Items Left Behind

[Quincy]

 

Hello everybody!

Do you know that moment when you're cleaning after your guest has left and you find all kinds of things and you think, how could one forget that? I have found iPods, keys, headphones, and even tablets/laptops!

I once had to call my guests to let them know that one of them forgot their laptop (found it behind the bed!). My poor guests had to travel all the way back from the airport to collect it.

I'm wondering if any of you have had the same experience?

Love to hear what you've got to say 🙂

[Helga0]

@Annette33, I understand the rush, when you sell a big artwork. I get elated too and want to make everyone happy that comes along. 

It wears off though, when I add up all those huge amounts of taxes, social security, insurance against risk caused by death, accidents, additional insurance, training contribution, work doctor etc etc (the French are obsessed with health), all obligatory and I forget a few, all to be declared every month and taken every three month. So yes, someone has to pay for work hours, otherwiseI'll sleep under the bridge in my old age. Ah yes, I forgot retirement. The hugest amount to pay. A work hour is triple the amount the employee takes home.  But it's not a new phenomenon, that you have to pay for services, they may have been included in higher prices once, but can't be in a highly competitive sector. 

I remember a haggling over an artwork once and the buyer did not want to pay a decent price. It came down to "the artist has to live and pay rent as well" - "no,a good artist needs to suffer to produce convincing art". We did not sell the painting to him - would you?

[Helga0]

@Kelly149, the idea sounds funny and tempting: instead of me going twice to the post office to weigh the stuff, get a proce to the the guest and go then again to post it, they send a package to fill. Works with courrier services for a computer screen delivered malfunctioning.

unfortunately, it would not work for sending forgotten items: the prepayd boxes are more expensive than the handmade packages - I could ask guests to pay that fee, but it would not be worth most of the stuff. And certainly not the additional fee to mail a box to me. That box would probably arrive whilst I'm not home and I would spend an hour to get it from a far away post office. More work ;-(

And as Anette says and your experience shows, people are unable or unwilling to do it. 

[Kate157]

My strangest forgotten item was an electric stun device. The guest contacted me and asked me to send it back. We did, at our expense. She never even left a review, which really annoyed me! Another guest left her very attractive coat hanging in the closet. Fortunately, I found it quickly and was able to message her and she came back for it. If she hadn't, I would've cleaned it and kept it, since I really liked it! :))

[Em4]

@Kate157  too funny.  but is it legal to be in possession of an electric stun device?  and what is that anyway?  laughing about the coat.

🙂

Em

Hukawai Lodge

Franz Josef, NZ

https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/15418840

[Kate157]

@Em4, you know, I never even thought about it being legal or not, I was so surprised when I realized what it was! I have never seen such a thing before, and it took a minute to figure out what it was. I didn't want the thing at all, so was glad enough to send it back to the guest. But you have me wondering if I should just have thrown it in the garbage and told the guest I had already done so.  Oh well. If it ever happens again, I'm tossing it right away!

[Em4]

@Kate157  laughing.  makes my hosting sound extremely vanilla.  wondering how things are going to go when i reopen in december.

🙂

[Quincy]

Oh my... That must have been weird! 

[Sandy27]

I have not yet had anyone leave anything more than an international outlet adaptor, but I have a plan in case someone leaves something they want returned.  I will let them know that I will stop by the post office and get a price for packaging and shipping the item and will let them know so they can mail a check.  Once cashed, I will send the item.  It would be helpful if Airbnb could let the guest charge the amount right away, and then Airbnb can deposit it into our bank account.  This would allow the host to send the item to the guest more quickly.  Airbnb could charge a "handling fee" of, say $5.00 to do this.

[Helga0]

@Sandy27, that's easy: after the guest agreed to the cost, send a request for money via the resolution center. They click on accept and money is transferred, on your account with nearly no delay. If they pretend they can't figure out how it works, don't send. 

[Zacharias0]

I've shipped a good number of items to guests. I always get the shipping costs from the guests BEFORE I ship the item. If you can't pay to have the item shipped to you then it wasn't worth much to begin with.

[Lilian20]

Completely agree with @Zacharias0 - investing time in shipping stuff is ok as long as you get paid upfront for the disagreement

[Clare0]

@Quincy  I've experienced this both ways.  Now, at check out I go through the house to see if anything was left behind  by  accident. I had one guest leave his laptop. Fortunately it was discovered before he got too far away. 

On the other side, I left a whole closet full of clothes at my Airbnb after the LA Open.  Reimbursed the host for the cost plus a tip for her time and effort going to the Post Office.  Resolution Center works great for this kind of thing!

[Quincy]

@Clare0, It's amazing how someone could forget their laptop! It's quite a big item don't you think? 

[Clare0]

@Quincy Yep! it was all packed up and ready to go, but they forgot to put it in the car!

[Deb29]

Totally! We have recovered computer gadgets, bikes and a sleuth of other personal items. We called one guest whose iPad was left behind, but he never returned our call. This was a few years ago. We still have it, in case he decides he does in fact want it back!