My husband and I stayed at a property in Northern California, we both have nothing but 5 star reviews on all prior Airbnb stays, and even have references from hotel managers from our extended stays.
During a stay that was supposed to last 1mo, we arrived to the house being not thoroughly cleaned, there was hair in the bathroom drawers and crumbs on the kitchen table and finger prints on the laundry machines.
The hosts sent out a cleaning lady the following day.
the only other complaints that I had were leftover food in the fridge, and the lack of a closet or at least a dresser for clothing but figured I’d make due, it’s only 1mo.
2 weeks into our stay, while I was In the master bedroom, I heard running water downstairs (I was the only one there), I ran down and there was water pouring from the ceiling from a floodlight in the kitchen.
I started grabbing towels and unplugging the toaster on the counter top etc.
I tried calling the owner, no answer, left a voicemail reporting what had happened.
It was only after getting Airbnb involved and that I heard back from the host, who at first was understanding and told me to take my time packing up since I decided to get out of the way so they could have someone come out and assess the issue.
I ran back upstairs to grab additional towels and saw water pooling in The master bathroom which I can only assume came from the bottom of the toilet. The sink pipes were fine, and I hadnt been using the shower. (The toilet had also been a little odd, where you’d have to flush twice. I didn't Think much of it being an upstairs bathroom as I had Seen that sort of issue before)
I took pictures of everything I thought would help them figure out the cause and even went out of my way to search for their local water company to shut it off until they could handle it.
Since then, the hosts have filed a damage claim accusing me of “leaving the water running and overflowing” and that they found no drainage issues or broken pipes.
I explained that I hadnt left any water running, and the response was “there’s no other possible reason”
Airbnb has not been helpful and has deemed that we owe over $10,000 in damages because we couldn’t provide any additional documentation that could prove that we DIDNT cause the issue.
how do I prove that I didnt leave water running in the form of documentation??
The water company will not even allow for us to get the call log that we had the water turned off because we don’t OWN the address associated to the account.
I have since contacted a plumber and showed the pictures and explained the sequence of events leading to this, and he agreed that water couldn’t overflow from the area that they are accusing me of without there being prior damage to drains, and that they likely had a toilet issue prior to our stay.
how does Airbnb legally make these investigations???
