Shower is clogged guest doesn't want a plumber to be there during their stay?

[Susan3495]

Guests are staying 5 nights and have stayed one night and The guest text messaged this afternoon that the shower is not draining but they do not want to be bothered by a plumber being there during their stay and only want a partial refund for the inconvenience of only having ability to use one shower there instead of two.

Can I still have a plumber go to fix ? Or what amount of refund do you suggest ? 

[Jim472]

Looks to me like you got off to an unlucky start. With only one review and you already having a cancelation, I'd look into starting over. I wouldn't offer them a refund as it seems like you've acted in good faith by offering to send plumber. It's on them for the excuse. 

[Susan3495]

Starting over ? 

[Jim472]

Yeah, new profile, new listing, from my understanding you're basically going to be unable to achieve superhost status for at least a year. Readers feel free to fact check me here. Since you have such an unlucky and frankly terrible start I just thought it'd be better to start fresh. 

[Susan3495]

I had no idea you could just start a new one if you wanted to ?

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Susan3495 

It is not up to the guest to decide whether or not to have a plumber at the listing. That is your choice.

Are you sure you need a plumber - you can often fixed slow draining showers with chemical drain cleaner solution.

Say that you need access as the shower needs to be fixed but to minimise impact you or your co-host will go over and firstly use a drain cleaner solution and if that does not work you will get a plumber in but be there for that so there are not inconvenienced @Susan3495 

How many people are at the property?  I would only offer a small nightly amount for it not being available (depends on the overall cost). So if it is only not available for one day then just discount for one day.

[Susan3495]

I will need an augur longer than 4 feet I have used plunger and one of those sink metal stick thingy hair grabber for drains that is 3.5 -4ft long and got it unclogged and drained the standing two inches of water. So not just a slow draining shower 

[Susan3495]

Thanks for advice !! 

[Kit45]

Hello @Susan3495 ,

I would offer the guests continental breakfast and have a plumber to go to the listing or use drain cleaner as @Helen3 suggested. 

[Susan3495]

Can you verify what you mean by a continental breakfast? 

[Inna22]

@Susan3495 do not offer anything until you inspect the shower. They might have dropped something down there themselves, maybe not ole even on purpose. As @Helen3 has said, this may also be an easy fix. Buy the stuff that’s sold at Home Depot in a ziplock bag. It is commercial grade drain cleaner. Insist on coming In. Tell them you need to access ASAP in case there is back up so there is no further damage and go from there. 

[Sarah977]

@Susan3495  Sounds to me like these guests are scamming you. They report a clogged-up shower, yet don't want it fixed, but right away say they want a partial refund, even though they have another shower at theiir disposal. Unh-unh. As others have advised, insist on going over yourself to check it out and if a plumber is needed, hire one. 

Airbnb stated protocol is that if a guest has a issue, they first notify the host and give the host an opportunity to correct it. That doesn't mean reporting a clogged shower and then refusing to let you have it remedied and asking for money back instead.

[Susan3495]

The shower was clogged the morning before guests arrived and I went there with a handyman and we tried drano and let it do it’s magic and plunged it and got it to drain then used a metal thingy with hooky end that pulls out hair and we got out a little bit of hair and it was draining.  However we didn’t take a 20 min shower to verify we solved the issue.  Apparently we did not.  I dropped off Drano tonight at the door because the guest said they would put the drano in themselves not a problem. And I said we will be happy to send a plumber tomorrow if the drano doesn’t work.  I am not expecting drano to do anything because it never has done anything when I’ve used it in the past. But I have not tried the ziplock bag kind from Home Depot ever “commercial kind”. Does the guest have the right to say I can’t have plumber come fix ? 

[Sarah977]

@Susan3495 Drain cleaners have to sit undisturbed for awhile, like overnight is best, for them to work properly. You can't just pour them in and expect them to unclog  badly clogged drain right away. And you can't have someone right away showering in there, it dilutes the cleaner and then it's useless. It's also dangerous for anyone to use the shower if drano has been poured in if it hasn't cleared the drain- that stuff is very caustic and if it comes back up the drain, can burn people's skin. And you should never use a plunger when you've put drano down there.

It's really odd that you didn't bother to mention in your OP that the drain was already not working properly before the guest's arrived. Had you bothered to mention that, you might have gotten quite different responses.

[Susan3495]

It was draining before the guests arrived and so we thought it was fine. The handyman plunged it before he used drano or the drano would have just sat in the two inches of standing water. We waited about an hour before using the hair metal stick thingy and so once we got a little hair out And felt no blockages with the stick thing and so we ran water for two to 3 minutes and it was draining just fine. Makes sense the drano is best left without turning the water on for hours or overnight.  Sorry I didn’t explain perfectly in my post, but I appreciate your advise all the same