Guest Left Computer on Purpose

Hello All
My departing guest sent me this message thru the system after she left.

Hi Dave, thank you for the wonderful stay! I have a request for you, I came into town to graduate and return my school computer, but the school was closed when I arrived late on Friday. Would it be possible for me to schedule a UPS pick up at your home? I left the computer upstairs. Let me know. If not I can have a friend come pick it up.

The computer is not packaged so I don’t know how she can schedule a pickup. And I can just imagine waiting around for hours waiting for her “friend” to show up.

She could have asked me before she left but of course I would have told her no. So she just dumped her problem on me.

What would you do?

Of course her university would have been closed if she arrived late on a Friday. She would have known from the start she couldn’t return it during her stay,

I wouldn’t agree to have UPS pick it up or you will have to package it.

Give her a couple of half an hour slots in the next week convenient to you for her friend to pick it up. Say that you can’t wait around so the friend needs to be prompt.

Call the university computer department (the number should be on label on the computer’s case somewhere) and find out where to return the computer. Take it there yourself. Less hassle and expense and time than packaging it for a UPS pickup or allowing a “friend” to come over.

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That’s what I was thinking, too. I assume it’s not too far since that’s why they came into town. The guest should have asked ahead of time though.

I had a guest leave a cheap, old t-shirt behind and he wanted me to send it back to him. I spent about an hour between packing it up, driving back and forth to a post office and waiting in line. Now I have in my house info for guests to triple check for all their belongings. I let them know that my house cleaner charges $10 to ship any items left behind, plus shipping cost. Maybe try that approach?

What if you pack it and ship it but it is damaged or lost in transit? I don’t want to be responsible for something so valuable.

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Communicate to them that their only 2 options are to pay in advance a set rate for you to package and return it back to them or have their friend pick it up at a set time of your choosing. Run by the post office and get an estimate based on the weight and the guest’s zip code. After, send them a request for payment via the Resolution Center. Include in this whatever additional fee you feel reflects the time and effort you had to put in. I’ve dealt with this multiple times - I never agree to mail back anything under $50 in value, and always require the guest pay upfront before I will mail it back with a set deadline for them to provide the payment. I’ve had to throw items away, but I’ve never had a guest escalate it to a Resolution Dispute so I don’t know what Airbnb’s policy regarding forgotten items.

“…I don’t know what Airbnb’s policy regarding forgotten items.”

(Doesn’t matter, it’s not a forgotten item.)

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The point being: I’m unaware of any Airbnb policy that requires the host to take any action for items, be it forgetten, mislaid, or intently left behind.

Unfortunately you may have some obligation to protect the property depending on your state’s (if in US) personal chattel law. I agree with prior message – offer choice between pick up window convenient to YOU or shipping to them at their cost. Review them accordingly. They’re lucky the computer is still there, aren’t they, otherwise I could imagine a response “Computer, what computer? There have been a lot of people in and out of the rental space, and as stated in the house rules, we are not responsible for your personal property.”

I would tell her to contact her college’s computer department and arrange for someone from there to pick it up from your main place when you are at home (giving hours).

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