Forensic Report.
28th February- Matin Chiffers ends message/enquiry to book
" i hope before 8pm"
He books for two guests staying 2 nights.
My reply
Dear Martin
Please can you confirm you are two guests in one room.
The weather as you know is not good & heavy snow is expected this evening, through to Saturday.
We are rural here, on country lanes.
This evening I am out, hopefully.Unless the snow prevents the event from taking place, its a fund raiser in Taunton.
I will leave the door to Nursery Cottage unlocked and the keys in the kitchen.
I will pop down to meet you tomorrow.
Travel safely.
There is a local pub just along the lane called the Camelot if you need supper.
Kind regards
Janey.
He replies on the morning of 28th
âYes thats right i am also a bit worried now as well with the snow, its quite heavy here tooâ
I ask
Are you heading to London?
Him
"i am in surreyâ
Me
Heading West then?
Currently we donât have anything in Somerset. My family are in Devon and Cornwall, they have nothing either.
I checked the property at 4pm on my way out to charity event, it was warm and ready for him. I left some lamps on to make it cosy.
I drove past at 9pm on my way home from charity event, lamps still on, no guests there. No snow, but high winds, Storm Emma is arriving.
I went to bed and woke up at 6am to an air bnb message from Martin Chiffers.
" i arrived safely is there no wifi"
" also heating is not on and does not seem to be working"
I replied
Good Morning
The heating was on yesterday. Has someone changed the timer?
The programmer is a mobile one & on top of the microwave.
The wifi booster is on the sill in the sitting room
There are rad stats on every radiator to control the temperature
Itâs a new system.
I waited for a reply it was 6am.
No reply
So I called him at 7am, and woke him up.
He said the heating was off, I said I would come down to the cottage straight way, but he said they were still in bed.
I said I would call the engineer, I did this, he was local and came down within 15 minutes, as did I.
We met at the cottage, at approximately 8am. Mr Chiffers and guest in dressing gowns from my bathrooms when they opened the door, we stood in the sitting room, no evidence of bedding on the floor.
( Mr Chiffers now states in his claim for reimbursement that they slept on the floor in front of the fire as it was so cold.)
The engineer looked at the oil fired boiler outside ( instantaneous system in a housing structure next to side wall of the cottage.) He said the power button had gone off, probably in the storms which had tripped the system.
Boiler running straight away, radiators all hot whilst we stood in the room, all windows are double glazed and new.
Engineer remains in room and witnesses Mr Chiffers start protesting at 4G wifi service from the booster. He has a lap top on the side and says he needs to send and receive videos.
I explained that it states on the listing that the wifi is 3G at the property.
No snow yet, just high winds.Its approx 9am.
I offered to let him swap to my other property, which is up the lane on the actual estate. Its a castellated period lodge, with our own Fire Optic Broad band in it. ( WITNESSED BY ENGINEER STILL THERE.)
Mr Chiffers goes and get dressed quickly. He comes with me in my land rover to view Windsor Lodge.
( A larger property which rents out at a higher charge than Nursery Cottage.)
I showed MC the home, he said it was too dark, he needs light for his photo shoot.
I objected to a photo shoot happening, he said he had told me. I showed him our stream of air bnb messages as above, no mention of commercial photo shoot.
I drive him back to Nursery Cottage, which is very warm.
The engineer has left a mobile number incase there are any issues with MC.
There are umbrellas and light all over the kitchen, boxes of equipment, and the table and chairs have been moved.
I message MC on Air bnb
"
Dear Martin
I am confused about where the email has gone to, that was meant to inform me you planned a photographic shoot in my property on behalf of
Difference Coffee Company, promoting coffee and cigars.
You have not asked my permission to use my property for a photo shoot.
This is currently being confirmed by Air bnb who are analysing the dialogue between us.
You have no rights to use my home for commercial use.
I am utterly aghast at your attitude
I have filed a complaint with Air bnb.
You booked to stay 2 nights for a private visit. I have created a beautiful home with many expensive items in it, not to be used as props for commercial photographic use.
If I intended to allow my home to be used for this reason, then I would be advertising it for this particular role, and charging accordingly.
Martin you have been deceitful.
It then started to snow later that day at 14.30.
No further communication between us, by Air bnb message or on the phone.
The next morning was check out morning, my rules state by 10am.
I drove to the cottage at 12.30 pm.
Both MC and his guest were still there, wearing T shirts, no socks, in the kitchen when I arrived with all the equipment still there.
I pointed out that they had extended their check out time, MC was aggressive and said he couldnât leave because of the snow. ( It had snowed over night and was approx 4 inches deep on the driveway to Nursery cottage.)
MC stated he was not going anywhere. I asked him to pack all of his equipment up and leave, or adjust his booking to remain.
MC stated he would not be paying anymore money to me, he was agitated that he was losing money as he was meant to fly to Scotland on the Saturday morning for another shoot, and would not be going now.
He was very much in my face when he spoke, he was aggressive and I felt scared. His guest was also in a t shirt and leggings with wet hair from her bath ( he also states there was no hot water during his stay), stated that he was upset, she pushed him into another room away from us and said he was very angry.
I left and sent another message on Air bnb.
" Please adjust your booking to reflect the fact that you have not checked out at 10.00am this morning.
If you intend staying in Nursery Cottage the booking MUST be adjusted immediately.
Thank you."
No replies from MC ever again on the Air bnb message system.
I only communicated with Air bnb from this stage onwards.
They charged him for the additional night that day.
I sent a request for ÂŁ250 for the costs of using the Cottage for commercial reasons, MC declined that request.
The next morning by 11 am they had gone.
At 3pm he
sent a request for a full refund of his stay.
I will try to sen you a copy of what he says to justify this refund.
xx
