Tag Archives: airbnb customer service

Currency Conversion Doesn’t Explain Higher Fees

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Airbnb is a corrupt, money grabbing, poorly operated business that should be avoided at all costs. Back in September 2015, we booked an apartment in Boracay, Philippines for 91 nights from November 2nd, 2016 at a price of around 8,534 Australian dollars (indulgent, I know, but not the point of this story). My credit card was immediately charged $2,874 to secure the booking and a schedule was made for two additional payments: $2,784 on November 28th and the final $2,786 on December 29th). All good. A few months later, I contacted the host to request the booking be shortened by two nights to better fit our flight schedule and the host agreed. I then proposed the change through the Airbnb app and he accepted it. I didn’t get an updated fee at the time but wasn’t too worried, trusting it would all be sorted out when the time came.

Around March 2016 I started getting emails saying that they were having trouble deducting $1,918 and that I needed to resolve the matter with my bank. I replied to the email saying that that amount was not due but the emails kept coming at regular intervals for the next several months – and I kept telling them that it was incorrect. I never received any reply or explanation. Around September 2016 the emails finally stopped so I assumed they’d figured out the glitch. We arrived at our accommodation on the newly scheduled date and the apartment and host were amazing.

After immersing ourselves in the holiday for a few weeks, something came up that meant we would have to head home 3.5 weeks earlier than planned. I spoke to our host, who was gracious and agreeable and told me to just submit the request through the Airbnb system; he would then accept the change to update the booking. Using the app, I submitted a change request and a screen came up saying that, with the new 65 nights (instead of 91) the price would be $9,279. This was a $745 increase for 25 fewer nights, so it would have been cheaper for us to just leave the apartment empty for the difference in time. As I looked closer, it said that the change meant that I would be refunded $5,500 from the original amount of $13,000-odd dollars which was definitely not the original amount.

I went to speak to the host and he had no idea why that had happened so we found a way to contact Airbnb tucked away in a convoluted area of the app and began contacting them that day (November 22nd). After a few days, they sent an email to say that the host had increased his prices since my initial booking so the new prices had been applied (I guess it went up to $13,000 when I changed it by two days but I was never alerted to any possible increase when submitting the change proposal or given a new remittance when it was accepted). Their only solution was that the host can overwrite the booking cost with the agreed total amount due. My host advised that he had not changed his prices so we asked Airbnb how they calculated the new fees. No answer.

In the meantime, I happened to check my online banking app and discovered that Airbnb had deducted $1,918 from my credit card on November 2nd. This was not a scheduled payment date or any authorised amount, but happened to be the exact amount that they had been emailing me about previously. Obviously they finally figured out how to steal that money from my credit card. Several more requests for help, including an explanation about the unauthorised credit card deduction, were sent. Still no response.

Eventually, the host and I sat down and worked out a mutually agreeable total. His login only allowed him to enter the amount in Philippine Pesos so we converted it according to the official exchange rate and he submitted the change proposal. While I still sat next to him, my phone came up with a change notification in the Airbnb app which I opened. It sent out the new amount on which we agreed($5,831) converted to Australian dollars within a few dollars of our calculations plus an Airbnb service fee of $407. So I pressed “accept”. It immediately changed to a screen saying that the changes have been made and the new amounts are: charges $105 AUD × 65 nights = $6815 AUD; service fee, $460 AUD; total $7275 AUD.

So the “proposal” that was accepted all of a sudden became $984 more for the accommodation and $53 more for the service fee? This is when we started calling the help desk to try to get them to change the figures to reflect the amount the host had entered into the Airbnb system. One of the staff tried to explain that it was because of the various currency conversions but that wouldn’t explain how it came through, converted through the app into Australian dollars, in the amount agreed with the host, in the proposed change. It only changed to some unfathomable amounts when I pressed accept.

Although we were being really polite and patient, this lady obviously couldn’t explain what their system had done so she just put us hold then hung up on us. We called the help desk back, went through the ID verification process again and had to tell the whole story to another staff member. This one, too, hung up on us. We called back again and talked to someone who seemed to be listening but then just “explained” that the new amount was $7,275. We started the explanation from the beginning and we think finally got him to understand that the new amount showing on their system was WRONG and needed to reflect the amount the host had entered and I had accepted. He said he would go get someone to fix it and call us back in 15-30 minutes.

So as not to miss the call, we sat with the host for two hours without a reply before calling them back and going through the ID verification process for about the 10th time that night and were told that a “case manager” had been assigned to us and he would call us in a few minutes. Another hour passed (we were now up to the fifth hour of this nightmare) and eventually we got an email from our Michael, our “case manager” saying that he would be happy to make the change once he got confirmation from both me and the host of the amount we wanted the system to reflect. He said he would be finishing his shift at 8:30; the email was sent at 8:24. The host and I both sent emails confirming the amounts in our respective currency and trusted that (because of the time difference) it would be fixed by the next day.

Instead, we received an email saying that this was all to do with exchange rates and “explaining” to us that exchange rates change in a daily basis – like we are complete idiots who don’t understand how exchange rates work. It gets better. He went on to say that they applied the exchange rate from the initial booking date (back in September 2015), which just happened to be much more beneficial to their fee calculation plus the 3% that they keep. So what their system does is: if you change your booking by even one day they apply any change in charges by the host and any increase in the service fee that has occurred in the interim according to the day of the alteration, but they don’t use the exchange rate of the day; in this case, they used an exchange rate from 15 months earlier. There is no other business on earth that would work this way. I am betting that, if the exchange had worked against them, they would have applied the new rate. If course, this ridiculous exchange rate excuse doesn’t explain how the Airbnb system correctly converted the Pesos into Australian dollars in the proposal that I accepted. It gets even better: hoping (naively) that they may have sorted it out overnight, my host checked my booking again the next day. The new amount I had to pay was now 420,069 euro, or about $600,000 Australian dollars.

I have now cancelled my credit card before I lose my house. The host has since changed his listing to TripAdvisor so he never has to deal with Airbnb again. Thankfully, throughout this whole thing, our host was amazing and supportive and as helpful as he could be given the deficiencies with the Airbnb system. There still has been no explanation, apology or solution from Airbnb. Please never use this service or this nightmare could happen to you.

Leaky Roof: Beware of Airbnb Host in Miami

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Stay away from a host called Vinod advertising on Airbnb in Miami, Florida. Having used Airbnb for a bunch of stays during 2016, the last one was terrible. There was a leaky roof that stained the sofa, and cockroaches, slugs, and ants infested the condo. Collection bills were piled so high in the mail box the mailman delivered armfuls to the condo. I bought pest spray and tried to control the issue. When I contacted the Airbnb Helpline, they were anything but helpful and charged me $500 so Vinod could fix his “leaky” roof claiming I made the condo sofa dirty and stained. He claimed no knowledge of the bugs crawling around. Was it coincidence the sofa was positioned under the leaking roof and he claimed I did it? Well, Airbnb sided with him and charged my credit card for damages. Consumer protection – I don’t think so!

Deceitful Host and Disappointment from Airbnb

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I would like to share the details surrounding my nightmare situation with the host I dealt with in trying to secure accommodations for my trip to Lebanon and my absolute disappointment in Airbnb’s corporate office with their position on siding with this host, despite his clearly deceitful behaviour. When I was planning my trip to Lebanon, I found accommodation in an area in which I was interested. During my search, there were some factors that were absolutely non-negotiable, which I made abundantly clear throughout my entire correspondence with the host.

For my trip, I was travelling with my elderly father who has limited mobility. I required a unit that was fully accessible without having to climb stairs. Another option I was willing to accept was a unit that was accessible using an elevator. Months before my trip, I found a unit that I was interested in and the host had provided written guarantees that while the unit was not on the ground floor (3rd floor), it was accessible by using a fully serviceable elevator. Given the information provided by the host, I decided to secure the accommodation and, as such, I immediately paid the funds required.

However, weeks after having paid, the host contacted me through Airbnb’s messaging platform and informed me that the unit in question was, in fact, on the 4th floor, instead of the 3rd floor, as confirmed before sending my payment. Given the new information provided, I asked the host to confirm that the elevator would be fully serviceable to the unit. He responded and confirmed that it would, for sure. With everything seemingly assured, my father and I made our way to Lebanon. Once we arrived to the unit, we were greeted by the host’s brother who informed us that while there was an elevator in the unit, it was, in fact, not serviceable for an indeterminate period of time. This was simply an unacceptable situation, given my father’s elderly age and limited mobility. As such, I was forced to find alternative accommodations in the middle of the night in a foreign country. You can imagine how difficult that is!

After having read and understood Airbnb’s policies, I made sure I sent an email to Airbnb to inform them of my situation, in order to receive a full refund, seeing that I never even stayed a minute at the unit. I contacted the host as well (using WhatsApp) and received written confirmation that he would agree to a full refund for the amount I paid in securing the unit. When I returned to Canada, I tried to contact the host in order to move forward with the full refund. However, he refused to reply to any of my emails or messages. After weeks had gone by trying to contact the host, I contacted Airbnb in order to facilitate the full refund that I was absolutely entitled to, given that I had not even stayed at the unit, due to false guarantees provided by the host. When I finally got a hold of someone, I was informed that they refused to authenticate the host’s written confirmation that I would be granted a full refund because the confirmation was not given through Airbnb’s messaging platform. Instead of taking the time to satisfy an unhappy customer, they decided not to consider my situation.

After trying to get a full refund for weeks, my only recourse was to write a stinging review of the host. While I was unable to get a full refund for my nightmare situation, the least I could do is prevent this host from trying to deceive others in the future and prevent him from being able to advertise his unit on Airbnb. Though I was very honest with my criticism, I remained absolutely professional and respectful of Airbnb’s policies. However, Airbnb decided to remove my post for absolutely no reason. This showed me that they would rather side with the host than show any concern for my situation, even though I provided countless evidence demonstrating how awful my situation was. With everything that had happened throughout this entire experience, this upset me the most because Airbnb took away the only thing I could do in my situation. After having gone through this nightmare, I will never use Airbnb again. I think people should be highly concerned about what can happen if things don’t go their way using Airbnb. People should not have confidence that Airbnb will accommodate them when things don’t go as planned.

Terrible Communication with Airbnb: No Error Message

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As a first time Airbnb user, I booked a place for one night. My visa card was debited immediately. After that, I needed to contact my host regarding details for an airport pick-up. Over a 3-4 day period, I found that the Airbnb messaging system is worse than useless. I received both emails and texts from my host, but I couldn’t reply to either. The texts came in truncated; only a few words appeared. However, my replies appeared to have been sent (no error messages after sending). I also replied to emails, which appeared to have been sent (again, no error messages). After a few days with no response from my host, I realized she was not getting anything from me. I also finally received an email error message saying the Airbnb address did not exist. I then spent about an hour on the Airbnb website trying to contact them for a fix, but got into an endless loop on their help pages. As far as I can tell, they have absolutely no customer support. Finally, going back to their website and messaging from there was the only thing that worked. If the emails and texts simply did not work, they would be useless. However, this system is worse than useless because it gives the appearance that it is working. The Airbnb email invites you to reply and returns no error message when you do, so it looks like it sends successfully. In the case of texting, who does not reply to a text? It’s quick and easy. Again, there is no error message saying the text was not sent. As far as I can tell, the only way you can contact your host is by going through the Airbnb website and sending a message from there. I am astounded at the stupidity of the people who designed software that wasted my time and caused a lot of confusion between me and my host. They need to put a disclaimer such as “you cannot reply to this email” or “do not reply to this text” and send the user an error message if they do try to reply.

No Customer Service or Response for Superguest

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I was planning a vacation with an east coast friend I hadn’t seen in 43 years. We planned a trip to Squaw Valley/Tahoe. Since my husband and I have stayed at the resort at Squaw Valley several times, I was excited to find a condo available through Airbnb. I am a “superguest” known for leaving rentals “cleaner than when arrived”, quiet, respectful and like “your favorite aunt was visiting”. I know how important it is to communicate. The condo stated: “Please, no shoes in the house as we just replaced the carpet”; “luxury condo”; “recently remodeled”. The old friend with whom I was sharing the condo is a physician. We both value a clean, safe comfortable “luxury condo with a bedroom on the ground floor”. We’re retired. We needed a ground floor. What we found was a condo complex completely empty. No cars. Three stories to the front door. An animal house ski condo that was remodeled in 1980, musty, smelly, and filthy. Torn furniture and nothing on the “ground” floor but a bedroom. Another flight up to main area. No patio chairs, broken screens. You get it. This is the living room chair picture we paid for a motel and still cannot get with a live person or refund of over $500. I’ve sent three messages to every connection I can find. Nada. It’s very scary that a “superguest” has no credibility or support.

Terrible Experiences and Service from Airbnb

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I’ve now used Airbnb three times and each time was a nightmare. The first time, the house had no heater and we froze. I left the host a note, but being a nice guy, chose not to review them. The second was in a lovely location, but the unit was dirty and had safety issues. Worst of all, it was built into a garage full of automotive parts and old cars; it smelled of oil and gasoline. My wife has a serious medical condition that is severely impacted by strong chemical smells. We contacted the host and cancelled the rest of our stay and had to find a hotel, which ended up costing a lot more. The third time, I contacted the host in advance and told them about my wife’s condition. I was given assurances that the rental did not have chemical smells and was told to expect an upscale luxury retreat in a great location. When we arrived (after eight hours of driving) the condo complex was a dive, with sketchy people standing outside smoking, nestled between two freeway overpasses. The real issue was that when we went inside, there were strong air freshener smells that immediately made my wife ill. Throwing open the window flooded the place with foul mold smells from the sprinkler system and smoke from the shady guys outside. I contacted the owner, who started to deny all of it, but then apologized and told me to take it up with Airbnb. I will say her taste in decorations was very nice, but I had to find a different place for us to stay again. Once again, it ended up costing me a lot more. I’ve been battling with Airbnb customer service ever since. I did manage to get my money back, but conversations about compensation for my extra lodging has (which one agent promised me) have gone nowhere and I never receive the calls they promise me.

Airbnb Canada Does Not Have Your Back

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We paid the full cost of renting (or rather, trying to rent) a condo in Toronto. After delays – hours after the check in time – we were told via text to proceed to the unlocked condo. It was immediately obvious that the condo was not fit for occupancy: there was wet paint still on the walls, splattered paint over most floors, painted wall light switches, and painting around wall pictures. The stove was filthy, there was dirt in several corners, closet doors were missing, and the list goes on. Airbnb had to intervene and finally stated that we could have given the owner time to fix these deficiencies. The owner refunded part (less than half) of the rent. There was no further refund from the owner and a refund from Airbnb for the service fee, about $95 Canadian and a whopping $50 Canadian for future bookings. Pathetic!

Review Removed: Terrible Trip in Milan

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We are a mother and daughter from St. Petersburg, Russia. We travel a lot and used Airbnb for several years. We often stay in apartments in different countries; we have been to Italy many times and also stayed in many apartments in different cities. On previous visits everything was perfect: we hadn’t experienced any bad treatment or a shocking situation before. However, our most recent trip to Italy was terrible; Francesca was the worst host.

Our stay in Milan (which was short) was completely ruined by Francesca (on Airbnb her apartment is called “Mi casa es tu casa – Milano”). We booked her apartment from November 8-11, 2015. Our plane arrived on November 7th at 23:20 at Bergamo Airport. We took a bus at 00:00 and arrived at Milan Central station on November 8th at 01:10. We calculated our route in advance and wrote Francesca several times about our route in detail: when we would depart, when we would arrive, when exactly we would be in Milan. We were worried about a non-standard check-in time; that’s why we repeated our message with all information about our arrival several times, and immediately before our departure we texted one more time.

The most important fact is that Francesca accepted all our conditions and even added 25 Euro for an early check-in. We negotiated this itinerary: when we arrived from Bergamo Airport at Milan Central Station, we would take a taxi and send her an SMS that we were on the way. She was supposed to meet us at her flat, in the street. And then the worst began… we are still in shock. We took our bus, and decided to text her before we got in the taxi. It was a good decision. We informed her that we had arrived at the Central Station by bus and we were ready to take a taxi and go to her place. It was 01:30, November 8th, as we discussed (and she confirmed in her messages that it was ok).

Francesca didn’t reply for 10-15 minutes; all this time we were standing with our luggage at the railway station and waiting for her answer. Finally we got a message that shocked us: she said that there are other guests in the flat and she cannot help us, because she thought we would arrive the next day. She advised us to go to a hotel. Can you imagine such a terrible situation? We weren’t waiting in the safest place at night – the central railway station – and we were advised to run around and look for a hotel in the middle of the night? We have no words to say how terrible it was. In addition, we had an exhausting trip. We left from St. Petersburg to Tallinn on November 7th at 10:30 by bus. It took eight hours, then we took a flight from Tallinn to Bergamo – two hours more – and an hour more from Bergamo to Milan.

It took us 11 hours on several different means of transportation, and when we finally arrived we were looking forward to get to the apartment to get some rest. Instead, we received such a “nice” piece of advice: search for a hotel. Of course, we didn’t have any options. Almost all hotels near the central station were fully booked. After a while, we found one hotel. It was terrible, but we didn’t have a choice; we were so exhausted and Francesca’s message killed us. One night in the hotel (nine hours) cost 113 euros and didn’t include wifi. It was very expensive for us; we hadn’t planned on spending this amount of money at all, especially to search for a hotel in the middle of the night. In the hotel everything had additional charges and it was dirty and dusty.

When we checked in to the hotel, we wrote to Airbnb support asking for help, explaining the situation. Unfortunately, we only had wifi for three hours but a reply came in the morning. We spend a terrible night waiting for an answer and not sleeping. At 11:00 AM we checked out and were in the street again with heavy luggage. All this time we were sending messages to Francesca, explaining that because of her we were in a terrible place. She pretended she had no idea what dates we were talking about (as her English is so bad) and she insisted that it was not her fault but Airbnb’s booking system. We didn’t receive any understanding and support from this person. Finally, she “kindly” offered to let us check into her flat on November 8th at 11:30 am, when her guests left.

But the problem wasn’t solved. She didn’t want to compensate us 113+25 euros, which she took for an early check-in. We had to call Airbnb several times and try to solve this problem, walking with luggage around the city; it was a nightmare, and it was all because of Francesca. The support team called her and she said that the flat would be free ONLY at 16:00, though she told us that it would be free at 11:30. She lied to us. It was a crazy day. Instead of enjoying Milan, we were carrying our luggage around until 16:00. We regretted many times that we chose her. In the end, we took a taxi for 25 euros and came to her place around 17:00.

Tired and exhausted, we found one more unpleasant surprise: her flat was VERY far from the center, almost a suburb of Milan. There were not many people around and there are NOT any cafes and shops; you have to take a bus to reach them. It takes 20-30 minutes to reach the closest metro station by bus, then also the same time by metro. The district is very strange and a bit marginal; we always saw some suspicious people. We were warned in shops to be careful with valuables and money. It wasn’t pleasant to come back in a full bus in the evening, it is different in the centre. There is a criminal atmosphere in the district.

In the flat it was not so bad but we were confused that the host smoked inside, because we don’t smoke; it wasn’t nice. There was no blanket on the double bed, so we had to sleep under a cover. There was no electrical kettle; we had to find an old one, and clean it to boil water. Such things spoil first impressions especially when they were spoiled from the very beginning. On our first day at check-in we showed our bus tickets from Milan-Bergamo to Francesca, on November 11th at 16:40. She told us that it would take us 1 hour 40 minutes to get there. On our departure day we were in a hurry to clean the place and pack before 15:00.

We were a bit confused Francesca recommended we leave at 15:00, because we had gotten to know the city pretty well. That’s why we were ready at 15:20 and came downstairs to throw out our trash (we had several bags). Near the entrance we met Francesca, who opened the door. She didn’t expect to see us (she thought we would leave at 15:00) and told she wanted to say goodbye. It was the first time this had happened with Airbnb; we always say goodbye with an SMS, and leave the keys on the table or in a post box. Nobody came to say goodbye to us because it is not a convenient moment when you are packing and the host is staying above you. When Francesca saw the trash bags in our hands. she decided to show us how to “correctly” separate it. She started looking into our trash bags and separating them. Before this trip, we had stayed in Rome and the host told us how to separate the trash. Francesca didn’t say a word about it before; that’s why it was very unpleasant and unusual she would now.

Later we came back to the flat, and Francesca came with us. We hoped she would stay outside until we left, but no… We started packing our luggage, and quickly changing. Francesca was in the kitchen and was checking if everything was ok (in front of her guests): she replaced cups, turned on the gas, opened the fridge, and smoked. We could have been eating before our departure. We had to leave our products in the fridge, because the kitchen was occupied by our smoking host. Before our departure she reminded us to go to Garibaldi Station and change to get to Central Station. But everything was much easier, because there is a direct way from M Romolo to Central Station. It took us 30 minutes to get there. Francesca told us on purpose to leave the flat earlier because it takes 1 hour 40 minutes.

To sum up, we think it was unacceptable behavior with the guests. Our trip was completely ruined because of her, and it was full of disappointment. Such people mustn’t host guests, because she doesn’t respect them and thinks she is right. We don’t recommend Francesca’s flat of course, if you don’t want your holiday to become a living hell. After our trip, we wanted to write a not very positive but truthful review, and we did. However, our review was removed in just a couple of hours. We wrote customer support. And what do you think happened? The support agent wrote to us that our feedback had been rude, vulgar and not objective. She also wrote that the responses can not be removed, but in some cases there are exceptions. So our review will be deleted. We realized that the guests are not protected by anything. Airbnb is always on the side of the owners rather than the guests. This is very unfair.