Listing Pause for possible retaliation from guest of non refund

Jay1395
Level 2
Las Vegas, NV

Listing Pause for possible retaliation from guest of non refund

does anyone feel like lately or during this whole pandemic that host like us need to give out more refund whenever there is a issue or a attempt to seek refund from guest with bogus issue or non-issues?

 

here its my story

 

one of my listing recently host a guest who booked 5 night checks in fine and never mentioned much of any issue until the 4th day (the last day before she checks out the next morning) asking "is it possible to get refund for couple issues that she experience.."

 

and i replied saying what was the issue because i want to resolve it right away.. she then mention the following

 

1. microwave is barely working

2. master bedroom toilet doesn't flush automatically

3. water leaking from the ceiling and floor is soaking wet every morning

 

when i hear the 3rd item, i panic and want to access the unit right away to resolve any leak issue, she wasn't in the unit but her guest/friend were so i went in knowing already this guest is trying to get a "refund" because she wasn't even asking me to fix issue.. she was asking for refund.. i went in record in videof or my encounter, her roommate opens the door and i ask if the micro wave works.. she said yes and she just had heat up some food and she mentioned on video that she doesn't know why she said microwave doesn't work. 

 

so #1 was bogus

 

moving on to the master bedroom and i asked her friend to follow me. we notice the handle to flush the toilet needed to be hold down for 2-3 sec. i guess the flapper was too quick to close when you press the handle but nonetheless using 2-3 sec hold/press as a reason for a refund is kinda unreasonable...

also, keep in mind, she isn't asking me to fix this.. she is asking for refund.

 

so #2 was unreasonable

 

moving on to the leak (there was no leak thats why i do this last).. i saw a small paddle of water near the hvac/condenser. and i notice the unit was very very hot (keep in mind its 104 F outside in las vegas during that time in summer) the heat was on for 90F????? then i set the control to "cool" and saw it was set to 45 F .. so knowing how the hvac/condenser work.. it build up a block of ice when you try to set it so low and then you try to set to 90 F heat.. its a perfect combo to form ice block then melt it to form small leak into the floor to form small peddle and i have explained this to the guest and guest friend

 

so #3 was self made, there was no leak in the ceiling

 

nonetheless all 3 above was  her reason demanding refund on the 4th day out of the 5 day trip.. as a result of this she leave me a 3 star review which cause my listing to suspend for 7 days.. i have explain to airbnb with no help.. 

 

this to me at least was clearly a retaliation of the customer since i didn't give her any review. i feel like airbnb is indirectly forcing host like me to start hanging out money/refund just to make sure customer is happy... sigh..

 

this is also why i had 10 listing but only activate 6 of them because i move some to other platform,

 

any thoughts?

1 Reply 1
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

I am not sure is Covid the reason or Airbnb just became famous for refunds for trivial and fictional reasons, but it seems guests are fabricating "issues" and asking for refunds more than ever.  And guests became more critical. I have the same listings for 5 years, cleaning by myself like always, the prices are the same... but my rating is lower than before.

I also got the first guest this summer who tried to get a refund based on lies ( I denied, proved he is laying and he got a bad review from me)

And it seems Airbnb is suspending and delisting hosts faster more than ever.

So yes, things have changed lately. Moving half of your listing to another platform was smart