Resolution /Host Guarantee

[Basel3]

I will be talking about the devastating and very much time consuming that I have been through since August 1st Until Today almost 40 tiring days process with no result but that feeling of being very much IGNORED with many saved responses by the Case Manager from the resolution center.

I had a guest who robbed my apartment from Expensive Camera Lens canon 50mm f/1.2 and Ironing machine!

I overlooked the ironing machine and the fact that she had permanent stains on the bed cover which I bought new ones right on the place and I considered them as collateral possible damage after the one month reservation.However, the 50mm lens is 1472USD thus I have reported this incident to airbnb support center on the phone and by messaging from 1st of August until the 10th of August, I talked with tens of agents and case managers and I sent them all the photos and documentations that they needed and they told me we will contact you soon.Anyway, this was wrong advice from all of them and this was my first experience with such incident any way on the 11th of August I called again and A case manager told me that I had to request refund from my guest who robbed my property, I have done so she denied and I got resolution center involved. Automatically they will send you an email that it should take 7 days to have your case resolved anyway it took until today which is 25 days which needed all the patience that you can get. I sent all the documentations that they requested with every tiny detail and I waited and waited then they requested police report which was very strange to ask after 25 days ( I had 4 guests in my apartment since then) WHY DIDN'T THEY REQUESTED IT WHEN I CALLED AND MESSAGED AND FIRST REPORTED THIS INCIDENT SINCE AUGUST 1ST. Anyway I managed to go the police station and told them every tiny detail then they Gave me the police report. YESSSS, I thought by the end of that day I thought airbnb would honor their Host Guarantee promises however it wasn't.(I then sent all the photos and conversations and documentations that I have ever sent to them)
since then he the case manager took 5 days to respond to my emails and he emailed me very very strangely as if he knew nothing about my case He said and I'm quoting from his mail
"

Thanks for your response.

In order for an incident to be eligible for Airbnb assistance, the reported damages must have been caused by a guest or an invitee of the guest. You are free to pursue reimbursement from your guest directly. However, per this requirement, this case is not eligible for reimbursement.

You may review the Host Guarantee terms here: https://www.airbnb.com/terms/host_guarantee.

If you have other questions about the Host Guarantee and what is covered feel free to respond."

As if I didn't involve them after I requested the refund from the guest Directly.
I emailed him back and he didn't answer of course then I called airbnb and after a very long conversation 30 minutes which I had to tell the whole story from the first detail and I requested that they change the case manager who is investigating my case he responded shortly by this saved mail
"

After a thorough review, we have decided to uphold our original decision.

We determined that a payout could not be processed in this instance.

We consider this decision final.

Best,"

I will unfortunately be un-listing my airbnb apartment, although I met with many great guests and I would never have done this If I hadn't been that ignored.

Thanks airbnb resolution for treating your clients in such ways!

[Helen427]

Hello @Basel3 

Sorry to read you have had this unfortunate experience.

Did you ask the Police you reported it to either phone or go and visit this person who stole your property to ask them to return it to you?

If they are from another country you should report them online to their local Police and ask them to follow it up for you.

The person concerned may already be known to the Police where they live & it's helpful to have that info on there local database should their name come up in future.

It also puts them on notice not to do it again or they will be caught.

Look up the person who you have said has stolen your property online and copy it and keep it up your sleeve - use Google & the internet as your lifeline & friend.

If you still have an issue trying to get your property back reach out to @Laura_C and let her know what you have been through with Customer Services as she's ABB Head of Customer Services.

No one needs property stolen from them.

All the best

[Basel3]

Thanks a lot for your time reading my post Helen!
I've just messaged Laura right now, If I don't get any help from the resolution center and they kept ignoring me by sending me this saved mail response I will try to contact the Russian Police although I don't think it would be simple or if I would get any result sine I have searched my guest over social media and the internet however didn't get anything, she didn't have any review before I hosted her and there's no profile photo on her account.

Thanks again Helen,

your help is much appreciated,

[Helen427]

No worries @Basel3 

I've no idea what @Laura_C workload is like however she usually picks up notifications in here within a couple of days.

I hope you have reviewed the guest in such a manner others will be alert to their unlawful behaviours.

You also have the Public Feedback option to reply to guests reviews so ensure you exercise your 'Right of Reply' there to.

There's plenty of helpful information tucked here in CC- use related Keywords in the searchbox if ever you are needing help with anything.

[Jaime345]

I would like to share my story so this hopefully does not happen to anyone else.

My story, unfortunately, has left my family devastated and our home will never be the same.

Our last, and I mean last, guest used the shower drain as a toilet. A family of 4 for 10 days!

That is not the worst part. While they were attempting to push their filth down the narrow drain pipe (and I'm assuming here, I have no other explanation of how the following could have happened) they dislodged the drain pipe resulting in our sub basement being flooded with their feces!

Family heir looms, Christmas decorations, tools, beautiful wooden crate boxes, important documents, our kids first outfits, their school work, their first toys, memories, our history; all gone.

Our sub basement is inaccessible to guests. It is locked. Supposedly safe.

We hired a company that specializes in sanitizing and disinfecting. They surveyed the affected space and deemed it to be Category 3 Water Damage. We lost about 80% of everything that was stored there. Let me tell you, the odor was grotesque and appalling to put it politely. Words truly cannot describe. The company ran 5 machines 24/7 for 6 days to finally disinfect our sub basement. They returned daily for follow ups and continued to get negative readings. $3750 in total for the repairs not including the enormous hydro bill heading our way or any of the damaged items such as the removed ceiling.

We immediately called airbnb upon the discovery. We were advised to put in a claim. We were assured we would be taken care of. We did as asked. No response. We escalated our claim. No response. We called back again, got attitude from the help centre and were told that every time we called, our claim was reset to the bottom of the queue.

I held my tongue and stopped calling. 3 weeks later we finally heard back.

We were given instructions of what to submit with a very unjust strict time frame. We provided pictures, the company that clean up did an inventory of some of the things we lost and we provided that, they requested web-links of like-kind items (as they call it). We provided the web links.

No one advised us that we would have to provide pictures of EVERY SINGLE item damaged. Who would want to open bags and boxes soiled in feces and separate to take pictures? 

In the end, they just reimbursed the repair bill. They said they require invoices (along with the other requirements) of everything we lost. They know very well no one keeps a record of everything they've ever bought.

Our home is different. Not quite the same. This is always in the back of our minds. Always there. $3700? What we wouldn't give to have our things back. Our home the way it was. So please, take my story and learn from it.

Try to protect yourselves with documentation, invoices, bank records, credit card records, multiple pictures of any item(s) damaged in your home, web links of similar priced items, quotes of repaired costs, quotes of what it would cost to repair the item(s). Because that's what it takes. That's what it takes for them to honor their Host Guarantee policy. 

But, if you're like the rest of us and you are missing ANY of the above, then your home is at risk. 

They closed our case today. I have requested they keep it open. 

Jaime

[Sarah977]

@Jaime345  OMG, yours is one of the saddest horror stories I've read about Airbnb guests and I've read a lot. My heart goes out to you and I hope you can get a better resolution through persistence. Of course no monetary compensation can bring your family treasures back. It's so important for hosts to carry their own insurance which will cover them if guests cause destruction. You can't rely on Airbnb to have your back.

Honestly, I would go to the media with this story and let Airbnb know you are going to. They have sometimes changed their tune when hosts have done that. Some journalist will be happy to have the story.

 I have a friend who rented her cottage to a guy long term (not Airbnb). When he moved out and she went to clean it, it reeked horribly. She scrubbed everything down, sterilized the place and it still reeked. There was a section of the floor which was a trap door to the crawl space. When she removed this, she almost keeled over. They had been stuffing their bags full of garbage down there for all the time they lived there- there were hundreds and the whole thing had turned to a sort of thick soup. She called a hazardous wast cleaning company and they quoted her about $6000. She had to get a friend to help her, don a Hazmat suit, and a mask and climb down in there to pass the bags up. She had to keep coming up to retch. It took all day. They filled a truck twice to take to the dump. Then she had to get back down there and muck it all out with a shovel and pails, pour a bunch of Lysol around and spread sand and gravel.

[Jaime345]

@Sarah977 

Thank you so much. We definitely appreciate the support and advice. We do feel we have a unique story, unfortunate as it may be. Airbnb responded. I sent them more documentation. Waiting to hear back. I will update progress until it is finalized. I think people deserve to be aware.

What happened to your friend is awful. You don't know who you are inviting into your home. Back ground checks are so important. That part of the world needs to be educated (by airbnb) about the customs of how we do things here. 

The advice you gave is a tremendous lift for hope. As unfairly as we feel we've been treated, we will give airbnb a chance to redeem themselves. Time will tell...

Thanks again!

[Sarah977]

@Jaime345 Over 40 years ago, the cabin I was living in burnt to ground while I was out one day. I lost everything but the clothes on my back and a few thousand dollars I had in the bank. This was before the digital age- I lost all my oldest daughter's (she was about 4 at the time) baby photos, the hand-knitted sweaters relatives had made and which she'd outgrown that I was saving for next child, all my diaries, books, all my music, all the beautiful handicrafts I'd collected on my travels.

After the shock had worn off, and I had relocated and bought what I needed to live, I realized that it was just stuff. I had my life and my health, my daughter, my work that I loved. 

It turned me into a minimalist. I now have a home that is furnished with beautiful things, but it's pretty simple, and I don't keep anything that I'm not using, I pass it on. My female friends have looked at my clothes closet and asked "Where are the rest of your clothes?" I no longer keep things that look good on the hanger, but when I put it on, I take it off after an hour, because it's just not "me", or maybe I'd wear it once a year. I don't collect things.

It was devastating when it happened, but in a way, it was also freeing. Humans are the only animals on the planet that need all this "stuff". It's lovely and fun to look at family photo albums, but if they're gone, our memories of loved ones no longer with us, or our children when they were babies, are in our hearts and minds, always. No fire, no flood, can take that away.

Friends who are moving or wanting to clutter-bust love me to come help- I'm fast and ruthless.

"Oh that's a piece for a puzzle".

"Do you know where the puzzle is? No? Is this the only missing piece? You're not sure? Garbage. And when you find the puzzle box, that's garbage, too".

" You have 6 lamps stored in the basement."

"I was thinking I might use them one day. I pick up lamps I like when I see them at garage sales."

"You can keep one. The rest are going to the second hand store."

[Lan1]

@Basel3 @Jaime345  Host guarantee program is NOT countable, even you presented  all the documentations properly, they will still deny your request. I just encountered a similar experience like you: a local guest booked for 2 but arrived 20+ for overnight party/ drug gathering. Left burned marks on my furnitures and damaged  my floor ( they were moving furnitures to the backyard).

Airbnb closed the case first time without any communication, I contacted again, they reopened, after long time waiting, and 2 formed/ copied emails,( stating they were working on the case), then suddenly just denied/ closed the case! They claimed that it was Airbnb ‘s right and discretion to make final determination. 

I agree with @Sarah977 , keep furnishing and decorating as simple as possible especially when you are hosting. 

@Basel3 @Jaime345 If you are intending to file a group complain/ appealing, I will be the first to join you! 

[Jaime345]

@Lan1  I will explore all options for sure. If they don't comply with their policy, I will definitely let you know if we choose to go that route. Here is my email in case they delete all this:

riovalenz at msn dot com. Thanks for the support.

[Basel3]

Dear Lan1,

First of all thanks a lot for replying on this thread, secondly I hope you'll end up getting all what you ask for.

In my case the things changed after 2 months I have requested to change the case manager and then I haven't heard back from airbnb for two weeks while I kept calling the airbnb support two days before they gave me full refund of the amount of the  money I called Airbnb support and I insisted that they transfer my call to a superviser and I think that this helped.

Keep insisting and provide them with everything that they request.

It took me two months , I had been contacting with airbnb support team almost on a daily basis, It costed me huge amount of effort and time though

[Lan1]

@Basel3 I am so glad you did it! 

[Ryan563]

I am currently going through a situation involving a robbery at my house, and damage caused by a guest. AirBNB has paid some, not all, cleaning costs and lock replacement fees, but passed my host guarantee claims on to another department that is not communicating. We have a police report. I've submitted dozens of photos and documents. I was told that I had to negotiate with the guests directly before AirBNB would "intervene" (I thought I was filing insurance claims), but the guest has been removed from AirBNB for violation of terms of service so I couldn't reach them if I wanted to, which I don't. I have evidence now that the guest tried to pay for their next AirBNB reservation with my checking account, having stolen checks from our safe. AirBNB must know about this, but I learned about it from my bank. After reading this thread I'm worried that I'm just being played along by various departments and case managers at AirBNB who intend ultimately to deny my claims. If they're going to deny them I would appreciate it if they would just do that and stop wasting my time. I've spent hours and hours and hours on this. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm really losing my patience.