Guest destroyed items, stole, and lied

Sarah984
Level 2
United States

Guest destroyed items, stole, and lied

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!

22 Replies 22
Peter618
Level 10
Chur, Switzerland

Contact airbnb and tell them that she left a review although she did not stay personally herself, such reviews are not allowed at all. Even the fact alone that she was not in the party staying is not allowed by airbnb, you are not allowed book for someone else. You should be covered full by airbnb in this case.

 

If she wants to accuse you about the first stay she will have a hard time to prove, because she geve you a good rating the first time and did not mention any harms on her.

Great advice! Thank you Peter! 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Besides what @Peter0 said..

 

You sound like an angel, but unfortunately living in a non-angelic world. God bless you for being so kind-hearted. For future reference, best to always make 'light' of potentially legal issues such as asking repeatedly if she was injured, which probably gave her the idea to use the mere mention of it later it as a trump card to countervail your 2nd-visit claim and/or to ~try~ to initiate an action (sue) with no merit at all in the first place. I trust/hope your conversations about such matters were via Airbnb message system, if they weren't that may be the reason they are at a quandary.

 

I would personally drop the claim if it proves a major hassle, fair or not, and look at this guest as a learning experience, with two valuable lessons: never illuminate a potential problem and secondly, never allow/invite back a guest that could be a potential problem. In the scheme of things, it is a small price to pay for such valuable lessons.

 

P.S. Sorry Peter, had to correct 4 spelling errors and probably burned you with four replies. Yikes. 🙂

Thank you for the advice Fred!

Peter618
Level 10
Chur, Switzerland

@Sarah984

 

If you dont make a review, her review will appear after the 14 day period expires. So don't hesitate to write her a clear review, just make sure to stay to the facts and not get personal. Give her a thumb down so other hosts are warned.

 

As soon as she mentioned a lawyer I would have stopped communication with her immediately.

 

Besides, why do you call that person a "lady"? For me this is a clear case of "Gremlin", so sweet in the beginning, but if they get wet they turn into monsters...

Once she mentioined a lawyer I stopped communicating with her, which is also why I did not submit a resolution. Air B&B kept telling me to submit a resolution and did not seem to understand the seriousness of this "Gremlin's" claims 🙂

Christine1
Level 10
Glenbrook, Australia

@Sarah984 Since we can't turn back the click it's essential that you learn from this experience. 

If you choose to continue hosting then my advice is that you be proactive in educating yourself about all aspects of hosting,  reviews and the myriad of issues that you will be required to manage. 

Start by reading the Airbnb Help menu every day till you think you've read the lot but your goal shouls be to read it all.

Next target. Read a wide range of community forums until you fall asleep niğt after night. You will learn heaps and your furniture won't get broken while you are doing it. 

Btw if both individuals are nentioned on an account and only one stays, There won't be a lot you can do about which one actually types the review.

Maybe not what you wanted to hear..... 

@Sarah984

 

If gremlin is deborah with the dog picture as profile (another breach of rules), I would take a print screen of her profile before she includes her husband in her profile. You never know....

@Peter618 Are you saying that it is a breach of rules that she is not pictured in her profile? I was wondering about that.

Thank you Christine!

@Sarah984, I am sorry these guests are being so horrible to you.

You sound like such a kind and welcoming person that it seems especially painful that these people are being so inconsiderate and spiteful.

You mentioned that in their first stay, they destroyed a chair and stole a flashlight (and even admitted so).

 

Why did you allow them to make a second booking?

(I am not trying to say in any way this is your fault; this is entirely on them. I am just curious.)

@Matthew285 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. I did not even realize they stole the flashlight until the husband came for the second stay and he told me he had taken 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. I think she is just a very unhappy person and probably creates problems eveywhere she goes.

@Sarah984, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for taking the time to explain it!

(Your brief recap made it sound like you knew about the stolen flashlight right after the first stay.)

 

You... wouldn't let them book a third time now though, would you?

 

@Matthew285 Heck no!! I am blocking her from my account once all of this is resolved.