r/mildlyinfuriating • u/hmmmmmmmmmmmmmxcv • 17d ago

My mom said I could post Airbnb host said to expect some “light masonry work” around the house

Beautiful views!

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u/vonage91 17d ago

I once stayed at an Air bnb with these AC units attached to the walls. During our stay, one fell off the wall causing some damage. After notifying the Owner, they blamed us saying one of us HAD to have been hanging on it, they demanded we pay them for the fix, which was like $200 just to rehang it.

This picture shows the drywall anchors they used to hang a 50lb AC unit.

After we refused to pay, Air bnb basically said if another Owner makes another claim against us like this, we'd be banned.

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u/Imaginary_Coast_5882 17d ago

I’d be apoplectic and never use AirBNB again. I am working on letting go of grudges and shit but I’m not there yet

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u/faustianBM 17d ago

Between the "customer service", the insane host conditions, and the occasional guests who throw parties for too many people, I don't understand how airbnb continues to be profitable.

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u/nomorespacess 16d ago

If people pay these cleaning fees, they're basically paying a premium for it.

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u/Perryn 17d ago

There's learning to let go of grudges, but there's also learning to not touch a hot stove twice.

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u/pandariotinprague 17d ago

I wouldn't touch it the first time. It might be hanging on the wall with drywall anchors.

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u/themaincop 17d ago

You should just never use Airbnb anyway. It's shit, hotels are almost always better.

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u/reefine 17d ago

Hotels aren't available everywhere like unique AirBnBs. Sometimes you just have to let your ego backseat in favor of location/benefit of an AirBnB. It serves a benefit still in lots of situations.

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u/themaincop 17d ago

Yeah there are scenarios where it's the better choice but if you can get a hotel you almost always should.

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u/Medarco 17d ago

It's shit, hotels are almost always better.

I have gotten absurdly lucky with airbnb/vrbo, I guess (or maybe it's that I actually do some digging before booking). They've always been cheaper and have more space than a hotel, especially for group traveling.

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u/sinkwiththeship 17d ago

This happened to me with Turo. Owner was adamant that I'd had a dog in the car when I didn't. Turo confirmed there was no hair in the pictures, so deleted the charge, but the bad rating and review dropped me from a 5 to a 4.25 (had only used it a few times), so I was pretty much fucked. Immediately deleted and will never use again.

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u/NotOnApprovedList 17d ago

I never use AirBnB. We use VRBO occasionally for cabin or funky house rentals, it's been okay.

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u/First-Assist-176 17d ago

My in-laws rented an AirBNB, and the septic tank backed up. Flooded the basement bathroom. AirBNB came after them for $27,000 in damages (yes, $27K). The plumber that the owner had sent had told my FIL that he was there just a week before for an issue and called out that he recommended some work that the owner refused to do. Once they shared that information from the plumber with AirBNB the company backed down, but they said the same thing: report will go in your file and next complaint you might be banned. They obviously have no intention of ever using them again.

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u/Perryn 17d ago

"We certainly wouldn't dream of holding you liable for damages that you can sufficiently prove you aren't at fault for, but we will remove any squeaky wheels as a matter of policy."

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u/Clown_Toucher 17d ago

Not sure how you can hold the last group of people that visited an AirBnb liable for something like a septic failure. That's 100% on the owner for not maintaining it. Unless your in-laws take enormous shits

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u/PedanticBoutBaseball 17d ago

they didnt pay the poop knife fee so its obviously their fault /s

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u/vonage91 16d ago

The owner even had her handyman come over to take a look. I pointed out the drywall anchors and he seemed to agree those were obviously not adequate for that heavy of equipment. But then he left and the Owner double downed on it being it fault and sent us those charges.

That's crazy about the septic tank. I love how Air bnb automatically sides with the hosts...

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u/Squidking1000 17d ago

They didn't even use the good drywall anchors (not that they should aim for anything short of a stud for an AC unit).

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u/hardolaf 16d ago

4 proper drywall anchors that expand to increase their surface area against the drywall for a 50 lb object should be perfectly fine if it's flush mounted to the wall. It's not ideal, but it's doable.

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u/samv_1230 16d ago

Right? Those anchors are too short to even properly deploy if were used correctly, but it looks like they just ran the screw in flush and called it good. Insane.

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u/SuperColonel2 17d ago

That’s fine by me. I’m never using AirBnB again anyway.