Guests do not know how to use a shower?! I would like your thoughts...

Billie37
Level 3
Allen, TX

Guests do not know how to use a shower?! I would like your thoughts...

I have a new water heater and cartridges and I test hot water before every guest.  I have 4 grown adults, 1 child, 1 infant, and 1 dog staying in my Airbnb for a week.  They said that there was no hot water in one shower, then next message it was both showers.  The original message to me seemed like an emergency, but the guest was not responding quickly or giving much information.  I had a plumber come over the next morning and he was there for less than 5 minutes.  The plumber said he turned both showers on and the water was hot.  He said that hot water worked everywhere.  The plumber leaves, then the guest messages me saying that the plumber fixed the problem.  There was no fix.  The plumber told me the only thing he did was turn on the water and he actually turned the water heater DOWN because it was actually up too high (which I noticed before the guests checked in, but some people like it really hot).  The water heater is a year old.  The cartridges for the shower were replaced after the water heater was replaced.  There was/is no reason that both showers would not work.  They were saying the water was very cold, not even warm.  Also, one of the shower heads turns colors based on water temperature (red when the water is hot), and so it's not like the water temperature could be an opinion.  I would be less suspicious if the guest would admit "oh, we were turning the showers on incorrectly" but when they email that the plumber resolved the issue, it is a bit frustrating because there was no issue to resolve.   I can't help but feel the guests were trying to get some kind of a discount or something.  I would like to know what the community thinks.  How could 4 grown adults not know how to use a shower?

Okay, here is a lot more information (possibly unnecessary).

First it is a little suspicious because the guest has a local phone and local address but says he is coming into town from California.  He says he would stay in his own local house, but it is an Airbnb that is booked for the next 3 months.  However, his profile doesn't say he is a host.  He tells me his profession is a doctor and that he is getting married and his wife to be is a nurse.  I also trust him because he has two 5 star reviews from around December 2019.

So, here is how the conversation went:


Guest:
May 12 (Wednesday Night) 8:12 PM
Hi Billie,
I have a question/concern...we tried showering and we couldn't get the water to warm up... please help

Me:
8:16 PM
Hi [GUEST], it takes a minute for the water to get hot in the master bathroom. I tested all the hot water before you arrived, so it should be ok. Everything was hot and steamy! Also, the water heater is new. Which bathroom are you having the issue in?

Me: 
8:26 PM
This may be obvious, sorry if it is, but make sure the shower handle is pointed in the right direction. For the master bath, the handle should be pointed around the 8, if you pretended it was a clock (up a bit to the left if you’re facing towards it).

Guest:
10:41 PM
ok we'll try later tonight and I'll let you know in the morning. i tried for both rest rooms upstairs...i let each run for about 10 minutes and didn't get warm... my wife wasn't able to shower due to this in the morning... but we'll give it a try later tonight or first thing in the morning with your recommendations. thanks.
 
Me:
10:46 PM
Yes, please let me know as soon as you can. My handyman was prepared to come by tonight. He said he could stop by tomorrow at anytime tomorrow as well.

I appreciate the information about it not working in either shower. You should not have to let it run for 10 minutes. It should get hot within a minute or so. The only other thing I could think of is if a lot of hot water was used and the tank ran out. Then it would take a while to heat back up again. Yes, please let me know as soon as possible if there is a problem and I can stop by with the handyman as soon as possible.

Guest Thursday Morning, May 13th:
9:28 AM
Good morning Billie... yes both shower heads are still producing very cold water..i let each run for 5 minutes...please send your handy when you can.. just give me a heads up.

Me:
9:31 AM
Ok, thanks for letting me know. I apologize for this issue. I am going to try to get ahold of the plumber that installed the hot water heater first since both showers are cold. I’m guessing there is no hot water anywhere in the house? If I can’t get ahold of that plumber, I’ll call a different one.
Ok, Michael’s Master Plumbing will be there in 10 minutes. He’ll be knocking on the door very soon! I’ll head over too, just in case I’m needed.
 
Guest:
9:51 AM
ok thanks
 
there's hot water from kitchen and sink faucets... I'm out trying to pick up breakfast but I'll let my family know to edict expect the plumber...thanks for your quick response.... very appreciated
 
i just reached out to my family and they said that the water situation has been fixed... I'm very impressed. thanks again for your prompt resolution.

Me:
9:57 AM
Hey [GUEST], Michael just called me and said that the hot water is working fine in the showers. He said he went upstairs and tested both showers and everything is great!
__________
Okay, that's the end of the conversation so far.  
Red flags to me (maybe I'm reading into it too much): 
1) Guest messages "please help" at 8:12PM.  I respond within 4 minutes.  He doesn't respond again for almost 2.5 hours.  Doesn't seem like a desperate situation then.
2) The guest said at 10:41PM "my wife wasn't able to shower due to this in the morning" so I guess they had a problem that morning but never let me know.  They had checked in on the 11th and messaged me about no hot shower water at 8:16PM the next night.  
3) Strange that 4 adults couldn't work together to figure out how to get hot water out of the shower.  It's not complicated, but it is a one handle system, not two knobs.
4) The last red flag "the water situation has been fixed... I'm very impressed. thanks again for your prompt resolution."  There was no resolution.  The plumber literally went inside and turned the showers on and hot water came out. 

What do you think about this?  It seems strange to me. 


20 Replies 20
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Billie37  It does sound odd. I wonder if they used a lot of hot water for dishes or laundry just before trying the showers, so they had used up all the hot.

 

And OMG, they let the water just run for 10 minutes? What dummies, like it would suddenly get hot after 10 minutes- if it was a matter of them having used the whole tank for dishes, or whatever, that would just make it take longer to heat up again.

 

The messages don't really sound like they were scamming for a discount, but who knows. 

 

But here's something that sounds odd- is this guy actually staying there, or is this a third party booking? He says "I reached out to my family..." 

 

I don't know if it's at all pertinent, but I stay with a friend of mine sometimes who has one of those single handle shower faucets and several times I couldn't get any hot water out of it. When I told her, she said her sister had experienced the same when staying once. Other times it was fine, it seemed like an intermittant problem without any explanation. But I seem to recall we googled it and it had something to do with the hot/cold mixer in the faucet being faulty. 

Take back your power by limiting the amount of time you spend talking about, thinking about, and worrying about unpleasant people.Take back your power by limiting the amount of time you spend talking about, thinking about, and worrying about unpleasant people.

 

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Billie37  Seriously, people have lost all common sense.  Letting the water run for 10 minutes??????   How long are these infantilized people staying at your house?

 

The truth is, that a lot of people are not very bright or adept at figuring out even very simple things, like how to work a shower that is different from their own.  

 

I'd be curious did the plumber show them how to make the shower hot or were they observing what he did?  Otherwise, it would have to be that they had somehow used up all the hot water.  Either way, people this clueless are probably going to be a problem for other reasons.

Billie37
Level 3
Allen, TX

Thanks for your replies... so I'm getting the feeling like it could possibly be just a true inability to use the showers, not really trying to get a discount.  @Mark116  would you mention this in their review even if the rest of the stay goes okay?  I feel conflicted.  I'm not sure if the plumber showed them how to work the shower properly or not.  The plumber and I both left to get to the Airbnb at the same time, but by the time I arrived the plumber had already gone arrived and went on to his next job.  I just wish they would have said "I guess we just didn't know how to work the showers...sorry!"  but he didn't say anything like that.

@Sarah977 I almost mentioned the "letting the water run for 10 minutes" in my red flag list.  I was like "who does that?" ha.  Also, supposedly the guy is actually staying there right now.  He might have meant he had to reach out because he was getting breakfast...

Ugh, I hope this week goes without issue.  They check out next Tuesday.  


Hi @Billie37 

It's happened all the time!

No worries, easy mistake to make.😊

 

As you live nearby, make an appointment with the guest, go over to the house.

Well, do communicate with the guest, ask and ask and ask them, about your concern.

Your guest is the keys person! 

 

The guest will greatly appreciate your hospitality and services.

If you present invention to guide them the house tour again and the house manual.

You will have all your answers after meeting with the guests, whether it is a third-party booking or not? 

 

It’s essential to recognize that positive thinking is NOT the idea that you’ll never encounter any obstacles as long as you stay positive. Instead, positive thinking is all about how you respond to the challenges you will most certainly encounter.

 

Happy Hosting ✌️

 

@Billie37  If you've ever answered phones at a help desk, you probably recognize this kind of customer right away. They have one little problem for 5 seconds, and rather than working through things to try and figure out a solution on their own, their first impulse is to call for help and get someone else to deal with it. When this type of person is away from home, and suddenly surrounded by unfamiliar things, they're exponentially likelier to have a petite meltdown over some little detail that throws them off. Any kind of service job you have, some portion of your customers are going to be like this.

 

But actually, it could have been worse. If the guests confirmed that the problem was resolved, you can at least rest assured that they weren't trying to con you into a free stay. And there is one type that is even more dreaded:  the one who is too proud to ask for help but makes a problem even worse by incompetently trying to fix it. Picture Homer Simpson dismantling your water heater, or a young couple  throwing a burning log from the fireplace onto your porch because they didn't know to open the flue.

 

Not knowing your house, I have no insight into how weird it was that 4 people couldn't put their heads together to figure out your shower. However, one detail that stands out is that your first action was to send a plumber. Now perhaps you're hosting remotely and can't just come to the house yourself when a guest reports a problem. But if that's the case, it seems to me that a locally based co-host who knows the ins and outs of your home would be a far more affordable resource in these situations than a skilled technician who has to charge you for a totally unnecessary service call. Most guests would prefer having someone nearby on call to help them out with little household issues rather than having to let a plumber into the house during his/her available time window, especially during a pandemic in which it's not unheard of for the virus to be spread between residents and maintenance workers inside a home.

Yes, I live nearby and I did go over to the house.  I was parked out front this morning, but the "problem" was already "fixed" before I arrived!  I was definitely ready to go to the house the night before!  I just needed the "it's okay, come on over".  He didn't give me that until the morning, and I was on my way.  I called the same plumber that installed the new water heater.  I've had guests on VRBO, Booking.com, and over 30 groups on Airbnb stay at my house and no one has ever had any problems at all with turning on the shower.  This is the very first time anyone has had that problem, or that I've heard of this problem.  I figured the hot water heater must have been faulty since he was going into his 3rd day at my house without hot showers.  I called the nearby handyman the night before when it was just one shower.  But when he said both showers, I went right to the hot water heater plumber.

@Billie37  It's the kind of thing that makes you facepalm, but every report of an issue like this begins with exactly the same preamble:  "I've had ____ guests before and nobody has ever complained." This makes your frustration relatable, but even some of the brightest people will confound you with the results of trying to shove the square peg of your setup through the round hole of their intuition. I've had a robotics engineer who constantly failed to operate my very simple front door key, and a barista who tried to cook espresso on the stove with my French press, and to be honest I've made equally embarrassing mistakes myself. You'll have more outlandish issues in the future, and each time will be the first time. That's normal.

 

With that in mind, though, I do recommend setting a time to get in there and have a look at things yourself before calling the expensive specialist in. You can never take it as a given that the guest hasn't made a really obvious "you had one job" kind of mistake.

 

 

Yes, good advice!

@Anonymous  "a barista who tried to cook espresso on the stove with my French press,"

 

I once set my daughter's $100 Cuisinart electric kettle on the stove burner in a momentary lapse of attention. 

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Billie37 If the rest of the stay goes okay and they leave the house in good order, I would probably not say anything in the review.  If this makes you feel better, we blocked our apartment out for some acquaintances with 2 small children who were having work done on their own house.  Here is what I found:  furniture moved to different rooms and not moved back, couch and Ethan Allen chair written on in marker, TV cabinet written on, coffee table leg so loose it was unsafe, bench legs also loose, broken dishes, 2 shades damaged, 1 shade completely broken, 1 set of sheets ruined, 3 towels & 2 wash clothes ruined, almost cracked the tp holder off the wall, took the shower curtain off and lost the hooks, they unplugged and broke the HDMI cable for the TV, and now for the best....they admitted to noticing the kitchen sink cabinet was damp for weeks and said nothing.  These are people we know.  They said not one word about any of this, it was like being in a scavenger hunt in hell where you kept on finding a new broken or damages item for days on end.

 

 

@Mark116  Isn't it flabbergasting how some people can manage to make such a mess and damage so much stuff in such a short period of time? I would have to try really hard to do that. It would take intention and effort.

 

Even with 3 kids, who were each 5 years apart in age, meaning my house was full of children all the time for many years, I can't recall anything getting destroyed or broken, other than a broken plate or something. Scribbling on anything other than paper? I just don't get why some parents think this is expected behavior or normal.

@Sarah977  Yeah.  I was actually pretty surprised that they didn't bother putting the furniture back in place..., lamps in the closet, side table in the kitchen, living room tables in the bedroom.....because if it had been me staying in the house of someone I know and will see again, I would have first, asked if I could move furniture, and second, have done my level best to leave the place exactly as I found it.  Once I started finding the damages and the writing, yes I was totally flabbergasted.  They were in the house for several weeks, and we had expected a high level of wear and tear, the really shocking thing was they left and didn't say anything, as if I'm not going to notice the wobbly table and bench or that the matched glasses and plates are missing or the shades are all on diagonals due to breakage. Or that other home owners would be like, oh, something in the kitchen sink is leaking, who cares, not me.  So weird.  

I'm starting to wonder if some people just don't pay attention to detail.  Maybe they just live such a messy life in general, that they leave your place thinking it's great, but it's really not.

With almost every guest that leaves my house there is always something broken.  Even if I think that everything is great at first, then something comes out later.  Thank goodness it's not the whole list of things that you mentioned all with one guest!! (except for my "Puddles in Seattle" people that trashed my place).  Sorry, @Mark116 that you had to experience that with people that you knew!  I am always wondering "did they know this happened?"  "did they not think this was a big deal?"  "maybe they didn't even notice it?"  This past December, a VRBO guest crushed one of my accent chairs.  It was obvious.  The guest tried to deny it and it was literally crushed!  I've had quite a few groups scuff and/or water mark tables, etc.  Someone spray painted something in the garage and got green paint on the floor.  I've had a couple rugs damaged.  It's always a couple things here and a couple things there with every guest.  I have to let most of it go because I can't be making claims with every guest!  So far, out of over 40 total groups where almost each group has caused some kind of damage, only 2 groups have told me "oh, by the way, I broke a glass" or something like that.  But they will tell me about the broken glass, but not about the koolaid spilled all over the bed and sheets in one of the bedrooms.  I just don't get it, but it's starting to feel normal.  I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

I do have to say I have had maybe 3 groups that were pretty much perfect where there was no damage.  Whenever that happens, I feel like giving them the cleaning fee back because it's so amazing to me.  However, I don't because that's the way it's suppose to be!