AirBnB nightmare for partner having cancer treatment. - reclaim costs ? dispute ?

problemUser

I booked an Airbnb at the beginning of aug, for 33 days, just 450m from the cancer radiotherapy centre for two adults & two dogs. Treatment started the very next morning. Because it was during the school holidays, and for 33d we paid a high price (£2700+). The host was informed upfront about the cancer treatment.
Upon arrival, we found things missing (hoover etc), filthy oven, paw-prints on the wall in the bathroom and so on. We took photos etc, (but not an all round video) sent them to the host and the next day or so, the cleaner turned up and rectified the oven and wall. “sorry, I’ll have a word with the cleaners”
It wasn’t long before there was other issues, second bed turned out to be the settee, no linen, etc etc. Each time the host was informed but before long the host decided we were just being “picky”
Few days later we informed the host that the patio (for the dogs) contained a large box filled with dog waste and again considered unacceptable.
Things deteriorated, “never had guests of your standard” etc etc.
All the time, the partner was undergoing radiotherapy and slowly became very tired, sick, suffered diarrhoea, all expected and classic symptoms of radiotherapy.
Clothes seemed to go missing from the communual laundry area. Convinced something wasn’t right we found £500 missing from the flat. This was reported to the police (and policed visited with crime number).
From then on, we started to get the messages saying “we’ve damaged the flat, the dogs are out of control,” etc etc. Still the radiotherapy continued.
The host demanded access wanting to assess the damage and do an inventory – refused in writing, and then many messages saying “my flat, I have the right to enter”

All of this was documented thru the Airbnb app so a full trace was available. Ended up sending the host a “cease and desist” letter but still the abuse kept coming.
We appealed to Airbnb and was offered 3 days In a hotel, then up to us to pay the rest (10 more days) rent somewhere. (having already paid out £2700+)
We refused this offer as cancer care was still ongoing and being disabled just did not want to move everything. The partner’s immune system was compromised.
After 33 days, the stay was complete so we moved out (couldn’t clean cos we didn’t have a hover) carefully taking a video of the whole flat.
Now (back home) we’ve received a demand for £3500 “for damages” (sofa £1700+, carpets £500+, missing bedding, etc etc etc)
AirBnb want pictures to allow us to dispute the damages, but I can’t photo missing hoovers ! Unless you know how)
Everything we say (with over 150+ messages) going thru Airbnb app, to support is turned down.
We’ve had a claim for “discrimination” levelled against us, but they won’t tell us what the discrimination is. We’ve just been cleared of discrimination by airBnB
Its turned into a farce.

if the story couldn’t get any worse, during the stay, the daughter gave birth by cesarian and blood transfusion in hospital number 2 , and the mother had a serious leg injury, now in hospital 3 ) daughter, baby & mum now out and doing well.

We’ve cancelled the credit card to prevent them charging us for the damage
What the heck do we do now with Airbnb and this host making all sorts of allegations just so that some poor mug (me) pays for all the past damage

user1977

Tell them you'll see them in court. I doubt they will bother pursuing it unless they really think they've got a sound case.

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, if you're confident you can defend all of their claims, the onus is on them to provide sufficient reasonable evidence that you owe the money 

eskbanker

problemUser said:

We’ve cancelled the credit card to prevent them charging us for the damage

Did your card provider say that it would have this effect (it often doesn't)?

MyRealNameToo

problemUser said:
We’ve cancelled the credit card to prevent them charging us for the damage

The card or the account? In most cases, though can't say definitively for AirBnB, a CPA will be used in these scenarios in which case cancelling the card does absolutely nothing and the payment can still go through. Cancelling the account will block payments be taken but obviously you need a zero balance to cancel an account so it can take time if you've not been paying the card off in full every month. 

It sounds like the host has had a combination of some not great guests in the past and a cleaner thats been doing a lax job. Dont know if the host is local to the property but it certainly can be an issue with remote hosts. 

It does also sound like you were a pain too, possibly understandable in the circumstances. 

You had no right to refuse entry for the owner. This is not an AST and you do not have protected rights as you would as a tenant. It's their property and you are their guest. 

Ultimately see what evidence the host presents of the damage, write your defence. Hopefully they dont take payment in which case it's down to them if they want to litigate against you. If they do take payment then obviously the tables are reversed and it's up to you to decide if you want to go to court to try and bet the monies back.