Guest left retaliation review after we filed a damaged furniture claim

[Jessie141]

Hi, 

our recent guest broke our living room sofa and we filed a claim against him. He refused to pay and left a false review saying the sofa was already broken when he checked in. However, not one word was mentioned during his stay, all he said was great, happy to stay at our place etc etc. it’s until he checked out and we found the broken sofa, he turned on us and left a false review said we tried to scam him. 
we already contacted Airbnb to have the review take down but no words from them yet. 
anyone with similar experience and advice on what to do next are appreciated. 
thank you! 

[Dale711]

@Tara-Bunch 

Thank you for the prompt response! 

I'm much appreciated.

Ways do go! 

Best, 

[Sarah977]

@Si6  You were given incorrect info by the CS rep. Hosts have never been able to see guest star ratings on requests and inquiries. You can read the written reviews, but aren't privy to star ratings.

I have never used Instant Book, and really couldn't care less about star ratings- they don't tell me anything concrete. I judge whether to accept a booking based on written reviews and tbe guests' communication. And I've never ended up with a bad guest.

[Si6]

If you don’t use instant book you don’t see star ratings. If you use instant book you always see star ratings. Trust me I wouldn’t be all surprised if after 7 years of hosting 7 listings in total something changed which it suddenly did for me.

[Sarah977]

@Si6  I was responding to you saying "I’m now unable to view guest star ratings for new inquiries or requests to book".

If hosts who use IB were previously privy to guest star ratings, even if the guest sends an inquiry or request, I wasn't aware of that.

But I don't see what's so terrible about all inquiries and requests having the same rules. Never having ever used IB myself, I have never seen a guest's star ratings, and it hasn't been an issue for me.

It seems to.me that hosts who are accustomed to using IB put more faith in star ratings than is warranted.

I've read plenty of posts about horrid guests who had 5* ratings.

[Doug772]

I was definitely able to see previous reviews by guests that have requested bookings. 

[Anthony608]

I had a blatantly false review last August, my only three star review ever, and it was a guest trying to run some type of scam to get a free room.  The guest left one stars in several categories, but three stars overall, and stated that the listing was false, the photos were not of the residence, he hadn't been communicated with, and the place was dirty.  Essentially nothing he had said was true.

What he didn't know is that the night before he left I overheard him talking with his companion about how they would complain, leave a low review, and then get a refund.  He apparently thought that leaving one stars in categories automatically granted a refund.  Also some racist remarks about white people's houses and how they were staying in them and giving bad reviews for what they saw as a culture of racism and to get even for persecution.

I told *all* of this to AirBNB and they simply said the review was his opinion and it wouldn't be removed.   The account is still active to this day, with a few stays in other places after mine, leading me to believe the person is probably continuing this scam trying to get free rooms.

[Doug772]

Airbnb does not stand with the hosts on this at all. They will simply tell you that if the review doesn't violate any policy, They will not remove it.

I had a recent guest complaining about things that were just ridiculous. The fact that my log home wasn't "painted". Crumbs in the oven or something like that as well. I even refunded the guest a significant portion of their trip which is what I thought they were trying to get out of me in the first place. They left a three-star review with no context even though all the categories were five-star. This was my first and only sub five star review...

[Ann72]

This is why I don't jump to offering a refund at the slightest complaint @Doug772 and why I don't think hosts should train guests to expect one.

[Martin3691]

I'm a new host we just started  his year and I have the  same issue. We have only 7 reviews but all  5 stars Before I  made a claim I spoke with help support. I sent them pictures before and after. He told me that definitely I should make a claim if anything they will help me to remove his review. I was hoping he won't write anything he just did it almost on  last day.  of course I didn't receive any money for broken chair , demage table runner or  additional  cleaning fee$50.  He said chair was broken when he arrived then probably our housekeeping demage the table  runner and sofa. This is crazy I  need to write a review  today . During the stay he didn't say anything . After the claim he called me scammer that he will inform everyone that we try to  get extra money for demage he didn't do it. What should I do is anyway that his review won't be public before we have result of claim

[Sarah977]

@Martin3691 His review will be published regardless. I hope you still have time to leave a review- other hosts need to be warned about him.

[Martin3691]

I still have time to tomorrow I will write for sure but is any way can I ask Air bnb to put his review on hold and mine also .  Reviews should be on hold to time of final results of claim .

[Martin3691]

If think this is the  right way . When you have issue or claim with guests. During the claim process both rewies should be on hold. They  won't be honest with reviews for sure. 

[Laurie95]

Talk about revenge @Jessie141 My THREE listings with Airbnb are currently SUSPENDED  after a retaliatory and completely false claim of "spying" from a guest that recently stayed with us. Why?  Because we held her accountable for not following the rules and rates that are clearly outlined in our listing. We reside on the property full time and rent out a detached ADU with an upper level apartment.  We saw her and her 3+ guests with multiple cars come and go from our property and when asked if she had an extra guest, she said yes, so I casually sent her an extra guest fee for a total of $60 to which she adamantly said "I'M NOT paying this" and "you are being deceptive by changing your listing.  Mind you, she paid an extra guest fee for the 3rd "registered" guest. 

So, here i am, a 15 time Superhost with now three (had four before the pandemic) properties that I have had on Airbnb since 2017 with over 2200+ reservations and 550+ reviews with a 4.90 average!  I have maintained Superhost status from inception.  I have been a host on VRBO/Homeaway since 2005.  Never have I had a guest make such false claims only to then receive an email (no phone call) from Airbnb asking me to comment on four questions, telling me my listing (all three!) are currently suspended until a complete investigation takes place and if I want to talk by phone to email "Enrique" and he will set up a time.  I immediately answered these questions providing our side of the story in which I also asked to be called.  NO PHONE CALL to date and we are going on one week now.  I have received ONE email only in regards to my follow up response. I have emailed "Enrique" every day.  I have called Airbnb support line only to have each person tell me I cannot "talk" directly to this "investigative department", but they will pass along my message.  I am beyond frustrated that ONE guest with ONE review can hold my listings hostage.  I am beyond SHOCKED that Airbnb has not communicated well. Not provided a timeline.  Not provide any details of what we are being "accused" of.  And not provide a 15 time Superhost with some sort of respect after all the years and money we have given to Airbnb.  This guest decided notify us of the extra guest.  It's very easy to update a reservation on a guest side.  She decided not to follow the rules and had at one point five people and more than two cars.  We know this not because we were "Spying" but because we reside on the property and my husband, who works in the lower office space of the ADU and has two windows; one that faces the main street and one that faces the driveway to where the guests are to park saw the four guests leave, come back to the apartment and leave again, walking past his window in the driveway.  The guests also yelled up our driveway to my son in law who was working on his vehicle (all four of them were present) asking a question to him about all the cars in our driveway and if they were "ours".  To which he answered with a head shake of "yes".  I guess this is "spying??" 

The entire question/perception of us "scamming" and being deceptive about our fee structure could have very much been avoided if Airbnb would have listened long ago to the recommendation by me to break out the "extra guest" fee charges like they do for cleaning fees rather than clumping the extra guest fee in the nightly rate!  I tried to explain this to the guest but she obviously couldn't comprehend the numbers and breakdown.  I even showed her a screen shot of the owner's breakdown invoice I received from her reservation with the separate guest fee broken out showing that she paid the same amount on her end it is just outline differently but in the end the numbers are the same.  

AIRBNB, please consider that many of your hosts rely on rental income and for you to not, in a timely manner, address such claims and with little conversation, is very anxiety producing and quiet unfair.

Has anyone else experienced such suspension and what was the outcome?  Timeline?  What can I do?

Respectfully-

[Anthony608]

I have had about three people stay with me in two years who were probably up to something very dangerous insofar as trying to register a complaint bad enough where I would have been suspended. 

1) A Chinese couple, who demanded that the house be quiet after 7:30 (no lights, noise of any kind) since the mother went to bed early with the baby.  The husband actually got belligerent one night, kicking  and yelling to be quiet at 8PM (quiet hours in the house after 11PM)

2) A woman two Christmas's ago, the stereotypical "Karen" (I am sorry to use that term).  Pulled furniture away from the walls looking for problems, and was trying to find fault with anything in the room so she could get a refund.

3) A man last August, overheard upstairs in the residence talking about how they would call AirBNB and lie to get a refund by accusing me of racism and other false problems with the listings. 

In *every single case* I avoided a disastrous situation by calling AirBNB first.  I told them exactly what happened and that I was expecting a retaliatory review if not an outright complaint.  In two of the cases, AirBNB actually read me the review first, letting me know what the guests had said, so I could respond accordingly.  The Chinese couple actually didn't say anything negative, but I still wrote them up in the review about the husband yelling and kicking the wall.

So, AirBNB treated me okay but I have heard so many stories like yours.  I can only be a good host, be very careful about who I let stay in the home, and even for the worst of people just try to get them out the door at the end of the stay without any major problems.  I've never had to kick anyone out and never had to call the police so I guess I have been lucky.

[Dave52]

If at all possible, wait until AFTER a guest submits a review to file a damage claim.  It may not be possible due to the timing, but airbnb will NEVER remove a revenge review under any circumstances.  Good luck.