My wife and I received a fraudulent charge from Airbnb while we were out of town on our honeymoon during a holiday weekend. We could not stop the charge for $832.38 since the banks were closed for the weekend and the holiday on Monday. Our Airbnb account showed no upcoming trips for the charge to be tied to.
We contacted the Airbnb call center five times to have the charge investigated but we have gotten nowhere. Airbnb is protecting those committing fraud by structuring their company so that customers can never speak to anyone but the operators in the call center. They still refuse to refund our money or cooperate with us in any way. They are only concerned about money and the fees they are paid regardless if the charges are fraudulent.
I will be sharing our experience in as many places as I can find. I will never use Airbnb again and I hope others can learn from our experience.
It sounds as if someone came over your cats number in some way, in particular if the booking doesn’t appear in your account but in some unknown person’s account. Dispute the charge with your bank instead. Airbnb will then have to prove that you approved the charge. Otherwise, the banks forcibly return the money from Airbnb to you.
Sorry to hear about your issues. It has a familiar ring. I completely agree with you on the medium that Airbnb have created to communicate within. It limits the effectiveness ad professionalism of communication, especially on matters that are of a serious nature. They dont have conventional email addresses to email to. It keeps communication “In house”, on their own bespoke communication forum. This is not by chance. Their replies are sporadic and ineffective and run by low-level employees whose job it is to engage you, without resolving (or having the power) to resolve anything. Essentially they are time wasters. Same if you tweet @Airbnb on twitter, they will show you mock empathy – asking you to DM them and they will investigate – so that to the outsider, it seems as if you have slipped through the cracks, and they are anxious to do the right thing, when in reality, it is all lip service, and nothing will ever get done. Airbnb is a big corrupt money making monster, who provides the framework for scammers and fraudsters to operate, and then cover up their illegal actions. #BoycottAirbnb
Dispute it with your bank. You wouldn’t be the first to dispute an Airbnb charge.
Also- check your profile and payment info to be sure it’s as you left it. Even if it is, change your password and cancel your registered form of payment and get a new card after you register your dispute with the bank/credit card company, but leave the old one listed in your Airbnb account so any other attempt to hack/abuse your account can’t happen. You can always change it if you decide to use Airbnb again.
There have been a number of hacks in which guests and hosts have been compromised, which Airbnb is aware of, but won’t publicize. It’s been mentioned in the community platform and other blogs. They keep everything in house, cover themselves well for any liability, and the CS phone reps are not allowed to help with this, so you would need to “escalate” to “trust and safety” and/or management, which can take/waste time.
Work directly with your bank. With proper documentation, you can get your refund in as little as 3 days.
I suggest you call your bank and dispute the charges. Most banks are very good in handling this kind of issue. When I had a problem with Airbnb, I used every means there is, including Twitter. Good luck!
Could you not fight the charges with your card provider?