Hello! This is a warning that cost me a LOT of money to be able to share with you! So, here we go...
I booked 10 nights in a 3-br house. We had sold our home in Brooklyn, and our house in Connecticut wasn't ready yet to move into yet, so we needed a break from hotels and wanted to try spreading out with our 3 kids in a house near our new house.
The house STUNK. I mean, that old basement, mildewy, moldy, damp, this-house-has-had-a-leaky-roof-for-years type of gross smell. It was a house from the 1930s and they had just "renovated" it. So, in addition to the damp smell, it also smelled of strong paint and varnish. Before we go any further. I am not an irrational person. I have renovated four 100-year-old homes across Brooklyn/Long Island, and I KNOW if something is smelly or not! I mean, this air felt dangerous for my children to be inhaling.
So, we woke up, ran out to do our errands with the intent to pack up and leave when we returned. Now, mind you, their dishwasher was broken - she had texted that to us the day we arrived. And while we were packing up the power went out. Which meant we couldn't flush the toilet, because it is on well water which uses an electric pump to bring water up. So that's a huge issue. Everything about the house said, Leave. Go to a nice hotel.
I called the host. Explained all the issues: the smell, the dishwasher, and now the power. She arrived just as the power came back on.
Here's my issue: I did not know that airbnb requires you to call airbnb within 24 hours. I thought that what I did, which was to file a cancellation with airbnb within 24 hours of checking in and explaining my complaints and request a refund from the host would serve this purpose.
Because I did not call in 24 hours (and can you imagine getting an actual human in 24 hours?), I was told that I was stuck with my host's preferred cancellation policy. Now, I offered to pay for the 2nd night's stay before all this because I felt bad. But I fully expected to get the other 8 nights refunded to me, so that she could just relist the property. I mean, don't you want good customer service? Don't you want folks to leave happy? Or like they're treated fairly? Even the strictest hotels don't require more than 3 days notice to cancel! This host only gave me half my money back for the next EIGHT days. In which I did not stay! I consider this tantamount to theft.
I was an airbnb host for a couple of years with a crazy busy property in Brooklyn. It was filled constantly. I know what it is to be a good host. When I had an issue with one customer (only 1 out of dozens!), I gave him 100% of his money back! No problem! I was happy to. I'd rather be a "customer is always right" type of business owner than a greedy one.
So, back to my complaints. Now, again, because I wanted to be nice and fair, I not only offered to pay for Night 2, but I also withheld leaving my review of her property until I got my conflict resolution handled with airbnb. I figured if she ended up refunding my 100% remaining days I would soften my review of her facilities. But GUESS WHAT?! Airbnb apparently has some "policy" that you can only leave a review within 14 days of staying. Which, they DO NOT explain in the email that they send you where you can check the amount of stars for your review. Now, it took me at least a month for anyone to even respond to my complaint at airbnb. So, finally after being escalated up, up, up the supervisor chain, I got the final "NO" that I would not get my money back, and that I would also not be able to leave a review as this is their system and it cannot be altered. Um, ok? That's complete nonsense. Any basic IT guy could authorize and overide and allow me to leave my review.
So, here we are. I'm out 8 days worth of half a rental fee, AND I can't warn people about her smelly home. GREAAAT. So, I will happily share this warning with anyone who stumbles upon it here! **Call airbnb asap if it ain't right, and leave that nasty review asap too!* I will go to the Better Business Bureau, I will share on social media, and warn all my friends and family. I may file a fraud complaint with my credit card. Airbnb has gotten entirely too big for its britches and cannot handle real life, common sense requests, like, "Hey, since I'm in a complaint review, I'd like to wait to leave my review until I know the outcome."
I can't wait to try other house rental companies the next time I have a property that I want to rent out. It certainly won't be airbnb. Since airbnb makes the fine print so buried and hard to discern, this is my good deed for today. You're welcome!
Oh, and, Mara and Sharon at "Renovated Lake Cottage Near Thunder Ridge Ski" in Carmel Hamlet, NY, I hope you will take my money and invest it in a course on good customer service. Or better yet, use the money to take a class on improving your awareness of right and wrong. Keeping 8 days of my money is just flat wrong. Not even a luxury hotel will do that. I hope you learn from this experience. Who knows with any emotional growth on your part, you just might reach out with an apology and offer to mail me a check. Actually, I don't need the money - it was the principle of the thing. Smelly house = REFUND. Consider my basically stolen money to be a donation from me to you... you are my good deed in the world! Clearly you need the money WAY more than I do (I've since moved into my nice house in CT, thank you, and that only after leaving multiple $2 million+ houses in Brooklyn). Airbnb, you can also take a page from this, since now you are neck deep in white collar crime.
Sincerely,
A former host with 32 outstanding reviews who will never stop sharing how bad is your customer service.
