Have you been scammed by a guest on Peerspace? If so, how? What have you done as a host to avoid additional scams?
Let’s get a thread going with information that will benefit all of us. None of us want to be scammed.
Thank you for your time.
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Yes. A client damaged my space, I had it on camera and Peerspace did not step up to protect me. They client drug metal cases across our floor which caused us to have to repaint and shut down for a two days and all Peerspace had to say was “You should just buff it out.” It might be a good idea to take enough of a deposit to make sure you can protect your interests. Though that’s a problem as well because you’ll have to rely on Peerspace to give you that money. That said, I’ve mostly had good experiences with clients through Peerspace.
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Haha. It’s a shame to hear about what happened with the HVAC contractor.
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FYI you can take a deposit outside of Peerspace. Kind of a pain if you don’t have another payment processing system already setup but there are no restrictions to charging or handling a deposit off-app.
Most people won’t want to do a cash deposit but you can get a stripe account and run “authorization only” transactions on credit cards. They authorize the amount on the card but don’t charge until you manually submit later. If the authorization isn’t submitted for processing within 7 days it falls off the account.
It’s a little complicated to setup but once done, you can always use it.
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What exactly do ‘crime families’ even do anymore? Aren’t they basically just low-level grifters at this point?
I also charge a deposit after having a renter damage my space. Peerspace did not help with damages. They said the renter needed to “agree” to pay the damages. Obviously they argued and I was never paid for those damages. So, now I charge $200 in advance. I return it after a walk through the day after the event.
I have had clients want to come early, Once was for four hours, supposedly to set up with supposedly only up to three people I gave them half price for this. Another time to come an hour early supposedly to sterilize for covid. This time I didn’t charge. In both cases, they arrived with a full crew. The second one was honest enough to pay for overtime for that. The first, never admitted her wrong-doing and when I charged for overtime at the other time of the booking, made it hell for me to collect and then wrote me a viscous text message trying to make me out to be a bad host. Fortunately in case number two, she had contacted me outside of any platform, so at least she could not leave me an equally vicious review anywhere that counted. Still, she claimed she knew “everyone in Hollywood” and was sure to spread her vitriol. Whatever she told “everyone” must have helped, because since then I have had more bookings than ever. LOL
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We haven’t been scammed but just had our fair share of bad eggs who have ruined the experience of hosting. I did notice one of them started a new account, so customers can never really be held accountable for past bad bookings. It’s so easy for them to fly under the radar and get away with not abiding by any, if not all, studio rules. An exclusive list would be helpful! Peerspace reprimanding or banning bad guests with a bad track record would be more helpful!
Regardless of the extent of the damage, Peerspace will not handle any reports or issues, even valid ones with evidence. Like at all. Damages to sets, trashing props, exceeding maximum capacity, smoking cigarettes inside, smoking weed inside, drinking alcohol, breaking any studio rules listed in our description, Peerspace will always respond with “We cannot pursue action for arbitrary costs” or “you should’ve kicked them out”
good luck haha!
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I’ve gotten a bunch of ‘scam’ requests it seems. There have been several times I’ve had a ‘location scout’ contact me with a ton of questions about my space and then I never hear back from them after replying. Usually it is for a multi-day rental too. My space is a bit different from the typical space here… it is a medical office. We use it for our own productions and then rent it out when we are not using it ourselves. I feel like from time to time I am just getting hit up for info from my competitors in a sneaky way. But perhaps I am just paranoid lol.
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We are in Oakland California, and we don’t allow late night parties at our studio anymore (since we had some bad experiences with drunk renters), but then someone booked our space for a small memorial service, and proceeded to host a huge party. Luckily they didn’t cause any damage and now we don’t allow any evening memorial services any more either.
I just had a fun experience in November- Peerspace wasn’t too helpful at the end of it, despite a phone call for an hour with a customer service rep-
Our client didn’t put in the correct information to get his profile verified- Peerspace deleted his booking and profile, with zero way for us to contact the client through the app. The client showed up at our studio space (our address is available on google and our website) and went into our space when another client was leaving and got them to keep our door open (we do many contactless bookings). Our co-owner came back to 15+ men in the space with party items and alcohol. After an hour they finally left- we were left with zero recourse.
If Peerspace cancels a booking, MAKE SURE your space is SECURE the day of the booking.
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This’ll be unpopular, but my experience here has shown me that, if you’re good at dealing with guests face to face, then Peerspace is the biggest thing to watch out for.
I learned early on that they more often than not side with the guest when it comes to incidents and damages. Even with video/photo evidence they put the responsibility back on the host. This is showcased above with the “just buff it out” or “you should have kicked them out” comments from customer support.
The responsibility to protect our business and personal safety falls completely on us. I do not rely on Peerspace for any of that. They do not check IDs or vet users beyond making sure they have a valid credit card and email. This shows that their primary business concern is the booking transaction, not the booking experience.
Things you can do to help yourself:
- Learn how to read and negotiate with people. This has been the BIGGEST thing for me in mitigating issues with booking
- Clearly communicate what your limits are by creating policies and rules document that you send the person in charge of the booking. Require that they acknowledge receipt
- Openly assign a dollar amount to infractions in the above document
- Take a credit card (or cash deposit) for damages and deal directly with the guest regarding any issues
The above may sound like I’m not happy with Peerspace. That’s not true. I’m very thankful to have the site to list my space. I gladly pay my 15% to have them advertise my studio, facilitate the booking process, and process payment. It’s almost like free money as it doesn’t cost me anything unless there’s a booking. I just don’t get caught up in the idea that Peerspace is my friend or my business partner like I read some hosts doing. It’s just a tool and I treat it as such.
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Thank you Geoffrey, this is good info. could be a motto… Peerspace “It’s just a tool”
Our home is listed for photo shoots and film production. We require a certificate of insurance from renters, which is standard for the film industry here in Chicago. If there might be 1-3 people in the home for a couple of hours of photography, I might consider waiving this requirement. Legit companies never balk at this request, so this has been a good way to protect our property and weed out folks we might not want in our space.
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Hi there! How did you set up charging a deposit?
A client just did damage to my space and I didn’t have a deposit. I emailed Peerspace photos right away. What’s people experience with getting compensated for damages?
Hello,
Sorry to hear about your damage.
As long as you can provide pictures and security footage of how it happened you won’t have an issue. I have never had an issue getting the damaged pay for since I opened my first studio about 2 years ago.
If you don’t have any cameras in your place then you need to get them. That is the only way to 100% prove how and who caused the damaged.
Good Luck!
Hi there, I am new at using this Platform but not new to space rental. I just had my first request and it seemed a bit strange. He had some story that he couldn’t pay for his band to pay at this party and could we add that to his bill to pay ahead of time. Well first, uh no. And then it feels like a credit card scam. Has anyone else experienced this?
BTW I’m reading all these posts, super helpful. Thx.
It’s crazy how people reserve space for 8 and show up with 20-30. Is that a scam? The reviews are so important that I go out of my way not to antagonize the guests or interfere with the flow of their project. However, I do talk to them afterwards to get ideas about how to manage future reservations.
I learned from past guests that hosts can reduce the problem by (1) obtaining signatures of all attendees and automatically adding on charges based on the number of people, (2) locking doors to rooms that have not been reserved and (3) posting or handing the director a printout of the charges that will be automatically added for extra space used.
The same problem applies to parking. I used to charge per car, but camera vans take up more than one space. Also, people store equipment in parking spaces. I have even seen my parking lot looking like a farmer’s market with booths and overhead canopy shades. The moral of the story is not to charge per car. It’s better to charge per the amount of space used.
After each of these incidents I think to myself that I’m going to offer meeting room space, not video shoot space. However, the next time someone requests space to shoot a video of a meeting or interview, I find myself saying yes.