To Airbnb,
My name is Cohl Klop and I have been in one of your properties listed by your website since February 23, 2017 until now. It is a reservation I made for myself, and my Mom, Michelle Love. We came to Brooklyn New York to visit and celebrate with family. This Airbnb has destroyed my visit in New York.
When I am discussing my visit it is with the understanding that I have saved up money to enjoy my time. This financial investment was not just in the place I would be staying, but also other costs as well. I spent money on plane tickets, transportation, events, sightseeing, dinners, and most importantly my time. The experience of staying at this Airbnb has taken most of that away from my mom and I. We have been burdened with all the issues as well as the time it takes to report them. I have had stay at the property for others to come at their convenience to repair or take care of these problems. I have also had to answer the door to the NYC Dept. of Housing preservation, at all hours letting them in due to complaints about hot water or other health concerns in the building. I have had to tolerate the strong overwhelming odor of insecticides as well as having rodent poisons put all around the apt by my things. On one day I had the displeasure of coming in the apartment only to see a rat sitting right there on my pillow, this cost me as well because I had to launder everything. Speaking of that, I had to buy all my own towels and linens due to the filth that was here. I have suffered through numerous days during my stay of no hot water and was not able to use the living room each and every day that the heater would come on (most my stay has been winter) due to the radiator. I now have to share the bedroom with my mom, although because of the clearly visible broken bed she can barely sleep in it. My mom and I have missed family functions and birthday parties because of these circumstances, we can never get those back. The place with all its filth and disrepair along with the insecticides and rat poisons made my mom sick. She had to finally go to the emergency room. This illness destroyed her 50th birthday, which should have been a huge celebration! We are unable to spend time with my sister being afraid to have her come here as she is pregnant and it is not safe. I am not sure about you at Airbnb but I am not a rich man and had to save up money to enjoy this trip with family. This took me a great deal of time and hard work. As you can see it is not just about the cost of an apartment, I have lost so much more!
I started reporting each of these issues as soon as they became apparent. They have been on-going the entire stay. I have sent video, pictures, NYC heath reports, newspaper reports stating the landlord is a slumlord, hospital reports, and texts between the landlord and myself. There is plenty of proof to the fact that my case is accurate. I also am happy to subpoena all the phone calls that I have placed to your company only to get the run around. There should even be one where the agent forgot to place me on hold only to laugh about my case with her supervisor, whom refused to come to the phone saying her break was more important. I am insulted that your company has the nerve to offer me 25% off my stay. To make this worse, I already have an email saying they would offer me 50% off. What I have lost and missed out on and gone through is worth so much more. I feel I have been more then fair at this time in ONLY requesting that I be reimbursed for my stay. In all reality there is so much more, including hospital bills now as my mom does not have insurance. Even most of the employees I have spoken with on the phone agree with my poor treatment, feel free to pull the recorded calls. I believe your company’s website prides itself on trust and safety. That cannot be true when you market and make money off a product that you do not investigate first. With a little bit of work I was able to ascertain that my host is a NY Slumlord, what if the host had a record for rape/assault how is this safe or trust worthy for my mom or any other guest when the host has a key.
In conclusion, I am not accepting the 25% off or the 50% off. At this time I am asking to be reimbursed for my stay. For now I am not asking for money back from all the events I missed, or for family time I missed, only that you be fair to your customer and reimburse for this terrible situation you put us in. I will be posting this letter as an open letter to Airbnb as well because your company will not provide me with an email or number for anyone who can actually handle my case. Unfortunately, if it is not possible for your company to rectify this situation I will be forced to retain legal help.
Thank you,
Cohl Klop/ Michelle Love
