Host falsely accused me of damage on his review

[Andrew2484]

It was a month long stay, one of the very first things I did after arrival was remove the kettle and tray of milk/sugar off the small kitchen surface to a shelf in the open plan lounge area

I have never ever drank tea or coffee so have zero use for a kettle. 

The host wrote that "I destroyed the kettle" and told me privately I have to pay for a new one. So far there has been no claim but the accusation is still visible on my profile

I explained to him that I don't drink tea or coffee and asked him to retract, but he refuses to accept that the crack in kettle must have been missed by his cleaning team.

I told him I only drink water and monster energy drinks.  I even showed him screenshots of my finance app which shows daily transactions for energy drinks from the convenience store downstairs, but to no avail

It's not about money but principle, I know for a fact I didn't break the kettle and never used it once.

Are fake accusations against the review policy?

[Elena87]

@Andrew2484 

Airbnb have a very narrow range of circumstance whereby they will intervene and remove a review.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/548/airbnbs-dispute-moderation-for-reviews

It seems the review left for you wouldn't meet the criteria when airbnb would intervene.

I see you have replied to the review, which is about all you can do, and thereafter it is case closed.

As you have several previous decent reviews, perhaps it would not have any bearing if you continue to use the service, perhaps other future hosts might interrogate further though.

With two opposing recollections of what happened after your stay ended, there is no way of telling from a distance who has got the wrong end of the stick.

[Anonymous]

@Andrew2484   Nope. See for yourself:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2673/airbnbs-review-policy

Money quote:

While we encourage and expect all community members to post reviews that contain objective and accurate information, Airbnb doesn’t mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews. 

The review comes from a very reputable host and doesn't break any rules, so disputing it would be a waste of your time. Looking at it from a host's perspective, I don't really care about a broken kettle - accidents happen - but I definitely care about an "unimaginable mess" with things left "scattered" around the apartment. It's quite telling that your  public response (and your forum post) ignored that comment to focus entirely on the broken kettle. Future hosts will look like that and think that either you don't care how much of a mess you leave behind, or you're someone who can't quite see the forest for the trees.

Maybe ease off a bit on those energy drinks?

[Andrew2484]

@Anonymous I am not sure what my caffeine consumption has to do with anything, but thanks for the contribution.

I HATE being falsely accused of anything, no matter how small.  Especially something as ridiculous as this situation involving an appliance which I have ZERO need for and specifically removed from the kitchen.

If it was something I was actually using during my stay then I can understand why the host would claim I broke it.  So yeah, the rest of the review is also debatable and I have made that point to him in private, but if he actually considered the possibility he was wrong and looked at all the supporting (admittedly circumstantial) evidence in my favour then he would realise he was wrong.

The fact he took the time to accuse me in public before speaking to me about it, speaks volumes I think

[Anonymous]

@Andrew2484 It's very clear that you object to the accusation of breaking a kettle. But it seems like you've missed the point:  the host claims that your stay resulted in "several hours" of extra cleaning, but instead of apologizing or even addressing that, you're fixated on the kettle.  That's a really bad look, and if you have requests declined in the future, this will be the reason. 

"I HATE being falsely accused of anything, no matter how small. "  Obviously. But if you choose come across as someone who latches too hard onto a petty grievance and can't let little things go, people won't feel very inspired to trust you with keys to their house. The character traits that get traction on Twitter don't work well in person.

[Andrew2484]

@Anonymous No, I got the point, you are the one that is missing it (especially the one about not drinking coffee, hence the energy drink consumption, caffeine is caffeine) and each of your posts have involved subtle ad hominems aimed at me.  So I will thank you once again for your contribution and suggest we leave it here