My first interactions with Kristina were ok. She was responsive and was going to give us the van a few hours earlier than the original time listed.
A week out I decided I wanted to cancel the van rental because I was not comfortable with my decision to rent it. It is a pandemic and I was not ok with the thought of someone being in the van right before my husband and I. I was early enough to get a full refund but WAS ASSURED BY KRISTINA THAT THE VAN WOULD NOT BE RENTED RIGHT BEFORE US. She also said, "You are safer in my van than in the stores. Just saying." I trusted her word and knowing that at least 24 hours before we were renting it no one would be in it made us feel much more comfortable with the COVID-19 situation.
The day of our reservation my husband got dropped off from a friend at the cross street Kristina told us to meet at. We had agreed on meeting at noon. At 12:04 I get a message from her saying that the van won't be ready until 1 because of the previous guest checking out. Oops. I'm not sure if she forgot our entire conversation about the level of sanitation we agreed on but it doesn't matter. What matters is our previous agreement was no longer and now not only is my husband standing on a corner waiting for a van that won't be there, but he and I are back to feeling extremely uncomfortable with the situation and ended up cancelling our reservation. We got $25 back.
Kristina's response to me not being happy about the situation was, "My guest booked after our conversation. I am a super host on Airbnb. I do not cancel bookings. It affects my super host status. There were no other guests prior to your booking when we spoke. The van is sanitized according to Airbnb's specifications for COVID-19. I will not be refunding your booking. If you'd like a credit in the future for another day I'd be happy to do that." Going back to the beginning, I would have cancelled like I originally planned to in time for a full refund had I not trusted her word.
I've asked Kristina for a full refund but she said she will not do that. I have requested a partial refund of half, she declined. She sent me a $58 refund for the driving charge yet I'm still out over half of the funds I put into this trip.
The moral of the story here is you can't always trust people to do the right thing, even during a pandemic. I feel like I have been robbed of not only the funds but also the experience we were looking forward to. Especially during these trying times ,where everyone needs to be really careful and considerate of others, this has not set well with me. The least Kristina could have done is let me know she did in fact book the van to a guest prior to our stay knowing how I felt and then let ME make the decision to cancel in time for a full refund. Instead she put me in a last minute situation where I didn't feel comfortable and lost out on money and a trip that we were really looked forward to.