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?

Having an Airbnb is a business. It’s not a hobby. They charge crazy amounts so if it takes the host paying the cleaner another hours salary to pop it in the post office on her way home, then so be it. It’s all part of running a business. In the same way that the host would have to pay for any reasonable repairs etc.

They charge a bomb these days, they can afford to help out every now and then - if they’re a decent host.

So what’s the cost of living in Paris got to do with returning AirPods? And

.

OP seems to want the AirPods returned for free. The Airbnb shouldn’t be out of pocket in an expensive city because of OP.

It would take about an hour out of my day plus petrol to return an item. And I don’t really have a spare hour in my day, so it would mean not doing something else. I’d have to go at lunch time, and I only get half an hour lunch, so I’d have to work later to make up the time.

You air bnb fee did not cover this extra service, and it’s reasonable for her to charge what it’s costing ( her hourly rate plus petrol etc costs plus inconvenience as it’s out with her normal work).

It was your responsibility to check over the room/ or apartment before you left,

Yeah I think I’d be happy to pay the postage but the £50 ontop seems like they are just trying their luck? I left a dvd ( few years ago now) in a villa in France one holiday, and the owners posted that back and didn’t ask for anything. Have you checked if they have said it’s to purchase a better postage so tracked and signed or something?

It sounds steep, but I guess by the time you've added up all the time spent on this plus queueing on post office plus I'm guessing twenty euros for the insured letter plus a bit of packaging plus a tenner on top for the hell of it, it's acutally a reasonable if mean figure.

I don’t see anywhere she expects them for free? It’s the ridiculous amount that she’s unhappy with.

But again France and Paris being expensive seems irrelevant in this instance.

Exc

Except the postage is on top of the £50

Because she didn’t say she would be happy to pay a lower price / the actual cost of delivery.

She thought she’d just say send them and they would send them for free.

Their time and trouble will cost more.

Do you want to spend £200 on new AirPods? If not, suck it up and pay. Yes it’s a bit of a piss take but you left them there.

So they should work for free for you? Can you imagine how much time it would take to be constantly sending back packages for people. Posting packages is time consuming they have to be wrapped up and taken to the post office. £50 seems reasonable recompense to cover time and cost of postage.

So if the hosts don't live anywhere nearby, should the staff who end up having to organise the return be expected to do it unpaid?

And how is it 'awful service' when it was never part of the agreed deal in the first place? That's like me leaving a bad review for my MoT garage because, although they did all of the car stuff well and efficiently as agreed, they wouldn't also make me some sandwiches and bring them over to me a week later!

True, but that was based on the very reasonable scenario where thw owner doesn't live nearby!

It was mainly borne out of frustration at the posters who seem to have main character syndrome and make out like it's a 30-second job that takes no effort at all and is virtually cost-free.

I bet they haven't checked out the cost for that one particular item - why would they want to waste even more of their tine?

They probably just have a set fee for everybody who leaves anything, and they charge a considerable amount to reflect the massive faff it is to them.

You think £50 is reasonable for popping something in an envelope and going to the post office?? Come on now! 🤯

We all have to go out and about at some point during the week…they could say ‘yeah, I’ll send them, it will cost X postage and the packaging will be X, but you’ll have to wait until Thursday when I’ll next be in town.’

No non-mercenary person would charge someone £50, on top of postage and packaging, to do this!!

Also…what ‘staff’ are you talking about?? How many ‘staff’ do you think this would take?? They’re AirPods, not a fucking wild boar 🐗 they’re posting!!

If I had to pay a housekeeper to do this she would charge me £30. That's a flat fee for a call out.

My friend has some guests who left their passports behind once. Her housekeeper actually lives a 45 minute drive away. So she would have charged for her travel time plus paying for parking plus the time it took to go to the post office. So muggins here returned the passports which took me an hour.

A tenner tops for time in trouble and then postage on top.It takes only a couple of minutes to print off a Royal mail label and then it's small enough just to drop into the nearest postbox. £50 is pure greed.

Terrible customer service though

It's not terrible. Terrible would be ignoring the guests message about left behind property, which they can legally do.

You can call them greedy for charging you to return your property, but at least they are prepared to do it. They can call you rude names for leaving behind expensive items. If you don't like their terms for returning your property, just organise your own courier, out of your own time, as others have suggested.

You will sound like a total knob if you moan about it in the review.

There's always a chance - I'm very far from perfect - but if I did, I would be accepting that it was my fault for not being more careful and I would be extremely grateful (and feel guilty) for the host/their staff putting themselves out. Naturally I would expect there to be a financial hit that was mine to bear for my error; and I wouldn't be complaining about people not wanting to spend their time 'popping' somewhere for me out of the goodness of their hearts. Yes, if it were a friend or family member I'd been staying with; but not for a stranger running a business.

It's perfectly possible to have patience and understanding for people who have made a mistake, but also acknowledging that there will still be a cost for them to pay for the mistake.

It's not some kind of smugness or self-satisfaction that makes me routinely check before leaving accommodation; it's simply because I don't want to lose/be without my own stuff or have to pay money - and put a stranger to a lot of effort - to get it back again!

It's not even just remembering to take all your own stuff, but also remembering to leave things that aren't yours - primarily the key. It's far from unheard of for people to get back home and find the holiday accommodation key still in their pocket - then not only does the owner have to co-ordinate having to get it back, but also naturally the ongoing worry in the meantime about having a stranger with a key to their property.

It's hardly a high bar to set: that it's an obvious, standard routine part of vacating a property that belongs to somebody else to make sure that you've fully packed before leaving.

If anything, I actually think it's smug and rude to NOT even bother to check around before you leave and run the risk of leaving problems for your host to have to solve after your agreement with them has come to an end.