I have not been paid as a host for the last two months. Despite calling about three times a week to their customer service, there has been no resolution nor are they making any effort to come to one. The amount owed is more than £1000. Airbnb is simply not interested. Customer service opens a case then does nothing to resolve the issues. They even find excuses for why the payment has not been sent then once the issue has been solved they find something else. I think Airbnb policies are truly evil, misleading and thoroughly dishonest. The people that devise this evil will be brought to account for their actions… in this life or the next.
Tag Archives: airbnb customer service nightmare
Cleaner Mattresses at the Tip than this Airbnb
My friend and I booked a “Cosy Mid Terrace House” in Bangor, North Wales. We were attending a five-day yoga course which commenced on the evening of Thursday, September 26th a short drive away. We checked in at the house where there was a key box; anytime after 4:00 PM was supposed to be okay.
We arrived at 3:45 PM and entered the house. On first inspection, it looked a little grimy and uncared for, but it was only five nights. However, on further inspection, we found that the kitchen surfaces were very greasy and there was mould in the fridge, the carpet into the sitting room was frayed and coming away under the door strip causing a trip hazard.
On venturing upstairs, again everything was tatty. The shower was full of black mildew. But the worst thing of all was where I was supposed to sleep for those five nights. Firstly, I could feel the mattress springs through the duvet that was on top of the bed but what really finished things off was when the bedding was pulled back, the mattress was covered in various stains. I have seen better mattresses than this at my local tip.
We contacted the owner to advise her we were not happy and would have to seek alternative accommodation. She gave us a spiel about running late as a single mum she had to collect the children from school and was on her way over. We told her not to rush as there was no way we would be able to stay and started to tell her all the things that were wrong, whereupon she hung up.
As the course was starting at 4:00 PM, there was little time to find alternative accommodation and we ended up sharing a very small twin room in a hotel not too far away who could luckily fit us in as most places we tried were fully booked over the weekend. I requested a refund from the host via the Airbnb site – which she, of course, refused – so I waited the 72 hours and asked Airbnb to intervene.
I have since then been corresponding via email with an incompetent “Senior Case Manager” who has become quite threatening in her gobbledygook English stating that I must accept her offer of a “coupon” to be used on a future booking within eight hours – four hours at one point – and now 24 hours. I feel that as they have offered a “coupon” for the full amount that they must believe our story with photos provided, but as we do not know when or if we will be booking through Airbnb again, this is simply not good enough.
I am awaiting her response as to how long the “coupon” is valid for (probably 24 hours). Despite my requests for her to escalate this case on two occasions she continues to email me in English that is barely recognisable as the language I was brought up with, totally ignoring my requests and just threatening me with more deadlines. It is interesting to note that the “Cosy Mid Terrace House” is no longer listed in the site but if ever it should reappear I do not recommend booking it or the host’s cleaning skills.
Free Cancellation in 48 Hours that Doesn’t Exist
I looked for a month’s rental through Airbnb and I found one that I wanted. I read the cancellation policy carefully, stating that it could be cancelled within 48 hours for a full refund. I clicked first because I didn’t want to miss the rare room and figured if in two days I found it was something I didn’t like, e.g. the exact location, I could cancel.
It was a lot of money – 3000+ USD – and I suddenly thought that maybe it was better to find a way to be able to escape the long-term cancellation policy. I just cancelled it within hours. The refund was kind of a process but something they didn’t mention in the cancellation policy was that my payment method would be charged on March 26th for 600 USD. This amount was never mentioned.
I wanted to make sure before rebooking but it seemed like Airbnb just ignored me. That made me scared to proceed to any other booking; I was afraid of the fraudulent listings. Agoda and Expedia have never had this policy and the 30-day fine for advance notice was quite unfair. I then tried to figure it out by separating the booking into two periods. It’s more difficult but it should be more flexible.
Airbnb Experience Before Even Checking in
We have an upcoming booking through Airbnb here in South Africa. Our initial deposit was processed successfully in May this year and the remaining fees are supposed to be processed on the 13th of September 2019. Since May 2019, the visa card that was loaded as the payment method has since been replaced with another card.
I have been struggling for a week now to change the card number that has been saved as our payment method. The customer service consultant could not sort out the issue and eventually raised it with the web development department. I now get daily “updates” that she is still waiting for feedback from the web development team.
Earlier this week I asked to be provided/assisted with making the payment through an alternative method like EFT or PayPal as these options are not given when I want to change the payment method. Each time I indicate to the customer service consultant that I am unable to add a different payment method, the response is that they understand my frustration, but I should rather try a different payment method.
Is that not what I indicated I am unable to do? We have been going round and round in circles for a week now and the payment is due within the next two days. This is the first time that I used Airbnb and I am not sure that I will again if this is the experience prior to even checking in.
Airbnb Customer Disservice Leads to Threats
I actually have never had any problems with Airbnb. I’ve been a host for a couple of years, and thus far, I’ve had great guests, and great experiences. I just had a guest who wrecked something so I mentioned it in the review. She was shocked and went above and beyond to remedy the situation (her husband had used our white towels to clean his muddy shoes, but she ordered a new towel set from Amazon and had it sent to us).
Because she did this, I wanted to go and either delete the review or mention that she fixed the problem… just to be fair. So this is all great, but then I landed on a customer service guy who was the antithesis of anything customer service oriented. Here is our conversation. Remember, this is a customer service / resolution representative.
“It appears what I have told you so far hasn’t made it to you. So here it is again – shorthand. I’d like to change a review I made of a guest, as they left a significant mess but they remedied the situation and I don’t think it’s fair to leave that review up about them without also sharing the actual outcome, as she went above and beyond expectations to fix the problem.”
“Unfortunately, I’m unable to resolve your case so I’m forwarding you to a team that can better assist you. While response times may vary, we do our best to respond within 24 hours. Thank you for your patience.”
“Will they call me or how does it work? I’m not waiting on here for 24 hours am I? Are you still there? Hello? Anybody out there?”
“Relax, my colleague said within 24 hours and it’s been three minutes. I’m from Airbnb’s resolutions team, please let me have a look right now.”
“I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to wait here for 24 hours or what. Thank you for your kind communication and your efforts to help.”
“Wow. FYI the difference between 9:34 and 9:40 is six minutes, not three.”
“Relax? This communication is definitely going to head office.”
“So you are already threatening me? That’s not very nice of you.”
“I have just been assigned to your case. It’s not a threat. I’m telling you about accountability. I’m trying to do a good thing on here, and you’re telling me to relax? That’s very resolutiony of you. You were assigned to my case and came on and told me to relax? For real? You’re acting like you’re an anonymous Twitter user, and you’re not. You’re representing a company that is global, and makes a lot of money. I will absolutely be sending this communication for accountability. You hold your hosts and your guests accountable for their behaviour, so I think it’s only fair to do the same with the so called ‘customer service’ representatives.”
I particularly like how he says “You’re already threatening me?” showing us all that he perceives that gets threatened regularly and it’s just a matter of time. I’m guessing if one pulls up his other communications, there will be a lot of anger and animosity. This is not a guy who should be representing any company in a customer service way, and he might want to go back to his Twitter troll ways.
The great thing is that he’s not anonymous, and we do know where he works and who he’s representing with his toxic aggression. I will also be sending a hard copy of this communication to the address Airbnb Hell has supplied. Just because. If we’re all held accountable for our behaviour, so too should the jerks representing Airbnb.
Host Guarantee Means Nothing to Airbnb
I will be talking about the devastating and very much time consuming that I have been through since August 1st until today. Almost 40 tiring days have passed with no result but that feeling of being very much ignored with many saved responses by the case manager from the resolution center remain.
I had a guest who robbed my apartment, taking an expensive Canon camera 50mm f/1.2 lens and an ironing machine. I overlooked the ironing machine and the fact that she had left permanent stains on the bed cover which I bought new right and I considered them collateral damage after the one-month reservation.
However, the 50mm lens was $1,472. Thus I have reported this incident to Airbnb support center on the phone and by messaging from August 1st until the 10th. I talked with tens of agents and case managers and I sent them all the photos and documents that they needed. They told me they would contact me soon.
Anyway, this was a lie from all of them and my first experience with such an incident. On the 11th of August I called again and a case manager told me that I had to request a refund from the guest who robbed my property. I have done so and she denied it, so I got the resolution center involved.
They automatically send you an email that it should take seven days to have your case resolved. It took until today, which is 25 days. This required all the patience that I had. I sent all the documents that they requested with every tiny detail and I waited and waited. Then they requested a police report which was a very strange thing to ask for after 25 days (I had four guests in my apartment since then). Why didn’t they request it when I called, messaged, and reported this incident?
I managed to go the police station and told them every tiny detail. They gave me the police report. By the end of that day I thought Airbnb would honor their Host Guarantee. I then resent all the photos, conversations, and documents.
Since then the case manager took five days to respond to my emails. He emailed me very strangely as if he knew nothing about my case. He said – and I’m quoting from his mail – “Thanks for your response. In order for an incident to be eligible for Airbnb assistance, the reported damages must have been caused by a guest or an invitee of the guest. You are free to pursue reimbursement from your guest directly. However, per this requirement, this case is not eligible for reimbursement. You may review the Host Guarantee terms here. If you have other questions about the Host Guarantee and what is covered feel free to respond.”
As if I didn’t involve them after I requested the refund from the guest directly. I emailed him back and he didn’t answer of course. Then I called Airbnb and after a very long conversation – thirty minutes – in which I had to tell the whole story from the first detail, I requested that they change the case manager who is investigating my case. He responded shortly by email: “After a thorough review, we have decided to uphold our original decision. We determined that a payout could not be processed in this instance. We consider this decision final.”
I will unfortunately be un-listing my Airbnb apartment. Although I met with many great guests, I would never have done this if I hadn’t been that ignored.
No Payment from Guests who Already Stayed
Airbnb still hasn’t resolved my payout issue. They have taken funds from my previous guest and not provided a payment into my requested account. They seem to think it is acceptable for me to host guests but not receive any payout. I updated my payment details on their website prior to my guest arriving but often details that are updated do not save. I often find their site very glitchy.
After contacting them several times via their message centre they are still unable to resolve this and make payment into my proper bank account, one that is open and live. The customer service with this company is appalling. The open threads for resolving issues, though polite, are completely unhelpful and the message threads are closed every time without any resolution to my issues. The customer service is completely disappointing.
How do I go about getting payment for my previous guest? No one seems to be able to assist with this.
Airbnb is Inconsiderate to their Customers
On Monday August 26th, I scheduled an Airbnb at 9:24 PM. My check-in day was August 30th. Later I found out I couldn’t make it and needed to cancel. I went to try and cancel, and it said they would only refund me $250.78 out of my total of $1,615.09.
I called the Airbnb customer support number at 10:16 PM, less than an hour after I confirmed my booking. I was told I need to be handed off to a case manager. The first case manager told me they need the host’s approval to issue a full refund and that it was my fault I didn’t read the full policy, which states “a cancellation must be made within 48 hours of booking or creating the reservation” (which I did) and “a cancellation should be at least 14 full days prior to the listings local check-in time” which according to Airbnb I did not do.
However, since I booked this on a Monday and my expected check-in day was Friday, it falls under seven days anyway – basically a trap. After this the customer support team stopped responding to me. I reached out the host myself and they had no idea what I was talking about and kept telling me to call Airbnb, which I already did. The host then stopped answering me.
The next day I called Airbnb and asked why no one from customer support responded to me. They said, “oh, your case manager went on vacation.”
Basically, no one was going to reach out to me and address this issue? I then was given a new case manager. He told me that if the host doesn’t respond within 24 hours to myself or Airbnb, I would receive a full refund and I should expect a call from him later that evening around 6:00 or 7:00 PM. he also advised me to cancel the reservation and receive the $250 refund.
Well, 8:00 PM rolled around and I heard nothing, so I called yet again. The case manager was on the phone working on another case, but the customer support member assured me he would call me that evening. Yet again, I heard nothing, so I called the next morning.
I called Airbnb again and my case manager was not in; this time I had another new case manager. Long story short, she said no one had been able to make contact with the host and I would not receive a refund. She also told me I was basically in the wrong because “I didn’t read the policy”.
Not once have I ever had an issue with Airbnb until now. I always cancel within 48 hours if need be. I tried to be considerate of the host and cancelled ASAP so they could find someone else to rent the house for the weekend. This case manager was no help with her rude attitude, and I asked to speak with her manager or supervisor. She told me they would call this afternoon. Here we are again with empty promises and I received no call. I called my bank to dispute this transaction because I was at the end of my rope and quickly losing patience.
I woke up with a message from customer support saying:”We have attempted to contact your host multiple times regarding your reservation and we even have attempted to call them, apparently, we did not receive any response and at this point, we would need to abide to the Cancellation Policy applied on the reservation. I understand this is not the outcome you were hoping for. We do our best to fairly and reasonably mediate these cases. We regret that this decision has negatively affected you, but we believe this to be a fair resolution, all things considered. Per our Terms of Service, Airbnb reserves the right to make the final determination regarding these disputes. Please know, we are unable to reconsider the decision made in this case — we’ve issued our final decision and will uphold it accordingly.”
I received a call about two hours after this message and it was my case worker. She told me they finally made contact with the host and he was only willing to give me a 50% refund. This man waited until the day before I would check in, and purposely did not answer anyone so he could steal my money.
Airbnb is protecting their hosts but could care less about their customers. The amount of frustration this has caused is unbelievable. I have taken hours out of my work day for this inconvenience. I personally feel scammed and violated about this whole situation.
Airbnb Resolution Center and Customer Service Hell
It’s been over a month of going around in circles. I contacted Airbnb regarding some pricing issues; they turned on smart pricing without our permission and we caught them. We asked for the difference or we would need to cancel the reservation. There was no reply. We called and were told they would get back to us in 24 hours. Nothing.
Fast forward to 10 reps, all claiming a 24-hour response time, and a month later, still nothing. We’re still waiting for the resolution and money. but nothing. We are chasing after them and it has caused so much stress and affected our health.
Incompetency and unprofessionalism is what the resolution center is known for, but I had no idea it was this bad. They are just trying to tire you out and make you give up. It’s amazing how there is no one there to keep them accountable. It is an exploitative company taking advantage of both the guests and hosts.
We are no longer using Airbnb and have told our friends and family about our experience. They have stopped using them until we have a resolution. When you call in, customer support will apologize, create a ticket, then pass you to the resolution center. They “will” reply in 24 hours, but you’d be lucky if you hear anything from them. For such a large company, their system is set up so they win. They need to be held accountable. If you feel frustrated and angry, you’re not alone…
Airbnb Cancelled all Upcoming Reservations and Didn’t Tell Me
All my reservations were cancelled by Airbnb this morning. A guest who is a bride who booked for her groomsmen contacted me first. She was not happy or calm, but kind. My account is locked and under review, and a phone call revealed “it has already been escalated as Urgent to the Trust Team.” Does urgent mean I should expect a call or email in 24 to 48 hours?
What happened? They won’t tell me what they are investigating but before I was locked out completely here were the error messages I received: we notice you are logging in from a new device (not true, but I updated my cell carrier data settings in preparation for travel to prevent roaming charges).
They also asked me to verify my personal information; my birthdate was listed as 2007. Likely their software prevents 12-year-olds from hosting. I changed and corrected it, but am certain it was never listed that way. With Airbnb’s secret number in hand I called, but am in the urgent purgatory for 24-48 hours. I did get a case number, but that’s it.