Attempted Break In - Host refused to refund

[Karon16]

I stayed 4 nights in a Townhouse in Adelaide this Jan with my family. At the last night there was an attempted Break-In at the midnight when we were all in the house.

A man banged our door hardly and loudly, kept saying "Open the F****** door!" "You are going to die".... My husband and my dad pushed the door hardly and tried to stop the man from coming in. I called the police. Luckily there were police nearby and caught the man just before he could come in. But it felt like hours before the police arrive. We did not dare to stay for the rest of the night and we told the host we left. And the property manager had came after we called the police, and checked the broken door.

It ruined my family holidays and my kids were all scared by this. I was shaking the whole night.

I wrote to airbnb and host after the incident and they refused to offer a refund. I felt like there is no protection for guests encountered situation like this?? Not possible to claim the host?

Thanks.

[Lawrene0]

Good for you, calling the police, @Karon16 . It was a scary situation that had the best possible outcome: perpetrator landed in jail and you and your family stayed safe. 

A refund won't provide protection from strangers going mad and knocking on doors, so I am not seeing why you think it is due.

Perhaps there will be some sort of restitution from the man who was threatening you, once it goes through the courts? You might look into that. He was the one causing the harm, not Airbnb. 

Anyway, what an awful fright. Glad you are okay!

[Lawrene0]

Good grief, though, @Sean433 is right, @Karon16 . I missed looking for your review. You have already, in effect, made the host pay for that man's actions with your sensationalist account of something she could not help. I'm feeling sorry for her now. An awful situation made worse. 

[Sean433]

@Lawrene0 

I have no sympathy for guest like Karon. It is people like her that make hosting feel unrewarding at times. A similar situation happened to me months back. Guest asked if he could have about 16 visitors for a dinner. I said no but he can have a max of 6. I was generous.

2 days later he messages me saying someone broke into the house because he saw the kitchen sliding door was open by an inch. He said he was thinking of calling the police. At one point accused me or our cleaner of entering.

I asked, "was anything taken",  "did anyone of your unregistered guests who I generously allowed into the home unlock the kitchen door and you did not know about",   "did you perhaps forget to lock the door when leaving". He said no to all questions. I sent our maintenance manage to verify if the lock was tampered or damaged. It was NOT.

The lock had not been broken, there were no foot tracks, nothing was taken yet he still claimed someone broke into the house. An intruder cannot break into a house if a deadbolt lock is undamaged.

I was so irate at this guest. I had to swallow my tongue and be nice. All this to say that guests like Karon and the one I had should not be hosted by anyone. Too bad the host did not warn other hosts about Karon.

[Jennifer1421]

@Sean433 
I'd say that any host receiving a request to stay from Karon will find her review of this host off-putting and will decline her request anyway.

I think this host did the right thing by not replying to the review. It says everything anyone needs to know, all on its own.

[Sean433]

@Karon16 

Are you asking for a refund for the entire stay or just for the last night?

Airbnb and the host is not responsible for this isolated incident, the crazy person is. Yet you still left the host a review based on something that was out of their control and could have happened anywhere.  If anything, the host should make a claim against you for damaging their reputation and loss of business as a result of your review. Maybe you should just not travel anywhere and stay home all the time since there is always a risk when leaving your door. Blaming and damaging someone's reputation for something highly unusual & out of anyone's control is a selfish and cruel way of going about things.

[Piotr48]

@Karon16 you don't deserve any kind of refund, especially after leaving such review which may hurt host's business for good.

[Sean433]

@Piotr48 

She left the review after not getting her way. There are some cases I have read of businesses suing customers for defamatory reviews and winning. I think people need to gather their emotions and start taking responsibility for their actions.

I am not saying suing is the right course of action but since we live in times when the reaction is to publish an unfounded review if you don't get your way, I think that the fear of being sued for defamation is a good way of holding people accountable for their actions.