Guest destroyed items, stole, and lied

[Sarah984]

I just had a guest check out of my house. This was their second stay at my house. I came home to find the bed covered in red mud and dog hair, they brought their 2 dogs with them. I also noticed a phone charger was missing, I know thatt's not a huge deal but still they stole from me. During their first stay they destroyed one of my dining room chairs and stole a flashlight (which they admitted to). They told me that when they sat on the dining chair it collapsed but no injuries occurred. I asked several times if she was ok and she told me evey time that she was fine. I even asked during their second stay if she had been injured and I was told that she not injured and was fine. This is just the beginning.

I have had many greast experiences with my guests and have had all wonderful reviews, until these people come along. During their second stay only the husband came. At one point I stopped by the house to check on my cat and he kept trying to get me to come inside the house and I kept saying no. He even asked me if I wanted to stay in the house during his stay. I am a 36 year old female and he is probably in his late 60's. Totally inappropriate and it made me very uncomfortable. After he checked out I came home to find the bed covered in mud, dog hair everywhere (it clearly states in my lisiting to vacuum up all dog hair left behind), and the phone charger missing. I contacted the wife because she is only one with an account and just asked that they cover the dry cleaning for the bed linens and replace the phone charger. The previous visit I never bothered to ask them to pay for the dining room chair. It was smashed into pieces, no way that happend just by her sitting on the chair. She responds and tells me that she has been so physically injured from her previous stay, which was a month earlier, that she has not been able to contact me to talk to me about, even though I was told several times by the husband that she was not injured at all. She says she is contacting her lawyer about her injuries. She also says she is contacting the humane society to tell them that I abandoned my cat and left them to take care of him. It clearly states in my listing that a cat lives at the house and that I will stop by every morning and night to feed him. At no time did they ever have to take care of him.

I contacted Air B&B about the issue and they told me to submit a resolution to the guest in order to have them pay for dry cleaning for the bed linens and replace the phone charger. I feel very uncomfortable doing this because I don't want to anger this lady even more. I don't want to have anymore contact with her after hearing these crazy accusations she has come up with. She was obviously not injured because she never saw a doctor and told me repeatedly she was fine. 

After their first stay they left a very nice review, gave their stay 5 stars, and stated that they "loved the house." She is now saying that she was very unhappy with her stay and has left me a bad review for the second stay. I have not read the second review yet because I realized that if I don't leave them a review their bad review won't show up on my listing. I feel like it is responsibility though to leave them an honest review to warn future hosts of what type of guests they are, but their bad review will completely mess up my rating and I am almost at Superhost status. I'm also very worried about this lady claiming she was injured in my house and saying I abandoned my cat. I just don't know what to do and am very disappointed with Air B&B's lack of assistance. I am at a loss as to how to handle this and I'm thinking I should just throw the bed linens away and not even pursue trying to get a resolution. Can anyone provide some advice? Thanks!

[Ann298]

Why did you let them stay a second time, if they destroyed your chair? You could have canceled. And take pictures of the damage for proof, that she didn’t sit on it. Ok most people say they’ll sue, but never end up going through with it. 

[Sarah984]

@Ann298 

When they broke the chair they stated that it was an accident that occurred when she sat on the chair. I actually felt bad that it happened and was just glad that she said she was not injured. I didn't think anymore of it. They were very friendly people and left a great review the first time so I really didn't see a problem with letting them stay again. It wasn't until I asked them to pay for the dry cleaning for the soiled linens that all of these problems came about. 

[Sarah984]

@Peter618 I just spoke with Air B&B again concerning the fact that the person who stayed here was not the person who left the review. I have not read the review yet because I am afraid if I leave her an honest review of what happened it will anger her even further and she will create more problems. Air B&B said they cannot delete the review until I read it and leave them a review. They said I cannot speak to a case manager either until I have read her review. This is so frustrating! Should I go ahead and leave her review?

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Sarah984 If ANYTHING is broken at my listing during a guest stay, two things are going to happen.

1. The guest is getting charged for it. I don’t care if Jesus Christ himself crawls down off the cross and apologizes, he’s getting a bill if he breaks anything.

2. If you ever break anything in my listing, even if you pay for it, you are never ever coming back to my listing. 

If you want to play WWF wrestling and beat people over the head with chairs in my listing and break up the furniture?  And I don’t care if your fat behind thinks it was an accident or not, you’re paying and never coming back. 

On the minimum, if you are too scared to leave a truthful review, at least give them a thumbs down. 

Good luck!

’You know it’s hard out here for a host’

[Sarah984]

@Rene-and-Zac0

Ha ha! Thanks Rene, I needed that laugh. Ive been so stressed out about this situation. I'm afraid if I send her a resolution to pay for cleaning the bed linens she will cause even more problems for me, but I'm so pissed off that they left the bed covered in red mud, and I'm not exaggerating when I say "covered"! What makes me even madder is that he tried to cover it up by leaving the duvet turned back so I wouldn't see it. Just incredibly disrespectful!

[Helga0]

@Sarah984, that’s annoying, but I would just put in a resolution request for a rather small sum for yhe cleaning - what a dry cleaner charges for a cover and duvet plus the charger. The dry cleaner can write an invoice, if you used it or a quote for the two items (or how many there are) and for the charger you can use an amazon order form. 

I would write that unemotionally, just the facts. 

“As informed, during the stay of your husband, a charger was removed from the house and dogs apparently slept on the bed. The cover / duvet... need drycleaning. 

The costs are:

1 charger xxx 

duvet cleaning xxx

total xxx

please confirm, that you accept the costs. 

And 24 hours later, you ask airbnb to decide. 

People throw fits and menace you, when they know they are wrong 

give her not only a thumbs down, but 3 or lower on cleaning or communication. That way, your listing will not show up for them any more.

If they IB somewhere else (not on Recommended Guests only after a thumbs downs) , the host sees the stars. I look up 3 stars in detail or an average of four. 

Write a short review, unemotional too. Like “x booked but only y arrived. He invited me repeatedly to share my house with him, which I declined. He brought unannounced dogs and let them sleep on the bed after they rolled in the mud. I would not host x nor y again. “

Thinking about it, maybe the wife is reacting that way out of jealousy. If her husband trys to jump a women below the age a daughter would have, he does that probably all the time and she is furious over the women just in case. 

[Sarah984]

@Helga0

Thank you for the advice! That is very helpful. I never thought about the fact that she may be acting out of jealousy. You may be exactly right!

[Fred13]

Viva a sense of humor: I can't get out of mind Rene's depiction of Jesus Christ coming down from the cross and having to pay for the chair; nor Peter's warning to never get a Gremlin wet, I had no idea.  The crazy things you learn on this board. LoL