Dispute with host

[Gavin20]

Dear whom it may concern, 

I have recently stayed in an apartment with my parents in Dubai. We only stopped over for a couple of nights, but encountered a number of problems, 3 of which I reported:

Borken door handel - The door handel for entrance into the apartment repeatedly fell off. Fortunately, someone was always on the other side on such instances to help refit it. Otherwise we would have been locked in/out. 

Towels - We were only provided with one towel to share between 3 guests, when the host had previously provided assurances and as per the listing a towel would be provided per guest staying. It emerged such towels had been left in the tumble dryer by the cleaner, damp and thus unesable.

Borken glass - I disocovered glass had been discretely hidden, when I reached for it in the morning and nearly cut myself. 

All of these problems were reported, and whilst our host reponded initially with positiveity, when I declined the option to accept an internional call due to the charges I would be imposed, I was accussed of lying. Making up such complaints so that I could get a 'free stay'. Further I was accussed of halving 'half a brain' for not suggesting a whats app call. After this we discovered further damages to the property but choose not to report them, following the previous abuse we had recieved. To clarify at no point had I requested for a 'free stay'. 

Following previous advice from the community center I issued a complaint regarding my host. The host subsequently made a claim and following a pannel decesion from Air BnB, I have been requested to pay 183 GBP as per the security depoist for damages. 

The host provided Air BnB with an invoice detailing the costs of repair work, for a host of damages, in addition to those I reported. Such claims are entierly false! We barely stayed at the apartment, touring the city throughout our short stay.

I am absolutely appauled by this whole experince. My host has clearly used this as an opportunity to fix long standing isses within his aparment. If he had undertaken regular assessments, it would have been identified that such damages were present prior to my stay and the result of actions of previous guests. However, this was not the case. The only proof he has provided is an invoice. I do not have pictures of the aparement on arrival and on check out as I did not believe this to be requried. It was not to my belief that I should live in fear of such wild accussations, spending my vacation photographing any flaws I might identify. 

My question is simple. How can such a decesion be deemed appropiate, when it is simply one word agaisnt another? Absolutely no proof has been provided such damages were sustained during my stay, as they were'nt. Now I am faced with significnat bill for no wrong doing. I am utterly disgusted by this whole experience. 

Kind Regards, 

Gavin

[Christian65 · Accepted solution]

Always communicate within the ABB platform and app so ABB can see the communication between you when they need to resolve a dispute between two parties.

If the host has created a claim via the resolution center where he asks for extra funds, simply write your reason for declining his claim here and write your view the matter and then press reject and don't do any further.

If ABB gets involved they are most likely not to ask you for extra money. I don't think you should live in fear but sometimes hosts or guests can be unreasonable but my experience is that ABB are fair when it comes to resolving disputes and I hardly think you will be asked to cover these claims especially if you were the one who initiated a resolution to begin with.

It does sound like he's not being entirely honest and ABB has probably seen this before so I would advise to simply write back, decline his claim and do nothing. 

Best of luck @Gavin20

[Gavin20]

Dear @Christian65, 

As advised I rejected Air BnB's decesion. However, they say their decesion is final. Ultimately I am utterly dissapointed in their response. As I have not presented pictures, it is apparently my fault. So accorindgly Air BnB guests should not enjoy their stay in fear, taking pictures of their place of stay to ensure they are not victims like I. 

Please see below my dialgoue with Air BnB and if you have any further advice it would be greatly appreciated. 

Hi Gavin,

We're sincerely sorry that you're disappointed in the outcome for this case. This case has been closed as I explained in my previous e-mails your Host provided the required documentation whereas you did not provide any documentation to show that the damage was present prior to staying at the listing, for this reason we were forced to make a decision based on the Host's documents that which I provided to you. Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with our team, but please know that we've issued our final decision and will uphold it accordingly.

We're always working to improve our products and policies, and we encourage you to submit your feedback in direct reply to this email.

Thanks again for your cooperation during the mediation process. After reviewing all facts and documentation, we've made a decision, as of November 16th, to consider your case closed., Please know that the case is closed and we'll disengage from further discussion on this topic.

Thanks,

Richard J

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Richard,

I reject your decision. I wish to bring this case to be to your management team.

No proof has been provided such damage was not present prior to my arrival. Further such an invoice could have been created from any of the hosts listings.

On another note. mr.** is leasing this apartment illegally against the terms of his lease contract. Shall you wish to confirm this, I encourage you to contact the manager of his tower. On these grounds alone I could request a full refund.

I have provided you proof of my hosts abuse language. Yet you fail to acknowledge this. If my host had simply arranged a visit during my stay he would clearly seen evidence of damages prior to my arrival. Instead he accused me of lying as opposed to attempting to resolve any of the issues described.

Do you really believe my parents (in their late 50s) and I would have caused such damages? I encourage you to reflect and consider the context.


Kind Regards,
Gavin **

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Gavin,

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with our team, we're sincerely sorry that you're disappointed in the outcome for this case.

We wanted to take a moment to reach out to you again to explain in detail the reasons behind our determination.

You may be aware at this point, that the Terms of Service that you, and your host as well, accepted as a precondition of joining this Community and booking reservations states that you acknowledge and agree that, as a Guest, you are responsible for your own acts and omissions and are also responsible for the acts and omissions of any individuals whom you invite to, or otherwise provide access to, the Accommodation. In the event that a Host claims otherwise and provides evidence of damage (“Damage Claim“), including but not limited to photographs, you agree to pay the cost of replacing the damaged items with equivalent items.

Additionally, these Terms further note that you acknowledge and agree that Airbnb reserves the right to independently investigate (or to have independently investigated) at our sole discretion and expense, the facts and circumstances underlying a Host Guarantee or security deposit related incident.

This means that, if an host claims you have caused damages and can provide photos and receipts justifying the amount asked, and you are unable to prove the contrary, you agree to pay for the repair of such damages;

What must necessarily be understood in this situation, is that we are a third party mediator not present during the reservation and in order to grant a fair and neutral mediation to both parties involved, in the event that a dispute arises, we must apply the Terms of Service that you both accepted to reach a final decision, as those Terms formulate the agreement at the basis of the reservations.

In this specific case as well, our Terms have been applied and I invite you to personally check them out if you wish:

Following a full review of all documentation and communication in this case, that has been conducted by both myself and my management team, we reached our final decision, which I can assure is strongly grounded in the Terms of Service accepted.

While we understand that you as a guest didn't expect to be in need of taking photos (or other proofs) attesting the property conditions when you left, we must point out that you could not provide evidence against your host's statement and documentation.
Since your host has been able to provide the documentation required per Terms of Service in support of his claims and you, unfortunately, haven't, our final decision has been in his favor this time.

As a result of this decision, the amount that we established fair in respect to the damages reported (according to the documentation provided justifying such amount), has been charged to your payment method, since a security deposit was associated to this reservation and authorized us to proceed.
In fact, as you may check in the payments section of our Terms, if Airbnb determines that you are responsible for damaging an Accommodation or any personal or other property located at an Accommodation pursuant to the Airbnb Terms, Airbnb Payments may charge the Payment Method used to make the Booking in order to collect any Security Deposit associated with the Listing.

This being clarified, as already know, our policies state that we have the final say in any dispute to which we are called upon to mediate. As such, the decision reached in this case is final and will not be overturned.

Please know that the case is now closed and we'll disengage from further discussion on this topic.

Again, we understand your frustration and we recommend that, in the future, you contact us immediately in the event of any issues with your host.

Please know that we are thankful to have you as a host in our community and look forward to the many positive experiences you will have using Airbnb moving forward.

Best regards,

Richard J.