Here’s my review of this guest - it explains the gist:
I do not recommend and would not host Mike and his wife again. Everything was normal during their stay. After they requested a late check out and had departed the apartment, Mike contacted me directly via text. Mike sent me a picture of an AC central air vent that was dusty and claimed this was black mold that had made him sick, saying his wife had previously had sickness from black mold and that his symptoms were the same. He offered no substantive proof that this was mold other than another picture of mold he found online and sent to me in comparison, which also clearly was not the same substance from one photo to the next. I informed my cleaners and they reported back to me that it was indeed a collection of dust that was easily wiped off. A week and a half later Mike requested a full refund claiming my apartment made him sick. I denied this and my decision was upheld. Hosts beware
9 Likes
These “after the trip” accusations are so annoying. The onus is on the guest to prove black mold, and get a doctor’s note that substantiates the claim.
2 Likes
And of course, despite denying his refund request - Airbnb is allowing his bullshit lying review to remain standing…
1 Like
Deer Michelle:
Thank you for your response.
I’m disappointed and feel it’s a shame that airbnb would allow knowingly false information to be posted on my listings profile.
Expressing experiences and perspective sounds like a great standard to allow, but common sense would dictate that known lies be excluded from this.
Essentially Airbnb is allowing a guest to make publicly false statements without recourse. This is unacceptable & a topic of great discontent amounts hosts in various online forums. It saddens me to have to share this experience with other hosts and once again be left feeling that Airbnb does not value the work it takes from hosts to manage so many guests in a professional manner.
I wonder what Airbnb’s position would be should host’s begin to slander guests in this manner on their public profile.
Too bad this was your choice. Not a very fair or wise one.
Thx -
Stephen
On Dec 24, 2018, at 3:15 AM, response@airbnb.com wrote:
Airbnb Customer Experience
Michelle M, Dec 24, 00:15 PST:
Hi Stephen,
Thank you again for reaching out to us. This is Michelle again from Airbnb. I hope you are doing well. Happy Holidays!
After careful deliberation, we are unable to remove the review because we see that there is no violation of our Content Policy. It is good to know that you already made a Public response that allowed you to air your qualms about what was said by your guest.
We can’t prohibit a user for expressing their experience and perspective. That is why the host and the guest are given the platform to express and describe their experience in a form of a review. We do acknowledge that a review may not be an accurate or direct reflection of you as a host. I know that this not the outcome that you are expecting but rest assured that this review will have minimal, if not, no effect at all with your future Airbnb experience.
All the best,
Michelle
www.airbnb.com/help
Many molds are black. While they aren’t the epitome of health, you can grow some yourself in a damp unvented bathroom in about a week. My point being that it’s not uncommon and not necessarily a disaster. With this host’s track record, I would stay here.
There’s got to be a way to escalate this. They have no proof. Air might suggest bringing in a municipal inspector. All locations will have some mold, such as the science experiments we find after a week away. But quite frankly this is BS.
1 Like
