Guest stained inside of dryer

1

I went to clean my unit today and found two towels had been washed and folded already–with blue stains all over them. As we say here, ruined towels are the cost of doing business, right? I opened the dryer and found the inside of it is also blue. Like, someone unloaded a can of spray-paint inside the dryer.

I’m doing a test wash and dry with an old white towel right now to see if the blue will transfer. So far so good, but the towel is still drying.

However, even if this dryer still functions, the blue stains inside the dryer appear to be permanent. I would like to replace the dryer. I am doubtful that AirBnB will offer any assistance or try to collect money from the guest.

I sent a friendly message to my guest inquiring if the blue substance was marker ink, hair dye, or something else so I can properly treat the stains. Haven’t heard back yet, but before I approach AirBnB I’m trying to get it in writing from the guest that they did something they shouldn’t have. I’m also going to take a peak at their trash when I take it out to see if there is a bottle of hair dye or empty spray paint bottle.

I don’t have a particular question with this one; I mostly wanted to vent. Though I welcome any other ideas for how to address my blue dryer that I may not have thought of, or stories of guests trashing your washer/dryer!

I know one option is to forbid guests from using my unit’s washer/dryer–and I do ask them to leave stained linens for me to treat properly rather than washing the linens themselves–but this seems an extreme reaction when my first 100 guests managed to complete their stay without damaging any major appliances.

2

I can only sympathize and be dismayzed at the poor run of luck you’ve had with guests since you returned.

3

Thank you! I have had about 10 good guests in between this one and the last one I complained about, so it isn’t going too poorly. I think I need to get some nicer amenities, hire a professional photographer, and raise my prices so I can attract better guests.

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4

Oh, excellent. It just goes to show how reading posts here and thinking they are somehow representative of Airbnb hosting is a mistake.

5

It is true we mostly feel moved to share the terrible stories, when at least 90% of AirBnB stays probably go well for both guest and host.

6

The guest got back to me and said she washed the towels with bluejeans and that is how they got stained. Plausible except blue jeans don’t stain in the inside of a dryer. Ah well. The dryer is still functional.

7

Fake News! Blue jeans, even in 3rd world countries, are made using fixed dyes as far as I know…

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8

Sounds like a ballpoint pen got in in the wash and went into the dryer. My grandson had that happen. He washed the drum with bleach then ran some wet towels through a cycle using high heat.Evidently the stain was set by the heat and did not transfer to other clothes. Something else to warn guests about!

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9

Ken, I recently bought a denim blue quilt imported from India and it stained the inside of both my washer and dryer. Fortunately none of dye transferred, possibly due to the heat set another poster mentioned. So there are still fabric items floating around out there with transferable dye. I’m chuckling as I remember one of my daughters wearing a new black velvet dress before washing it. She looked a bit odd for sure when she took it off.

10

Looks like blue jean stains in a dryer are a common problem and possible to clean: https://www.hunker.com/13410560/how-to-remove-blue-jean-stains-from-a-drye

I have a few hours of work ahead of me.

The blue stains came out of the towels at least when I bleached them.

11

Hmmmmm been any local bank robberies lately? Sounds like a dye packet :wink:

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12
  1. Not plausible at all
  2. Guests seems a :lying_face: and deliberately didn’t disclose to you about ruining towels or dryer- still hadn’t offered to pay :moneybag:

I’d make a claim before next guest checks in to teach them an important life lesson: don’t be a :pig: and take responsibility for your actions :man_shrugging:t5:

13

Actually, as Xena’s already discovered, this is totally plausible. The dye on brand new, very dark wash jeans will rub off onto other fabrics or even your hands before they are washed, and will turn the inside of your dryer blue. Been there and done that.

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14

Wow. I’ve never noticed this and I’m a jean’s wearing freak! I guess that explains the occasional stains on my lighter colored t-shirts when I cheat and wash them with the jeans/darks load…hmmm.