Concerned about potential bad review resulting from claim

[Marcel6]

We've submitted a claim regarding two damaged ovens during a guests' stay and are concerned this may result in the guest leaving us a (illegitimate) bad review.

How can we prevent the potential backlash?

Seems like the claim window period versus review window period is partial in favour of the guest and thus may promote vindictiveness towards the owner.

[Barb6]

You will of course get a bad review from this guest. If ABNB is involved they will remove the review with your prompting when the case is resolved. 

[Christian65]

@Marcel6 

You won't necessarily get a bad review from the guest. I asked for payment for a broken bed once (before I asked for a deposit upon booking) and even though it resulted in I had to cover the costs my self (a new guest had checked in the same day they left) 

 - they didn’t leave a bad review.

You will just have to wait and see if they acknowledge your claim or if ABB has to gets involved. If there's an unresolved dispute in the end ABB usually won’t allow either of you to review each other.

I hope you’ll resolve it without hassle! Good luck! 

[Marcel6]

Thanks for your response. We had the same perdicament where a guest had checkout (the one that broke the ovens) and checked in the next day. However we had a repair man there in between to assess and provide a quote (the quote has a later date). I do not forsee us using airbnb in again (and we have super host status) if the reason we cannot claim the damage deposit is because of overlapping guests. This seems highly unjust. The cost was $600.

[Manana0]

I've had something similar this summer. Guests, who obviously damaged my washing machine, all of a sudden became rude & sent quite arrogant sms the same evening they arrived, notifying that the machine does not work and they need it to be repaired immediately! The machine was working the previous day and the same day they arrived, before they checked in! I think there should be some mechanisms, preventing you of damages from the careless or destructive guests, who tend to blame you, if they damage some of your belongings. I'd like to understand better how does the deposit component of the system work.

[Christian65]

I agree @Manana0

But the security deposit is for damages and you'll need to file a case immediately to ABB and then you can deduct the costs from the broken item from the deposit. Its much more efficient in cases where guests have broken stuff in your house.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Adding-a-Security-Deposit-a-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/53370#M24...

[Manana0]

Thanks @Christian65, as I understnad now, AirB&B collects the specified deposit sum for a particular case after the host claims the damage or lost. I was not sure wether AirB&B collects the deposit amount specified in the host's account at the time of booking or the host is supposed to collect the amount while the guests check-in. I remember some guests were asking if they need to pay the deposit while checking in and I told them that they don't need to pay anything to me, as AirB&B collects the money. Now I know for sure that I was correct.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Manana0

My dryer broke a few months ago.  I had a repair man out, he replaced some parts but it still did not work at all.  The repair company refunded my money and I bought a new dryer.

A few weeks ago my washer broke. It was the same age and brand as the dryer.  I didn't even bother repairing it.  I bought a new washer.

Why this story?  Well, neither the dryer nor the washer were 'broken' by anyone.  There was no misuse.  There were no guests washing cinder blocks or tire irons in the appliances.  They simply broke.

If guests check in and notify you the washer is not working, it is quite probably that they did not break it.  If your appliance breaks while your guests are present, they do not owe you anything.

The security deposit is not for anything and everything that stops working or goes wrong while guests are present, even if the appliance stops working while the guests are using it.  The deposit is for things the guests break that a reasonable person doing reasonable things would not have broken.

Your great grandmother's priceless heirloom teapot, dropped in the sink, not their fault.  People drop things.  Don't leave it in the listing.

Your Picasso painting damaged by a window left open and rain coming in, not their fault.  The weather report did not predict rain and the painting should not have been that close to the window.

Your front door scratched from top to bottom by a toddler with a fork.  They owe you for that.

Your bedroom window smashed when the husband threw a lamp at the wife because she commented on his mother.  They owe you for that (plus the lamp.)

Kerrin

City Limits Ranch

[Nord1]

The main issue I have with appliances is the time it takes to get them repaired when they are under guarantee. The guests want it fixed but it cannot be fixed within 24 hours. Guarantees do not work like that. Further more, when you have waited for 3 days for someone to come and repair it. They do not have all the part needed. Part need to be ordered and repair will be done in 7 days. This is my experience with appliances. In the end I could not wait 7 days to have the current and the next guests complaining about it. I chose to buy a new fridge same day delivery. The fridge plus montage and disposal cost me €1,845. To that I had to add the staff cost, coming to check whether it was some benign problem. Then be there when we finally got an appointment with the engineer. Further more I promised to refund the guest €100 for the hassle of having to go through all of this while on holidays. Frankly, defect in appliances is not fun and I am unlikely to make any profit after tax this year.

if someone had a better way of dealing with this I would like to hear. On top I spent countless hours on the phone, either with the guest, my staff or the firm which should provide the guaranteed appliance.

it is not the guests fault. Btw I do not buy cheap appliances, I review them carefully and buy middle of the range. I would love to buy Miele, but the problem here is when misused it won’t cut it either..

[Christina778]

So I stayed in a cabin recently and it was beautiful. I was pretty mad tho that the host gave us almost 0 notice that he had a "dryer repairman" on the way to the home. I used the dryer the evening before and it seemed to work fine. I'm just wondering, for non emergency repairs like this...shouldn't this be scheduled during unoccupied time as I paid $425 to have 2 days of not being bothered?  We had plans so this stranger "repair guy" was in the home with our belongings....Then his cleaning lady showed up an hour before check out banging on the door.....

[Fiona684]

I am interested to hear more on this as I have a similar query. My washing machine broke during a guest's stay. They insist on us getting it fixed but same issue of how quick someone can come out and fix, and moreover I am not prepared to pay hundreds of £s to fix it if that's what the quote comes back as. I'm also not prepared to spend hundreds of £s on a new one as we intended to remove the appliance anyway after this season. 

The guest says she paid for the washing machine as part of the holiday cost. However, 1) it would have cost the same with or without the machine. 2. There are on site washing machine facilities so she is not actually without a washing machine at all and I can offer to reimburse costs for those machines if necessary. 

Just wondered what the best advice is on this from an owner perspective. I presume I'm not obliged to fix or replace the machine at any cost just because it was noted in the listing when there are on site facilities? 

[Ann72]

@Fiona684  If listings are inaccurate, guests have recourse to refunds or rehousing.  Yours wasn't inaccurate, technically, because the amenity broke during the stay.  Have you already offered to pay to have their laundry done?  How much longer will they be there?  

You need to tread carefully as you'll see in this article, https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2895/host-reliability-standards, which finishes by noting:  "Airbnb may suspend listings until hosts can confirm they have either corrected their listing details and/or fixed or replaced broken amenities."  

If you can find a solution that makes the guest happy before they escalate to Airbnb, you should be okay.  One way or another it's going to cost you money. 

[Fiona684]

Hey thanks so much for the reply. Yes technically we provided a washing machine we understood to be working. There are also facilities on site to cover the washing machine requirement. I am happy to cover the cost of them using the on site facilities but haven't offered it just yet as I'm still waiting for the repair guy to confirm an appointment so didn't want to get ahead of myself. They are there for another 10 days and the problem is it takes an age for anything to happen there! 

I could offer to cover their machine costs now in the event that I cant get a repair in time. I also don't want them taking the mickey through being annoyed about the washing machine... maybe I need to see receipts in order to reimburse? 

[Ann72]

@Fiona684  That all makes sense.  I had an amenity break this week and it took a few days to get someone out there to fix it.  The guest wasn’t nice about it, sigh.

Are the machines self-operated?  I don’t know how you’d get receipts.  You could ask them for receipts I guess though that seems a bit off or you could figure out the cost per load and a maximum number of loads that you and the guest would both be happy with and offer to reimburse up to that amount.  If it costs less than repairing the machine you will be ahead.

[Fiona684]

Yeh to be honest I can't remember if they issue receipts or not and it might sound off too I agree. Perhaps an agreed maximum would be a good idea 🙂

Thanks so much.