I just noticed that SHE has now involved AirBNB into this…WTF
Hi Kerri.
Thank you for reaching out to us. This is Andre F from Airbnb’s community support team and I hope that this message finds you well.
Could you let me know what is the issue that you are facing, as I can help you better.
Regards,
Andre
Kerri9:15 PM
As my prior communication stated:
There are 2 issues:
My Super Host Status was denied this period due to an error on Airbnb’s part. You state that I have a 2.73 cancellation rate. That is incorrect. I spoke to a CS Rep about this a couple of months ago and she stated that it would be corrected. I then spoke to a CS Rep and told her of this issue. She then kept me on the phone for 30 minutes while she checked and then verified that I did not have any cancellations. I have had 1 HOST cancellation in 4 years. PLEASE CORRECT this.
Issue #2: Christie Scopoletti booked for April 10-11. Three days after her departure she complained about mold on the shower curtain. There was not any. I have a picture if need be. She complained about a smoke smell. (All of these threads can be read on my listing. You have permission to go to it so that I don’t have to go over this again)
Basically, she threatened to leave me a bad review if I did not send her $100. It is all on the thread. To put this aside I responded and sent her $50 to not leave me a bad review. This is extortion. She states that she had stayed in many Airbnb’s but she has NO Reviews. I think that this a pattern that she and her husband may invent to get back money from hosts. After she has stayed at their place. You can read all of this on the thread!
Please rectify this injustice as soon as possible. To me it is not about the money, but the injustice and the low morality and character of guests like her to continually be able to extort money from hosts. Without any apparent repercussions from Aitbnb!
My record speaks for itself.
Regards,
Kerri Nordan
I am a reformed smoker. I quit 10 years ago and never have any desire or cravings to start again. It is disgusting to me now. I pretty much quit cold turkey, although I went to a Hypnotism group Session about 6 months b4 quitting. It was basically an hour session to "hypnotize you and then sell you products to help you thru the process!! At the time I felt nothing. So, maybe there was some subliminal help there who knows.
I decided that I wanted to be active in my grandchildren’s life, healthy. So, that was it for me.
I smoked a pack a day when I quit.
One thing that helped me that a friend told me about was to get a straw and cut it to the size of a cigarette and when I had the urge to smoke use the straw as an alternative. It is an oral habit after all. It helped.
A funny story though: When I was going thru this, some workmen came to my house and saw a couple of cut straws on my granite island along with a little bit of sugar or flour left over from a baking project…and gave me a funny look and back and forth.
Extortion that you participated in. You offered her $50 and wrote that it would be to not leave a bad review. Not something that works in your favor. I really don’t understand why you engaged with this guest to the extent that you have.
And why a guest shows membership since 2018 and has no reviews is a question to be asked when they first book or request to book. It served no purpose to ask her that at this point and just escalated the situation.
You got some good advice here from other hosts on how to respond to her refund request- decline and report her extortion attempt. But you didn’t follow that advice.
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I agree, I should not have responded at all. This is the first time that something like this has occurred. I will know better if this happens again.
You live and learn.
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I did contact Air about it and received the following in return. I shared this is an earlier thread.
This is the response I got after contacting Air.
Hi Kerri!
Thanks for contact us. You are a special Host for Airbnb.
Regarding about your question, as the guest has not left the review yet, the only way to help you that if it happens that you keep the email that the guest sent to you and we can dispute it later.
So please don’t be afraid, everything is gonna be ok.
Thanks in advance.
Regards.
That is the standard response given by CS when a host premptively contacts them about a threatened bad review.
I still don’t understand why you didn’t just decline her request for a refund and then do nothing and see how it played out. Hosts get themselves in a mess when they get so wrapped up in the fear of a bad review.
The best advice I could have gotten was:
Don’t respond.
She sent this after the 24 period. (I know this changing soon) If she leaves a negative review, then show her response to air and that shows it all.
The first part of the response you wrote, as advised by other posters, was fine. It made it evident that you weren’t going to kowtow to her complaints.
Stopping there would have been fine.
But going on into telling her about what her payment consisted of and making a refund counter-offer in lieu of a her leaving a good review was where it went wrong.
You started out being dismissive of her bogus complaints, like she couldn’t scam you, which was good, but then switched tactics and got defensive and showed her your soft underbelly- that you are scared of a bad review. Guests like this move in for the kill as soon as you show weakness- try to keep that in mind for the future (although I hope you never have to deal with a scammer again).
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Actually no - you got good advice on how to respond some of which you used
it’s just then you talked about your husband smoking outside and offered her a partial refund why???
And then broke Airbnb’s review terms making the situation much worse I’m afraid by offering her money in exchange for not leaving a bad review - what on earth made you do that?
Kerry you’re a long established host with over 100 reviews so should have some understanding of how the review system works
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I just read the review terms, and you are right. What Airbnb do now?
Oh @Kerri why didn’t you read the review terms before posting your review??!!
Worst case scenario they can ban you from the platform . They could equally see your statement offering compensation in exchange for her not leaving you a bad review as extortion.
Particularly as you brought it to their attention that you had done so in your message of reply to them.
I’m reluctant to offer you further advice after what you did with the last response I suggested.