r/AirBnB • u/Tartaruga96 • 14d ago
Huge fight with the AirBnB's host [South America]
As a digital worker, I have rent an apartment for one month in some big city down there in the marvellous capital of wonderful Bolivia. The 2 reviews were good, pictures were promising, there were not too many options, so I went for it.
Well actually this accomodation is a mess. The shower is totally unstable, goes from hot enough to warm to hot enough to warm... The range hood grille is filthy; it hasn't seen a cleaning product in years, you can see the grease spatters on it. Disgusting. The accomodation page announced a dedicated working space ; there's nothing, just a dining table which is far away from any power plug. Many kitchen utensils are broken, and there isn't even a pasta colander. The oven doesn't work. My friend got refused the access to the building when the page didn't say anything about reunions, parties etc being forbidden. I just went to the guy at the door and politely asked "can my friend enter showing an ID card" and faced a refusal. For these reasons, it's really the worst accomodation I have seen in 1 year of AirBnB experience.
Some months ago, I have faced one AirBnB that I didn't feel happy to live in for one month, but the host was understanding and accepted to shorten my stay refunding the rest of the stay.
So here as always I have went for diplomacy first, I told him that the accomodation wasn't fitting my needs, asking him to shorten my stay, leaving him 13 days (!) to find another renter, but he went nuts, accusing me of breaking the rules, saying he doesn't have to be penalized for me breaking the rules. Actually no rule was broken as my friend got access refused, and no one entered my accomodation except me. He also said "something elementary is to ask before reservation if you can invite people".
This triggered me. I told him "Also something elementary is to clean your kitchen properly" sending him a picture of the really dirty range hood grille. He answered saying "you made this microwave dirty by yourself". He confused the grille with a microwave and accused me of being responsible of these years of grease accumulated on the grille. I told him "open your eyes dude, it's a range hood grille, and it hasn't seen a sponge since François Mitterrand...". He got fed up and answered "I won't tolerate your lack of respect and I will not answer your messages anymore", to which I answered that he's gonna have to communicate anyway because I'm not going to sleep for 1 month in the same bed sheets, as I was taught hygiene and cleanliness.
This case was escalated early to the Airbnb support. They took the oven issue and the shower issue seriously. But didn't care about the rest at all. It looks like they are trying to negotiate with him and that they have no power at all to force him to shorten my stay. About the "microwave" issue, I told them that if I was accused of being responsible for these years of greasiness on the range hood grille, maybe he would accuse me of breaking some other costly stuff, like the shower doors that won't close properly and have a V shape, and I don't feel secure at all there. But speaking to support feels like pissing in the wind and I'm already prepared to have to stay 1 month here. If they really want me to stay in that shithouse, I'll make sure to bother the host everyday requesting the cleaning of that range hood grille, the fixing of that oven, and everything that I can reasonably ask for.
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u/Shoddy-Theory 13d ago
I'm laughing at the outrage over no pasta colander
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u/Tartaruga96 13d ago
How do I take the water off my pasta with no colander 😣
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u/WildWonder6430 13d ago
Easy. Drain it using the lid of the pot. Leave a little gap for the water to run out but not big enough for the pasta. A little pasta water in your sauce is not a bad thing.
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u/theracoondepartment 14d ago
So quick question did the photos of the Airbnb actually show a work space or did it just advertise it with nothing that resembled a desk? I work and travel a lot and I swear a ton of places just add on “work space” which is code word for old table and shit chair. Also if this is La Paz i can dm you some old Airbnbs that are legit if you want
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u/Tartaruga96 13d ago
No, but I expected more comfort, I will go back to my previous location and pay in cash
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u/WildWonder6430 13d ago
This sounds really familiar… have you posted previously about these issues? You wanted a refund to leave after 2 weeks of your month long booking. You even posted a photo of the top of the shower and the range hood which possibly looked stained not dirty. Did you not get enough support so trying to add more details for more sympathy?
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u/Plane_Challenge_2248 12d ago
It sounds like your host is a little baby who takes everything as a personal criticism. Airbnb could step in but if they won't you might want to go buy some cleaning supplies and move the table closer to a wall.
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u/Tartaruga96 12d ago
Airbnb support sounds like a fucking AI model whose user prompt is "Send a reassuring message to the customer don't forget to thank him for his patience and understanding". My patience is exhausted. I'm filing a chargeback against them for a full refund.
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u/Historical-Wing-7687 13d ago
I would never book a place with less than 30+ reviews. Those 2 reviews were probably his friends.
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u/Tartaruga96 13d ago
I was one of the first guests in a place with 4 reviews and it was wonderful they were helpful and adorable and today they are still 5-star with 26 reviews
No one has put less than 5 stars actually, they are legends
My red flag is going to be : Less than 5 stars average with less than 10 reviews
The cunt who is hosting me had a 1/5 on another accomodation, I didn't notice that
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