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Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

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Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#151

Post by Symmetry »

callahad wrote: post #40
cletus wrote: post #18

As much as some people might view this as "sometimes things go wrong", which is basically true, that's not the whole story. The story here is that people are doing things that in most jurisdictions are illegal. AirBnB is profiting off this. Do something illegal and you can't insure against any negative consequences. The whole EJ situation is a potential inflection point. Without knowing the full facts (which no one s…

> If she has received offers for help, why hasn't she taken it? That might depend on the strings attached to said offers.

I would assume so as well. Asking her to stop talking about the incident would really only make sense if AirB&B had some leverage behind that request. But, of course, we're probably getting a very incomplete view of events and just because I can reconstruct the dribbles of information that make it to me into a compelling narrative doesn't mean that narrative is in any way likely.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#152

Post by dasht »

There is a deep ethical problem with starting or funding airbnb, in my opinion:

The fraction of people with enough sophistication and resources to be good, safe, hosts and guests is a tiny, tiny fraction of the people in the world. It is absurd to think that airbnb could ever scale to justify its investments if only those sophisticated users were customers.

The model relies, therefore, on large numbers of hosts and guests taking foolish risks. Airbnb's light and airy "how it works" video is a fine illustration of just how glib they are in encouraging people to make bad mistakes. The advice on their "safety" page is risible.

Because most people are decent, most foolish risks from using airbnb go "unpunished" but certainly not all - as we've seen. A significant percentage of those risks lead to great loss.

I fear that Airbnb is going to help kill, kidnap, rape or otherwise grievously harm someone's person, directly, at this pace. That's because to make its numbers the company must, needs be, incite dangerously foolish behavior from many customers.

That the investors controlling so many dollars signed off on this investment speaks poorly of the VC system that produced airbnb. It speaks poorly of their common sense and/or dedication to basic social responsibility.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#154

Post by uladzislau »

cletus wrote: post #18

As much as some people might view this as "sometimes things go wrong", which is basically true, that's not the whole story. The story here is that people are doing things that in most jurisdictions are illegal. AirBnB is profiting off this. Do something illegal and you can't insure against any negative consequences. The whole EJ situation is a potential inflection point. Without knowing the full facts (which no one s…

Have you read this new story at all? It's about other man and TC published photos of his ransacked apartment along with emails and talked to him over the phone. No need to speculate. And this new story just confirms what EJ has written in her blog posts. It adds up perfectly.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#155

Post by Klinky »

michael_dorfman wrote: post #30
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual quote from AirBnB: With a single booking, one person’s malicious actions victimized our host and undermined what had been – for 2 million nights – a case study demonstrating that people are fundamentally good. Note it implies this is the only incident that has occurred, but they could have had three million incidents and this statement would still technically be true as long as they had two million nights…

Somehow, I doubt USA Today will be thrilled about being manipulated that way... Somehow, I doubt USA Today will even notice. They get served up far more egregious statements on a daily basis. And, by the way, the statement is literally true, regardless of the number of prior incidents (within reasonable bounds). They aren't claiming a perfect 2million night streak in the quote-- rather, "a case study demonstrating th…

This just highlights major flaws with the AirBnB business model. I think a more accurate quote would have been that it's "a case study demonstrating that a niche group of people with shared goals can act in a fundamentally good way", translating that to the general population is where AirBnB will have it's growing pains.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#156

Post by jcc80 »

llambda wrote: post #121
tptacek wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? "Fishy"? Please stop talking like that. Neither Airbnb nor "EJ" owes us the complete objective retelling of exactly what has transpired between them. When "EJ" doesn't recount absolutely every fact that isn't completely favorable to her cause of action, that doesn't make her a crook. She isn't on trial, and you aren't a jury.

But the result is that Airbnb is taking a PR beating. So if EJ is intentionally misconstruing the facts (or Airbnb for that matter) it is important and relevant. Look, I'm not saying they [Airbnb] are doing everything right. But at the same time, the renters have got to take on some responsibility for handing out their keys to strangers; yes that's what you're doing, is that a surprise? This isn't all on EJ or all on…

She "backtracked" once the co-founder started talking to her about taking down her blog or changing it to put a positive spin on things. Before that she was only talking to the CS reps/CS manager, who were offering support (emotional mostly it seems) & asking how she was doing, etc.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#157

Post by cageface »

turar wrote: post #115

The identity theft aspect brings up a whole new concern. If a renter steals a host's identity without trashing their place, there's no way to know that something went wrong until it's too late. And if the host subsequently rents her place to other guests, there's no way to know who the identify thief is.

Good point. A smart thief would wait a few months before trying to make use of the stolen information.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#159

Post by uladzislau »

This one is even more bizarre story than the first one. The part about left cat and stolen computer is hilarious. I'm sure there should be more to this kind of horror stories from Airbnb, EJ was just the first brave person to come forward on her blog. Kudos to her and Mr. Dayton, otherwise such things could happen to many more Airbnb customers including HN crowd. And everybody who is defending Airbnb now should think how would they feel if something like this happened to them or their home.

Re: Another Airbnb Victim Tells His Story: “There Were Meth Pipes Everywhere”

#160

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #68
timr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But there's something "off" about EJ's position here. Why is a vandalized apartment leaving her homeless?" Put yourself in the position of a person who has just had their apartment burglarized (remember: they stole her personal documents and valuables) and their keys stolen by probable drug addicts. Also, remember that the police have arrested one of the vandals, but probably not all of them. Ignoring, for the momen…

Most everyone on HN is going to agree with what you are saying: that there is a reasonable narrative in which "EJ" is unable to return to her home due to fear. As a recent victim of a comparatively pathetic "violent" crime: that is absolutely something you are concerned about. And that's before we even get to the topic of "can EJ repair the damage done to her home without diminishing the expected return from a settle…

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