AirBnB "Specialist" demanding we pay for damages we didn't cause!

[Ryan520]

Hi, 

We recently stayed at a beautiful villa. While there, there was an accident and a plant pot around the pool (super heavy one) was knocked over and went into the pool. This caused the plant pot to crack, and soil to come out and float all round the pool. We all felt awful and spent the penultimate day of the holiday trying to clean the pool, and scrubbing the entire villa clean. However despite various nets etc. we tried using, we couldn't get the soil out because it was too small and went through the nets; it was like dust. 

While also there, the host had left bleach on the ground by the poolside. This cause multiple of the towels (provided), bedding (provided) and the girls bikinis to become bleached when they feel off the railing onto the bleach (we didnt know it was bleach until things landed it in, and became ruined). 

We left the villa at 8am, and new guests moved in at 12 noon that day. Upon checkout we immediately notified the host's keyholder about the pool and damages. The following day, the host requested we paid 686€. (500€ cracked tile, 50€ IKEA towel + bedding, 50€ clean the pool + pool water lost, 84€ plant pot). As stated by the hosts the costs were all "estimates" and "it may be lower". 

This was the first we had seen of the damaged and cracked tile. With 8 of us looking for damage, and spending the entire penultimate day scrubbing the poolside, walls (dirty, not by us, but we wanted to make things look nicer as a sorry), cleaning villa etc. I think someone would have very clearly and easily seen this crack. I think the more likely story, is that it was caused when they tried to replace the plant pot (it was heavy and took 3 of us to lift it out the pool) 

Not only did we feel like that kind of damage should be covered by insurance anyway, but we'd already paid a £237.49 cleaning fee upfront, so didnt see why we should pay a further 50€ cleaning fee for the pool. The bedding + towels (of which its the hosts fault is damaged in our eyes - along with our swimwear) cost £4.84 from IKEA -> not 50€. The 500€ was an "estimate". We of course decline this payment with a very polite message to the host. 

The host immediately responded the following day stating her husband received an email about the damaged tile, stating "it will probably cost around 250€ as opposed to 500€". It literally halved the minute we refused to pay without receipts. 

56 days after the booking ended, the host opened the resolution centre and we got an email from a specialist called Melania. She stated she would gather information from both parties and make a decision on the case. She stated shed gather information from the host first and get back to us. 

In the meantime, we did some research about security deposits, and discovered via the support centre that the reservation had no security deposit. 

Anyway, yesterday (while still waiting to be contacted for our side of the story), we received an email back from the specialist. The email stated, in summary;

"Hi, 

You will have to pay X,Y,Z = 484€. Until you pay, your airBnB account has been deactivated. 

Regards,

Melania"

We were all a bit shocked. We were still waiting for the specialist to get in contact. I should also mention here that we were impatient and tried calling the support centre multiple times over the few weeks before receiving this email trying to get ahold of Melania. Support were useless and said they could not pass us through to the speciliast and that we would have to wait for a call!

So, that leads us to today. We have been demanded to pay 484€ on damages we do not think are fair, and the account the booking was made from has been deactivated until we pay the sum. 

So, I would like to know: 

1) Where do I go from here? We can't dispute if the account is deactivated? 

2) Can we be forced to pay for these damages? There is no security deposit, and the host is trying to rip us off. the £4.84 link for towel on the 50€ charge and extra cleaning fee + pool water fee of 50€ is proof enough of that

Thanks for all your help, 

Ryan 

[Ana1136]

@Mark116 I sure hope they will keep them off the platform. It sounds to me like they were partying and beeing disrespectfull towards the property. No one can just break that big and heavy pot as he described, it is not a flower vase that can just fall and break, it needs force to be broken. And of course that kind od force can damage a tile. They got a bargain with the price given by Airbnb and should just pay and be more careful next time.

[Ryan520]

Mark, the bleach stains were there prior to us arriving and ruined the swimwear on the first day. 

The attempts to clean were on the penultimate day of the holiday. 

[Ana1136]

@Ryan520 your story changes, first you stained the towels and linens,  now the stains were there before arrival, first you stained the bikinis together with the towels when the pool accident happened, now you stained them on your first day..what is it? 🙂

[Ryan520]

Apolgoies, my comment should read "The bleach was there prior to us arriving and ruined the swimwear on the first day. The attempts to clean (THE POOLSIDE/POOL) were on the penultimate day of the holiday. 

Hope that clears up your confusion.

[Ana1136]

@Ryan520 so you did know there was bleach there on the first day,why throw the towels and linens in there or let them dry above it and letting them fall in it( whatever the story is ) before your departure.

[Louise231]

@John1080@Ana1136@Sandra126@Ryan520

In fairness i've seen the giant ceramic plant pots by pools go over and smash at my aunt's house, my counsin's did it once chasing each other round the pool when they were both under 10, and i've seen my aunts dog break one playing fetch. 

Luckily in both the whole pots didn't fall in, but even just a small amount of soil is a pain. And yes a tile is a big deal to swap.

But yeah, you need to accept, pay up, and move on with this one

[John1080]

@Louise231, perhaps it was an honest accident resulting in confusion. It does sound like this was a larger group, which should be able to afford the said price to just clear it up and move on, remaining on the platform. 

[Ana1136]

@Louise231 @John1080 but would a ceramic pot be that heavy that it needed 3 people just to lift it up?

[Louise231]

@Ana1136the one my cousin's broke was like 2 feet wide and full of soil. Waaaay heavy, and they were just tiny kids.

[Ana1136]

@Louise231 yes but it took 3 of them to lift it from the pool which means the soil was out since it was broken and it was just the pot, plus it was in the watter where everything is easier to lift. Even though ceramic is very easy to crack I don't think it is that heavy by itself without the soil in it.

[Sandra126]

Easily, a giant pot now full of water as well, dragging it out of a pool, over the edge without damaging the pool edge, a nightmare. Would be heavy. Even a tiny pot feels heavy when wet.

And yes, children and dogs will cause inadvertent damage as they race around having fun. This is a great reason to limit those. Adults are often (but not always) more sedate. Alcohol changes things, of course. And exuberance. Either way, I am with the other hosts here. You damaged the property, did not tell host until way too late for them to get ready for next guest, I would have been absolutely devastated as a host to find this. Cheap at the price!

Next time something gets damaged, tell host asap so the damage can be limited and/or fixed on the spot. Your future hosts thank you.

[Ryan520]

The pot was not broken into pieces; it was cracked. The soil came from the top of the pot into the pool, it did not fall out the side Ana. The soil was compost (like fresh from the bag stuff, the stuff you always spill everywhere when potting plants and blow it away to clean up) - It immediately floats. It was not dirty mud. 

The pot wasn't empty; it had a tree in it; this caused leverage when slipped and fallen on which meant it went into the pool. When in the pool it became full of water. Have you ever tried lifting a 1.5ft by 1.5ft ceramic pot full of a tree thing and water out of a pool? It's heavy. I'm a muscular dude, as are my two mates, and we really struggled. 

It was an honest accident; we're not a group of lads on the holiday, we're 4 respectable couples (so 8 of us - 4 male, 4 female) on the holiday. 

As mentioned on other posts, it happened late Wednesday eveing, and we checked out early friday. The host is situated in Belgium; the villa in Spain. The keyholder was how we got keys etc. but we didnt have their contact; only the host. The host did not respond on the thursday; only on the friday morning. There wasn't much we could do - this is why we spent the entire thursday trying to clean up for her, because we knew it wouldn't leave her much time. Please see other posts for more details. 

[Victoria567]

I think you will have to pay up I’m afraid.

I assume the contaminated soil may have caused hygiene issues, with debris in the oool as well as maybe clogging the filters.

The damage to items caused by bleach I’m afraid you would have to pay up as the damage caused by bleaching is just that......bleaching stains that means the items must be replaced.

Whether you spotted the bleach or not  is irrelevant, whether it was sensible for the host to leave the bleach where it was  located,is daft by the host as  inadvertently damage was caused by one of your party and really someone has to be accountable and unfortunately it is you.

Soz but I don’t think you have a leg to stand on.

[Ryan520]

Then the host can pay £160 for our swimwear that was ruined because she (or more, her cleaner) carelessly left bleach about?

I don't know if you're a mother or not, but lets imagine you went on the holiday with a 3 month old baby crawling around, and suddenly its crawling into bleach left carelessly around the poolside. Would you have the same repsonse? I don't think so. 

We're letting her off and not suing her for swimwear damages because we felt guilty about the pool and plant pot.

[Helen3]

Hi @Ryan520

You can certainly make a claim, if you reported it at the time, have photo evidence and receipts for the swimwear, put in a claim through the resolution centre.