try limit the use of bleach on same day turn overs as it can leave a odor in the air for the new guests checking in who maybe sensitive to odors.( in Florida this can appear in a few days)

When I was able to get to message him later that evening, he was still upset that I did not respond to him earlier, despite dealing with the medical emergency, so I refunded the cleaning fee and again offered the Uber eats card to which he declined. He now insisted on a 100% refund for his entire 4 night stay, this on the evening of night 4 because the owners did not respond and deal with his concerns.

The plumber checked the toilet the morning of his checkout and a bolt had come lose and re set the toilet and moved less than 1/4 inch.  The plumber reported in writing, there was absolutely no way there was any smell of sewer gas when he entered and the wax ring was securely embedded and despite the movement the toilet was still firmly secured to the floor and there was no way there was a possibility of any smell occurring.

Guest then continued to bombard my daughters cell phone with long text messages and complaints and threats multiple times a day, demanding a 100% refund. There was well over 30 messages to her. On about day 3 or 4 past his departure, after we told him he was not going to get a free stay, he admitted he was being unreasonable and only threatened this to get the owners attention because they did not respond right away, all while he was informed of the medical emergency the family was enduring.

He then said he would settle for 2 days refunded of his stay because of the sewer gas problem. We sent the report from the plumber showing the findings, along with a copy of the 5 star reviews from the guest that checked out the morning of his arrival and the guest who checked in the day of his departure. The guest who checked in on his day of departure wrote in their review that it was one of their best Airbnb experiences ever, yet he was insisting on a refund due the "conditions" he had to endure during his stay.

He then said he would file a complaint with Airbnb in order to get a refund because we not only declined his request for 100% refund of his stay, but also his request for a refund of 2 days for a toilet that came lose during his stay.

This was a blatant  attempt to get his stay for free.

CS did not ask me or provide me with anything, just that they had refunded the guest and closed the case and then said the would notate my account and gave me a warning that my listing maybe be removed.

I showed this to an attorney friend of mine and he was horrified that Airbnb is even legally allowed to do this. There is no input from the host and some arbitrary person, probably based outside the USA, is allowed to play judge and jury without a fair input and hearing from the host.

The more AIrbnb allows guests to be rewarded for deviant and illegal practices, the word will get out and we as hosts will continue to get penalized for no reason.

[Elaine701]

We come to hosting. Be advised; the guest is always right. 

[Shaun124]

1st time in 5 years I have had this happen. When I have proof guest is wrong, you would think I would have an opportunity to present my side.

[Karla533]

@Shaun124   So sorry this happened to you, what a frustrating and unhappy experience. I hope you don't mind if I offer some ideas to help prevent this in the future.

The timing of all this was just awful for you given the family emergency. I hope everyone is OK now.

-- Bleach does not kill black mold or mildew. The product you want is: Mold Control, Concrobium, sold by a Canadian company through Amazon. Spray bottle. It is odorless, works great and in fact freshens the air, and somebody needs to get into your property and remove every tiny bit of mold, pronto. You may need to replace the caulk if mold is under silicone caulk. (Tends to happen.)

My sister is so allergic to black mold that she landed in the emergency room, struggling to breathe, after cleaning her church's closet that had some black mold in it. 

Personally if I checked into a lodging with visible black mold I would ask for another room or cancel my reservation on the spot.

-- Internet speed. I am getting more and more potential guests asking about this. I did the test ABB offered, which then gets the speed result onto my listing.  I also did a home test--just Google "test internet speed"--took a screen shot of the result, and that is the last photo of my 40 photos on the listing. So when guests ask, I refer them to these two sources of info. Then they can decide if my wifi is sufficient for them or not.

People who need to work from your place need internet that will support Zoom calls and perhaps relatively large data transfers. Some people stream TV shows live. If your wifi isn't able to do this, they need to know this.

If you have cable you should restart your modem/router once a month as routine maintenance. This is because if the ISP company makes improvements, sometimes they don't kick in until there is a local  restart.

-- Loose toilets are not good. Did the guest remove the toilet bolt? If not, then whoever is taking care of this property is not paying attention well enough. I would be very irritated to discover this in a lodging. Just my opinion.

I think your plumber is right about the wax ring seal remaining patent, for the record.

However: sewer gas and plumbers. Plumbers often lose their ability to smell both this and natural gas "skunk." A few months ago I brought in a plumber to fix what I smelled as a gas leak. He told me, as previous plumbers had, that there was no gas smell. This time I insisted he get the fancy wand (sniffer) device and sure enough, gas leak.

Sewer gas smells awful to those of us who can smell it. I can smell it when others can't. Sewer gas is explosive and a health hazard.

With several things like this, the guest may have just freaked out. I would be curious to know if the guest had reviews and if they were good reviews.

Remember we live in times of high anxiety, a constant barrage of terrible news. People have short fuses right now. That includes us as hosts.

-- I hope you family member is feeling well now and is OK. Your family emergency is not the guest's problem or concern, however. Guests come to your beautiful place to relax and recharge, they do not want to hear excuses, even excellent excuses.

There are at least two sides to every story and I do not know to what extent you had to prioritize the emergency over the guest's messages to you.

When things turn sour, the best thing for a host to do, again just my opinion, is to be concerned and attentive and to acknowledge the guest's unhappiness. You weren't in a position to do this at the time and that is part of the reason for this outcome, I think.

[Huma0]

@Shaun124 

My cleaners also told me that Cif Perfect Finish Mould Stain Remover is very good and this is what I now always purchase. I don't know if you can get it in the US. It costs around £4 a bottle, but I always stock up on it when it's on offer for half price, which is often as it's a relatively new product.

[Shaun124]

Thanks

I did not see it available in the US.

I will look to see if there is something else. The problem is the humidity and it can grow in 24-48 hrs in Florida.

[Gillian166]

the type of mould that grows in the tropics can usually be wiped away easily. I live with this too, we can't leave bread out for even one day in summer, it goes mouldy. I often find mould .... anywhere, around the house, and it needs to be wiped down immediately before it really takes hold. It's not quite the same as "black mould" which sounds pretty dire. I noticed yesterday that my laundry door, on the outside, has a layer of light mould across it and it will need a wipe down. It's been hot and wet (flooding actually) here for weeks now so it's a constant battle. I run the air con even on mild days, just to drop the humidity inside. 

i use clove oil weekly on our showers as that kills mould, and i really love the smell. 

[Shaun124]

That’s my point to Airbnb. 

After  4 days and the guest complained about the black, it could have happened while he was there but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and refunded him his cleaning fee.

He wanted his entire stay for free.

Airbnb went ahead and refunded him with out my input 

[Christine615]

The MINUTE you start offering concessions and acknowledging the guests concerns you will lose with Airbnb.

But they need to have a policy that if the guest STAYS despite the complaints they aren’t entitled to a full refund. This is a known scam.

[Shaun124]

 thank you for your response Karla

Yes everyone is ok and out the ER recovering. 

this guest was running an absolute scam in order to get his money back.

The toilet was not loose prior to his stay and may have come loose on its own or he may have helped it come loose.

I can assure you there was absolutely zero smell in the unit. The cleaning company checked it my office manager checked it the maintenance guy checked it all before the plumber off to reset the toilet.

The maintenance guy was there with the plumber when it reset the toilet and took a picture of the wax seal in place and there was absolutely no way of any sewer gas escaping.

as to the mailed you, please note it is now not mold.

In Florida with the humidity in the high temperature we having this conform in a matter of 24 hours in the shower.

However I offered him the benefit of the doubt in this case.

The Internet provider we have for that area is unfortunately known to be a poor service provider and they are the only provider. When we have service it’s great but it it know to have issues.

The guest attempted to stage some photos. He complained that you could see the trash cans from the one window. The trash cans were moved by him because you could see the marks of where they were before. They are also lower than the window but he stood up on a chair and took a picture down out the window.

swept the unit and had the sweepings in a corner and took a picture after 3 days of staying.

if we mess up , am the 1st to admit but when you have a strings of 5 star review including the ones Book ending the stay then I’ll have questions for both my staff and my guest. When I see clearly staged photos then I know the guest is lying.

My frustration is Airbnb did not even attempt to get my side of the story and refunded a guest clearly running a scam and even admitted in a message to my daughter that he was just trying to get a free stay but will let it go if we refunded 2 days and won’t report to Airbnb.

Our response was to go ahead and report it, we felt Airbnb would give us a chance to explain and prove he was scamming, yet the opposite happened and the scammer gets rewarded.

I am not sure how legal this process is.

[Inna22]

@Shaun124 Does your property manager have access to the Airbnb app? If they do and they are your cohost, I do not feel that you owe to guests to speak to them personally. As long as you are providing assistance to them at all times regardless of your family circumstances, you’re not doing anything wrong. In the future your property manager should be trained to say that they are in charge of the property and handle all aspects of it. They can come to you for advice and guidance but this is not a clothing store will you get to ask for a manager if you’re not happy with the sales person‘s answer. 

you should pursue this with Airbnb. These issues are not full refund worthy

as for Wi-Fi, I tell people I purchased the highest speed available in my area but since this is not something I control, I can not guarantee it. Unless you are in an area with a bad cell phone signal, most people can still get a hotspot from their phone if something goes terribly wrong.

[Shaun124]

We have a guest relationship manager that sole job is to correspond with guest.

The fact she kept telling him we were unavailable kept making him more and more irate.

When I eventually was able to take a moment to check back with him the night before check out was when he complained about the issues and sent me pictures that were clearly staged. He climbed up on sofa to take a picture down of the trash cans outside the side window.

He managed to get my daughter’s cell number from a neighbor and bombarded her the day of check out for about a week of long, long text messages, demanding a full refund. I believe there were about 30 messages. He eventually agreed in writing he was being unreasonable and was just trying to get the owner’s attention. 

Airbnb  closed the case immediately after the decision, thereby not giving me an opportunity to respond.

[Lenore22]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. This will not help you now, but the moment this guest contacted one of your family members off-app, u should have notified Airbnb. That's really scary!

In general, I have found that as a matter of self-defense, it's really up to*us* to contact Airbnb the moment a stay starts going sideways. If they have it in their notes, I think it at least gives us a chance to have a say... But no guarantees if course. The community is filled with stories from hosts getting pulled without warning... And even getting re-instated without an explanation.

Fingers crossed that this might be the case for you.

[Shaun124]

That’s good to know because I did contact Airbnb the day of check out because he went “off line” and to say the guest was threatening us us with a bad review if we did not refund him. I also reformed Airbnb that he had sent staged pictures.

Clearly this was not taken into consideration when the made a unilateral decision to refund him.

I hope I can get to someone to reopen this case.

[Dave52]

@Shaun124   You certainly did everything any host could do to make the guest's stay a good one.  Hopefully you'll get someone at airbnb to review the decision. 

One question I have about this and similar cases, did airbnb refund the guest's 14% service fee?  

None of the things the guest raised are in my opinion reason for full refund.  A host may decide to give a partial refund or cleaning fee refund as you already did, but it should be entirely up to the host, not the airbnb rep.  You responded to the maintenance issues and there are no safety issues or any other issues that prevented the guest from staying, and in fact they stayed for their full stay.

I'm surprised an airbnb rep has this ability or authority to give a full refund in a case like this one.