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The burnt smell in the dryer could just be the damaged belt that turns the drum due to overloading the dryer. I did this to my dryer when it was new, also with a heavy blanket. And wet wool is very heavy.
I would get a technician in immediately to assess the damage before declaring it dead and needing replacement. I would message the next guests and let them know that the dryer is down for repairs for a day or two and make sure they can live with that. Chances are they’ll be just fine.
Don’t get too spun up about it - stuff happens and it’s all overcomeable. Some renters really have no common sense whatsoever.
No matter what… the renter was an idiot for stuffing a wool quilt into a dryer and should be made responsible for doing that. I’m not sure about the burned dryer smell… I know that personally I have unplugged my own dryer because it was constantly giving me an electrical burned smell and I was afraid it would catch on fire. Maybe it is a coincidence that you have a smell, but I would be like you… surely suspecting the guest for overloading and overtaxing your appliance.
The interior of a dryer is a drum that rotates. Air is blown through holes in the drum. Wet wool is heavy. If you load the dryer with a wet wool blanket that is large the weight will interfere with the drum rotating and the size will interfere with the air being blown through the holes in the drum. Either of these conditions will cause the motor to be overworked in an attempt to do its normal job.
By the way this type of burning happened to me in an industrial drier because the duvet wasn’t designed to be tumble dried and burned. Luckily the drier was fine even though my duvet was a mess.
To be honest now I’ve seen the picture and realise what we’re talking about I wonder if the burned smell in your drier is just a residue from the duvet burning inside it.
No reply since the guest checked out, it seems she doesn’t want to pay for anything, not even willing to discuss this matter. So I have to wait for a few more hours to get Airbnb involved. I still don’t have time to do a thorough inspection, but the smell seems to be not as strong as the day she checked out. Hopefully it will completely disappear or I have to get someone to check it for me, which will cost me half the price of a brand new dryer. I will update on how Airbnb decide to solve this case for me.
Just a new question: after I clicked “involve Airbnb”, it says I’m making a claim under Airbnb’s host guarantee. But my understanding is that i should make claim under the security deposit first, and when the security deposit doesn’t cover the damage, I move on to host guarantee. From what I read, my understanding seems incorrect. Can anyone suggest is making claim under host guarantee equivalent to making claim under security deposit? If not, why does Airbnb make me claim under host guarantee before I claim the security deposit? Thanks a lot for reading and comment.
Oh Freya Im so sorry about your dumb (and dishonest) guest. I had my own issues with a guest not following instructions/not having common sense but they contacted me immediately which i so appreciated. I hope the motor overheated the drum only and damaged just the cover not the machine innards. Please keep us posted on how well airbnb takes care of you or doesn’t
Just an update from me, to let other hosts in similar situations know what to expect. It has been over three days since I get Airbnb involved, but no one has contacted me to solve the issue despite they sent me email saying “someone will contact me soon”. So I called he customer service team and the rep asked me to be patient and someone from “trust and safe team”(I may remember the name wrongly) will contact me soon…so soon again.
If I get even a whiff of an issue, I immediately start to message the guest so that I have all contact in the records. It sounds strange, when I am talking to the person, to go back and message things like “as we discussed this morning…”, but it has saved my butt. Airbnb saw the chain of messages and sided with me almost without question both times. I did not even need receipts (but I know that is unusual).
Thank you. Since the accident occurred, the guest didn’t reply to my message so I rushed to the property and had conversation with them in person. So it is not always possible to document everything when the guest doesn’t reply messages.
Just an update, it is 9 days since I open the case, or 6 days since I get Airbnb involved. I still don’t hear from anyone so I resgisterd for twitter and posted on their twitter (I chose the closest tweet of Airbnb and commented below, not sure if I did it right cause I never used twitter before). It is annoying because I put my own quilt and own dryer in the listing now. I haven’t bought for new ones, hoping to get a definite response before I do the purchase.
Just a quick question, it is 4 days left for me to review the guest. I wonder whether the dead line ends 14 days after check out at local time (10am) or midnight of that day? Thanks in advance!
Thank you Helsi, I have called them last week and the rep asked me to be patient and someone will call me. Thanks for the tips on twitter, I’m goona try one more time tomorrow if no one contact me. I will definitely leave an honest and detailed review for these guests.
I got a reply through twitter, they asked for my reservation number and then messaged me that “a case manager will contact you as soon as possible”. No difference to what I was told in last week’s call, but let’s see how “soon” it is.
The guest contacted me finally (probably asked by Airbnb) and she was trying really hard to disgust me.
Airbnb then sent me an email, requesting quote of repair or replacement, and a video showing the damage.
So I can confirm twitter does work and speed things up somehow.
The guest made two comments in the messages but she didn’t say clearly what she wants and refused to reply again.
Comment 1: She said I told her the dryer is 5 months old. But she thinks it is a refurbished one manufactured back in the 00s. They no longer manufacture it and it is my faulty that I didn’t make sure things work in the house.
So basically she is saying I’m lying about the age of the dryer. So I sent her link of the dryer sold in Harvey Norman (good guys and other retailers also sell it). I also sent Airbnb case manager the receipt of the dryer later when I got home. And I swear to god, the dryer worked perfectly before she checked in. Her claim of the dryer not working in the first place is ridiculous and why would she put a wool doona into a dryer if that dryer was faulty and why didn’t she report the faulty dryer?
Comment 2: she paid for the whole house and wasn’t able to use the backyard on the first two days so she want discount for that (she was already heavily discounted because of last minute booking). It is actually one afternoon plus one morning that she couldn’t use the yard, and the afternoon was on her check in date, so she couldn’t use the backyard for 2 hours. But it is not the point, my point is I informed her immediately when she instant booked my place about maintenance work in backyard. I asked if that is ok with her, if she didn’t like it, I can reschedule appointment and not disturb her during her stay. She told me it was absolutely fine, which made me think she was a nice person, but now…she is definitely shameless. Luckily all our conversations were documented so she can’t argue anything about that. (It was a last minute booking and I didn’t think there will be guest so I scheduled the appointment and when she IB i told her immediately and I was prepared to reschedule).
I also told her this matter is irrelevant to the damage she caused.
Now Airbnb want a video from me, because picture doesn’t show the damage. But video cannot show smell and inside of dryer so I now have to be out of pocket if they don’t issue me any compensation. The smell was better after a few days, but when I tried to run the dryer it reappeared, and I’m sure all lint cleared.
Your guest is being ridiculous. Just refer her back to your discussions on Airbnb messaging about the back yard and the generous discount she received. This is a red herring.
And how would she know when the dryer was bought?
Regarding your dryer I am not sure what Airbnb expect to see in a video but humour them. (Do ask them what they expect a video to show) Importantly get a report from a specialist mechanic with a quote for the repair. Could you have a previous guest before her stating it worked perfectly?
Re confirm that the problem lies in her putting an item that was too big for the dry inside and which clearly stated it was a dry clean only item.
Just keep to the facts. And don’t get into tit for tat.
Hi @Helsi, thanks for all advice. I also wonder why the guest thinks she knows when the dryer was bought, and I asked her the same question but she didn’t reply anything. I guess she must have read some guide on how to win an Airbnb case. I read one that says pointing out how old the broken thing is, and mention lack of maintenance of the property and also mention other bad experience during the stay (from a guest perspective). So she decided to say the dryer was manufactured in 00s and it is a refurbished one (I assme the guide didn’t ask people to lie but to mention a broken thing is old only if that is the fact). She is not replying again and I don’t want to deal with her even if she wants conversation later, because she kept lying and I can’t tolerate that anymore.
An update, not with the case but the guest reviewed me, and bad one as expected. 3 stars (I’m surprised not one star), and she said “hosts didn’t check everything in the house work such as the heater and bubble of spa bath…although very clean”. She didn’t make a ridicules one because that may contradict other good reviews. But she did make an unfair/false review, she informed me the second day that gas heater isn’t working properly when on high setting, but it is warm enough for her. So I offered to buy her a portable one and she accepted. After she checked out, I discovered the heater is working without a problem and the next two guests confirmed it (so it was unnecessary for me to buy the portable heater). Regarding bubble for spa bath, I never advertised it to be a feature of the property, am I responsible if it does not work? And she didn’t mention this at all during her stay. I called Airbnb to ask what can be done if I feel the review is not true, and the rep says he escalated this to a case manager. Sigh, I have to deal with another case manager while the previous case is still being reviewed.
To add more information, I left a public response, which is visible on website but not on app. This is annoying as potential guests on app cannot see what I have to say.
