My Testimony
This is a pretty horrific story. AirBnB found me guilty of violating guest privacy, and in consequence removed money from my host account. AirBnB, despite my repeated requests for the nature of the charge, refused to provide any information, so I was left unable to defend myself. It was a Kafkaesque situation where I was accused, with no knowledge what it was all about, and after a stressful month-long investigation was found guilty.I was only asked if I enter guest accommodation when guests are there
(no!) and if there is a gardener (no!). The two only caveats I could add
were
- I was recently requested to remove a spider from a bathroom. (This I dutifully did without saying "Am I the landlord or staff?" ) :-)
- If guests request an item such as firewood, or something they need while cooking, then I will bring this over.
i.e. only when I am explicitly invited into the accommodation.
The implication was that I was being charged with something like "voyeurism". I joked to friends that if I were to be charged with a sexual perversion then I should wish it to be something much more interesting that mere common or garden voyeurism. But the reality of the situation was horrific for my mental health, and I started to know what it was like to be falsely accused of rape.
I opened around 6 successive support cases with AirBnB to protest my
innocence. Each time the case was closed without my consent, and without
the matter being resolved.
I made a formal "Data Subject Request" to AirBnB. This is a freedom of information mechanism, to get all the personal data held about you. AirBnB refused this request. I reported AirBnB to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for this illegal act.
As the ICO timescale for starting to deal with any case was around 3 months,
I then made a formal "Simple Procedure Claim" against AirBnB using Dundee Sheriff Court. A friend with a legal training, very kindly and usefully explained to me that there had been a clear violation of contract law. The "contract" is that I provide accommodation, and AirBnB pay me. If AirBnB refuse to pay me for a guest's stay, then they need to prove that I have broken the contract in some way by providing evidence.
In my legal claim, I said I would settle for the £250 accommodation fee plus costs provided AirBnB explain what this is all about, otherwise I was asking for £5000. The £5000 is the maximum you can claim with a simple procedure, and indeed this is nowhere near adequate compensation for the hell I have been through.
AirBnB then contacted me directly by email to try and settle out of court. A court case would require them to employ a lawyer. Sadly, this just shows they are defending their own economic bottom line and that this legal action was the only way to get AirBnB to listen to me.
During the negotiations with AirBnB, the date of the problematic stay emerged - presumably in error as they previously told me that their procedures would not allow them to reveal which guests were involved. Anyhow, it was the guests I suspected. Obviously, I am discreet and professional but the basics are that the warning signs were there. The guests exhibited totally inappropriate and strange behaviour from the start, which I won't go into.
What I can say, is that they requested a bottle of wine and then a second bottle of wine. I explained I could only sell this at cost price, and brought these over to their accommodation. When I brought over the second bottle they asked for a tour, but there was no sign they had unpacked or had had their evening meal so as it was that time in the evening, I suggested they might want to dine before the tour as it could take some time.
However, they wanted the tour straight away. I had a vague feeling at that stage that they were not planning on staying. Anyhow, they were really interested during the tour and it ended up being 3 hours long as they had restoration experience themselves. They wanted a "sit down discussion" during the tour (armed with the wine) which seemed to go well. I enjoy talking to people from all over the world and one of my skills is making allowance for oddities as most people have interesting things to say in the right ambiance. :-)
Anyhow, it turned out they left that evening. I only spotted that their car was not around early the next morning and put two and two together.
It also emerged during negotiations with AirBnB that the complaint from the guests was that there were no window coverings such as curtains and this was the privacy violation ?!?!?! AirBnB said they could not reveal the nature of the guest's complaint previously due to their policies, so presumably this is another mistake.
The kitchen wing has shutters. There are visible is the listing photos, mentioned in the listing text, and I had even explained to these guests about using the shutters at night. The guest claim was clearly a "scam" as they wanted a tour but not to pay for the accommodation.
These were canny guests who were "gaming the system". I am perfectly sure they had done this before, and AirBnB had now got themselves into a complete mess: heading for a court case with a completely indefensible case because they would not listen to me. This is let alone the harm they had done to me.
They offered me £250 with "no admission of liability". I said that this was unacceptable because they were entirely liable for what had happened. They then offered me £500. How horrible to try to buy people out rather than attend to justice.
I gave then the following conditions for accepting an out of court settlement:
1. I need an admission from you that you finding me guilty of violating
guest privacy is incorrect and I need an apology in writing.
2. I need an admission from you that the guest claim is false and entirely
without foundation.
3. I need an admission that you have placed me under intolerable stress,
and an apology from you for doing so.
4. I need an investigation into how this miscarriage of justice occurred
within your organisation, and a set of policies that you will action to
prevent this ever happening again. These documents should be sent to me.
Not rocket science!
They sent me another agreement to sign, without the no-liability clause, but it included a gagging clause i.e. I had to keep the case confidential !?!?? I explained that I could not sign this as I had already told my friends about the case and the agreement was already violated.
I was then sent another agreement to sign, that gagged me in the future but excluded my blurtings-out to date ?!?!? I explained that I could not sign this either, because for my mental health I would need to continue talking
about this case into the future - and indeed this blog article is exercising this right i.e. I had to fight to tell you this story so please realise the value of what you are reading.
Eventually, the gagging clause was removed, conditions 1, 2 and 3 were met but AirBnB kept defaulting on 4 despite my repeated attempts at clarification. I presume they were playing "dumb" as this is the condition which would publicly expose the flaws in their system. However, I did the most moral and generous thing, giving them the benefit of the doubt and repeatedly explaining that condition 4 was not met so I could not sign their agreement,
I was trying to hold AirBnB to account: they were not having it.
Eventually, the online "pre-trial hearing" came up at Dundee Sheriff Court. This is where the parties try to mediate to avoid a trial, but this time inside the legal system. AirBnB did not even show up. I was rather back-footed as I had prepared my brief. The judge asked me what I wanted AirBnb to do. I said I wanted my conditions for an out of court settlement to be met. The judge said this was entirely between AirBnB and me, and what did I want to do? I had no idea of what I wanted to do, and said that I didn't understand. I was rather hectored by the judge at this stage. Eventually, I asked for a list of what my options were. These were:
(1) continue negotiating with AirBnB
(2) allow the court to find in my favour - the default for a no show
(2) was the no-brainer. So yes, I did win my case against AirBnB. :-)
AirBnB sent an email saying they would pay the £250 and send the information I required a couple of days later. They have done the former but not the latter. I will need to get back to the Sheriff Court about this.
I then received the "Data Subject Request" information from AirBnB by email. They offered me a compensation payment of £250 for breaking the law. However, they have totally excluded all information about the investigation. AirBnB said that they can assure me that this contains no personal information. I beg to differ. It is likely this contains personal information about me but it would critically reveal either flaws in the AirBnB process or mistakes made in following the AirBnB progress.
I presume a privacy violation does not occur simply because a window has no covering. There has to be a "voyeuristic" act as well which presumably was discussed in reference to my person i.e. someone looking through the window. In fact, the kitchen wing accommodation is isolated at the north of the castle, and no-one passes the kitchen wing windows there anyhow. I need to get back to the ICO.
The horrible thing about litigation is that there is endless evasion in accountability, so cases can go on for years and years as you try to follow through.
The other non-sequitur is that if no window covering created a privacy violation for these guests, then it would have done so for every other guest, and in not pursuing a case for all other stays in the kitchen wing accommodation there is a logical inconsistency in AirBnB reasoning. How can they possibly not make this connection?
This incident is not isolated. There have been 4 other incidents where guests have submitted lies, and in consequence AirBnB have taken punitive action against me - twice removing me from the AirBnB system so no-one could book my accommodation. It has been a nightmare to get things sorted out.
The bigger picture is that these Internet companies have literally become a law unto themselves and act as judge and jury against innocent members of the public. They are not accountable and try to put themselves above the law e.g. ignoring freedom of information requests and not turning up at court. Reform is required. I have done what I can but this was very limited and I suspect this has not reformed this system in the slightest. However, what I can do is provide this testimony.
I have appended the apologies AirBnB eventually provided during our private negotiations. This is a result I guess. :-) At least AirBnB have admitted full responsibility, though I don't think I will be the last person that suffers like this.
AirBnB Apology
Thank you for your previous email dated 26 September 2024. As noted in our email dated 16 September, we sincerely apologise for every convenience caused to yourself as a result of this ordeal. More specifically we apologise for the miscarriage of the privacy claim made against yourself, the original result of the claim made against yourself was incorrect. The claim made against yourself was false and entirely without foundation. We sincerely apologise for the intolerable stress this matter has caused you.
The miscarriage of your privacy claim has been investigated, the result of which investigations determined that the original result of the claim made against yourself was false and entirely without foundation. We assure you that the results of the investigations made, along with feedback in relation to the same, have been provided to the relevant members of the Community Support team that dealt with your original privacy claim so as to prevent any similar miscarriage of Privacy Violations Inquiries in the future.
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