Recommendations, please - Guest broke AC - wants compensation

Research
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TLDR up front

When the AC stopped working the guest wants me to compensate. However, I think they CAUSED it to break by setting it too low and then leaving for the day.

Recommendations???

Lastly, I think AirBnB used to refund like 50% or something if the AC was not working as advertised. Is that still the case? Does it matter if it was the guest who broke it?

For my first booking for the last night of the US Open on my new house (4 years old). I did not have time to get my smart thermostat installed as I had to leave town for a week for work and I just closed on the house a couple weeks ago. I had the AC set to 80 the whole week while I was gone and no one had booked yet

Background (long - and more so for me to get it written down so I can get to bed as I have to get back up in a few hours for work…and I’m still not over being sick and am losing my voice because of it):

First the guest said they (total of 5 guests) needed an extra night at the U.S. Open ($$$$$) and asked for a discount but I was still asleep in a nap (I’ve been sick a couple days) and then about 15 minutes later just confirmed the booking at the price. Almost 2 hours later I wake up and see it and let them (it appeared husband was writing from wife’s account) ask them when they’d like to check in. I get the response that they are “in route” and start to set up their August smart lock access for 11am (checkout is 11am so I thought 24 hours was fair and it was only 21 minutes from then and if they were coming from the US Open I expected it would have been longer due to traffic).

At 10:51 the brother-in-law enters the side door to the garage (supposed to be locked and off limits) and goes into the house and lets in 5 other people. I message I will send a change to add the 6th person I saw arrived (disclosed cameras at front and back door). They accept and I message that they should not have gone into the garage as it was off limits. They said they would lock it.

They ask to turn on the AC. It was set up 80 and I say “set the AC to what you like.” I wanted to tell them to only set it a few degrees lower at a time by trying to be nice and since it is US Open pricing (although I was the cheapest remaining that allowed a single night) I didn’t want to cause them any concerns over the cost of AC for 24 hours. I can see that all is well on my whole home energy monitor.

They leave 17 minutes later. AC continuously runs for over 7.5 hours. At 6:36 pm it stops. At 6:42 it tries to start 3 times in a minute and then repeatedly every 5 minutes without success but surges an EXTREME amount of electricity trying. After about an hour and a half I notice and about 2 hours notify the guest. And ask them to turn off AC and let me know what they set it at.

While I wait (because they still haven’t answered my earlier question of when they expected to return so I could try to be available if they had any questions…but they already asked for a late checkout and still didn’t bother to read messages for an answer…I had said I’d be happy to although cleaner was scheduled for 11 but if no one else needed a last minute booking like they did I could although not for free since cleaners are very busy a US Open) I take a look at the security camera footage. Turns out they had come back for 6 minutes at 7:48 for 6 minutes although my camera only caught them leaving (smart lock time stamp said when they arrived). As they are closing up I hear one of them yell 73…sounds like he was calling out the temperature. At the time I had no idea what they set it to originally but I’m guessing as low as it would go.

Then I wrote again and ask if they would like me to try to have my friend go over and turn it off and check it out to try to have it good to go when they get back. They respond that would be fine because they were just getting down to dinner now.

I contact my friend who thankfully goes right over. He sees it is set at 70 and temp is at 75, turns it off and puts fan on (I’m hoping that will unfreeze the air handler if that is the issue, so that after a half hour or so it will be fine for them to try the AC again). He also locks the garage for me because they did not do so like they had said they would. He checks the air handler doesn’t appear to have been iced but can’t get into it to see. It’s not super cold to the touch. No issues seen with the outside unit. I have him lock up and leaves.

Less than 3 minutes after he leaves the guests return. I guess they didn’t take long to eat after all…

Once they get in they start complaining in front of the cameras about how much it’s going to suck. And then (I’m assuming) the husband argues back and forth about how it hasn’t worked since they got here because it was 80 when they arrived it wasn’t working before they arrived. They turn it back on so it wasn’t even off a total of 5 minutes!!! I am trying to explain the process and my reasoning and the guy starts talking about how he already checked it and it had been broken a loooong time. I asked him if he accessed it and he said yes. I asked about using tools and he said he used latches. There are no latches so when I asked him what latches he says on the vents and then starts trying to go on and on seemingly trying to talk over my head (although I do know what he is doing and let him know indirectly including letting him now that the latches he is referring to are not on vents but on air returns which will not give any indication of the air handler being frozen or not). They are claiming I can see what temperatures they set and I obviously know what the temp is in the house (76). I don’t. And I tell them that. (Maybe I shouldn’t have told them that? I really think they originally set it much lower than that but they knew my friend had seen it at 70. Oh well. At least I was honest with them, whether they were or not with me.)

He then lets me know directly that he has experience w electricity and plumbing and that the fan outside just hums but doesn’t turn on. (This is the first and only good info he has given me to help diagnose. I’m thinking the capacitor brunt up and needs to be replaced. Emergency it will be a few hundred $ if they have toe right one on the truck. I can probably replace it myself for about $50 if I have to order it or for free if it is one that I already have from when i was repairing and limping along the HVACs at my farm house a few years ago.)

Meanwhile I am looking to call an HVAC service because I know this is the only thing I can do at this point. I let them know and they say that is the only solution because they are not happy.

As I’m hanging up the phone w the HVAC company they want to know if I have called anyone yet and what I am going to compensate them for since they are sorry this happened to me.

I let them know that I just got off the phone and he will call me back in 29 minutes to let me know when he can get a technician.

When he calls at exactly 20 minutes later he tells me I can make an appointment for Monday afternoon or I’ll be 7th in line for emergency service. When I press for info he can’t tell me anything except that in all his time at this job he has never seen so many emergency calls in one night. It is double the norm!

Guest writes back before I’m even off the phone and wants to know if I talked to them yet and what is fair for them to be compensated for this problem because they are hot and tired and don’t want to wait.

I let them know that I am sorry it is happening to them too and that I would have to wait to see what the HVAC tech says. (I’m thinking they will likely tell me that the temp was put too low compared to the temp and that that ruined it. I’m also WANTING to say that I will be asking them to compensate me for the repair as well as my time dealing with this…but bite my tongue.). They say they don’t think it will be resolved tonight because they didn’t think anyone would come out that late and if they did they aren’t leaving for them. (This last line I didn’t quite understand but didn’t ask for clarification I let them know that there are 6 ahead of them but will call 30 minutes out.)

Oh also, at the beginning of the complaining they say the youngest has a tee time at 9:30 and was wondering if that’s too late. (This is in response to me originally asking how late they wanted to stay. Since check out is 11 am and I’m assuming a 930 am tee time why r they asking? But then maybe they mean 9:30 PM??? That would be crazy but I suppose possible for the night US Open finishes?? Breaks my HVAC on my new to me 4 year old house and, wants compensation AND wants an additional half day for free? I suppose I could let them stay for free if the HVAC gets fixed but they aren’t going to want to stay at all if it doesn’t.

As soon as I mentioned that I knew it was working before they arrived, that it got cool while they were there and that it stopped working around 6:30 pm. They said “interesting. Ok.” And then shut up for a while.

this was their last and I have not responded. It’s nearly 2am and I need to get some sleep.

“Got it. At this point we’re going to stay the night. We are tired, hot, and will be waking up early. Since we don’t want to stay up all night waiting to see if they can come. We are not trying to be difficult but just hot. We have been wanting to try to help diagnosis for you. It is now 77° in here and rising.
What would be a fair discount because this is obviously not we see what we signed up for?”

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If there is a non working advertised amenity, Airbnb automatically gives a 30 % discount

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Thanx. Is that including cleaning fee and/or extra person charges? I believe that the usual percentage discounts do not include either of those.

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So I ended up continuing to call more HVACs for another hour (until 3 am) and suggested an option of hard starting the fan since it’s probably the capacitor that fried. I finally got a call back from one of the companies at 7:30 am. Also called back the first one at 6:45 to see how many were ahead of me now and they said they would forward the inquiry to the local office handling it (they are a national company that I have used before). It’s an hour later and I am about to call them again because I haven’t heard anything.

Now the guest is writing and asking for 50% refund because they didn’t get to sleep much. They could have (and I recommended multiple times) opened the windows and back door (that have screens) and turned on the ceiling fans in each bedroom and the living room since it was 73 degrees outside.

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So at this point I am a bit over it with them.

I sent them this (was going to just send the last part but they’re going to give me a bad review anyways so the money is more important to me at this point. They are asking for too much and the way they started off (although all the “it’s perfect!” When they got in was nice) put me in the wrong mood about them).

“ Except that the huge setting difference you may have set it on while you were gone all day may have contributed to, if not caused, the break. When you returned briefly before dinner it had cooled but obviously was starting to heat back up because it had broken by then. While you didn’t sign up to have the HVAC break during your stay, I did not sign up to have you break it with you setting such a huge temperature difference, especially when you weren’t even there. I understand the time and hassle I have to get someone out to repair it is part of the job of Host but having the HVAC broken, even unintentionally, is not.

AirBnB will likely support a 30% discount. I will need to get the feedback of the HVAC tech before considering more.”

Now they are storing all their stuff in my crawl space and I assume planning to come back for it later…they did not ask or I would have had them leave it in the house. I have half a mind to have my friend go take pictures of it and move it so it’s not in there when HVAC comes to repair (or Jenni get home) and/or lock up the crawl space. They will be trespassing when they come back anyways.

Yes, I am sick of the problems of renting AirBnB already and soooo wish I had been able to get the thermostat installed before renting out this time. I had figured it was just for one week and even if they left it on it would be fine. But was I wrong.

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I think a refund is warranted. They should not have to think about AC— it should just work. I try to have the house at a comfortable temperature on arrival so guests don’t mess with it too much.

It sounds like you opened a bit too early and weren’t in a position to manage things properly this weekend. You end up with a bit of money and a bit of knowledge about what you need to look after in this house, so it’s not a total loss.

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Agreed but not 50% at THE PEAK rental weekend of approximately every 4 years. Although I still do think that them setting it 10+ degrees lower before 11am where it ran for over 7.5 hours straight while they weren’t even there was the cause. I will see what the HVAC tech thinks.

And I could be wrong about them putting their stuff in the crawl space, time will tell. They may have given it to the neighbor.

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I see many excuses for not hosting properly - not having HVAC equipment installed completely before the guests arrived (“I did not have time to get my smart thermostat installed”), somehow it is the guest’s issue that you mishandled their request for reservation charges (“I was still asleep in a nap”), mishandled their smart lock access change (“I expected it would have been longer due to traffic).”), did not clearly communicate your ac info ("I wanted to tell them to only set it a few degrees lower at a time by trying to be nice and since it is US Open pricing "), complain about the guests’ dinner schedule (“Less than 3 minutes after he leaves the guests return. I guess they didn’t take long to eat after all…”), etc etc etc.

As a new host, these are expected I suppose; you will soon learn that your issues should not impact a guests’ stay.

I have a different TL;DR for this posting:

“New airbnb owner did not have the unit ready for guests and lacks the hospitality skills to make them happy during their stay when chaos ensues as their HVAC breaks down, and wants to shift the blame to the guests; comes to this forum to be validated”

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I am not a new AirBnB Host…just a new house and I haven’t been doing it for a few years but yes, you are correct that I will continue to learn and I had excuses for my side of things. I would have let them in earlier had they actually responded to my question of when.

I very much appreciate your feedback, especially as I come back to hosting again. I guess you have forgotten me having been a regular here up to about the middle of Covid. No worries. Lots of Hosts come and go on here. Glad to see you are still here!

I do still wonder what level of refund you think appropriate.

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Whatever will make the guest happy. You can ask them.

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They said 50% but I’m not willing to do that much unless forced by AirBnB. Even then it wouldn’t be a willingly…lol. Thank you though. Would you have said the same if the guest asked for 75% or 100%? Serious question.

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Such an important weekend deserved your full attention. I do think 50% is reasonable if that will satisfy them.

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Agreed. And it did get my full attention. I closed on the house shortly before and spent every day (into the nights) getting it set up more and more each day, including getting help moving the big stuff when I could and purchasing furniture I could have deliver and put together myself.

I had tried to close months before but it didn’t work out. Yes, my problem w the HVAC. I appreciate your response. I’m not a very tolerant host when people are not respectful.

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It doesn’t matter if they caused it to break by setting it too low unless you had house rule that the A/C couldn’t be set below a certain temperature (and a sign at the thermostat if you want it to be noticed). And 70 doesn’t sound all that low, anyway.

It doesn’t help that they seem to be argumentative and that you seem to be a bit short-tempered on this, probably due to still feeling unwell still.

But you need to take a deep breath (hopefully you got a lot of this out of your system by venting to us!) and focus on getting the A/C fixed. AirBnB will probably refund at least 30% if the guests call them. And, yes, you are going to get a poor review on this. You may get a slightly better review if you acquiesce to their 50% refund request, and you might also avoid an ABB CS rep deciding they need to be fully refunded. It’s a b*tch when you have an amenity issue when the guests are not understanding people.

But you mentioned something odd - you said they are storing things in your crawl space. Did they leave it there after checking out? If they are still there and within their booked stay, I would discourage you from prolonging this disagreement by having your friend take pictures. Just let it go.

(And I recognized your name and know you are experienced, but don’t be too hard on yourself - I’m sure almost everyone that’s in this business has a time that they wished they would have handled differently or would have ended differently).

Good luck, and I hope things (and you) get better soon.

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By the way, I live in Houston and our A/C units run 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the heat of the summer. That doesn’t cause them to break. And you should not have to “step it down” by setting it progressively lower as the house cools down.

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They paid what you asked. Whatever the difference in pricing is from other times does not affect this issue - a percentage refund - and you will need to understand it from their perspective: part of their stay was not good.

Your problems / costs / issues / sleep time / is not theirs.

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Yes, thank you. Being sick, out of town for a week straight working and now dealing with this on less than 3 hours sleep is extra draining and I am extra short tempered. I’m sure I’d be much more understanding if they were more responsive while I was trying to help them, hadn’t let themselves in through the off limits garage that I apparently left unlocked and brought more people than they booked. Yes, it certainly helped to vent here. A big part of why I came here.

The crawl space stuff seemed to be mostly food from what I could see at the tops of the boxes. They may have brought it over to the neighbor on that side of the house instead of putting it in the crawl space. I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. They did supposedly come from half way across the country so probably flew and won’t take it back with them. Not that it determines anything but they were talking about their latest plane that they bought so it’s probably less likely that they will actually come back for it (unless maybe it was their plane that they flew here, lol).

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73 degrees outside and they needed AC. In a word, ridiculous.

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Oh wow! Ok. That’s good to know. That was not what my previous HVAC guys have said. When you say run 24/7 do you mean actually motors running and pushing cold air that whole time?

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At that point they were just looking for a refund. They seemingly didn’t follow my suggestion because when they left one guy said it’s hotter inside than out here!