Need advice dealing with Airbnb and Destructive Guest

Catherine1274
Level 3
Bellingham, WA

Need advice dealing with Airbnb and Destructive Guest

Can anyone help me deal with this situation? 

1. Red flag:guest asked to pay me by check for the rent before moving in for an extended stay (I said no).

2. Yellow flag: guest asked me to move my bed out so she could move her bed in (I said yes). 3. Red flag: guest said she had a lot of boxes and a printer and her stuff to move in (I said no).

3 Red flag: guest told called at 6:30 am and left a message that she needed to cancel her reservation and then changed her mind at 7am. I called Airbnb and they said I'd be penalized if I processed the cancellation because guest had a mind change.

4 red flag: after she moved in,  she told me (didn't ask me) that her daughter would be staying with her in this tiny suite (I said no or she'd have to pay extra).

5 red flag: guest sent a photo of rust liquid all over the sink faucet. Plumber said it's obviously something she spilled on the faucet as there are no metals in it which rust.

6 red bright blinking light: guest refused to let the plumber in to look at the sink begging me not to let anyone in with her being there and wouldn't tell me a time I could go in (she was always there).

7 red flag: looking in the window it looked like a hoarder house with a ton of crap stacked in the small space.

8 red flag: she said the heater was broken and I said someone is coming the next day to fix it and look at the sink.

9 Red flashing light again: she said nobody can come in without her there and again she wouldn't give me a clear time as to when that would be good for her.

10 red flag: I called airbnb and they called her to get a solid time which they agreed to let her have till Wednesday (it was Saturday) and I'd have to wait to fix and assess my own property that she said is broken. And she told them she was going to be away for a few days, that's why.

11 red flag: she wasn't away she was there most of the time as usual and I texted her and messaged her that we were ready to go in and look and fix things and she ignored it.

12 red flag: Monday morning (remember she told Airbnb she's going to be away till Wednesday) and she called airbnb that she's freezing and heater is broken and all electricity is broken (again).

 

Obviously she's making up stories again as she'd have hypothermia in an unheated place at 19 degrees outside and I know my electrical works and I know there must be a reason she's refusing to let us go look at it and or fix it.

 

Airbnb agrees to give her a refund and a few hours later, she's out of there.  We went in that afternoon to discover that all the electrical worked perfectly and the heater was on. But in the week she was there, she managed to ruin a shelf with water damage, break my stone sink by putting nick in it, break the threads on the shower by torquing it too hard, splatter small bits of concrete on the glass doors which we're still trying to scrape off with a knife and her photo of rust on the sink was pure theatrics that make no sense in reality as there is no rusting metal anywhere near that system of a year old stainless steel sink with pvc piping and ss faucet. She poured rust around it obviously in an effort to make it look rusty. She also set my chairs and my broom and mop out on the dirt and in the elements.

 

And now airbnb is telling me they've escalated my claims and will get back to be but so far nothing, no word from them. Also, she called me a liar in the review and threatened "I will shut down your business" in her last  message responding to my request that she pay for her damages.  And in that same last message from her she mentioned that she fell and hurt her knee in my driveway. She's a scammer from red flag #1 but I'm pretty concerned by airbnb's lack of concern for any of this.

 

Any advice? 

47 Replies 47

One suggestion to get faster action, is to also put your concerns on the Airbnb Facebook page in a message. I had a serious problem as a guest when I received the wrong code and could not get into a unit after a late evening arrival, I requested a refund,and after several "no" responses, I went through the Facebook channel and got a response. 

Shirlee0
Level 2
Lascassas, TN

We charge $50 if a guest moves or rearranges furniture. That is in our extra fees. I would include that in  your listing, and please, the minute guest asks you to work outside Airbnb, report them.

For sure will do. It's never happened to me before and at first I thought it was a mistake. I couldn't imagine that someone would be that cheap and reckless on purpose. But alas...she had her reasons...her lies and scams (bringing extra guest, filling my place with her crap, theatrical reports of things being wrong, (nothing was wrong) refusing to let us in to fix or assess the veracity of her theatrical reports, damaging the property...just went on and on.