Falsely accused by host

[Raul422]

On my last stay, I got a complaint from the host claiming that I had burnt the bedsheets with the iron (which I didn't use, haven't worn a shirt in ages), after years of perfect reviews for my tidiness Airbnb decides to side with the host and charge me for a new set of sheets.

The sheets had sperm stains in them, but I was so tired that I decided to put them aside and stay there (I carry my own sheets), and it's pretty obvious that the host just wanted to renew her sheets -by putting the tab on me.

I am really disappointed with Airbnb's decision,  and this message will probably be soon be deleted, I am forced to leave this platform after years of being a good Airbnb client.

[Emiel1]

@Raul422 

Airbnb useally sides with the guest...

Did the host provide proof of the issue ?

Next time inform the host of the stained sheets instead of putting them aside.

Why would you iron bedsheets anyway, as they normally are washed / prepared by the host.

[Raul422]

I don't know if there'll be a next time renting through Airbnb. I appreciate the comment though, I will certainly have to take a lot of pictures of every little scratch or misplaced thing the next time I rent online.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Raul422 Unfortunately there are some hosts and some guests who are dishonest. Just as there are in the general population. It happens to hosts actually far more often than guests, but of course it is never acceptable.

Many, many hosts, who have hundreds of 5 star, glowing reviews have had their ratings tanked by one lying guest who claims the place was filthy and leaves a 1* review in retaliation for being asked to pay for the extra guests they snuck in, etc. and Airbnb refuses to remove what is obviously an untrue review.

Hosts have also had guests do extensive damage to property, with proof, and been unable to be awarded compensation for it.

Most hosts soldier on when this happens, leave a response to the review making it clear that the review is false and telling prospective guests to refer to the other reviews for an accurate picture.

Because in fact, most guests are good, and most hosts are good. 

If you have a bunch of good reviews and one outlier, I can assure you that most hosts will see through the outlier and dismiss it. 

Could you not have just refused to pay?

Yes, Airbnb customer service is abyssmal, with clueless reps who make faulty decisions. Why decisions are made in favor of the host in some cases, or in favor of the guest in others, when the fault cannot be proven, is due to total inconsistency and poor training on the part of CS. Sorry this happened to you.

[Raul422]

Thank you for your comments, I needed some perspective 😄

[Debra300]

@Raul422,

I didn't see a negative review for you.  Did the host leave the message in the private comments section of the review?  Also, you have several great reviews that most hosts would surely rent to you.  In the future, I suggest that you always send a note to the host straight away when something isn't right.  In this case, you should have said the sheets had stains, and would use your own sheets.

@Sarah977, the host probably accused Raul of using the mattress as an ironing board to iron his clothing, and in doing so burned the sheets.

[Raul422]

I will certainly notify the host as soon as see anything out of place, thank you for your comments 🙂

[Jennifer1897]

@Raul422  Normally when a host makes a claim and presents an amount for the damage or other loss, the guest has 72 hours to respond, meaning they can accept, decline, or offer a different amount of compensation. I guess my question is, did you agree to pay? Typically they won't force you to do so.

That being said, dishonest host and guest are out there, but thankfully things like this don't happen all that often.  You have 65 reviews, and while I didn't go through them all, it looks like most of them are glowing. I wouldn't ruminate on this bad experience. Just take it as a loss and move on to better stays.

[Raul422]

I was forced to pay, but you are right that I shouldn't ruminate on this bad experience 🙂
I appreciate your comments and the ones from the other people who responded, you helped me gain perspective, I was fuming.

[Louise910]

Hello, I found this when I googled dealing with a similar issue. I am a Superhost with 72 reviews and 4.9 rating. I care greatly about the experience my guests have. 

Recently I had a booking two months in advance with a firm cancellation policy. I disclosed all facts about the house up front. She "decided" she didn't feel safe with ANYONE ever walking outside in the yard to get to an external gate (although I disclosed ahead that it was a sole pathway to access a private space). 

She knew this in advance, and knew it in great detail when sent check-in instructions two days prior. Yet after check-in she told me it was "not safe" and was leaving, and for two days did not cancel.

She tried to get all her money back and when I explained that I was sorry she was unhappy, but that my cancellation policy was to protect me from going to great lengths to set up a booking and clear the space for the guest and then be canceled.  

She was so mad she couldn't get her money back that she called Airbnb with a "safety" issue.

No one did anything but walk across the lawn at 4 in the afternoon, as disclosed on the listing she booked. She pressed the call option "if you feel your safety is at risk,  please press one"

She did this a day after being in the listing for no more than 30 minutes and made sweeping accusations about the accuracy of my listing. I have called Airbnb no less than 10 times. Agents take notes and go off their shifts and then the next time you call, it's a new agent taking new notes. The troublesome bullying guest (who has one review) got someone to cancel the reservation and it was notified publicly as "host canceled" when I did not ever cancel. Its now been 48 hours and Airbnb without ever calling me, took her accusations at face value, didn't allow me to provide documentation of my due diligence and refunded her all the payout due to me. All because she said she "felt" "unsafe".

For several days I feel like I've been socked in the stomach. I worked so hard, as I always do, to make a beautiful setting and home welcoming. I don't have a housekeeper go in and do it all for me. I feel like I'm welcoming someone I want to truly have a great experience.  This guest

burned me to get her money back and the only way she could do it was to find something she could blame me for. 

I have always loved the Airbnb community. If you would've asked me before now, I would've said Airbnb support is fantastic. I feel utterly betrayed and abandoned by support in this instance. An entitled guest treated me and my son like we were hired "help" at a Hilton

and when she realized her preference was to stay elsewhere, she put the blame on me and accused me of dishonesty.  But really, difficult guests now and again are to be expected. Where I feel the most gutted is the total lack of support from AirBnb for the stress of having been wrongly accused, never having any action taken on my behalf. I was docked for canceling when I did not cancel, I lost an entire payout -not even covering minimal losses,

-and she's free to write all her false claims against me on my site. What has happened to AIRBNB and what's the point of  Superhost status if it doesn't build a relationship of trust with the platform and afford me support when I need it? 

[Lakeyia1]

Hello,

As a host, that is awful for you to deal with. 

I personally have not had any good experiences with hosts on Airbnb at all. In my current stay, I’m being accused of breaking a parking violation house rule that simply put states to not block the community driveway to where the neighbors do not have access. There are specific instructions to park from the front door of this property to the edge of the house. Came to verbal agreements with one neighbor about being over his “property line” for him to have my car towed two weeks or so later. The neighbor directly across the driveway has called the host to complain about us parking in the community driveway. Reality is, the neighbor doesn’t like our trailer being parked here. It doesn’t impede on their ability to park, enter or exit their vehicles. I submitted proof of this to Airbnb for the case to be closed the next day or two days later to be hit with an altered reservation request from the host which we denied. The host stated he would contact me and never did. Saw him one morning as a repair guy was coming in and he immediately left without a word. Still hasn’t contacted me from two weeks or so prior and hasn’t addressed the parking issue. I simply moved the trailer where I told both hosts I would move the trailer which was also agreed upon by the same neighbor who constantly nagged 24/7 about every single thing. Now today 05.02.2023 I get another alteration that isn’t a request to be accepted or declined. Stay updated to decrease our departure date from February 2024 to June 2, 2023. I called and texted him and of course no response. Reached out to Airbnb and still waiting for another follow up as one CS rep closed my case without even asking if I needed further assistance. 

if more hosts would be admirable and honest then this platform wouldn’t be so tumultuous. You laying out the ground rules is highly missing with a lot of hosts especially in Los Angeles. I even stopped by this property to verify the parking situation and take a house tour with the host explaining to me as long as the neighbors can park then our truck, trailer and sedan were fine in the COMMUNITY driveway. I think he just told us this to make money off of us knowing it wouldn’t work out in the end. We’ve had our vehicles involved in hit and runs countless times parking on the street. Told the host. Read the message and he never responded. Dealing with people like this really makes me just “hate people” in general.

Keep being an amazing super host. one day it’ll be nothing but truthful hosts and guests on Airbnb to deal with. 

[Zach111]

I am in the same boat as you right now.  I stayed at an apartment that did not match the listing description.  The apartment was infested with cockroaches, the shower was moldy from floor to ceiling, the countertop was falling apart and the sink water spilled everywhere, the previous guests hair was on the floor and much more.  The host also made me really uncomfortable in asking for my social media accounts, and on checkout he invited me in to hang out, I insisted I wanted to leave.  I reported him after I stayed, he declined this all even with my photos as evidence.  Airbnb deemed my photos as enough to mark his profile as violating hosting standards.  On the day I had checked out, he sent me a message saying I was an amazing 5 star guest just like every other review on my profile, I was organized, ect.  After I reported him, he wrote me a false review saying I was NOT to be trusted,  I blocked him on social media and how he couldn't communicate with me, that I was requesting something from him through Airbnb and that I was dishonest. ALL of which are untrue.  I complained to Airbnb again about this, I again provided the photos, I showed them the screenshot of him saying I was a 5 star guest.  They will not remove the review because "It doesn't violate their policy". I find this interesting as Airbnb has removed 3 of my reviews in the past 4 years, which were within their policy standards.  One was a review about how the cat had fleas in the house and I was left with flea bites all over my body.  Another removed review was from staying at an Airbnb host apartment where they held an orgy and used my bathroom for it, they said that violated their terms for a review.  And the other one removed was the automated Airbnb message that is posted when a host cancels last minute saying "This host cancelled 1 day before".  I mentioned this to the Airbnb representative and she started getting very defensive, passive aggressive and typing to me in all CAPS! (Really unprofessional).  It was getting so out of hand that I actually asked her to stop messaging me and I turned off the notification on my phone for Airbnb.  They say they have policies, but what I see more of is no customer service and them making their own rules when they feel like it.  I feel your pain.  I live out of Airbnb year round as a digital nomad.  I spend thousands of dollars a year on the platform, and for me this is the final straw.  If I cannot find a way to get it removed, I will not use Airbnb anymore just out of principle.  I will need to start using other platforms. (I would actually love to make my own platform that fixes all the issues Airbnb has mainly geared for Digital Nomads!). Please let me know if you have any resolutions with your review.  It is so frustrating that a company such as Airbnb operates like this.  Their lack of customer service and unprofessional help is horrendous.

[Eliza2992]

I would like to say I am done with Airbnb ! Host accused me of having a party when I didn't , had 4 family members with me and she knew it , mom brother & nephew 11 year old nephew ! Big party ! She had no proof , her proof was by brother having a smoke outside her home , not in her yard , outside her home , and at 11:30 , I didn’t realize u can’t smoke outside at 11:30 on ur vacation , quiet tine ? I didn’t realize smoking was that noisy !? Anyway the reason I’m writing this is because Airbnb believed her without anything to go by ! And I have had all good reviews ! Not one bad one , how respectful I was at all times with their Homes ! Praises , no joke ! The reason this host lied is because I emailed her 1 time at 3AM to tell her , emailed , she would have to check her emails , I didn’t call her or text her ! Now I emailed her because i woke up and used the bathroom and saw roaches , yuck and because my arm was ready to fall off because I was sleeping on steel instead of a mattress ! Ok , airbnb tells us to contact host , that’s what I did ! Host said I was bothering her all night ! Really ? I know there were roaches in her bathroom and her beds killed my body and I know 1000% that I DID NOT HAVE A PARTY ! So , with that said I called Airbnb and told them they are horrendous and they have the nerve to believe wout any solid proof ! Oh I’m sorry the Happy Birthday sign I left behind for my 11 years old nephew ! And I deleted my profile and will never use Airbnb again ! Because I didn’t lie and when I’m accused of lying u better give me some serious proof of that stupidness ! And now I know that Hosts on Airbnb can lie and so can Airbnb , and that makes me uncomfortable and mad enough to not need to ever use them again ! So my advice to people that have been upset with outcomes , is U DONT NEED THEM and I know u don’t need the Airbnb ambassadors because , there are many options and many many companies that we can use and we don’t need to be accused of anything from regular employees that think they know everything ! They don’t ! Or maybe that host makes a lot money than u spend on rentals ? Yep ! I have decided to move on and hopefully will help some out there feeling bad , not to ! Plenty of Airbnb’s out there ! And plenty of people that are honest and if u know u are good then don’t worry about what a Airbnb has to say , that’s a joke ! And to clarify things , I don’t believe in renting someone’s home and throwing parties ! And I don’t believe I need to party in someone else’s home , because at 53 I can party in my own home ! But I choose not to ! Good luck to everyone ! I think Airbnb is full of ———- and I will never use u again ! And I think I love to vacation and I am going to use other great companies like VRBO and Vacasa and many many more ! And maybe I will just use good old hotels ! 

[Ashley1261]

I'm being accused of having extra guests after I drove to the next town and bought my friend a hotel room and my host is trying to say he still saw my friend "sneek in with a backpack" he saw this when I was unloading my truck

[Sarah977]

@Ashley1261  It's rather unclear what you mean. You originally arrived with your friend, but then drove her to the next town to get her a hotel room, so she never stayed with you at all in the Airbnb?