Guest found mouse in house. Requesting full refund 5 days later

[Julie1516]

Hi everyone ,

not sure the Airbnb policy here.   Our guest has requested a full refund 5 days after checkout.    She states she found a “rat” in the house and has a photo.   It is actually s field mouse.  Unfortunate either way.  Our home is in the country and this occasionally happens even with the best of attempts to keep them at bay especially with winter approaching.    The guest said she was in fear for her safety    But never said anything and continued to stay the entire time without advising us or allowing us to get over there immediately to take care of it.  We also could have moved her to another one of our rentals.      My question is, will Airbnb side with guest ?  I don’t want to waste my time with disputing if that is the case and am worried about a bad review.  One way or another   Even if I do a full refund , can the guest still leave the review ?  Thanks for any insight 

[Heather133]

Oh @Julie1516 ! We’re living in a parallel universe. I had a guest check in during the middle of the night Wednesday. On Thursday morning she called me in a panic because a field mouse was running around the condo (I’m in the same town as you!!! ). Seems it’s the week where Vermont mice are moving to winter quarters! 

Thankfully she agreed to let me move her to another property. I set up some traps that afternoon and caught two mice by the next morning. I’ll have Orkin in to inspect the place to see whether we can close up any entry points. I highly recommend Ashley Mcevoy at Orkin and can give you her details if you want to get in touch. She’s a mouse ninja!

As for the refund, if this were my guest, I’d apologize profusely, advise her it’s “that time of year here” and offer her one night’s refund. If she didn’t tell you about it during her stay, she gave you no opportunity to correct it. In fact, it’s possible she let the mouse in.  

Good luck!

Heather (your fellow Stowe host!)

[Julie1516]

Hi Heather!  Thank you for your response!!   I really appreciate it.      I offered a refund, which she immediately accepted.  She hasn't left any review to date.   Sorry to hear you had the same issue!  But was you say it is that time of year!!   

[Sean433 · Accepted solution]

@Julie1516 

If her request for a refund came 5 days after, that means there are 9 more days until the cut off time for reviews end. So try and stall her for 9 more days the best way you can. Be creative. If you intend to say, refund her 50% of her stay if this came to a dispute, you can do that but she may still leave a review. If you are just as concerned about the review as the money, the key is to get her to miss the review period.

Day 5-8 : You may say something like-  you will see if your insurance will cover some form of payment and will get back to her in a few days- obviously B.S but you get back to her on day 8. 

Day 9-11 : Say "after lots of back and forth with my insurance company, they said no but I will see if the insurance policy of airbnb will cover it and give me 1-2 days to see if they will do this"

Day 11-14 : Say you tried both avenues and insurance won't cover it and that you will send her money back in increments since your bank account setting only permits you to send a certain amount of money per day (say $50 or $100). After day 14 when she can't leave a review, stop refunding her. If airbnb later says that you mentioned you will refund her, you say that you never agreed to a full refund. That all you said was that you would send her money back but never specified as to how much. That is why it would help to be vague.

[Julie1516]

Sean,   

This is extremely helpful and a great strategy.   Typically, if I wasn't questioning the legitimacy, or was provided with an opportunity to rectify the situation- had I known during the stay, I wouldn't question this at all.  

[Linda108]

Interesting strategy, @Sean433   Weird things weird out people.  Mice and large bugs tend to be seen by the guest as a "tip of the iceberg" experience.  No need to demonize the guest as nuts or a scam.  Just stay focussed on what you think is fair as a human being. I assume the guest communicated via the Air BNB message system so your response will be seen by the Air BNB rep.  Now I looked at both of listings and each have positive posted reviews, so the review will have little effect if negative.  Your caring professional response will make a difference to a potential guest.

How Air BNB will react is somewhat an unknown factor but you have the T&C in your favor so if you get some clueless rep, you can quote the section about being notified.  As to how you want to respond to the guest, I like all the suggestions in which you acknowledge the issue as possible and you wished the guest would have notified you earlier to allow for you to remedy the problem.

[Sean433]

@Linda108 

Ain't nothing wrong with creativity especially when you act in goodwill and a spiteful review is made in an attempt to ruin your business. If this guest is requesting for a full refund (not partial) for it 5 days after, I find that sketchy and a sort of hustle on their part. It isn't fair for the host to lose 50- 100% of her proceeds plus be hit with a damaging review. Sometimes you have to hustle back

[Julie1516]

Hi Linda, 

  I definitely am not in the market to demonize my guests.  I immediately responded, apologized and handled resolution from every end.    I offered a 50% refund, which she immediately accepted.   

However, on closer look, I am questioning the photo and wonder if anyone has experienced any  photoshopped jobs?   The photo was taken and the person can't be more than 3-4 feet away from the mouse.  It is just sitting there on top of the basket.   And the basket she stated was all chewed up, my housekeeper states - absolutely zero evidence of chewing, etc. of the basket or surrounding area.   My pest control has gone in and set a bunch of new traps, but found little to no evidence of possible intruders.    Again, the likelihood of a mouse in the house is high out here in the country.  They get in! 

Thank you for your response!  It is much appreciated hearing everyone's take on this and a great learning experience.  

I am extremely appreciative of this community. 

[Yadira22]

@Julie1516 I feel sorry for this guest and for you as it’s not a pleasant situation but as many already mentioned these things happen regardless of cleanliness. 
If announced on the day of incident I would consider a partial refund if I can see photo, id it as genuine and it happened at my home (too many people are unfortunately not genuine), even now.

But 5 days after check out, zero to little chance - it sounds like a hustle with underlying “extortionate” roots given the option to review still present to the guest. However, I don’t know the whole situation so best advice is follow your gut instincts and do it in a way which is true to you. 🙂

[Helen427]

@Heather133 @Julie1516 

You could really play on and capitalize on field mice as an attraction and experience in you location of Stowe - Stowe-aways Stowaways abound and may be found!!

Perhaps you folk in Stowe could find the history behind how mice got to be in your location, is it a port location, where wheat used to grow in fields in times before you that were far more challenging,?
It's all part of marketing.

Use it to your advantage not a disadvantage!!

 There's many a different mice types out there and it's up to us humans to accept that All Creatures Great and small exist for a purpose regardless of it we like them or not.

[Helen427]

@Julie1516 @Heather133 
I just had a look up of the name "Stowe" in our local Papers Past NZ archive and found this article which may be of interest.

I wonder if Harriet is related by marriage to the people who your home town location of Stowe is named after.

She has written books about the slave trade amongst other topics of the 1800's.

They of course would have traveled by sailing vessels as there were no planes of any kind back in the 1800's.

Death of  Authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP18960703.2.35

Mrs Beecher-Stowe =, Her life and her works - this is a lovely piece about her background & contributions.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18900322.2.28.19

?items_per_page=50&query=STOWE&snippet=true

[Luana130]

Hi, I live next to the city zoo, so I do get the ocasional "visitors" as well. It is anoying, but there is not a lot we can do. I do mention in the description that we live surrounded by green, so that if anyone complain, I can always use that. If I were you I would contact airbnb first, before the custumer does so, and explain the situation, don't let them make the complaint. There is not much one can do about wildlife if you live next to it.

[Scott-and-Mary-Ellen0]

"Little gray thing? Harry? We wondered where he went." Guest is complaining too late.   

[Paul154]

Guest is in "fear for her safety",  yet had presence of mind to photograph the mouse.

Methinks something is fishy...

[Sarah977]

Here's what normal, sane adults do if something freaks them out: I had a guest who came downstairs and told me that there was a spider on the ceiling above her bed. She said calmly that she has a spider phobia and was afraid of it falling on her. I said they don't actually fall off the ceiling, and that they were harmless, but no problem, I'd go deal with it, grabbed the vacuum, went up to her room and sucked the thing up. 

Over, dealt with. That was the second day of her booking, she stayed another 4 days. No further "fear for her safety", no refund demands, no bad review.

Another guest came down her last night of a 5 day booking to tell me there was some kind of ant invasion in her bathroom. I went up, and sure enough, there were a number of ants on the walls and ceiling. It was the time of year when they look for places to deposit their eggs and it looked like these were scouts, sort of randomly running around. I said I could grab my insect spray, but she might not want to sleep in a room that reeked of insecticide (it's an ensuite bathroom), and that we could just kill them. I grabbed a stool and a shoe, handed my guest another shoe, and we started smashing them until there weren't any more. In the middle of it I turned to her and said, "Just don't mention it in the review, huh?" She was a veteran Airbnber and laughed. Left a 5* review, no mention of ants.

[Julie1516]

Thanks for responding everyone!  It is much appreciated.  I sent a message to the guest, and offered a % refund, which she immediately accepted.   I haven't heard back from her, and I haven't rec'd any review from this guest.  She essentially vanished.      

In addition,  I immediately had our pest control service come to the house and set up traps.  He advised, he saw little to no evidence of any intruder, so what hoping that is was a lone trouble maker.  

However, at additional review of the photo that the guest provided, I am under the impression that this might be a case of a photoshop job.   

Has anyone ever experienced a mouse in the same room as you, perched up and not moving , allowing you to take a picture of it, within a 5-6 foot distance??    Also, she said that the mouse had chewed the basket all up-  but when my housekeeper went in and checked the area, she found zero evidence and nothing chewed.

Just trying to give everyone a heads up that this might be a new tactic.   

I am by no means attempting to shirk responsibility or deny the possibility, as the potential for a mouse in the country in a farmhouse at anytime especially when the temps start to drop  is highly likely.