Should I request partial refund?!

[Claudia3156]

We've just returned from a 3 night farm stay which for the most part was nice. However the electricity shorted on one line on the first night just as we were cooking dinner so while pitch black in the kitchen - I finished it by phone torch,  we had one outlet working in the lounge so ate by the light of the tv. Kids were terrified. The host took 2hrs to reply so it wasnt switched back on til 10pm. Then on the 3rd night we  came home to no heating, again took about 2.5hrs to get a reply and for it to be turned on (was v cold in the cottage). We were all sitting around wrapped in blankets eating dinner. We got barely an apology in txt and nothing the next day in person on either issue. While not disastrous it did affect our stay. Do you think we should request a partial refund?

[Helen744]

Claudia3156 you did stay for the entire time . Speaking to the host by ringing them would have been a better idea. You still have time to request a refund but its hard to justify if you continued to stay . Have you no idea of the reason for the 'outages ' I suspect it was caused by storms and a check on your phone would have shown this from the power company and a timeline of re connection. In the country children using torches by neccessity has been turned into 'fun times' for a very long times and I do challenge you that you could have done this with your children and added it to your 'farm stay ' experience.... H

[Claudia3156]

Thanks for the reply Helen. We absolutely tried calling when both events happened. And, no they were due to it being an old house (electricity), and them not turning it on (heating). We referred to the handbook to see what to do for electricity - went about the house to find the fuze box but it was in the main house so we had no control over it. And the heating was managed by their main house also. I would have expected notes about this in the handbook as surely it couldn't have been the first time. We also had no torches in the house. Obviously we turned it into something fun for the kids as best we could but kids are afraid of the dark naturally.
I didnt raise it as I thought she would say something at the end when we had experienced the full 3 days, apologizing for it all (she ended up leaving a day before we did and we didn't find out til I got a reply she couldn't take the kids out to the feed the animals which was advertised as part of the stay). Wouldn't you expect she'd do that just to get a good review at the very least?! I hadn't considered a partial refund - certainly not asking for a full and it wasn't a reason to leave - until a friend suggested it, hence my question here in the forum.

[Helen744]

Claudia3156 it does sound as if the host has turned something off and was not at the property at all or someone else was who has not known guests were booked. Very lazy on the hosts part if that was the case.Go ahead and request a partial refund or at the very least make it clear in your review plus your private notes to the host that arbitrary turning of electricity and heating during cold days or any days for that matter is unacceptable.Let future guests know about both these things being controlled by the host who may or may not be available to turn them on . ... H

[Jenny · Accepted solution]

Hi @Claudia3156 

I thought I'd share this document about what to do if your Airbnb isn't as expected.

I hope it's helpful!

Jenny

[Claudia3156]

Thanks Jenny - i'm just really looking for guidance on whether its a circumstance where requesting it is appropriate.