A Guests who lies on his review and ofends the host and owners

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Heather76
Level 1
North Vancouver, Canada

A Guests who lies on his review and ofends the host and owners

We stayed somewhere and were kept up all night with a very loud sound outside out door. It was a creaking in the house. We did not give a negative review but instead in good faith, communicated to him our problem in hopes of resolving it without giving a bad review. He offered us a refund and we did not review waiting to receive the said refund. 14th day at the final hour he gave us a lying brutal review and we could not respond! I went to the site immediately but the time had passed. 

It seems he had planned this very well. 

Now we are stuck with an aweful lying review when he has none and on top of that we didnt get to sleep more than 2 hours on our second night stay with him! He said we were partiers who vomited and left food in his place!! We are a family of four and went to a family wedding, came home immediately following the event and to bed. No one was intoxicated. We were with our children. I am so upset an offended that he not only played me so well but he has gotten away with this and we have a perminent scar on our airbnb page. What can we do???

 

Thank you for reading this,

Heather

1 Best Answer
Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I asume that you had all correspondence on the AirBnB site, so what you can do is contact AirBnB and tell them what has happened. It will clear from your correspondance that this is a spiteful review and you were just trying to resolve a problem amicabily. 

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15 Replies 15
Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I asume that you had all correspondence on the AirBnB site, so what you can do is contact AirBnB and tell them what has happened. It will clear from your correspondance that this is a spiteful review and you were just trying to resolve a problem amicabily. 

Thank you for your response. It is lonely out here feeling my character has been defamed. I did hear back from airbnb and they did read the thread and they are in the process....let's see if they do in fact remove it. He said he wanted it removed when I request he do so. I hope he sticks to his word and that airbnb is helpful here. 

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

@Heather76

That's awful. Unfortunate that you didn't leave a review for him. 

The same as with reviews you get from guests, you can leave a public response once a review is posted and also have around 2 weeks to do so (note: editing afterwards not possible).

Why not something like "This is an untruthful review. Quite frankly, I'm mystified."

Better than getting angry or defensive and sends a better message to future hosts.

 

Here a good article on review responses for the host side, yet many pointers are general:

http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/negative-reviews/

Heather76
Level 1
North Vancouver, Canada

The problem is he did heis review at 1130pm on the 14th night and I quickly attempted to respond but could not given the 14 day deadline. I must have missed it by  moments.....has be think that this was very calculated on his behalf:( He won this game as I had not realized we were in a win loose game and was operated on the principle of win/win.

 

 

Ana7
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Heather76, really awful! I believe you can prove the host's lying to Airbnb and they can take this review down! 

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

@Heather76, I read the review. A lot of hosts will not book you with it there, it is truly bad in its understatedness. Get on to Air, but in the mean time I wonder if you should say something in your profile? All hosts read the reviews. The first one is great, the second one awful, and then two cancellations. Did the host cancel after reading the review?

@Andrea9, @Gerry-And-Rashid0, you are good with words. Is there something Heather can say in her profile regarding this review to appease hosts until Air sorts it (could take time).

 

Andrea9
Level 10
Amsterdam, Netherlands

@Sandra126 @Heather76 

 

Possibly by adding in the response that a mutually agreed to refund issue offered by the host appears to have ignited this spiteful (thanks for that lovely word @Gerry-And-Rashid0!) retaliation.

 

And as mentioned by others here contacting Airbnb who have the proof in your message thread is important too. 

Heather76
Level 1
North Vancouver, Canada

I cannot not add a response give the fact that he posted it at 1130pm on the 14th day. I tried to respond immediately but was unable to due to the 14 day limit, must have missed this by minutes. 

Folks,

 

I have just been though a similar issue with a host flat out lying in a review because we told them that the wifi advertised was not working. after a discussion over the 4 days we were there nothing was resolved and it was time for us to leave. the Host lied in our review saying that I was extremely rude, which is not the case and I have the conversation history to prove it.  I too held off on my review waiting for thhe host to take some action (adjstments were mentiond) Like the poster the Host submitted a review at the death containing lies knowing ( i know now)( that I would not be able to reply.

I raised it with Air and they bounced me around from case amangers (a common tactic it seems). I asked for a manager to call me, was assured that they would within 24/48 hours. the call did not come and still hasn't almost a week later. Shocking, but not out of line with their behaviour to date. I told them that the host was in breach of the Terms of Service Agreement (10.2) by posting a defammatory review. they did not even respond to this at all.

they simply repeated over and over that the review did not breach their 'Content Policy'. But it DOES breach their Terms of Service.

They recently closed the online complaint and responded via email that they were not taking any action.  Flabbergasted!! 

Air BnB does not care if the Host (or I guess guests) lie in reviews... that is staggering. that they provide a communication process like the reviews but have intention of holding people accountable. Their advice?  post a reply...

No matter what I say now, some hosts or guests looking at the review will think 'well he must have said something otherwise why would the host say that?' Sling mud, a little sticks regardless. unless it is retracted or an apology given. 

I had no desire whatsoever to get into a slanging match with a host because Air Bnb will not enforce its own policies and T&C's.  

After discussing the above at length with 2 different case managers I said "so you are telling me it is ok for hosts to lie about a guest" - response 'No it is not" "so you are telling me Air BnB is ok with Hosts lying about Air BnB customers? - response "No." I said Ok, then take some action - Air -  it is not in breach of the content policy. Me - But it is in breach of the Terms of Service. Air - but it is not in breach of the content policy. Me - So it s ok to Lie? Air - No. and around we go. 

I am tempted to delete the app/account but I know this will not change the way Air BnB operates. it will continue to treat its customers with contempt. 

If there were a way to make this issue globally visible I would consider it.  I hate that they get to do this to people and carry on doing business. It is irresponsible. 

 

 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello Heather

 

I am so sorry to hear about this.

 

My advise is focus on getting BnB to remove the review ASAP. Contact them via their resolution centre but also via FB.

 

They will be able to see via the messaging system that at no point did the host raise the issues in his review and that you have been corresponding about the refund. Ask them to remove the review immediately and interact with the host about the refund.

 

If this is true, then he shouldn't be allowed to continue to host.

 

Good luck

 

Helen

 

PS your headline for this post is rather misleading as you imply - that you the guests have been lying on your review.

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

How were you communicating, through the system or otherwise?

 

I see you have cancelled a reservation, might be time to re list.

David
Heather76
Level 1
North Vancouver, Canada

We communicated through airbnb. The have read the thread and will try to remove his post. I cannot believe how calculated he was in reviewing at 1130pm on the final day so I could not respond at all. I feel completely taken and foolish for trying to find a win win resolution. 

Thank you for your imput
Heather

Cyrus36
Level 2
Toronto, Canada

I had a guest who lied about my place. She was not able to use the dishwasher since the dishwasher had an extra security child lock. She did not contact me for help while constantly I was sending them messages; if they needed anything extra or a new address in the city, let me know.
In the end, she left a bad review. I checked the dishwasher working correctly and sent the pictures to the help center of Airbnb but no answer.
Any idea how to deal with this issue?

@Cyrus36  Oh dear,  I see that was your first and only review, and you now have a 1* rating, which you will never recover from.

 

The review isn't lying, it's simply an unexplained statement saying not to book with you - it gives no information at all. You need to pursue the removal of this review based on the fact that it is "irrelevant" (a reason for review removal laid out in their review policies)- it doesn't provide any information whatsoever. Nowhere does she mention the dishwasher issue- she told you that in private feedback or in a message?

 

Also stress to Airbnb that you are a brand new host and can't have this ridiculous review and rating allowed to stand.

 

Why did you leave a dishonest review for this guest? Please do not do that in the future. Reviews need to be honest- you make her sound like a good guest, which she wasn't.

 

Her review should have said something like " XX was polite and left the place clean. However, all my messages asking if all was okay went unanswered and she then complained after the fact that the dishwasher was non-functional. The dishwasher works fine-it has a child safety lock she wasn't aware of, that I could have explained to her in 1 minute, had she answered my messages or bothered to contact me."