Hey guys,
First time here and I want to share some thoughts on my recent experience on damages and security deposits, as a guest. I know many of you have similar issues, but probably on the other side. But the logic applies to both sides, I believe.
I booked a small house around Monterey California for a short trip with my girlfriend and her parents. There are two bedrooms and I'm the one who slept in the living room (don't ask me why I'm not with my girlfriend 😄 ). I used the sofa bed and the next morning when I tried to put it back, the sofa bed just got stuck in the position that I cannot move anymore. At first, I just wanted to leave it there and wait for the host to deal with that. I'm not the expert with it and further moves might hurt it. But since my girlfriend wanted her father to have a seat, we gave it a try again. We try to pull the sofa bed out so that it can be restored to the original position, during which one of the steel string is out of the position. We just gave up there. I thought the host might have the ability to put it back and the string should be fixable.
Two hours after we left the house, the host texted us about the sofa and said he bought it with $1000, and now it is totally damaged and we should pay him $1250 including additional cleaning fees because "the house is in a mess". To be frank, we use the flat in the same way we did in any hotel and I didn't expect myself to clean the house for him. We even washed some of the plates for him. So I thought he must be joking. Shall I prepare the bed for you? Navid? Could you pay me the $125 cleaning fees we paid you?
Later he sent his request to Airbnb and we went into the dispute process. After exchanging several emails, we got charged the total $700 security deposits and the case is closed. At the end of the email that Airbnb sent to us, they said
"We regret that this has negatively affected you, but we believe this to be a fair consideration, all things considered."
I wonder how much things are considered for us. And what I really care about in this case is FAIRNESS.
Keep in mind that if today Airbnb can charge us $700 for what can be done in no more than $200 for repairment, tomorrow they can charge only $100 for what had cost $200 to hosts. If we treat this as a law case, here are the several things I really want Airbnb to clarify (including you, Navid):
1. The host claimed that the sofa bed costs $1000. Where is the proof? Neither Airbnb or Navid provides with us any documents on that. Why should I believe that the sofa bed is not bought somewhere with $500 dollars? If you want FAIRNESS, be professional guys.
2. Navid said we destroyed his sofa bed so he charged us the full price. Airbnb said this is fair. So in this sense, if he gets the full amount of the money to buy a new sofa, it assumes that Navid should already dump the junk sofa bed out of his house, right? Who has ever verified that? If he didn't, why shouldn't we compensate him the FAIR amount of money for any difference in value?
3. About fairness again. What we do is no more than prevents the sofa bed from serving as a "BED". The sofa serves as a "SOFA" just as normal (by the picture provided by Navid to Airbnb, the bed frame is already back to position). So Navid finally still end up with a Sofa which is worth $700+. FAIR?
Basically, he can get $700 and ask a man (or himself) to fix that (probably already been fixed several times) poor sofa bed that might get stuck easily the next time. Win-win game man! Airbnb shrugs off any responsibility and efforts in this case by just sending several emails and bribing their hosts at the cost of another customer. This is the way you guys handle cases and be transparent and FAIRNESS. I see that. Good luck in the future.
