power outage, only in the apartment

Answered!
Jürg191
Level 2
Bern, CH

power outage, only in the apartment

hello everyone

 

i am currently on a work trip to rome. this morning at about 7, when i was getting ready to leave, the power went off. i thought it isnt a big deal because i will be out of the house for most of the day. either way, when i got back the power was still out and the host could not give me an explenation. her english is barely existant so all she could tell me is "there is a problem".

it isnt an outage of the whole neighbourhood. even the hallway right outside the apartment has light just fine. I have never seen a power outage so i an not sure what is normal. but only the apartment being affected makes it seem like it s a problem on the side of my host. unpaid bills or something? 

i need power to work on my laptop and the situation frustrates me. what rights do I have? 

1 Best Answer
Ute42
Level 10
Germany

.

@Jürg191 

 

I strongly suspect that Your host didn't pay the powerbill.

 

As You sayed the entire bulding does have electricity but only the apartment You are staying in has no electricity, that is very strange. This looks like the power supply company just cut off this one apartment.

 

A second indication is, that the power went down at 7am. Power companies always cut off electricity either in the morning or during daytime, they never do it in the middle of the night. First, their employees aren't working at nighttimes, and then it would be too dangerous to cut off power at midnight.

 

To get electricity back I believe Your host has to pay whats owed immediately. Promises will not be sufficiant. The host will have to go to a bank or to a postal office and pay whats owed in cash and then fax the receipt to the power company. I don't think there's another way.

 

I would bring all this up to airbnb, especially that this apartment is the only one in the building that is effected.

 

Of course I have no idea what the real reason for the problem is. But if it's the money and Your host just doesn't have the money, You may be without electricity till the end of Your stay.

 

Good luck.

 

 

View Best Answer in original post

21 Replies 21
Louise0
Level 10
New South Wales, Australia

If none of the circuits have been tripped and it's just your apartment that is without power and the power was cut off at 7am, then the only plausible explanation is that the power has been terminated by the electricity supplier for non-payment of the bill.

 

that is what i think too. i just hope the issue gets solved soon. 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Jürg191 

 

What was the outcome. Has airbnb helped you find somewhere else?

they wanted me to wait till 4 pm, but helped me find an alternative in case it isnt solved until then. but the power was finally back on at around 2pm. 

the situation got worse over night because the toilet and shower apparently have the waste water pumped out by an electric pump... so the shower was flooded with waste water in the morning. that was pretty nasty.

I get 1 night refunded. makes sense I guess but honestly, I feel like there could have been more because that wasnt just a day with slight issues, it was a day with pretty significant problems

@Jürg191  I'm glad to hear you got the electric back, but as you were inconvenienced for 1 day, it would seem that refunding that day is quite fair. Why would you expect a refund for subsequent days when everything was back to normal?

I lost about 5 hours of work, which is worth significantly more than one refunded day. meaning, my actual damages are multiple times higher than the compensation

also, i wouldnt have chosen to stay in such conditions for free. which is basically what a refunded day is.