Hi Everyone,
It's me the host who posted on this and I am going to baffle you with what is going on with this guest and AirBnB customer support.
Lucky for me, the case manager said she has handled over 100 cases and says she never has seen a case be so mishandled. I spoke w/ 4 case managers on Sunday and a supervisor sent screenshots of conversations and much more, over 3 hours of back and forth to resolve this issue.
Here is a quick recap. She came up to stay w/ her family of 5 and her dog in my newly renovated condo, she got to be the first to use the bathroom, the kitchen appliances, the new couch, TV, bar stools, new cabinets.. all in all I have $70,000 worth of receipts to show uncle Sam at the end of the year for our renovation project. We put a lot into this, when we decided to do AirBnb.. we went to Jordans for a lot of our furniture (all of the living room furniture and bar stools) and we took a lot of items from our own home, miscellaneous kitchen items, my guestroom bedroom set, my younger brother was moving from a 2 bedroom in Brighton to a 1 bedroom in East Boston and I was able to snag some of his guest bedroom furniture.. it looks amazing, we put a lot of love into this, and we aren't ones to try getting the cheapest items just to make it apear nice.. everything is actually nice. It would be difficult for anyone to go into that home and find things to complain about.. but our very first booking, our very first guest was a 32 day guest.. and she found plenty to complain about.
When I first met the guest she told me the home was beautiful and that she had been using AirBnB for 10 years and was one of the pioneers, used it before it even became popular. But what I found strange was that she didnt have any reviews on her profile (since checking in, now she has one from June 2019).
Within 2 days of being there, she noticed my stove was not functioning properly, a new stove (I purchased it from an open box sale but I got to peel the stickers off of it still). The stove technicians said that the stove was sold for homes w/ liquid propane orifices but my home is set up for Natural Gas.. the company would not accept a return for the stove and did not have the part in stock to convert the orifices back to Natural Gas, they told me I needed to wait 4-6 weeks as it was a backorder item. Without thinking twice, I started looking for a new stove, I found a high-end GE Stove (it was used but in great condition) and we bought it took it home and spent 3 hours cleaning it inside and out to make sure we are providing a high-quality item to the guest and meet her expectations. Within 5 - 7 hours of being notified of the problem we had the new stove installed. She then asked me for a vacuum since it was a long stay, I have a shark with the clear holding tank that needs to be emptied out when full.. I provided it to her and she told me it was filthy and she would just go buy a Swiffer (my wife took that vacuum apart and washed it by hand part by part 30 days before listing this property, after the renovation was finished - it wasn't dirty). She then complained that the AC provided (a huge AC in the living room) wasn't cooling down the bedrooms, I spent a couple of nights there and that AC is capable of cooling down this 1100 sq ft home easily, but we went and bought 3 stand up fans, one for each bedroom. Then she said she found our iron but no ironing board.. I usually just iron on my bed or on a countertop or table, but I went and bought an Ironing board. Then she said our trash can was too small for a family that large, I went to Target and bought a big stainless steel trash can. On a Saturday morning she sent me a message at 10:59am saying that the water pressure was low in the kitchen sink and shower, I asked her if the pressure was low in the toilet or anywhere else and she said she couldn't look for me.. so I had a plumber there within 30 minutes and the problem solved by 12:35pm (1.5 hrs only).
So here was the final straw... on Sunday morning.. 2.5 weeks into her stay.. at 9am she decided to wash her bedsheets. She pulled off a bedsheet on noticed a stain on the mattress.. she sent me a message saying this in unacceptable and that she had been patient with us so far but this is too much.. She then went on to check all 4 mattresses and told me I needed to replace 3 of the 4 mattresses or she wanted her money back. She said that she paid too much money to stay at my place for me to cover "filth" with bedsheets. These are mattresses from my house, one was manufactured in 2014 and I didn't see the others dates but I told her that this I couldn't do. The mattresses were all washed and cleaned and we had a brand new mattress cover on one of the mattresses (that she also took off to look under). I offered to buy 3 new mattress covers but I wasnt going to be able to go to sleepys on Sunday morning and buy 3 new mattresses so she called Airbnb... they offered her 100% refund on the nights she would no longer stay there plus 50% off the nights that she did stay there...... ?????
So I spoke to 3 case managers and one supervisor on Sunday.. over 3 hours of phone conversations and re-explaining everything multiple times to different case managers. By the end of Sunday all case managers and supervisors had agreed that we did everything in our power to ensure a comfortable stay and I was extremely responsive and helpful.. also that Airbnb hosts do not need to replace a mattress every time there is a stain in it, that it is ok to purchase mattress covers and that what happened here is a common case of regular wear. So they informed me that I would refund the nights she no longer will be with us but we earned the right to get paid for the nights she did stay at our home. We thought wow, Airbnb handles this well, heard both sides and made a decision based on our efforts dedication and a problem that is unforeseeable and unavoidable..
Well, it didn't end. It is not Monday, July 29th and I received a message first thing this morning from a new case manager that I never spoke with, by the name of Alexandria, she said that she is the new case manager and that she had decided in favor of the guest and that she would go ahead and process the refund for 50% off the nights that she stayed with us.. Alexandria never called me or my wife, never spoke with us and decided to make a decision without consulting anyone who was handling our case less than 24 hours before that. Well again I got on the phone tried for the life of me to speak with Alexandria,, she wouldnt answer my requests and never called me back then Airbnb assigned a new case manager with me who again saw photos, messages, and agreed that we did everything to ensure a great experience and told me that I shouldnt have to give a 50% refund on the nights stayed.. Well during my new case managers lunch break a refund was processed for 100% of the nights not occupied and 50% off the nights they did occupy.. without the notification of me or the new case manager.
I am still in the middle of this battle, I am hoping that Airbnb will make the right deicision here. The guest will not close out/ cancel out her stay until she is refunded for 50% of the nights stayed.. right now my first host experience has been a nightmare.. my next two weeks are still blocked and a refund for $3500 out of $4600 I received is being processed. We went to the house today as she informed us of her check out yesterday to find that our brand new mattress cover had dog pee on it.. likely this is the reason she was taking it off, was to wash it. She took our American flag key chain and left only loose keys. We found pee spots on our carpets and brand new jordans furniture couch... We are really getting the short end of the staff here.
I am going to remain positive, there are good people working at AirBnb, there is a lot more good to come of this than bad.. but I want to share this with everyone on here as I think this is absurd and may be helpful for other hosts.
Sorry for such a long message, its been a long day and last couple of days.
