Locksmith charges

Liam41
Level 1
Fitzroy, Australia

Locksmith charges

Hi, 
I recently locked myself out of the flat I am staying in and as the host was overseas and no spare key had been arranged I had to pay the rather excessive locksmith fees (night-time tariff bringing the total to about 240euro). I realise it was essentially my mistake but surely these things are expected to happen sometimes and backup plans are organized. I just wanted to know what anyone thoughts on this or if there is any protocol with this kind of situation? Whether or not I am expected to foot the whole bill?
Thanks 

5 Replies 5
Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

Hello, 

 

I don't think there's a cookie cutter answer for this. There isn't a policy that deals with this situation directly. Speaking as a host, I would say that it was your fault that you lost the keys and should probably pay the fee. However, if you feel differently, perhaps contact the host and see if they would be willing to reimburse you for some or all of the costs. It probably would have been better to contact them before the work was done and had them agree to pay some or all of the fee before the work was done. 

 

If you aren't happy with the host's response, you could contact Airbnb support directly and explain the situation to them and see what they say. Airbnb generally sides more with the guest than the host, but I'm really not sure what their reponse would be in this case, as the fee was a direct result of you losing the keys. 

 

Best of luck, 

 

Alexandra

Carrie172
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

I too just locked myself out of the airbnb we were staying in.  I didn't lose the keys but the second set of keys was on the interior side of the door in the lock and unbeknownst to us you can't get in the door if there are keys in the lock on the inside.  This cost us 326 euros (nearly $400) and I feel like the host should split this with us since they did not tell us about this at all.  Thoughts? Comments?  If my guest had been locked out I would have supported them by at least splitting the cost. 

I think it should be split too

 

Luana130
Level 10
State of Bahia, Brazil

I don't think it should be split. It was your mistake. I usually have someone on stand by if I go out of town in case of emergencies, but that is just me, maybe he doen't have anyone right now. If you knew the host was out of town you should have been more careful. And even if a guest lost the keys and I was in town I would still charge them for the keys replaycement before I opened the door. 

I am in a similar situation. The host said they would call a smith but then stopped responding. We waited nine hours and called one ourselves, who completely robbed us. We are asking the host to split. It’s now been over 24 hours and they haven’t responded at all. What actions can I take?