Guest wants refund due to "bad smell"

[Piotr48]

Hello everyone,

I would like your advice on the following situation. I currently have guests staying in on my apartments.

Day 1, 3pm: guest says she checked in and everything's fine

Day 2, 9pm: guest says she detects faint smell of gas in the apartment but it doesn't bother her too much. I'm offering to call gas service and send my friend over to check it. Guest says the smell is probably coming from the bathroom and to check it after her departure.

Day 3, 11am: Guest says the smell is bad now and it's not gas but plumbing in the bathroom. Says she will be leaving today at 4pm because she can't stand it and asks for refund (no amount mentioned).

The guest was supposed to stay 4 days. She refused my help and now she wants a refund. What should I do? 

[Fred13]

For  the life of me I can't understand these 'out-of-control' host-guests scenarios.

1. The guest complaints of a 'gas leak'. Oh wait, it is just a 'bad smell'. She the only that smells it?

2. Immediately that is the first thing that should have been addressed; it is the start of most hustles.

3. That would have established if she was lying or is a fruitcake. Or correct.

4. That would have exposed she brought 3 dogs (!!!) to a no-pet listing. Where these dogs invincible upon entry?

5. That would have been the point she needed to get out of the place.

6. That would have been when the host had to accept the fact they had a 'looser' in their hand. Next. 

Conversely, now she wants a refund and let the hassles begin with Airbnb and imagine the 'review' that will come out of this royal mess.

[Piotr48]

@Fred13 she already posted her review, now it's my turn. I denied her refund request and she denied my payment request for excessive cleaning. ABB often takes guest's side so I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Fred13]

Good luck.

[Ann72]

@Fred13  I had a guest similar to @Piotr48’s this summer.  Guest claimed no hot water.  I rang and asked her to describe the problem exactly so I could get it taken care of right away.  I definitely rushed her off the phone because she wanted to “talk it over.”  That plus the fact that her story changed with each telling (there was no hot water, the water was lukewarm, the water was either very hot or very cold, etc.) made me suspicious.  She didn’t ask for a refund but I still feel she was angling for it when she wanted to “talk it over.”  It was also the only time in a solidly booked year that anyone reported a hot water issue.  It was miraculously gone the next day.

[Fred13]

How funny, we just had that same thing happen; supposedly the wife was accustomed to long hot showers, well that is too bad in an island (off-grid).

First day 'no hot water',

2nd well 'well not really but only warm',

3rd day 'it fluctuates hot and warm',

4th day 'we worked it out'.

Didn't matter what day was with me - I went into radio silence no matter what the story was. 

[Piotr48]

When the guest left I checked the place and it smelled but of 3 dogs which she left unattended while sightseeing. ABB paid me for excessive cleaning, but now guest contacted them and asks for refund for leaving 1 day early. ABB in their 1st message is already taking her side by saying "I dont think the Guest would leave the Apartment for no Reason. The Smell probaly was very bad"

And they don't even know my side of the story 🤣