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?

Wow! £50, that's terrible. I'm a host and I do now charge people to send things back- cost of postage and packing materials if required- as I get so many things left. I'd never charge a fee though.

Well it’s cheaper than a new pair of AirPods.

£50 seems fair enough tbh given that there will be significant time expended dealing with this for you. They aren't obliged to do anything. If they are going to put in effort then doing so for a few euro is derisory - why bother if you wouldn't earn enough to make a difference? They aren't your friend or your servant. Assuming Postage of around £10 (insured) and packaging materials £3, any fee less than £35 isn't worth bothering at all, £50 is within the range of reasonable and I don't think it's taking the piss till it's £70 or more.

Petrol!!?

Fifty quid is a bit cheeky fucker but par for the course for someone doing AirBnB as a business.

Not an Airbnb but I host international students and if I had to go to the post office to return items they'd forgotten I'd never be at home!

I did once return a coat at the parents' expense only for it to come back to me after their country's postal service had attempted several unsuccessful deliveries.

A quick Google indicates a small parcel from France to the UK is about €17, not sure if that is tracked or insured. You would also want them to buy packaging, parking and time out of their day. How much do you think they should charge?

£50 is very excessive. I would want reassurance they were using a tracked service for that price.

Yes, but your hourly rate for your usual job shouldn't be the rate at which you charge for going to the Post Office.

They’re charging the postage in addition to the £50, you seemed to be thinking they’re charging £50 in total.

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

Why? If thats your rate that's your rate? Why should you do it for less.

Do you think AirBnB owners employ someone whose job it is to post left behind items back to their owners? No, someone else has to do it.

I would imagine they ask
the cleaners to do this type of stuff. Unless they live close by themselves.

£50 is steep but it would take me at least an hour to pack something up and take it to the post office, so it’s fair that a stranger should pay.

Why shouldn’t it though?
Isn’t that exactly why the concept of double time existed? Because most people need to be paid more do so something they don’t necessarily want on on what is typically considered their own time?

I’ll go to the post office to post someone for someone I know and love, but I’m not giving up my personally time for a random. I find it hard to believe most people would truly differ.

£50 probably isn’t far off sendin something line airpods insure internationally…
I just looked up postage from my european home country (insured), and it comes up with almost £30.
And that is without time, packaging etc.

Wow, that's harsh. Just a bit of human decency seems to be a rarity these days. I left my jacket in an Air BnB once and they returned it for the cost of the postage - I did offer more but they declined.

The postage is in addition to the £50!! It says in the OP!

I think this is poor. When I had an Airbnb I'd put in the info that I would return things for the cost of p&p but it wouldn't be immediately but after I next visited. If they wanted the stuff immediately they would need to pay for an hour of the cleaner's time. £50 is OTT.

Cheeky fucker is actually expecting a stranger to go out of their way for your incompetence.

You don't know how much of an inconvenience it is for the host. If they don't live at the property, there will be time and travel to account for. Or maybe they are asked to return lots of things and have got fed up of doing so.

I also find it strange that so many people don't want their stuff back when they realise I want them to pay postage. One woman left two heavy chopping boards and expected me to pay to post them!

Thinking about it my cleaner would charge me £30 to send things back to a guest as that's her call out fee. So if they are relying on someone else who they have to pay to do it then I guess it's reasonable

@moryn of course you should cover the cost of the postage.

I think it's out of order too, but I just wanted to say I have been to French post offices and frankly they are time sucking hellholes. Once I had to queue for so long to collect a parcel that a woman who was also queuing absolutely lost it (I think on seeing another woman get fast tracked) that she was hammering on the staff only door shouting about how the post office employees were treating the customers like dogs. There was a touching moment afterwards where she bonded with the fast-tracked lady, explaining that she didn't blame her for the dystopian nature of the post office management. Everyone else including me just looked at the floor.

Depends if they have facility to use postage that may well be a courier such as DHL which also provides tracking so you cannot claim you never received them.

It is completely reasonable for them to charge a fee for this service. Whether it makes good business sense for them to charge (based on the time/costs incurred vs customer goodwill) is entirely their decision.

I do think £50 + postage is quite steep - if it was me, I'd be weighing up that £50 against the possibility it could result in bad feedback. I think £25 + postage feels more reasonable. But it's their decision.

It could be that they have to take time off work to go to the post office, or lose time they should be spending on their own business. They definitely shouldn't be out of pocket.