Guest Broke My TV. What would you do?

[Luke Carl]

I touched on this on one of Pauls posts but here goes.... 

Guest checked in Saturday. Late Saturday night (midnight) I got a message and the thread goes as follows... 

guest: "Hey just FYI your tv is broken Netflix on displays a half screen and the cable box doesn't work. I hooked up my laptop directly to the hdmi cable and nothing" (i'm guessing too much moonshine) 

me: "Interesting that's a brand new tv try putting it on HDMI1, also why are you messing around with cables?"

Guest sends picture with broken screen. It's the left half. 

me: "Why is the tv slid all the way to the left against the wall?" (from what I can tell guest slid it to the left and banged it on the wall to its left which my guess is that's why it's broken. Probably drunkenly trying to get at hdmi inputs to hook up his computer) 

guest: "idk it was like that so i tried casting from my phone and same thing we're just goin to use our laptop. It displays everything else fine until Netflix plays a movie not sure" (so it went from not working at all to working on everything but Netflix which there's no way that's possible. The pic he sent the whole left half of the tv is busted)

Cleaner is headed over now for more info. If it really is trashed I'll have to send handyman to Walmart to replace it today. 

I called airbnb they said send him a resolution (bill) for the price of the TV and see if he pays it. If he doesn't it will get escalated and during the process he still has the right to leave a review. 

This was a $600 55" TLC that I purchased last may so it did't even make it a year. 

I have until 4:00 today (before next guest check in) to file the resolution. 

What would you do?? 

[JJ King]

The communication at this point is a careful dance. It's tricky because you don't want to make the guest mad and have them leave you a bad review but you also need to get paid for them breaking your TV. 

I say file the resolution ASAP, because as you know you need to get it in before the next reservation starts. 

We can assume the guest is not going to shell out $600 for the TV so you will need to wait a few days to escalate it. I'm not sure if you've dealt with airbnb escalated cases but it is a pain and they will do everything they can to not pay you. Make sure to document everything. Screenshot the conversations, take pictures of the broken TV screen, original receipt of the TV helps. If you can take a picture of the serial number and find the same TV online that will suffice. The new receipt helps but if its more expensive than the old TV they won't cover the extra cost. 

Good luck! 

[Luke Carl]

**** I checked Walmart.com the TV is actually $399. Which makes me less interested in pursuing this. 

[Eric A.]

I would file the claim immediately and if there is a review submitted by him you can preempt his with a, “Nice guest and we were able to resolve the accidental broken TV. Thanks to AirBNB for all their help and insurance.”. This way if a bad review gets written you are on the record.

[Paul Sandhu]

Chalk it up to the cost of doing business, get over it and get on with your life, but make it a learning experience.

But in the future you need to be more careful on how the HDTV was placed.  Friday I went to one of my STRs with 6 twentysomething year old guys in it.  The entertainment center is right by the front door, and the HDTV had a crack and no picture in the corner closest to the door.  I'm pretty sure they were carrying something big after working 12 hours and knocked something onto the screen.  It was a 40" HDTV that I bought from an estate sale for about $100.  One days rent paid for the tv.  

What did I learn from it?  Position the televisions so that they are out of harms way.  I think mounting it high on the wall would have prevented this from happening to me. I'll take the broken HDTV and mount it on the wall of a bedroom (replacing an old style tv).  I'll get a new HDTV and mount it on the wall of the living room.

[Luke Carl]

This tv was mounted on the wall above the fireplace almost at the ceiling in a 600sq ft 2 person honeymoon cabin in the mountains. There were no factory workers or pornos or plastic bins involved.
Ok I can’t be sure about the porno.

[Mark Hughes]

That’s a tricky one. why I prefer long term rentals as they are unfurnished.

[Dave Homyak]

Had an issue where guests broke 2 chairs and snapped the bottom footrail off a bed.  Just guessing alcohol and friends were involved.  Either way, asked to be compensated.  Guest was irritated, and wrote review that the house had mold and 3 people were hospitalized.  This after they completed a 4 day stay.  AirBnb said they couldn't take down the ridiculous review.  If the person isn't an entitled millennial, you may fare better if you ask for money for the TV.

[Luke Carl]

Mark Hughes this is the vacation rental forum you’re in the wrong place. Come hang over here when you’re ready to make some big dough ;)

Dave Homyak I do agree with you that AirBnB beats the crap out of us over reviews and generally leans towards taking the guests side but I’ve got to tell you I’m not excited about all of the millennial cracks in this forum. How is that any different than stereotyping due to race or sex? This is the vacation rental forum we should all be aware that we can’t discriminate due to age.

[David Zheng]

if your airbnb is in a heavy traffic area and you plan to be using this rental as an airbnb for a while, I would craiglist a replacement TV for $200 and call it a day. but tell the guest to give you a superb review for not burning his a$$

[Luke Carl]

Good news! We tested the TV after check out and it turns out there’s nothing wrong with it. False alarm! Guest must have had way too much moonshine. It’s hard to imagine a millennial AirBnB user that can’t figure out a smart tv ;)

Thanks for all the great advice anyway.

[Paul Sandhu]

@Mark Hughes This is also the Short Term Rental forum.  My renters work short term jobs on large metal erections at a petrochemical refinery and nitrogen fertilizer plant.

[Grant Rothenburger]

@Luke Carl Take that loss and move one imo.

[Dave Homyak]

 Agreed.  Should have gone with entitled person.  Thanks for calling that out.  

[Joe Splitrock]

How many millenials does it take to change a light bulb? Only one as long as they have a wifi connection. 

[Philip Williams]

Yeah the millennial hate is pretty ridiculous, you do know some of us are actually on bigger pockets investing just like you guys are smh. Guess i'm just entitled to not want to be labeled, perhaps I don't pay my bills or debts either because of my age right @Dave Homyak

[Richard Ibeh]

I usually purchase the nonsmart TVs and buy a Roku, Apple TV or chromecast separately for that exact reason. 

It's really hard to argue that a "dumb TV" randomly broke- it's either accidental, intentional or age.