Airbnb host refusing to send AirPods without me paying?

[moryn]

Recently got back from a short break in Paris.

I left my AirPods on the bed, the host refuses to send them back unless I pay £50 plus postage.

AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

To be honest, if the Air BnB host happened to stumble across this thread and saw what a terrible, scammy person they supposedly were for doing a time-consuming task for a stranger and charging for it, they'd probably wish they'd just said they hadn't found the lost item in their property, so it must have been lost/put/left elsewhere, accidentally binned, taken by a subsequent guest or whatever - whether that was true or not.

No but a £50 charge on top of postage is unreasonable!

But the host may not live anywhere near Paris - and be reliant on contractors to do everything necessary to get the place ready for handover to the next guests. Factoring in a fee for cleaning each time, or for arranging major repair works is a predictable part of the standard balance sheet; but if they have a standard call-out fee for every time they have to attend, if numerous guests end up leaving items and wanting them to be posted back to them, that could easily be the difference between making a modest profit (or breaking even to keep the asset going) and making an actual loss over the year.

You can take it or leave it, though, you aren't forced to pay: if the cost is not worth it to you of getting your item back, you're perfectly at liberty to tell them to just keep/bin/get rid of it.

I've been called smug on here for saying so, but it really is why taking two minutes to glance over the whole place just before you leave is basic common sense and part and parcel of staying in holiday/temporary accommodation. Everybody knows that Airpods are both tiny and valuable, so why it wouldn't automatically occur to you to put them somewhere unmissable on your last night absolutely baffles me.

£50 seems steep but I guess if they don't live in Paris they may have to pay an employee overtime (the cleaner maybe) to package and label and go to the post office etc.

£50 seems a bit steep

Could understand charging an admin if explained eg “it’ll be £30 which represents an hour of my property manger’s time”

No, you and others came up with a ridiculous justification for charging £50 for a job that most people would 1) do for free because that's just the nice thing to do and 2) can do in about 10 minutes flat. Other people do have busy lives and yet most people manage to nip to the postbox without it being akin to a trip up Everest.

Airpods aren't restricted, by the way, by La Poste or indeed by most or indeed all couriers. The issue comes with Li batteries that are not connected/ incorporated into a device and this isn't the case here.

If I was OP I would tell the host to do one and buy a new pair rather than let them profit off something like this, because that is all it is.

most people would 1) do for free because that's just the nice thing to do

These things aren't done for free. When the owner doesn't charge, the costs either come out of their profits or are folded into the rental price and shared out amoung all renters, whether they leave things behind or not.

Poor response from the host without explaining the reason for the £50 fee.

As others have mentioned it’s just not a matter of nipping to the post office. This is an EU to non-EU shipment and has extra paperwork and customs charges

£50 for an envelope and a trip to the local post office?? 🫣

Why?

£50!!!! Flipping heck! It might be time and effort but fifty quid!! What has happened to goodwill, and kindness? A jiffy bag, address and post whilst shopping. Agreed postage a a small gratuity, but they really ar trying it on!

Why is there extra paperwork ? There was a small thing called Brexit. That’s why

From the France post website:
Customs declaration forms, accurate descriptions, and commodity codes are mandatory for all shipments post-Brexit.

Doesn’t take £50

They are being dicks. Of course they should charge postage, but an extra £50? Nah. They are in a business where people frequently leave things. They shouldn’t be so rigid

Tough. Be more careful with your belongings. You expect the owner to go to the ballache of : buying a padded envelope, packing the pods, going to the post office, queuing for 15 mins in the post office and spending time communicating with you about the whole thing?

£50 is steep but he/she is probably fed up to the back teeth with guests leaving stuff behind and wanting it returned.

Like 30 seconds to pop them into a small jiffy bag and 2 mins to book a courier to collect them? £50 seems a bit of a pisstake

Me too. I think £50 is really expwsive. Rey are obviously on the make and want to keep them

£50? Plus postage? - behave!

At least the hotel is willing to send these back to you.
The last hotel chain I worked in, we only offered to return property if the guest was living in the UK and we had to receive full payment for the postage from the guest before returning the property. We weren't allowed to return anything outside of the UK.

£50 seems pretty expensive - like they’re being held to ransom.

The figure my brain went to is £20 plus postage. Deters people from asking for daft stuff back but if it’s important you’d pay, but it’s an amount you can probably afford to pay without it affecting you too much.

It’s their problem for running a business remotely! No one’s forced them to profitise from a property that’s hours away from where they live. It’s a business, and good customer service would be to arrange the return of goods without charging unnecessarily high costs.

I was explaining how sending lithium battery products from Europe to the UK is very expensive. Not how it literally applies to this situation, I don't know if the French Air BnB has asked for quotes. So I can't answer that question, obviously.

Postage is ridiculously expensive - I posted a flimsy scarf to France and paid £18 to send it registered / insured - I’m assuming that’s what the Airbnb owner will intend to do. They will need packaging and taking to a post office - which is all a huge faff. Frankly you left them behind - it would be a lovely gesture if the owner only charged you for postage - but with time , nuisance and hassle involved I’m not at all surprised that they are charging £50. Imagine if every guest staying carelessly left items behind?!

They're charging over the odds already. However, I hate queuing in post offices so I have a certain amount of sympathy with their position.

Maybe send a stamped addressed envelope OP and then they can just post them to you?

Edited: I didn't realise it was overseas. That might make it a bigger job.