A guest damaged my property and Airbnb refuses to pay under the Host Guarentee. HELP!

[Charles14]

Has anyone had a guest who is the son of the booking guest demolish physical property (way beyond wear and tear) and then have Airbnb not only deny their claim but then refuse to escalate the issue to legal?

I feel misled by the Host Guarentee as I believe the damage done and the offender fall within the covered damages listed within the host guarentee guidlines.  I submitted my request on time and according to spec.  Now, the only person who responds to me is not giving me the contact information to legal, as I am requesting, to have a mature conversation prior to seeking arbitration.

This is all over a claim for $299 and I am a host with a perfect hosting record.  (Superhost.) 

Please advise if anyone knows how to get a reasonable human involved in this nightmare!  The only thing I can think of doing before filing suit or compelling arbitration is to reach out to the media, as that appears to be the only way to get higher ups to reach out to individuals.

Charles

Palm Desert, CA

[Dana147]

Hello! I just wanted to post an update. Unfortunately, airBNB did not behave well... the whole process of communicating with them over email once a Resolution Center claim is submitted feels very, very unfriendly and shall we say "off-brand..." Like getting a robo-reply from an attorney bot. As many others have noted, there is a lot of run-around. They want you to provide things that likely won't make sense for the damage caused by their guests. It feels very formulaic, poor quality CX. (That's customer service in tech-speak). It always makes me laugh when I see that some AirbNB design employee (or their founder... ha!) is being asked to speak at an industry conference on human-centered design. When a company owns no property, its most valuable asset is its hosts. This part of their service is the most important, and yet, the least considered, and the most defensive.

Long story short: Back in February, a guest burned out a brand-new KitchenAid convection oven. I asked for $250 to cover it. AirBNB asked me to provide photos and receipt, which I did, and then they asked me to provide an estimate from a professional cleaning company for cleaning the item, as well as the current market price for a new one for replacement. Their form response of course says they prefer to pay for professional cleaning, not replacement.

I explained clearly that the only company I trust to have the expertise to clean the burned-on material off the interior is Kitchenaid. That's because the appliance I bought (for myself, it wasn't even for guest use, but she used it anyway) has a Ceramashield specialty coating, and only water and mild dish soap, no abrasives, are to be used on the item. I contacted Kitchenaid by phone for the directions, recorded the conversation, and emailed it to AirBNB in place of a cleaning company estimate. I told Airbnb it would take three hours of my time to clean the oven according to Kitchenaid's cleaning directions. Airbnb closed my case and I never heard from them again. 

I'm not hosting on Airbnb anymore. This last time was actually just a brief month of hosting (in between regular housemates). I had previously quit the platform for over a year, because they forced an offensive click-wrapped Terms and Conditions update in March 2016. Basically, we had the choice between agreeing to new, very anti-host terms, including a class-action waiver, or quit the platform and lose the ability to message with our guests and of course, all of our future bookings. I chose to leave. That's just a terrible way to do business (I try to imagine working with clients that force one-sided terms in the mid-point of our business relationships, and I just can't). It's sad what airBNB has become. I went back to finding regular short-term housemates on Craig's.

I encourage everyone to look into BoingBoing's coverage of those terms. Cory Doctorow wrote an excellent piece on it. 

https://boingboing.net/2016/05/20/airbnb-stealth-updates-terms-o.html

[Allison177]

I had a guest rob everything out of my house damage my carpet and destroyed my garage door. Over $5000 worth of damage and they are saying they will not cover the items in my garage. I live in this house. Well I did. I don’t after that.  The total is about$20k worth of missing and damaged items.  They said they are escalating but I have not heard from anyone. 

[Chris638]

I had an airbnb guest flooded my unit because i would not give him a better rate and room.  He turned the shower on and left the shower head outsied the shower flodidng my ohter airbnb guest on the first floor.  I have 5 star review from the flooded guest who was there who witnesed everything and still Airbnb is trying to screw me out of 2,100 hundred dollars.   I cant get No one to call me nothing.  They have the balls to say they wont pay becuase I missed an Email.    There pcs of mind insurance is a JOKE.  I am now getting the media involed Help me Howard  on Channel 11 new in NYC and Shame on you channel 7 news NYC Media.  It is a dam shame i have to this for them not honoring there  insurance policy.   You guys assured me you would take care of everything when the police where there.

This is how they treat there Super Host.

[Jaime215]

Hi. Did airbnb ever pay you? I am new and have property damage. The custimer sevice i talk to in safety and trust have said same thing at least 15 times like yhey read a script that is noy counting all the other reps i have talked to. My damsge is ariund $1200.00 at least. A group of guests pried the lock off my front door.  I have a vintage home. I cannot in any way access the resolution area with my phone. Airbnb already out me with safety and trust yet they insist I hit the airbnb help me button. I can't. The hose guarantee says if a hosts has a problem we can either go to resolution center OR contact customer service . They have everything they won T do anything because I can't HIT that button. I know they can! They already did it and pushed me thru to trust and safety. Any ideas out there? I have talked to at least 15 people (onky one knew anything st all abiut situation yet all said they knew so I repeat it all every time). I have talked to same person in trust and safety about eight times, she is a broken record and refuses to say anything except hear script 

[Jen96]

They didn't pay anything for 4 months with endless calls and emails customer support, then I went on their facebook page and posted about how bad they treat their hosts, then they paid us instantly. You should try it.

[Jay85]

I have decided I am never hosting again. Due to the change in clientele and the lack of support from Airbnb. It’s too bad because there were only 3 where I live on an island. I had a guest lie to me, about how she destroyed my TV. She ended up being a complete NUTJOB and I got some money back for the TV,  but they don’t make any accommodations that I live on an island and that it takes more than 24 hours to get an estimate for a floor because I have to get a floor person to come over and pay for their boat ticket. They also didn’t understand that their is no Best Buy on Catalina Island and getting a new TV is a process that involves expensive delivery. So my decision is with the lack of trust and support from ABB that it is not in my best interests to host and that is why they have 1 or 2 airbnb’s In a popular resort town. We have a management company that fulfills the same purpose except they actually take care and value the home owner! Due to the treatment of hosts and lack of trust I wouldn’t even use ABB as a guest anymore. 

[Jaime215]

I am only taking repeat guests and ones who answer my questions with no problem and tell me clearly what they are coming here for. Mostly new freshman with parents. I learned things doing this and am in process of dropping airbnb and moving into a different kind of way to let out my suite. Even with great guests something can go wrong yet if they wont  pay I have no faith in airbnb AND the stress talking to someone reading a script with zeri listing or trying not worrth it. I need income flow yet my goal is to be airbnb free. Thanks for responding 

[Jay85]

I don’t feel that they are  checking ID’s, I had to turn people away and cancel on the spot because 2 teenagers without an adult showed up to check in. I am not sure if they used a parents account or not. But that was drama! I wouldn’t mind a house trade for a vacation with someone with the same values and standards, but it is not worth the headaches Airbnb causes. 

[Lee322]

I have the same problem.  Extensive damage caused by a guest and no help from Airbnb.

[Jaime215]

Two times property damage no help from airbnb and so stressful talking to call center people i now am very careful who i book.  It was worse dealing with call center than troubling guests.

[Jaime215]

Media is the only way.  Call center staff a failure to airbnb. Do not understand why owners let this continue.

[Ania-and-Greg0]

They eventually paid us a fair amount (not total estimate cost, but close). We learned to only make stuff available to guests that we dont care about. To only use commercial/builder level stuff for repairs/remodel and completely idiot proof it. Its the only way for us to continue hosting as ABB simply does not give a flying f***. they cant even administer their own runaway train of a website, let alone anything else. they appear to be a very lean operation that provides no training for case resolution. Their business model is completely based on doing the least and to keep the most money in the process and their PR is a bigger lie than the 1600 penn ave dumpster fire.

[Kasimir1]

Same situation for me. Guests damaged my property almost burnedmy house € 2600 worth. After dozens of emails and phone calls nothing yet. Any ideas?

[Mark172]

AIRBNB does not take action against violators.. It is truly sad. I've had several experiences where there was damage and extensive breaking of the rules, video camera footage of multiple extra guests staying over and illegal drugs being used on the porch.  Moreover, my house rules in the ad specifically state the exact dollar amount that will be taken out of the security deposit for different rules if broken. A claim was made and airbnb didn't pursue it. We called many times over a month and each time a low level rep repeated some line from her script and in the end, I got an email that essentially said "that's tough" because the renter denied it and made false claims back to refute. AIRBNB does not take action against violators.

[Mark172]

Yes, You have NO recourse