Crazy guests! Why?

[Michael Baum]

So I got a text from my cleaner that the washer wasn't working. It would go for about 3 minutes then flag an error LO FL. It is a Maytag mid grade front loader.

That error is low flow on the water. Luckily I was driving over with my son to move all his stuff from his apartment to a storage unit at WSU so he can move into a single apartment for his grad school work.

I was thinking it was the 2 water line screens. The city of Harrison ID where our lake house is located have been upgrading the water system. New well, improved pumps and the 2nd well was just turned on. Guests reported some brown water for a short time. I figured the screens had some debris. No big.

I get to the house and get started. I see the trim ring around the outlet box is falling off. It takes me 2 seconds to see that someone turned off the valves. What? Why would anyone do that? Makes no sense. I was able to wash all the laundry overnight before we had to head to WSU and get rolling.

Plus someone stole one of the small heaters I keep in the closets for winter guests if they need extra heat upstairs....dammit....

[Christina B.]

Michael, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hear you on crazy guests. Since I don't want to hijack your thread here, I'm going to start a thread on crazy guests, lol- just so people can vent. Glad you were able to troubleshoot and fix!

[Michael Baum]

Hehe! Thanks @Christina B.. I just left a looong response in your post.

[Patricia Andriolo-Bull]

The joys of short term rental hosting. I've stopped wondering why anyone does anything they do.  Sorry to hear about your situation.  I had a brand new AC put in (May 2024), first guest after snapped the condensation pipe pulled the drain pan clear out.  Over 2 weeks to fix it and $1100.  Others threw onion peels down a disposal and called me that it wasn't working.  Had to pull all the crap out for it to work again.  All I can say is the majority of guests are great and I love doing this, but now and again....

[Nathan M kiefer]

Quote from @Michael Baum:
So I got a text from my cleaner that the washer wasn't working. It would go for about 3 minutes then flag an error LO FL. It is a Maytag mid grade front loader.

That error is low flow on the water. Luckily I was driving over with my son to move all his stuff from his apartment to a storage unit at WSU so he can move into a single apartment for his grad school work.

I was thinking it was the 2 water line screens. The city of Harrison ID where our lake house is located have been upgrading the water system. New well, improved pumps and the 2nd well was just turned on. Guests reported some brown water for a short time. I figured the screens had some debris. No big.

I get to the house and get started. I see the trim ring around the outlet box is falling off. It takes me 2 seconds to see that someone turned off the valves. What? Why would anyone do that? Makes no sense. I was able to wash all the laundry overnight before we had to head to WSU and get rolling.

Plus someone stole one of the small heaters I keep in the closets for winter guests if they need extra heat upstairs....dammit....

 This is why there will always be rentals and strs. The things people do never ceases to amaze me. Just had one complain that they couldn't get the grill going ( a brand new Webber). This was after I had them swap out a tank from the extras we leave there.

the complaint was it was lit then went out. Sent my tech over and they had the flex line to the tank so twisted it cut off flow to lp, new one for me but it's real!

im sure they have a reason in their head they cut off your valves but we will never know lol

[Nathan Gesner]

I'm glad to hear it was an easy fix, but still frustrating. Why would a guest ever shut off water to a washing machine? Unless there's an active leak, there's no reason.

[Andrew Steffens]

Still had a better weekend than I, I think.  Guests shot off fireworks (even though we told all guests not to).  Put hot embers in trash can.  Trash can catches fire.  House catches on fire.  Rental Mercedes catches fire.  Fire Dept arrives and garage door is melted, car is melted.

Guests call us the next day and tell us the neighbors shot fireworks and hit the house and started the fire and we owe them for damages.

We get 3 different camera angles from neighbors clearly showing everything.  One guy plays for the NFL.  Would be a shame if the Colts find out their drunk player started a fire and does not want to pay for damages :)

[Christina B.]

Good grief! There's a story!! Glad you have a good relationship with the neighbors (which is always worth cultivating). If you can, in the future, when things are more settled, could you create a new post letting us know how this situation resolved? Ideally, the guest pays (however that is- whether it's their insurance, etc.). But I'd be curious if your insurance gets dragged in somehow. Thank you!

[Michael Baum]

Holy mackerel @Andrew Steffens! That is a crazy story. How long is the house going to be down?

[Andrew Steffens]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Holy mackerel @Andrew Steffens! That is a crazy story. How long is the house going to be down?

 No idea, luckily it affects the inside 0% so we can continue operations if guests choose to stay.

[Mike Dymski]

"Crazy is what crazy does." - Forrest Gump

[Brooklyn McCarty]

Glad it was a easy fix! 

Whoever took the heaters probably thought you wouldn't notice in the summer time 

[Theresa Harris]

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

Still had a better weekend than I, I think.  Guests shot off fireworks (even though we told all guests not to).  Put hot embers in trash can.  Trash can catches fire.  House catches on fire.  Rental Mercedes catches fire.  Fire Dept arrives and garage door is melted, car is melted.

Guests call us the next day and tell us the neighbors shot fireworks and hit the house and started the fire and we owe them for damages.

We get 3 different camera angles from neighbors clearly showing everything.  One guy plays for the NFL.  Would be a shame if the Colts find out their drunk player started a fire and does not want to pay for damages :)

 Too bad it wasn't his own mercedes.  I'd be sending copies of the video to the car rental company and insurance company, so they also have proof it was the guests' fault.  Glad no one was hurt.

[Dan H.]

It must be the week of bad guests.  I had one checkout a couple days ago.  Checkout is 11AM but I did not check HVAC Until ~7 PM.  

When I checked it, the unit was 61 degrees.  I then looked at recent usage.  My app lets me see the last week or on month level. I wish it let me stroll through each day going back as far as I desire, but it does not.  

 Guest was in 16 nights. For the week
 that was visible, the AC ran virtually 24/7.  I then looked at utility bill and it was near $600 for the month with about 10 days left.  Typical is about $150/month. It appears guest somehow (by setting thermostat at below 61 degrees) about $450 of electricity.   Less impactful but they also used 2 therms/day of gas (either long showers or used the gas fireplace while cooling to 61 degrees.

In addition guest broke closet track and moved football table into the closet.  I question if they

had more than the 8 people that there are beds for.  Why else move a heavy Tornado football table.  

Pm plans to collect from guest.   I have to believe this was intentional waste of energy.

By the way I have now set the min temp to 68 degrees so in the future no one will be able to cool unit to 61 degrees. 

As bad as this is, it is nothing compared to a fire. 

 Crazy guests.   Ugh!

[Adam Bartomeo]

My definition of Crazy Guests far exceeds your definition...

[Nathan M kiefer]

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

Still had a better weekend than I, I think.  Guests shot off fireworks (even though we told all guests not to).  Put hot embers in trash can.  Trash can catches fire.  House catches on fire.  Rental Mercedes catches fire.  Fire Dept arrives and garage door is melted, car is melted.

Guests call us the next day and tell us the neighbors shot fireworks and hit the house and started the fire and we owe them for damages.

We get 3 different camera angles from neighbors clearly showing everything.  One guy plays for the NFL.  Would be a shame if the Colts find out their drunk player started a fire and does not want to pay for damages :)

 Dang, now that is a story!