AirBNB Guest Refuses To Leave Condo
2014 Jul 22, 4:43am 3,158 views 19 comments
by zzyzzx follow (9)
Comments 1 - 19 of 19 Search these comments
Tenpoundbass
2014 Jul 22, 5:03am
Well I'll be sure to give that guy a thumbs down on his profile page.
That will right this injustice.
The Original Bankster
2014 Jul 22, 5:06am
Well I'll be sure to give that guy a thumbs down on his profile page.
That will right this injustice.
did you know that social media is complete shit?
the best restaurants always have the worst yelp reviews. everything on facebook is utter shit and theyre spying on you while you look at it. why social media?
New Renter
2014 Jul 22, 6:54am
APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says
M134, waist-level burst from the street across the house. Guy will bleed out in an hour. Call in a cleaning crew and they'll have the place in shape to rent again in an house.
Just call the police and tell them there is an infant in a crib inside.
A few flash bangs later and your problem is solved!
lostand confused
2014 Jul 22, 8:37am
I just don't get this. Why do scum like these get rights and not the owners? If it is your property, you have the right to kick them out, not have the law stacked against you.
But then of course you have rent control, tenants rights, etc-sheesh-what a mess.
MisdemeanorRebel
2014 Jul 22, 8:40am
this is hilarious.
Oops, Greedbags!
My prediction for the next year or so is that an Uber driver rapes or robs somebody, false name or unable to locate the perp, maybe the car itself is stolen. Somebody will start talking about background checks and licensing, but isn that what we do with cab drivers right now?
Ceffer
2014 Jul 22, 8:44am
He was probably operating a portable meth lab "Breaking Bad" style, or using her internet connection to conduct a Ponzi scheme. 1k to 7K a day, indeed.
If you are thinking about poorly screened, temporary tenants, watch the movie "Pacific Heights".
Possession is nine tenths of the law, and you have just given your place away to somebody.
Huh? She was priced out of the SF market so she bought a condo in Palm Springs.....just because? And she can't afford to own that condo unless she rents it out to total strangers.
Yeah that's a smart woman.
this is hilarious.
Oops, Greedbags!
My prediction for the next year or so is that an Uber driver rapes or robs somebody, false name or unable to locate the perp, maybe the car itself is stolen. Somebody will start talking about background checks and licensing, but isn that what we do with cab drivers right now?
I'd wager that this happens as often with cab drivers, but it will be used to squash services such s as AirBnB and Uber. Most of my overseas friends who are planning on visiting SF usually send an email asking if I know any cheaper way of lodging since they cannot get anything below $200 per night in downtown, so I refer them to AirBnB.
How worthless is her dad, driving by seeing the door wide open, and just taking pictures??
Use your brain, dumbass. Smoke a fat blunt of some raw chronic out front whil you 'anonymously' call police to address with complaint of sounds of a struggling female being attacked and the smell of drugs. When you're almost done with the blunt, walk in the open door, cold cock the squatter and knock him unconscious,,,and leave the blunt burning in the ashtray. Cops will haul his off, problem solved
The Original Bankster
2014 Jul 23, 2:47am
this is hilarious.
Oops, Greedbags!
My prediction for the next year or so is that an Uber driver rapes or robs somebody, false name or unable to locate the perp, maybe the car itself is stolen. Somebody will start talking about background checks and licensing, but isn that what we do with cab drivers right now?
we had this years ago in NYC with gypsy cabs. but whatever some VC is making a bundle here and isn't that what this is all about?
The Original Bankster
2014 Jul 23, 2:49am
this is hilarious.
Oops, Greedbags!
My prediction for the next year or so is that an Uber driver rapes or robs somebody, false name or unable to locate the perp, maybe the car itself is stolen. Somebody will start talking about background checks and licensing, but isn that what we do with cab drivers right now?
I'd wager that this happens as often with cab drivers, but it will be used to squash services such s as AirBnB and Uber. Most of my overseas friends who are planning on visiting SF usually send an email asking if I know any cheaper way of lodging since they cannot get anything below $200 per night in downtown, so I refer them to AirBnB.
I did AirBNB once. it was awkward, not in the least bit cheaper, and resulted in some weird static with a friend. why do we insist on doing things in this utterly retarded way?
also Uber has been done before in Germany with Mitfahrgelegenheit and if you ever used this system you would know that most of the rides are from professional providers. It started as a 'ride share' and ended as just another network for taxi cabs to advertise on.
I did AirBNB once. it was awkward, not in the least bit cheaper, and resulted in some weird static with a friend. why do we insist on doing things in this utterly retarded way?
also Uber has been done before in Germany with Mitfahrgelegenheit and if you ever used this system you would know that most of the rides are from professional providers. It started as a 'ride share' and ended as just another network for taxi cabs to advertise on.
I never used Uber so far (the App is creepy as it wants access to all your data) and have shied away from AirBnB for exactly what happened to this person. And the valuations are completely insane. But these ventures arise due to a lack of service or price fixing. Maybe AirBnb is not worth it for most cities, but in SF hotels are just too expensive for the average family, esp. if they have to rent multiple rooms.
The Original Bankster
2014 Jul 23, 3:04am
what isn't expensive?
you can't even participate in the economy anymore unless youre a billionaire. you can't even claim a fucking business idea these days without some rockefeller patenting it.
"I think I'll sell hot dogs for $1!"
"sorry- that's patented, free market bro!"
Peter P
2014 Jul 23, 3:04am
My wife likes to use airbnb but I don't. A hotel room is infinitely better. You know, what if I want a fruit salad at 2am?
Uber is great though.
The Original Bankster
2014 Jul 23, 3:07am
My wife likes to use airbnb but I don't. A hotel room is infinitely better. You know, what if I want a fruit salad at 2am?
Uber is great though.
it's so exploitable. in NYC they had problems with muggings, abductions, lots of issues. and theyre all going to happen again and Uber will disclaim any responsibility, fix the prices, sell promo rights, and make a bundle.
Peter P
2014 Jul 23, 3:14am
it's so exploitable. in NYC they had problems with muggings, abductions, lots of issues. and theyre all going to happen again and Uber will disclaim any responsibility, fix the prices, sell promo rights, and make a bundle.
The model seems to work. I also use Lyft. Hopefully they will iron out the issues. My experience has been pretty good.
zzyzzx
2014 Aug 28, 2:03am
They finally left!
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/08/21/airbnb-squatters-leave-palm-springs-condo/
Airbnb squatters leave Palm Springs condo
The long, strange saga of the Airbnb squatters has concluded with the two brothers sneaking out of a Palm Springs condo.
“It’s almost like closure, but I still feel very emotionally and mentally uneasy,†said Cory Tschogl, who rented out her Southern California vacation pad to Maksym and Denys Pashanin in late May, only to have them stop paying after 30 days and refusing to leave. That was just long enough to gain them renters’ rights under California law, making eviction an expensive and drawn-out process.
No one saw the brothers leave. But a combination of sources — the neighbors, Tschogl’s father who lived nearby and often checked on the condo, and what she called a “24-hour stakeout private investigation service†hired by Airbnb — eventually concluded that they had vanished.
The Pashanins missed an Aug. 19 deadline to respond in writing to an unlawful detainer notice, which legally returned the condo to Tschogl’s possession. She flew down on Aug. 20 and did a walk-through.
“I was pleasantly surprised there was no obvious damage,†she said. “There was more wear and tear than you’d expect, but no holes in the wall or anything crazy like a hurricane blew through it.â€
The case attracted a feverish pitch of media interest since it was first reported by The Chronicle in late July. Along the way, it emerged that the brothers had raised $40,000 for a Kickstarter game that never materialized, Airbnb and Kickstarter both banned the brothers, and Maksym Pashanin (or someone with access to his account) crowed on Kickstarter that he would “squat again.â€
“The press involvement led by (The Chronicle) pushed everything forward so (the squatters left) four months earlier than expected, and I’m very grateful,†Tschogl said. “As crazy and stressful as the media attention was, I’m happy the story went viral.â€
Airbnb, which initially had lagged in responding to Tschogl’s anxious calls and e-mails about the situation, stepped up much more after media involvement, she said.
“Airbnb covered almost all of my out-of-pocket expenses to the point where I feel satisfied,†she said. “I feel again, grateful to (The Chronicle) and media for getting involved, I think the reimbursement from Airbnb happened in parallel with the press coverage.â€
Tschogl said she doesn’t feel able to keep the condo. “I’m not even staying there; I’m in a hotel,†she said. “I felt violated by what happened.â€
The income from guests who paid around $450 a week helped meet her expenses for the mortgage, taxes and insurance.
That's a creative way of managing a bigass jumbo mortgage.
http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Squatters-don-t-sit-well-with-Airbnb-hosts-5631952.php
Cory Tschogl says she has an Airbnb squatter - a guest who rented her Palm Springs vacation condominium, then stopped paying rent, refused to leave and threatened her with legal action.
"It's a horror story," said Tschogl, 39, who lives in San Francisco.
It's also a cautionary tale, illustrating the tenuous nature of new marketplaces that let people rent homes or rooms to strangers.
Although Airbnb and similar platforms use reviews of hosts and guests to try to weed out bad players, and require credit card information from guests, those systems are far from ironclad. And although Airbnb has a $10 billion valuation and handles more than 600,000 temporary rentals worldwide, it's still a startup whose customer service sometimes seems to lag.
Tschogl said she begged Airbnb for help through numerous e-mails and phone calls without getting much assistance.
Now she's hired a lawyer, who will cost several thousand dollars and take three to six months to evict the tenant, who now has renters' protections under California law because he has occupied the unit over 30 days.
Similar issues can arise with any tenants, of course, whether they book through Airbnb or find a place through the classifieds.
"Our initial response to this inquiry didn't meet the standards we set for ourselves and we've apologized to this host," said Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas in a statement. "In the last week, officials from our team have been in incredibly close contact with this host and she has been paid the full cost of the reservation and we're working with her to provide additional support as we move forward."
Tschogl, who works as a rehabilitation therapist for blind and low-vision people, was priced out of the San Francisco housing market, so she bought a one-bedroom condo in a gated Palm Springs community 18 months ago. She visits it often and her father lives nearby.
Income has helped
She's rented it occasionally through Airbnb and Flipkey for about a year. The income from guests who paid around $450 a week helped meet her expenses for the mortgage, taxes and insurance.
But her current tenant's stay had issues from the beginning.
"When he first checked in, he complained about the tap water - it's hard water with minerals because it's in the desert," Tschogl said. "My gut alarm-bell went off. I agreed to give him a full refund, not even charging a cleaning fee. But then he changed his mind and decided to stay."
The guest booked the space for 44 days from May 25 to July 8 and paid for the first month in advance through Airbnb. After 30 days, Airbnb notified Tschogl that its attempts to collect the balance due "did not succeed" without specifying why. The company eventually paid her the two weeks' missing rent.
After numerous e-mails and calls from Tschogl, Airbnb offered to pay for the man to stay at a hotel for 30 days, but said he didn't respond to e-mails and his phone was disconnected.
Once the 44 days were up, Tschogl texted the renter that his reservation contract was over and that the power would be shut off in 24 hours.
The guest texted back saying he was legally occupying the condo and that loss of electricity would threaten the work he does at home that brings in $1,000 to $7,000 a day.
The texts threatened to press charges for "blackmail and damages caused by your negligence and malicious misconduct, including $3,800 PID Espresso machine as well as medical bills for my brother's hospital visit after he got sick here drinking unfiltered tap water."
Tschogl realized that she couldn't legally cut off the electricity, although her SoCal Edison account showed daily usage was triple to quadruple normal. Her father went by the unit several times and photographed it with the sliding glass doors and windows wide open, presumably while the air conditioning was going full blast to combat the 114-degree heat.
The guest, whose Airbnb "verified ID" says he is from Austin, Texas, did not respond to e-mail requests for comment and his cell phone did not accept messages.
"Airbnb made the whole process much more complicated than it needed to be," Tschogl said. "They were almost absent. There was no phone number or direct contact e-mail. I got e-mail responses only every 24 to 48 hours."
Copies of her e-mails with Airbnb, reviewed by The Chronicle, showed several delayed answers, for which the customer service representatives apologized. The company became more responsive after Tschogl's sister, a music executive, tweeted a stream of complaints about it in early July.
After The Chronicle contacted Airbnb, the company stepped up its assistance, Tschogl said. That included an e-mail saying "We're prepared to assist with your legal fees ... so we can help alleviate the financial stress caused by the stay."
Positive overall
Tschogl said her previous Airbnb experiences, both as a guest and a host, were positive.
"I understand that Airbnb is an emerging company, and I like the idea of it," she said. "However, I don't think they're equipped to deal with this type of situation. I'd like to see them change some policies and improve customer service so they can help people should something like this happen."
#housing