Unreasonable complaints

[Tracy77]

Guest called second day with list of three complaints 1) three of the four burners on the stove have to be lit with the lighter guest was told they won it would be repaired day to however this is not acceptable to them. 2) no hot water in one shower The shower including the Grohe New faucet entire home is new-possibly the four showers before this person hot water is fine 3) there were no wash clause per guest this was not true there were three next to the 20 bath towels and five hand towels I would prefer to give his money back and have him leave

[Tracy77]

My statement was unclear the stove was to be repaired day two at their convenience one night they had to light some burners one burner did work Number two wash cloths are what they claimed were missing but were present in linen closet Number three there is nothing wrong with any of the hot water in the home all of the items in the home are brand-new.

[Kirstie]

Hi @Tracy77,

Welcome to the Community Center! I can imagine it's difficult hosting a guest with lots of complaints! Are you asking for advice for what to do in this situation or just sharing your experience?

I just wanted to let you know that I have moved your posts here to a new thread so they are not lost in a different discussion.  I have given it a title, please let me know if you would like to change it!

Happy Holidays!

Kirstie

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

It seems to me they look for a reason to get a refund. I hope I am wrong.

[Julie262]

Ive had many people rquesting to stay & trying to bypass Airb&b, asking for my address. Well i. Wouldn't do it. 

Ive just had a woman yesterday requesting to book, we exchanged conversations & then she tells me was staying put where she is. Today she contacts me again wanting to come christmas eve😒😒 

I used to be with Homestay, another company such as Air b&b, . I had this one young fella who had ran away from home in France, he had booked for 2 months. Anyway he left after 2 days. His parents demanded the full amount back, i was relunctant, offererd to pay 1 month back so i had my listing cancelled. Was very stressful

parents demanded the full amount 

[Mark26]

Perhaps not what you want to hear, but here goes...

Even one burner that does not light when the gas is turned on is a safety hazard.  Yes.. I know... you and I might be able to deal with the inconvenience of a non-functional igniter... But if a guest is unfamiliar with the stove and fails to fully close the knob after discovering that the burner does not light, you've got a potential gas explosion on your hands.  I don't think that complaint is unreasonable at all.

You said the water heater is new. But, you didn't tell us what size the water heater is... how many bathrooms and showers there are in the rental... and how many guests you have staying there.  Is this a studio apartment originally designed and built to house one or two people?  Or is it a Four Bedroom, Four Bath house?  If your guests are running out of hot water when the third or fourth shower is being taken, you are either exceeding the design capacity of the space, or there is something wrong with the water heater.  But... If you've got Five Guests staying in your rental, all five should expect to be able to take a hot shower.  Again... I don't see this as an unreasonable complaint.

You've got Five guests, and Three Washcloths?  Is that correct?  If you want to keep your guests happy, you need to provide them with more than they will need during their stay, not less.

[Zacharias0]

The guest is bringing the issues to your attention because those issues matter to them. As soon as you receive a guest like this its best to be more hands on after the first hiccup. Some guests manage to have the worst luck or just find the glass half empty on all occassions during their stay while other guests find everything wonderful and problem free. If you're renting the whole place out it's best to invite yourself over as soon as possible and bring a bottle of wine or something so they know you are trying to address the issue.  Have them show you what the issues are and experience their issues for yourself. Fix them and move on. Guests seem to like a host that is responsive.

[Robin4]

@Tracy77....Hi Tracy, I don't want to rain on your parade either but, I am afraid @Mark26 is right.

Hosting is not like doing a bit of volunteer work now and then Tracy....it is a business, and you have to look at it and approach it in that way.

You know the 'quirky' nature of some of your things around your house, like the gas hotplates but, you guests don't! Gas, of all things in a domestic environment MUST work correctly and reliably....exactly as it was manufactured! If I was a guest and I had to resort to a cigarette lighter (I don't smoke), or matches to get that ring alight on a hotplate or two......I would sure as hell complain too!!

You go on to say that "Number two wash cloths are what they claimed were missing but were present in linen closet"....Tracy that is also a bit harsh on the guest! They should not have to 'rummage' through your linen cupboard to find  things that should have been readily visible to them. I would not want guests searching through my cupboards for something they require!

I can't offer a comment on the hot water because I have no idea of the capacity and type of water heating you have but, there are 'inbuilt' water metering devices that can be set to limit the length of time for individual shower use, and it is fine to use these as long as you make a point of stating this in your listing description....house rules! I have on two occasions had guests say they could not get hot water in the shower, and on each occasion they did not turn the mixer tap lever in the direction of the hot water....a really basic thing to do...cold one way, hot the other! So people can be the ultimate 'fools'! I now have coloured studs on the mixer wall plate...one red on one side and a blue on the other. You have to spell it out for guests, not assume they will know! 

What you need to do Tracy is have a friend walk through your house, as a guest, (a stranger) and offer comments on what they would expect to find if they were paying money to stay. It's no good you doing it because you are not seeing your listing through the eyes of a guest....you 'can't see the forest for the trees'...you are too familiar with everything.

You have great reviews Tracy so you obviously have good potential as a host, and I particularly like the way you now give a reponse to every review, but don't use that response as a 'sales pitch'! Thank them, and remain as their host not your real estate rep!

But every now and then you are going to get a 'prickly' one like this guest, and from what you have said he is critical, but I don't think entirely unreasonable. Just attend to your details a bit more, hey!

Cheers....Rob

[Michelle13]

I'm not sure how many guests you actually have now but the requests don't seem unreasonable. They also don't seem hard to remedy. A lot of time it just takes saying the right thing. Get someone to fix the burners for them since they're on vacation not wanting to wait for some repairman. 3/4 burners to be hand lit is a bit much and if they are only cooking in to save money, it's a big difference. I know it's easy to relight with a match but I wouldn't trust unfamiliar guests with gas & fire anyways.

If you have more linens in the closet, tell them politely where to find the items and/or tell them your rules i.e. "Guests are typically given 1 washcloth per week. If you still require more, please feel free to ask and I'll direct you where to find/send the cleaner". At least they know they're asking for a favor now. Same thing with the shower - "The water heater is brand new but if showers are longer than 20 min. each you may need to wait 10 min. between showers. This should solve any shower concern."

Sometimes people just need simple assistance since it could be an entirely new home style than their home country. 

[Kate270]

Ok, so for the first time I have had a guest ask to be refunded because of some complaints.  

Firstly - this was a group of early 20's celebrating a 21st with a "mature" 30 year old looking after them  (her words)

These girls are all from the city, and they have come to a working farm amongst the vineyard to an old renovated house with a wood stove.

They sent me a text in the middle of the night (I was asleep) saying they wanted me to check on them at 6am because the fire was smoking and thought they might all die from smoke inhalation (well she said monoxide poisoning actually) And that the bathroom was flooded.  And that the airconditioners weren't heating. And because of the smoke she had to open the doors and windows, and then they were all cold.....

I sent my hubby down there this morning when I got the message (we live on the property also) and he tried all of the devices they said weren't working, and they were all working fine.  The kitchen air con was still on fan, rather than heat, so that was why it wasn't blowing warm air!  They said the fan air con sparked, well I tried it after they left and it ran perfectly.

I told them that they did not open the flue to the fireplace when they opened the doors, hence the reason the smoke came billowing out and set off the fire alarm!   City people rarely have wood fireplaces and I explained what she needed to do.  It is working fine this morning, as it has done every day for the last 14 years we have had the property.  Leaving a pair of rubber shoes to "dry"  on top of a fireplace also shows to me that these people have never dealt with an open fire before!!

The bathroom plug is not blocked, but my husband told them the shower curtains needs to be inside the alcove to catch the water, which it wasn't when he explained....they said it was, which was just a lie!  It's working perfectly fine now.....just as it has done for years.

Anyway, I went down to see them before they left, apologised for them having issues, and went through the house thoroughly.  Everything is perfectly fine.  I wrote her an email saying just this, but she has since come back to me saying she is going to put in a complaint, that she wants money refunded, that we can refund to her outside of AIRBNB or she will go through a formal process.  I told her that I had checked all the issues and could not see any problem, as my husband did.  She then told me that she was a lawyer, could see that there were problems with the house, and that I would be hearing from her.  I told her that it was not a very nice thing to do or say threatening things, that I was happy for her to go down the official process because all the evidence points to her not being able to work things properly, not a fault in the house itself.  She then told me... "Obviously we are not on the same page, not a problem, sweetie. You will know I don't make threats.  Talk soon"...... which kind of sounds like a threat to me.....

What do I do now?

[Ali40]

@Kate270 I hope all of these conversations (threats) and the request to be refunded outside of Airbnb took place on the Airbnb message platform. Contact Airbnb - they will be able to access the messages between you and your guest. And contact Airbnb immediately before the guest does. Threatening you and suggesting you refund her outside of Airbnb is against policy. I hope it works out for you 

[Kate270]

Thank you Ali,

Yes, the conversations are all between us through the airbnb platform.

How do I contact them to complain about the guest?  I would definitely like to do so before they do, I'm really very disappointed it's come to this, I've had such a wonderful experience until this.

K

[Ali40]

Here are 3 possible ways to contact Airbnb:

1. Airbnb Community Experts
2. Twitter Direct Message @Airbnbhelp
3. Calling Airbnb

1. Contacting Airbnb's Community Experts

The easiest and quickest way to get answers to any issues is through contacting Airbnb's Community Experts. If they cannot answer your question, they have the ability to re-route you to Airbnb

Step 1: Visit https://www.airbnb.ca/help/contact_us

Step 2: From the bottom of the screen, choose either "My question is about something else" or "I have a different issue"

Step 3: Follow the prompts to figure out what best describes your issues. Some things you choose will take you to specific information whereas others you can fill in the text box and submit your question.

When you submit a question, you can expect an answer back from a Community Expert within five minutes but usually less. If the Community Expert cannot help you, they can re-route your issue to Airbnb who will then contact you. Airbnb Community Experts do not have access to your account information so if it is a question that can only be answered with account information, they will re-route you automatically. Airbnb Community Experts are available 24/7 and again, usually you will have an answer from them within minutes.

2. Contacting Airbnb Via Twitter

I find the second best and easiest way to contact Airbnb regarding any issues I may be having is by using Twitter. Airbnb seems to have dedicated staff who monitor their Twitter feeds and I usually hear back from them within 5-10 minutes of posting my isssue.

Step 1: Log into Twitter

Step 2: Search for @Airbnbhelp and choose "Follow" them

Step 3: Send a Direct Message (DM) explaining your issue and wait for their response. They may ask for information such as your listing but always provide it over DM so it is not public.

3. Calling Airbnb's Customer Experience Line

***Please note that these phone numbers and any numbers below are meant for URGENT MATTERS so it is best to use the above two methods first***

Here are the phone numbers for Airbnb. If the area where you are hosting is not listed, check out the two ways below this list in order to find their number for your area.

United States and Canada +1-415-800-5959
+1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

[Kate270]

Thank you, I have contacted ABNB via the website, so hopefully will hear back soon.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Kate270

THE HUMAN KIND WAS NEVER SO INCAPABLE TO SURVIVE and to resolve any practical problem or a task as it is today. Sorry to say, but especially Americans. God forbid they have to improvise  !

This girls are the classic example - she is a lawyer , she knows how to ask for a refund through ABB system but she doesn't know some basic , everday things like rubber glowes will melt on the stove, shower curtain has to go inside the bath tab etc....

When we started hosting I never thought that we will have to "decorate" apartment walls with basic instructions like : lock the door, turn the key 2x, don't wipe the floor with bath towels etc... but, here we are, one year later and we have basic instructions all over the place. 

I hope she was messaging you through the ABB system, so you have to reply very carefully. State that everything was funcioning but they were not using it in a proper way, causing you and your husband extra work and smoke smell in the house itd... and that you will claim for damage from their security deposit !