Event space owner faces retaliation after charging party host $1200 in fraudulent cleaning fees: 'Last I checked? She's offering 50% off all bookings'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
May 5, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

All too often in this modern world, the price that we pay for convenience is an elevated risk of dealing with scammers. They come in all shapes and forms— from the product that looked so great online, which turned out to be completely different in reality, to the hot date from your app of choice, who ended up being a major catfish. You have to be savvy to navigate it all.

Perhaps one of the most common scamming practices that can be found online comes through event space and holiday rental platforms. Many a person has booked a seemingly dreamy Airbnb that turned out nothing like the pictures, or been hit with complaints or extortionate hidden fees by an owner eager to make a few extra bucks. It can be truly frustrating, but the customer isn't always completely powerless to fight back. There are some things that can be done in these situations. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10501879040
    via Denis

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • One person successfully got their own back after the owner of a space that they had rented for an event hit them with an unexpected cleaning charge. Despite leaving the building in a clean and presentable state, the woman told them that they had to pay an extra $1200 fee to clean up the place with some dubious photographic evidence.

    She soon faced the appropriate revenge for her ridiculous claims. The customer is in fact right sometimes.

  • 02

    She charged me $1,200 in “cleaning fees.” So I cleaned her reviews.

    I rented a small event space for a surprise party. The place looked nice online, decent price, and the host seemed polite enough, until after the event. Out of nowhere, she hits me with a $1,200 "deep cleaning" bill. Said we left the place "unusable." Which was wild, because we barely used the kitchen and left it cleaner than we found it.
    via No_Routine7027
  • 03
    I asked for proof. She sent blurry photos of trash...not even ours. I appealed through the booking platform. Denied. She was clearly running a side hustle: scam a few hundred off each booking and hope no one fights too hard. So I did my own cleaning.
    via No_Routine7027
  • 04
    I found her business on every platform I could (Yelp, Google, Facebook, event site) and left detailed, calm, 1-star reviews with photos from our event showing how spotless the place was when we left. Turns out, I wasn't the only one. My reviews picked up traction. Others came forward with the same scam. Within weeks, her rating dropped from 4.8 to 2.9. Last I checked? She's offering 50% off all bookings. Guess someone's trying to clean up her reputation.
    via No_Routine7027
  • 05
    Cheezburger Image 10501879296
    via Random Institute

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 06

    People applauded the retaliation against the unfair charge.

    SnooWords4839 That is great! Now someone you know should rent it out at the 50% and say how horrible the place is even at a steep discount.
    via SnooWords4839
  • 07
    Arguesovereverythin Don't let up. Ask the people that attended the event to also leave terrible reviews. HI, I'll do it too. I was there. I helped you clean. I can't believe they would do this after the great job we did.
    via Arguesovereverythin
  • 08
    Graphite57 At least she didn't come back with "remove your review or we'll take you to court" which appears to be the norm these days.
    via Graphite57
  • 09
    FrostWyrm98 Its such a dumb threat too, burden of proof for defamation is on the plaintiff here, or at least burden to produce (show there's any cause to believe there was any defamation) You have to show that you acted intentionally or with reckless disregard, actually hurt their business, and it was not truthful Just tell them, "Okay do it, and when you lose I will post all of the 'evidence' online and the fact you sue people for telling the truth"
    via FrostWyrm98
  • 10
    57_Eucalyptusbreath Good! Happy you showed the world her dishonesty. Lying has got be made out of style again!
    via 57_Eucalyptusbreath
  • 11
    No_Routine7027 OP And it's so dumb because she could run things properly and still make money. People are becoming so empty these days
    via No_Routine7027
  • 12
    Large_Fudge6833 Good for you! You could file a dispute with your credit card company and I would definitely file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
    via Large_Fudge6833
  • 13
    FreeDOMinic I love this because it is not at all petty. You did the right thing. You didn't just lie down and accept a $1,200 loss (thievery), you did what was the expected normal use of these sites. You helped stop a scammer from taking money that might have upended someone's life in the future. You got the rare opportunity to give someone their just rewards, and you did the thang! Did it right!
    via FreeDOMinic
  • 14
    DrilldoOfConsequence Thank you/for.your service! Folks are too apathetic it seems but stuff like this REALLY burns my biscuit, so be it $5 or $5,000, I will never let scammy sh slide and neither should anyone else if they can help it.
    via DrilldoOfConsequence
  • 15
    PhDTARDIS Good for you! You're doing a public service, warning others before they get ripped off, too.
    via PhDTARDIS
  • 16
    Useless890 She got too greedy. The trick to ripping people off is not to take too much at a time. It has to be a small enough amount that the customer thinks it's not worth a fight. $1200 for cleaning is way too much.
    via Useless890
  • 17
    delulu4drama You deep cleaned her future client possibilities
    via delulu4drama
  • 18
    rocnation88 This is textbook revenge! Thank you, kindly. May we all learn how to do revenge like this
    via rocnation88
  • 19
    Substantial-Shape-35 Good for you
    via Substantial-Shape-35
  • 20
    Stunning-Space-2622 She needs to be shut down and refund the money she took i mean stole from people or go to jail
    via Stunning-Space-2622
  • 21
    SchrodingerAF If the charges are paid via CC - you can do a fraud claim for the $1200 portion with CC company. It is a process. Use all your pics and be professional and calm in the way you describe the issue in your claim. Takes time - about 30-60 days. If the CC is not responsive enough, after 30-45 days you can do a CFPB claim on the CC regarding the handling of your claim. CFPB escalation gets their attention real quick - and you get emails/calls back from another dept of CC and things tend
    via SchrodingerAF
  • 22
    juicytootnotfruit Good. I think cleaning fees are a scam in the first place. It's like VRBO or air BNB when they charge you $150-350 for cleaning fees but ask you to take out the trash, wash and dry the sheets, do the dishes, etc. It's a scam and lazy. Makes me use hotel more because at least I know it's not going to cost me an extra nights worth of money.
    via juicytootnotfruit
  • 23
    MarcusBlueWolf Talk to your card issuer and ask them to force a chargeback on the "cleaning fees"
    via MarcusBlueWolf
  • 24
    SurfSorcerer had to do that with a hotel that wouldn't refund a reservation (that i canceled weeks ahead of time). Got the runaround until I started posting my story on review sites. Then all of a sudden the manager was able to find my phone number
    via SurfSorcerer
  • 25
    talha75 Negative reviews in hospitality/event management industry can make hugeeee difference. Even if the overall rating of the place is good, and I still see some negative reviews, that starts giving me seconds thoughts almost immediately
    via talha75

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Tags

reviews event petty revenge Party scam reddit thread Reddit money cleaning entitled people karma entitled people
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