I appear to have been scammed by a scammer through seemingly legitimate Airbnb channels. The guest – with zero reviews but six forms of verification booked and paid for three nights. On the day they were meant to leave she asked if she could extend for seven nights. I agreed and altered the booking.
The next day I found out the alteration had been rejected. I wasn’t told why. The guest is now on “free” night one. I immediately contacted the guest – I’m told they didn’t know why it was rejected but insisted they would reach out to Airbnb and make the payment.
The same day I received confirmation (email and message) from a legitimate Airbnb source saying a payment of £1400 was on its way and a description “extra service – extend stay until 28/09/2019″. So I was thinking, “Great… Airbnb have acknowledged it and I’ll get paid.”
The next day I got a message from Airbnb saying “payment is delayed.” The Guest was on “free” night number two. Two days later, after chasing Airbnb, I got a message saying payment could not be collected. The guest was on “free” night four… well, almost five since Airbnb support was based in the US so it was late in the UK.
On the fifth day, after all the failed attempts to get money from Airbnb, the guest told me they would transfer the money via bank transfer. I know it wasn’t what Airbnb wanted but I was running out of time to get anything from this guest before they left. She sent me a screenshot of the bank transfer and confirmation number. The money never actually went through and the guest left on day six.
Airbnb has been totally useless. The case has been passed to numerous people who ask the same questions over and over again. They’re simply staying the initial stay was three nights, which was paid and subsequent nights were done outside of Airbnb, which I don’t get.
As for the £1400 that they failed to collect for me for the extended stay, they accept they processed it and told me it was on the way but since they couldn’t collect the money, they’re wiping their hands clean. They were quick to point out that I’d attempted to do a transaction outside of Airbnb, in no way sympathetic to the fact I didn’t really have any other option.
The guest continued to communicate with me after she’d left. She argued that because she left early she should only pay £1200, not £1400. It was a bit strange because if it were a scam from the offset why even communicate after you’ve left? Anyway, that’s kind of irrelevant. There are a#$holes out there, I get it. What I don’t get and am annoyed about is how they were able to trick me via the official Airbnb channels.
File a complaint with the attorney general’s office and the BBB.
Airbnb is basically a listing and payment processing site, if they can’t do that, they’re worthless.
This is really sad because you know that if you evict the guest, you will get a bad review and potentially ruin your business. But you have every right to evict a guest that hasn’t paid, and this guest did not pay. The lesson here is don’t let any guest stay that hasn’t paid. The guest has no incentive to fix whatever is wrong if you just let them stay. If you tell them they have to be out by checkout time, they will either leave or get it fixed.