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Hi @sandy2,
Yes, I will, though you will be able to go to my listing and read it anyway. Unless I persuade Airbnb to remove it, which is unlikely.
I’m hardly a role model. For one thing, many people here clearly think I am too wordy. But I did offer a justification.
Only wordy sometimes. Like that response to the guy who didn’t read about how to get in after midnight - that one was too wordy at first.
But in this case, I think it is important for future hosts to know as much detail as possible. If you only say “guest was demanding, pushy, became belligerent because I wouldn’t hold luggage” - then some hosts may just think that the two of you possibly had a personality clash, or there were some other issues that caused this. Were guest and host both having a bad day? I could see some hosts just thinking you are not nice for not holding luggage, and now you are getting even with the guest because he complained to you.
This nutcase does not belong in the Airbnb community at all. The goal is to leave no doubt in the host’s mind.
Faheem, please leave your wordy review! I love it. With a guest like this all 500 words and then some are needed. 
You can be absolutely positive lovely Francois has smacked you in return and hard. No, you don’t wait now as you have figured out. He’s already done it. So you can go ahead and leave yours now.
I think you have a good chance to get this review removed. If you have reported the abuse like we advised you to do, you’d have even more grounds for asking them to delete it. Violence and abuse are not traits Airbnb would like to promote, you say he threatened to leave you a bad review? That’s grounds right there.
As cabin rightfully pointed out, no need to spend time polishing this. Just make a couple of little tweaks she suggested and fire away. I am not sure they will let you keep the paragraph breaks though. I’m a copywriter by trade and we take pride in writing ads that are short, concise and yet full of information. In the case of a bad guest review, this is not one of those times to be brief.
Do post what the POS says about you.
Hello everyone, here’s a slightly polished version, at exactly 500 words. Thanks for the comments, @cabinhost and @konacoconutz. If it looks ok and there are no glaring red flags, I’ll post it. Is it ok to quote what he said?
(This review is for two different visits.)
I am sorry to say that Francois was a problem guest.
At booking he had difficulty booking for the correct number of
guests. He initially booked for one, when the correct number was two,
and then wanted to pay me cash for the difference.
In general his communication was poor. I contacted Airbnb the day
before his first visit, because he had not told his arrival schedule
and was not responding to queries. He called me at 8 pm the day before
arrival to tell me that he would be arriving at 10 am, 6 hours before
the posted check-in time. He did not seem to understand the concept of
check-in times, and apparently thought he could arrive any time.
On arrival he did not fill out the govt form that I am required to
submit by Indian law, so I had to fill it out for him. He also
complained about the form, saying it was “annoying”.
The day before his second scheduled arrival, I again contacted Airbnb
because I had again not heard anything from him. This time he did not
contact me. I texted him and he replied that he had missed his train
and would be arriving a day late. On the following evening I texted
him asking him when he would be arriving the next day, and he texted
back that he had already told me he would arrive at 7.30 am (he had
not), 8.5 hours before check-in time, and that he hoped he would not
have to wait till 10 am, as was the case the first time! In fact he
arrived at 9 am.
On the morning of the day of checkout, I was assisting him with
booking and printing out his plane tickets when he asked me whether I
could hold on to his luggage after checkout till the evening. I
explained to him that, as clearly stated on my listing, this was not
possible. He became extremely upset, began yelling at me, and
threatened me, saying he would give me a bad review. Sample sentence
fragments: “you are stubborn”, “you should go to a psychiatric
hospital to find out what’s wrong with you”, “see what comments I
leave about you”.
Overall, this was an unpleasant experience, and I definitely cannot
recommend this guest.
Just for the record, what is your check in time? This version makes it sound like 10am? I would correct that and then submit.
I agree with Kona. The 10 a.m. thing just kind of throws things off. [quote=“faheem, post:184, topic:7524”]
(he had not), 8.5 hours before check-in time, and that he hoped he would not have to wait till 10 am, as was the case the first time! In fact he arrived at 9 am.
[/quote]
Maybe change it to this:
“(he had not), 8.5 hours before check in time. He also commented that he had to wait to check in on his first visit, even though he arrived 7 hours before his scheduled check in.”
I think everything else sounds good. Before you post, remember that he can respond to your review if he has posted his review. So just imagine what lies he may respond with and see if you have already covered that. I think you about covered everything. I think the guest will lose his mind too!
Hi @konacoconutz,
My posted check-in time is 4 pm. I seem to have taken that out of the review - I’ll put it back in. I.e. I’ll change
6 hours before the posted check-in time
to
6 hours before the posted check-in time of 4 pm
I’m not sure which part is causing confusion - is it the part that @cabinhost identified?
@cabinhost, your version leaves out the “he hoped he would not have to wait” part, but maybe that would make it more confusing. How about changing “commented” to “complained”? And also it should be
even though he arrived 6 hours before his scheduled check in."
10 am is 6 hours earlier than 4 pm.
Yes, and also in the second part, where he arrives at 9am. That part made it sound like 10am was the check in time! Just clarify that, and it think it sounds good. But really Faheem this lout is not worth agonizing over. I am worried for you that he will be really bad in his review. Hurry… submit it before your deadline!
I realize my version leave out the “not have to wait part” but you were already at 500 words. Complained or commented - whichever works. The main point is that a future hosts knows this guy may want to arrive 6 - 8.5 hours before check in. And he is just “telling” hosts when he will be arriving.
[quote=“konacoconutz, post:188, topic:7524”]
Hurry… submit it before your deadline!
Yes, hurry Faheem!!
Thanks for the concern, ladies. Airbnb says it’s due on the 14th. I’ll submit it soon and before I go to sleep - it’s early on the 13th right now. Though I don’t really want to see what this jerk has written about me. Then again, I’ll get to see it soon enough anyway. I guess it doesn’t pay to have a thin skin in this business.
It’s already the 13th in India?? Well get moving in case the internet goes out or something.
I would remove “Im sorry to say”
I would also change this:
At booking he had difficulty booking for the correct number of
guests. He initially booked for one, when the correct number was two,
and then wanted to pay me cash for the difference
To This:
He booked for one, when the correct number was two,
and then wanted to pay me cash for the difference
No need to qualify what are obvious issues!
Excellent suggestions, @Rolf. Adopted. Thank you.
Total aside. Based on the extra time this man consumed while he was onsite, and the amount of time you have spent working on his review, I believe you are close to making about $.12/hr [give or take.] This is not profitable for you!
O I remember this guy. I take it back , he definitely deserves the whole story in details. What a psycho!
Heh. That aspect has definitely occurred to me. Then again, us poor academics are used to working for nothing. Repeat after me: “Highly Educated Sap”.
Highly Educated Sap
Highly Educated Sap
Highly Educated Sap
Highly Educated Sap
Hi guys,
Well, the review was in French. Quelle surprise! I ran Google Translate on it. It wasn’t very nice, as one would have expected. But because it is in French, I suspect significantly fewer people will bother to read it. I suppose you guys can run Google Translate as well as I can, so I won’t post GT’s mangled attempts at translation. If there is anyone here who actually has the time and inclination to want to post a accurate translation, I’d certainly be interested…
mauvaise expérience. Nous avons fait deux séjours consécutifs, sept jours en tout. Au fil des jours, les défauts de cette maison, qui a pourtant de réels atouts, sont devenus pesants. Placée au coeur de Bombay et d’un prix compétitif, cette guesthouse a de quoi séduire. Cette situation géographique a un pourtant revers: à une vingtaine de mètres des lignes ferroviaires partant de Churchgate et avec un train toutes les 3 ou 4 minutes de 6 à 23 heures, l’endroit est assez bruyant. Si la chambre est propre et a le minimum nécessaire en équipements (pas de petit frigo par exemple et à noter que télé ne sert qu’à passer des DVD mais ne reçoit aucune chaîne, pas connectée ce qui rend les soirées et les journées de pluie un peu longues), la pièce à vivre et la cuisine ne sont pas vraiment engageantes : murs rongés d’humidité, poussière qui s’accumule sur les tas de livres, journaux et objets divers (prêter attention aux photos mises en ligne) ce qui donne à ces deux pièces une odeur pour le moins typée. Pour aller de la chambre à la salle de bain distante d’une dizaine de mètres, vous devez passer par le séjour, donc veiller à ne rien oublier, à prendre vos changes car pas question d’y aller ou d’en revenir «en petite tenue». Par ailleurs, faire attention à ne pas glisser sur un sol en mosaïques par temps de pluie. La terrasse pourrait elle aussi être “un plus” mais rien n’y est installé pour en profiter (pas de chaises, fauteuils et table cf photos). Bref, cette maison a du potentiel mais reste figée dans son jus depuis de nombreuses années maintenant… Dommage. Dans le droit fil de sa maison, le propriétaire est lui aussi encalminé dans une routine procédurière qui a fini par me devenir insupportable. Peu accessible aux demandes que vous pouvez faire, le respect de son règlement et des procédures administratives officielles sont l’alpha et l’oméga de Faheem. Ainsi, réservation faite, il vous envoie son guide de sept pages (qu’il vous redonne en arrivant au cas où) avec un règlement intérieur qui en occupe trois… à méditer. Pour faciliter les démarches d’entrée dans les lieux, il vous envoie aussi le fichier PDF du formulaire C demandé par l’administration indienne. Au passage, en trente jours de voyage et quatre séjours chez des privés, c’est le seul propriétaire qui m’a demandé de le remplir. Si vous n’arrivez pas à renvoyer ce document (notamment une photo JPEG de moins de 50ko !) vous en êtes pour un longue épreuve où, aussi tatillon que l’administration indienne, toutes les cases doivent être dûment remplies (comment se fait il que ma femme n’ait pas de numéro de tph en propre, comment se fait il que nous ayons le même mail, bien se rappeler de l’adresse de l’hôtel ou du particulier d’où vous venez sinon problème). Horripilant. Conformément à ce qui est explicité dans le guide, le petit déjeuner n’est servi qu’après 10 30, pas de dérogation…
PRIVATE FEEDBACK:
What Francois loved about your listing:
I’m sure that Faheem is well aware about what I think about his apartment and behaviour towards me.
What Francois thought you could improve about the experience:
To go out of his own way and routine would improve his welcoming.
Cleanliness feedback:
refaire le séjour et la cuisine
Arrival feedback:
etre moins procédurier
Communication feedback:
trop gonflant. Il faut confirmer voire reconfirmer par message ce que vous lui dites par téléphone. Peu accessible aux demandes particulières que vous formulez.
Location feedback:
bien placé par rapport aux principaux sites touristiques mais trop proche de le voie ferrée de Churchgate
Value feedback:
prix très compétitif pour bombay, mais tout compte fait adapté aux prestations fournies: chambre propre mais maison relativement sale et poussiéreuse;
PS: Some of what he is says is quite accurate. Our place has too much crap lying around. But it’s not dirty and dusty. It’s cleaned daily.
And the building is not entirely in good shape. But let’s just say there are “difficulties” in getting the repairs made.
PPS: I wonder if it’s really necessary to reply to this. How many native speakers of French are going to read it. And if people don’t speak French, are they going to bother with Google Translate? I use the Chrome/Chromium plugin, but I suspect most people don’t know about it.
Thanks muchly, @smtucker.