Crazy guest lied about BEDBUGS

[Evelyn694]

Hello, Folks -- A dreadful guest stayed at my place last week and canceled her stay unbeknownst to me about 15 minutes after checking in, which was 20 minutes after booking.  You can read more about it via the review I wrote of her, below.

I wrote this before seeing her review.  She claimed that there was urine, hair and BEDBUGS at my place!  This is a complete and total lie, and it is the kind of lie designed to take down someone's business.

I called AirBnb and they admitted she had provided no proof nor mentioned Bedbugs in her complaint, but they refuse to take down the review or even that part of it.

I have sucked up lies from crazy guests in the past, but bedbugs is a lie that you can't allow to stay on your listing!  That will drive people away like nothing else, and it's completely false!  Any ideas?

Here's the review I wrote --

Luna first wrote to me for a last minute stay in June. And by last minute, I mean an hour turn around, which I accommodated. She never took the offer, never wrote back. When she wrote for a last minute stay in November, I gave her the benefit of the doubt again. I sent her an offer at 5:30 pm, got no reply, assumed she flaked again. At 8:05, she accepted the booking and 8:06 wrote to me that she was on her way over. I received the messages at 8:15, raced back and made sure the room was ready for her, let her in. As soon as she walked into the room, she said it was too hot, so I turned down the heat and told her she could crack a window. She wrote to me shortly after checking in to tell me the place was really cute, and then asked for additional sheets, and I told her where to find extra linens. She told me twice that the place was cute and said nothing else. About fifteen minutes later, I got a cancellation notice from AirB, complaining that the apartment wasn't clean and offering her a full refund but blocking my calendar for her entire stay. I went down to the apartment, totally mystified. It was as clean as I had left it but it was freezing, as Luna had opened the window and ripped it off the track. It was dangling from the frame and the track was destroyed. I complained to AirB and asked to see evidence that there was anything wrong with the apartment or anything that needed cleaning. They refused to show me what Luna had turned in. I wrote to Luna and asked her why she didn't contact me directly, since I was right upstairs. I would have offered her a refund and been able to keep my calendar open but she wasn't even brave enough to talk to me about it, just made sure she got all her money back and that my calendar stayed blocked so I couldn't rent to someone else. I have very high ratings for cleanliness and now follow all Covid cleaning protocols.

[Pat271]

Ah yes, this sounds typical of the very worst of guests.  Guest breaks something in the house, and immediately turns it around and reports the house as uninhabitable. That way, they not only get all their money back for the booking, they don’t have to pay for the damage as well. Airbnb has been getting wise to this ploy - I’m sorry you got a rotten resolution. Maybe try another CS agent?

[Evelyn694]

Thanks, Pat, for the kind reply and compassion!  Hope it's nice and warm down there!

When I called AirB, the agent was pretty understanding and admitted there was no proof and that bedbugs were serious, so I thought I'd be okay.  But he said he had to run it by his colleagues.  After that it got moved to a bot-esque chat, and after three exchanges they closed the case.

Do you know of another way?  Do you mean to call the main number again? 

[Jessica1686]

@Evelyn694 You have to keep trying to find the right customer service agent that has common sense.

[Evelyn694]

I have never found one who didn't seem bound to follow a corporate script on the desk.  They always favor the renter.  And I am sometimes a renter and notice that then too!

Just this week it happened again -- guest asked me to cancel with less than 12 hours notice saying she had Covid.  Obviously if she had Covid she must have known for a few days she wasn't feeling well!  She had booked a month before and didn't even warn me that she had gotten sick and was getting tested or anything.  I said I would try to rerent it and refund whatever I made, or 50% if I couldn't re-rent, so she called AirB and got 100% of the stay back.  I complained to AirB and then gave me a lot of corporate lines of understanding and keep the community safe but nothing about the guest actually having to share the burden of the cancellation with me.  I don't know if she was lying about getting Covid but I do know that it was supposed to rain all weekend, and that most folks don't like to head to the mountains in the rain!

[Sarah977]

@Evelyn694  Having a positive  Covid test is actually one of the few things Covid-related that is covered by the current EC policy. So in fact, you never would have been able to keep her money. 

Now whether Airbnb is actually asking for proof of this from guests, or simply taking the claim at face value, is another story.....

[Evelyn694]

 Sarah977  -- Yes!  But the theme here is siding with renters always over owners.  That policy to refund in full if you have Covid doesn't seem fair either -- I think the policy should be to offer 50% and a credit on a future stay or something like that so that the owners are not bearing all the risk.  Or that you have to take a Covid test a couple days ahead if you want to be able to get a refund so that owners can at least have some notice. 

In this case it seemed more likely the renter just didn't want to go in the rain since she didn't warn me she was worried she was sick until so close to the trip -- and so close to the rainy weather report!   I think a stricter policy would just help renters be more considerate and understand that for us this  is how we feed the kids and pay the mortgage!

[Sarah977]

@Evelyn694  Oh yes, I totally agree about the guest-centric attitude, it's absurd. And really rude for guests to not care in the least about leaving the host high and dry, probably already having cleaned and prepped the guest space. It's like they think we're hotels with 24 hour reception, where another guest will just walk in the front door and take the room that was cancelled.

At the very least, hosts should be able to keep an amount that pays them for the time they spent dealing with the booking if the guest cancels last minute, and it should also be pegged to what a host has set for advance notice. I have 2 days advance notice set, so I wouldn't even be able to rebook on 24 hours notice or less.

[Evelyn694]

@Sarah977, I could have written your reply  line for line, word for word. 

I think they are making a very practical financial decision.  They can make all this money off our hard work and real estate (20% minimum!) without treating us well, just throwing the occasional bone of a faster response for super hosts?!  They know that the platform is the most trafficked and that we'll keep using it in order to get the customers, cause that's where they are.  Until they see their business drop because of their treatment of hosts, they just don't care about doing right by us.

[Kath9]

@Evelyn694  how awful for you! But I think your response is very good - as a potential guest, I would read that and put it in perspective with all of your great reviews. Her reviews are interesting aren't they - she has a lot of excellent reviews but they are interspersed with the occasional very negative review. I guess this shows the hosts take the review process seriously enough to be honest. So many hosts out there don't leave honest reviews about their guests, which ends up affecting us all. Best of luck with Airbnb - fingers crossed you can get the review removed.

[Evelyn694]

Kath, thank you for the kindness and empathy.  I had not read through all her reviews before and now see that she has a pattern of doing this to any host she doesn't like.    You can see this trial of mystified superhosts she has left behind in a sea of rat-cockroach-abuse-filth allegations!

BTW your listing looks like PARADISE!  Wish I were there now!

[Kath9]

@Evelyn694  thank you! It's just my humble home, but I love it. It's actually the area that is paradise - truly one of the last great paradises on earth (not to mention completely COVID-free!). If you ever get over here, I'd love to host you.

Anyway, back to crazy bed bug guest, yes, definitely a pattern there. Weird - maybe a personality disorder? I didn't get a chance to read her reviews of other hosts yesterday, and I just went in to do so, but I can't find her review now - please tell me Airbnb actually supported a host and removed it??!!

[Evelyn694]

You sweet thing, I will definitely put that on the life goal list!  And you are always welcome at my place!  Before Covid it seemed 50% of my business was Australians, though most booked directly through my guesthouse site via references from past guests.  One of them used to work for the post office, and knew my son (little at the time) collected stamps.  When she got home, she mailed him a box full of the most amazing Australian stamps!  What nice folks!

And now I will post some astonishing news about the review.

[Mark116]

@Kath9  Her reviews are really odd, I have to wonder if the super positive people were trying to stave off complaints, it's hard to believe a person could be so black and white, sometimes a fantastic guest leaving the place spotless, other times a high maintenance complainer. @Evelyn694 that is really unfortunate  

[Evelyn694]

Oh my gosh, Mark, I didn't really look through all her reviews before.  They are CRAZY!  Did you see how all of her negative reviews are full of crazy lies -- e.g., rats in a trap, cockroaches, cleaners who have been physically abused by the hosts.  She says the same thing to a few people, that AirB supported her, so she knows she is right.  And I also noticed that she seems to have a history of last minute bookings so she can get out of having to pay when she leaves! 

It's pretty obvious she has some Cluster C issues.

What I don't understand is how AirBnB doesn't care about stopping this pattern since obviously she is going to just keep doing it.