How would you review guests you suspect turned off the WiFi so outdoor cameras were off?

[Sandra947]

I was very upfront with this guest who had no reviews (prior to accepting the reservation) that this is my second home and very special to me so I expect compliance with all rules.  My listing indicates I have cameras outside and I make it clear to my guests that I have an alarm system.

Guest notified me they'd arrive late (~1 am) because the son allegedly had a college entrance exam during the day and then they had a long drive.  My cameras showed a family of four arriving around 1 am so I was not worried.

Since their arrival, I have not received any notifications from the camera so I checked and the camera signal was not connected.  That prompted me to check the smart thermostat -- also not connected to WiFi.  When I logged into my internet provider online to remotely reboot the WiFi, it could not connect to my modem and said to verify if it was plugged in.

I contacted the guest.  Guest claimed tv and internet were working just fine.  I did not believe them and asked them to unplug and manually reboot the modem.  They claimed to do so.  Hours later or the next day, the thermostat was connected to WiFi, but cameras still were not.  The situation stayed like this for 2 days and now (on their last full day), the WiFi appears to be off again.

Given that this is just a 4 night stay, my house is an hour drive away, I don't have the energy to go there on a weeknight to confront them in person about the WiFi being off and camera receptor disconnected from the modem -- particularly since they leave tomorrow morning.

Curious what people would put in the review.  Often, if there is an issue, I'll put "Additional feedback was provided privately" in the public comments if I don't want to embarass someone.  Unless they leave "evidence" (by leaving the camera receptor unplugged), I'm hesitant to accuse them of unplugging the WiFi in the public comments but wonder how others would handle this situation.

I'd also be curious to know how you'd score them -- rule following?  communication?  would you host them again?  

[Laura2592]

@Sandra947  we have had guests do this who are paranoid about indoor cameras. We don't have any-- you aren't allowed-- but I am sure they read the many travel blogs which state guests should disconnect the wifi to check. 

Do you actually have this in your house rules? If not I would say "Guests were pleasant and left our space nicely cared for (if true.) We were concerned that they seemed to turn off the WiFi during their stay but they did not report any issues.  Communication on this topic was lacking but the rest of it was great (if true.)"

Tricky about cameras. The minute you mention them despite that they are disclosed in a listing,  guests feel spied upon and may report your place. ABB invesigates while your listing is shuttered for doing something you fully disclosed and guests agreed to. So I would not say anything about the actual concern regarding why the wifi was down. I'd be able to understand this review as a host.

[Sandra947]

My rules said that my house has an alarm and security system so early arrival is not allowed. The listing says there are outside cameras.  I also have a sign on the alarm system to not unplug it.

However, I’ve now added to the rules that guests may not unplug or disconnect the security system or WiFi during their stay and that doing so will result in a notification to me and my outreach to them to rectify the issue.

When I contacted the guests to discuss, I explained that I was getting alerts from the alarm system saying it was not connected to WiFi and also said the smart thermostat was showing it was disconnected so I was concerned that internet and tv may be out. I did not mention the cameras.

[Laura2592]

@Sandra947 we have a similar set up. 

Funny story. Well, not funny but true. We have an old Victorian house in a neighborhood of other Victorians as our primary residence-- the kind of place where no one has a privacy fence and people share their veggies from their gardens in summer. We recently bought a condo in New Orleans as a weekend place (not an ABB.) Its been several trips to go back and forth to get it set up and furnished. Before one, my neighbor was chatting with me over the fence (after sharing veggies) and asked if we needed her to watch our cats. I said yes, that would be great, thank you so much.

Fast forward a few days. We are at our New Orleans place painting and doing projects and the wifi sends us notice that its unplugged.  Weird. My husband says "well it goes out sometimes. Old house." Then we get more noisy alerts so I get down off the ladder and start looking at my phone. ANOTHER neighbor is sending texts apologizing that she just "toured my house" because the cat watching neighbor had her OVER. This was not anything I consented to. Obviously the nosy cat watcher had unplugged the wifi thinking that we probably had cameras and would get upset that she invited the people across the street to snoop in our house (which we have been renovating. ) I called Nosypants immediately and she hemmed and hawed before admitting this with the George Costanza defense "was that wrong? I didn't think you would mind." BS. Of course I mind or you wouldn't unplug the camera (which we didn't have then but sure do now.) Nothing missing, no harm done, but she is never setting foot in my house again. 

The moral of the story is that people are sneaky. Some people. I think its absolutely a great idea to address this in your house rules. 

[Emilia42]

@Sandra947 It will be interesting to see if the wifi/cameras magically turn on shortly before this guest departs. Are you personally going to check on the place after they leave? Or do you have a cleaning person who can troubleshoot with you and let you know if anything was unplugged, etc. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions until they check out.

[Sandra947]

I personally clean and do the set-up myself because I know I will notice things a cleaning crew would not. Therefore, I’ll be able to see if they’ve left anything unplugged upon departure.

I’ve been hosting for over 5 years now, about 4 years at this location, and it’s only the second time anyone has done this. Regardless, I’ll be investigating options to lock the modem up so that guests cannot turn it off. It’s sad that people are so paranoid that they’re making me paranoid about what they’re doing in MY home. I’m the one taking the bigger risk here by letting strangers in my house. If they want 100% privacy, they should stay home.

It’s also frustrating that they don’t see that the outside cameras could be helpful to them—if someone broke into their car, I’m sure they’d be happy to know that was caught on camera!

[Emilia42]

I agree! It's strange how Americans (in general) are so obsessed with safety and security but then as soon as a camera is put in place, for safety and security, people go nuts. 

[Laura2592]

@Emilia42 the double standard seems to center around people wanting to catch others for wrong doing, but not wanting to be caught themselves when they are involved in things they aren't supposed to be. Suddenly its all very unfair....

[Gregory87]

@Sandra947 

Sorry to hear about your situation.  While I understand that you are an off-site host, I'm not sure why your guests have direct access to your router/WiFi.  Guests shouldn't be able to manipulate your security/HVAC systems!  It is for exactly these reasons that we don't provide guests with the ability to touch the Internet equipment.  Also, if a guest has nefarious intent, there are other hacks that could be done with your system and then you'd have issues with your ISP and possibly the law.

My recommendation is that you place the router/WiFi either in a locked room or cabinet.  Many systems can be monitored and/or reset remotely.  You can also either put a programmable lock on the door OR provide a key to a trusted local party to enter the premises, if necessary.  Good idea to add wording to your house manual, so guests are aware that you may take action and enter the rental if the systems are disrupted.

I'm not sure you can say much in the review about the possible disconnection by the guest; however, you can note "They are better suited for a hotel stay." and indicate that you don't want to host them again. 

Interestingly enough, if they had stayed in a hotel, would they have been able to disconnect the cameras, HVAC system, and otherwise control their environment?!!  Sounds like an entitled group.

Let us know what you learn and decide to do!

[Sandra947]

As I noted, I am looking into options to lock it up because this situation is unacceptable to me. I have a locked owner’s closet in my bedroom and a locked cabinet in the kitchen which may be options. However, I try to minimize the need to have my guests bother my neighbors so rather than rely on a key, I may look for a box with a combination lock so guests would need to contact me if they did in fact need to reset the modem.

The thermostat has temperature control limits in place that they cannot override even if the WiFi is off.

Thankfully most of my guests are rule abiding and this is uncommon. So glad I have the next several weeks blocked for my own use so I can identify a solution.

[Pat271]

I’d be really careful that you are sure what happened technically. The internet connection could have been working from the property, but not from your remote location and/or from the app you are using to monitor and control your devices. There also could have been some kind of glitch at your provider’s server software as well, which might have caused it to misread the status of the connection and report accordingly.

Granted, it is suspicious that when it all came back up, all but the camera were accessible, but sometimes device connections get pretty wonky when network systems go awry. 

[Sandra947]

I’ve been unable to connect to the thermostat both at home from my computer, from my phone while at my home on WiFi or cell, on full day 1 and again on day 4. I also check if PartySquasher and my cameras can connect. They cannot. Three different sources and apps saying no connection to WiFi.

During such outages, I also check a fourth source — whether my internet provider can connect remotely and reboot. Each time that the WiFi appears out on my end on the 3 sources above, my service provider says it cannot connect to my modem and advises I should check if it’s plugged in.

Too many factors at play here to assume it’s an error or lack of connectivity on my end.

[Brian2036]

@Sandra947 :

 I don’t see that locking up the router would be very useful. There are other ways to disable it, such as opening the circuit breaker or simply cutting the power supply or cable wires. Or they can just smash the cameras.

Most people are going to complain bitterly if the WiFi goes down and the fact that they didn’t makes me suspicious.

[Brian2036]

@Sandra947 :

The review I would give would depend entirely on what you discover after they are gone.

 I might be tempted to say something like “There were some WiFi anomalies that began when they arrived and ended when they left…” and of course if you find that they had a nefarious reason for fooling with the WiFi, “Would NOT host again.” 

[Suzanne302]

@Brian2036  It's a far cry from simply unplugging the router to going through the trouble of finding the circuit breaker (which would probably disable the whole room), cutting cables, and smashing cameras.

Most people would probably not go through all that trouble. If they did, the host has a lot more to worry about because a guest like that is doing far more nefarious things than sneaking in extra guests or simply being paranoid about cameras.