I need help leaving a polite bad review

Silvena0
Level 1
Oakville, Canada

I need help leaving a polite bad review

I need help leaving a review for a very bad experience I had with my most recent guests. They left the place clean, but this is the only positive thing about their 2 night stay. I'll try to quickly explain what happened.

 

I had guest stay at one of our 3 apartments of our triplex. They informed me they would check in late in the evening. They called me upon arrival and informed me that raccoons had gotten into the trash bins before they arrived. I apologized for the mess and informed them that I would have it cleaned up as soon as possible, but because we do not live at the property and it was after 11pm that it could be taken care of first thing in the morning or that they could wait for me to get there and clean it up that night (also refunded the $60 cleaning fee).. They were very rude on the phone and demanded I go up immediately to clean up the trash, so I did. It was about 11:30pm when I arrived. I cleaned up everything and took care to ask if they needed anything while I was there to ensure they'd have a good stay and not be missing anything. I felt awful for the trash and didn't want them to have a negative first impression of my place. When I left they were happy and everything was great. I got home and the next morning they called me at 9:30 am to complain that the guests in the apartment next to theirs had woken them up by opening and closing drawers very hard. I said I would ask the other guest to be more careful opening and closing doors and drawers (but I did not actually message the other guests as they were making noise at an appropriate time). I had no other calls/messages from the guests for the rest of the day. The next day however, they messaged me 15 min before checkout time to let me know that they had woken up late and would need extra time getting ready. I was polite and said that I am ok with them taking their time, but that my cleaners would be there in about 30 min-1 hour to start cleaning their apartment. They didn't mind. Then a few hours later I get a horrendous test message from them saying they did not pay to stay at my apartment and have me go up to clean up garbage. That this ruined their first night and that I wasted their time. They demanded I refund them for their first night's stay. I replied to their message saying that I already refunded the cleaning fee seeing as their issue with my place was concerning the cleanliness. They did sleep in the apartment the first night, used all the amenities and for this reason I would not refund their first night. They called me and started screaming at me, swearing and even threatened that if I don't refund them for the 1st night we would have "very big problems" and said I was lucky they are not in front of me to have this discussion face to face. I was absolutely mortified. It took everything in my power to keep calm and be professional and respectful. I informed them that they would need to contact Air BnB to request a refund as they paid airbnb for their stay. That's when they completely lost it and kept going on with threats as well as saying I must buy my good reviews because their experience with my place was horrible. I calmly asked them to speak to me with respect as I am doing with them and that if they want to reach an agreement that would make us all happy, that they would need to speak to me in a calm tone as adults or I would hang up. In the end, I refunded their first night's stay and said "I only ask one thing from you", to which they cut me off replying "Oh, let me guess, you want us to leave you a good review?!". I replied "NO! I want you to leave me an honest review with EXACTLY how you felt about your stay and what happened". This was not what I was going to ask of them so I said "What I ask is that you send me a quick message when you receive your refund so I know that everything went through as it was supposed to".

 

I feel like I shouldn't have refunded them, but either way what's done is done. Now I want to leave them an honest review but don't know how to start, or how exactly to word my experience with them. They were the most disrespectful guests I have ever hosted. 

5 Replies 5
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Silvena0  If it was me, I'd not be concerned with being polite, but simply factual. Something like :

 

"There was an issue (not inside the unit) when these guests first arrived, which I dealt with immediately, despite it being almost midnight. I had offered to come first thing in the morning to deal with it (raccoons had gotten into outside garbage can), but guests demanded I come immediately, so I did. Cleaning fee was fully refunded by me, without being requested, but guest then demanded full refund for the first night, even though the issue did not affect their use and enjoyment of the inside space, and garbage outside had already been cleaned up when as as requested.

Further complaints and demands during their stay, as well as a great deal of verbal abuse. While these guests did leave the unit clean on check-out, due to their rude attitude and behaviors, I cannot recommend them.."

I think this is a fair way to word the hosts' review. It is tricky as you really want to let other hosts know when and why there was an issue so they know upon receiving a request from the same guest.  I have had the good fortune to not have had a very rude guest but if I ever do I will remember this reply you have written as I think perfect. 

Thank you so much for your reply, you worded the review perfectly! 

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Silvena0, I was wondering if you contacted Airbnb about this? 

 

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Please follow the Community Guidelines // Volg de communityrichtlijnen

Hi @Quincy,

I did not contact airbnb. Not sure what they could have done regarding this situation as the guests had already checked out. I left the guests an honest review outlining what a horrible experience I had with them and that they were very rude. 

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