Months ago I booked two separate Airbnb rooms in two different cities. As the date neared for our travel, my husband and I both became ill. With a week’s notice, I notified Airbnb and the hosts that we had to cancel. I received a note that they could only refund $65 out of $237 due to their “policy” which they never shared, and could contact the host if I wanted more of a refund. I contacted the host and she related that Airbnb hadn’t paid her a cent; how could she give us a refund? In addition, she had no problem with the cancellation. Long story short, out of $500 paid (for two people) I’ve still only received $65. Trying to contact Airbnb is a nightmare in itself, and good luck trying to find someone to help. This is all still pending, but we are both seniors and losing so much money is a hardship. I will shout to the rooftops to anyone who will listen to avoid this company at all costs and book through other, more reputable sites.
Tag Archives: airbnb customer service
Can’t Even Contact Airbnb Customer Service
I recently booked two nights through Airbnb for the Manhattan area in New York. I was very excited to find such a great deal for the area. It turns out it was too good to be true. Within minutes of me booking, my “host” contacted me via text to request an additional security deposit of $500. This amount was not included on the additional costs page and was not included in the total that I had already been charged. I cancelled because I didn’t feel comfortable. This all happened within maybe 20 minutes. Now I cannot get my “service fee” back and there is no direct customer service phone, or email. I am extremely disappointed and upset that I just lost money because I was scammed. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Why is Airbnb Refusing to Cooperate with the Authorities?
On March 25th 2015, the two-bedroom apartment I advertised on Airbnb was booked. The guest was to stay at the property for 21 days. I was notified by Airbnb that her booking was cancelled due to a payment problem. On entering the property, I was horrified to find that the property had been vandalized. I reported this to the police and contacted Airbnb. I provided Airbnb with the required documents including the details of the police officer working the case.
Between April and June 2015, I was in discussions with Airbnb to obtain compensation. More so, I had hoped that following Airbnb’s cooperation with the police, that I might be able to bring a direct claim against the guest. The guest’s profile on Airbnb states that she provided Airbnb with an offline verification ID in the form of a passport, but Airbnb did not provide the law enforcement officer the information they indicated they had via their website. Instead, my claim was withdrawn and the case closed. Airbnb refused to communicate any further with regards to my dispute for reimbursement.
This claim was mishandled from the start, starting with Airbnb insisting I provide a crime report despite the fact that the UK authorities only give crime reference numbers, which Airbnb could then use to request the full crime report. Due to this, Airbnb excluded certain items from the claim and resorted to corporate bullying, demanding that I accept a claim I did not understand nor with which I was satisfied. Afterwards Airbnb ignored every communication on the matter until I began sending recorded delivery letters to the legal department in Eire. But despite reopening the case they have not addressed the issue of the missing ID nor was the offer satisfactory given the delay and mishandling of the claim.
Failure to exercise proper care and attention
Airbnb makes it quite clear that we, the hosts, are not allowed to hold any copy of the guest’s ID. The guest’s profile on Airbnb states that she provided Airbnb with an offline verification ID in the form of her passport. Unfortunately, despite several requests to provide the UK authorities with the passport of the guest responsible for the malicious damage and theft at the flat, Airbnb seemed unwilling or unable to provide that piece of information needed to get redress from the guest. I therefore find myself with no choice but to hold Airbnb responsible for the damages and inconvenience this has caused.
When Airbnb eventually responded to the issues of the missing ID in March 2016 , Airbnb claimed they did not provide the police officer with the passport information because he did not ask for it. Despite the fact that he requested all the information Airbnb had on the guest, he was only given the guest’s name and partial address. Considering the guest’s profile on Airbnb states that she provided her passport information, it is incomprehensible as to why Airbnb did not give all the information they had to the proper authorities. Moreover, I repeatedly and personally asked Airbnb to cooperate with the police and specifically referred to the passport. Once again, Airbnb ignored the requests I sent via email, Facebook and Twitter between April 2015 and July 2015.
If Airbnb has indeed collected the offline ID as they claim to, why were they never able to produce this vital information, since we hosts are not allowed to keep a copy of the guest ID? How are the authorities supposed to investigate such incidents effectively? What is the point of using the offline and online verification as a selling point to the host? How is a host supposed to feel safe knowing that Airbnb has no intention of assisting when dealing with any form of criminal behaviour? Is the offline Verification a scam?
I was Robbed by My Guest and Airbnb
I have been managing vacation rentals for over eight years. I’ve enjoyed welcoming people into my homes and take great pride in providing them with a clean, warm, and welcoming place to stay. I decided to try Airbnb in the hopes of increasing the number of rentals during my slow season (summers in Arizona don’t make it a wildly popular place to travel). My first guest booked a property for five nights. According to Airbnb, the payout for the reservation should have been in my account 24 hours after check-in. That did not happen. I went to my property after the guest checked out and was shocked and disturbed by what I walked into. My house was trashed and reeked of cigarette smoke, and I had been robbed. I called the police and followed up with a call to Airbnb.
I was told to use the Resolution Center to ask the guest that robbed me for the money to cover the cost of the items he stole. This didn’t really make much sense to me… but I did it. I was told he then had 72 hours to respond and if there had been no resolution Airbnb would get involved. Big surprise… the man that robbed me didn’t respond. That 72 hours passed a week ago. I have called and emailed Airbnb multiple times and received absolutely no explanation about what they are doing on their end to help resolve this matter. The customer service people just read from their script and tell me it’s being “investigated.”
Here’s the kicker: I never received payment from the reservation. The robbery and security deposit aside, I was never even paid by Airbnb for the five nights he stayed at my house. I’ve resorted to a negative post on their Facebook page to which they responded with a DM then on Twitter. Still there has been no response, explanation, or money in my account. I have been robbed by both the guest that stayed in my home and now by Airbnb. I feel totally violated and I can’t do a thing about it other than share my experience with as many people as possible in the hopes that no one else has to go through what I am going through.
Legal Troubles with Airbnb: Is it Worth the Hassle?
We are currently going through an ordeal with Airbnb where a recent guest party resulted in us having to cancel one month’s worth of rentals. We would go into more details about what the guest did and how Airbnb handled it but at this moment sharing more information publicly may make us easily identifiable by Airbnb. They may terminate our account to destroy evidence of message histories and emails, etc. It may also bias a future potential legal case. We filed a claim with Airbnb for theft, damages, and lost booking revenue under the Airbnb Host Guarantee and were sure that they would take responsibility and help us. After many emails and phone calls and not being called back, experiencing the exact same horrific lack of support for hosts as has been described over and over here, eventually Airbnb agreed to compensate us for only some of the stolen and damaged items. They have also agreed to compensate us for our lost revenue from the bookings we had to cancel.
However, Airbnb consistently refuses to compensate us for our lost booking revenue (nearly 10000 GBP) from our cancelled bookings from competing sites such as Home Away, Owners Direct, Holiday Lettings and FlipKey. This despite the fact that we have provided Airbnb with documentation which validates that these are bonafide bookings that we had to cancel in the aftermath of the Airbnb guest party. We have also provided a police report number and other relevant documentation to Airbnb. They are referring to their vaguely formulated Host Guarantee Terms, i.e. this paragraph:
“Booking Income Loss is the loss of booking income from the booked portion of a Covered Accommodation (according to bona fide Airbnb confirmed bookings, contracts or agreements in force prior to the established time of loss) by you, as a Host, resulting from a Covered Loss. Booking Income Loss does not include non-continuing charges and expenses or any loss of booking income during any period in which the Covered Accommodation would not have been tenantable for any reason other than a Covered Loss. The Booking Income Loss will be measured by Airbnb’s insurer starting from the time of occurrence of the Covered Loss and ending when the Covered Accommodation can be made ready for habitation under the same or equivalent physical and operating conditions that existed prior to the damage.”
From this paragraph it is not clear that Airbnb will not cover lost revenue from competing booking sites and Airbnb is clearly just trying their best to escape paying us. So far we have not accepted their offer of compensation as it does not cover our losses from accepting a booking from this verified Airbnb guest. We are now considering our options and we understand from reading various articles on Airbnbhell.com that the only two options available to us are to get media coverage or engage a lawyer.
Can any host on this forum please share with us if they know of any successful cases where a host has brought legal action against Airbnb? Is it worth our time, effort and money to try to fight such a big organization that has the legal backing and resources to win legal battles against entire cities? Do you have any recommendations as to what type of lawyer would be suitable? Is this property law? Contract law? Dispute law? Do you have any recommendations for lawyers in the UK who have had experience successfully running host cases against Airbnb? Or is it better to let the national newspapers run a story about this? If so – would Airbnb be more likely to compensate our losses then? All we want is to get our losses covered so we can keep up our financial obligations for our property and get back on track with our rental. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Airbnb Tries to Con me out of 1000 Dollars
Our host cancelled on us when we were literally on his doorstep. After that we spent a good deal of our vacation trying to unearth some contact information for Airbnb. They don’t seem to want to talk to their customers. Meanwhile, the host offered us half our money back, which was transferred to my account. I had my Visa card changed before that, not knowing if Airbnb had already withdrawn the money. After quite a bit of digging, I got through to an actual person,who actually helped me get the rest back! So far so good. I wrote a fair review.
then after a couple of days Airbnb sent me a message claiming I had been reimbursed more than I’d originally paid and regretted that they couldn’t withdraw the excess money on my card – would I please tell my bank to let them have the money? I wrote them back, sending them evidence that I’d only received the original amount, after which they sent me a different (as in, fake) invoice stating an amount that was $1000 more than I had originally paid (and consequently received from them as a refund). I protested, sending them the original invoice and screen shots of my bank records. Airbnb totally ignored this, didn’t answer my emails, and sent me the same message every few days: they paid me too much; will I please talk to my bank about letting them withdraw $1000 dollars from my card? I also kept getting emails about writing a review of the host, but when I followed the link I was told i couldn’t “edit this review.” What review? I hadn’t written any! Their so-called customer service stinks and I have a hard time believing they are not trying to con me.
Extortion Results in Airbnb Superhost Punished
I have a story for everyone in the Airbnb community. I am a superhost with over 180 glowing reviews and have listings – had, actually – in Quito, Aruba, and Miami. Last month I received a request from a group of first timers: no reviews; two women, one man. The interaction during the booking process was strange but I figured someone has to give people their first chance. They requested one night. They arrived at 6:00 AM when check in is 3:00 PM, spent all day out, and left early the next morning. The following week one of the women wrote to me: “Hi, your father touched me inappropriately. I am offended. Refund me.” Mind you, my mom and dad are in their 70s, married for 50 years, and there is a full-time maid at the house. I contacted Airbnb customer support to ask them to handle the extortionist and I did not engage with her anymore. The guest kept asking for money several times.
I received a message from someone at Airbnb saying something along the lines of: “I am a neutral third party, an innocent and nice person. Oh, and we are canceling all – yes, ALL – your bookings for the next month while we investigate.” I wrote back and told her such action was not neutral. I really dislike hypocritical polite statements. I work for a large airline so I know better. I kept calling for updates; they claimed they were having technical difficulties and I should call back. I wrote to the representative telling her it does not make any sense to shut down listings in different parts of the world; if anything, I could understand they might remove the listing where the complain happened “while they investigated.”
Nothing happened for another week and I called some guy at Airbnb’s office in Ireland and gave him a piece of my mind. I told him they failed to protect their most valuable assets, a host like myself. I demanded the issue be addressed immediately as I was suffering undeserved consequences. I asked to what degree the extortionists were being investigated. The next day I received an email saying: “We are now canceling all your future bookings, removing the listings of your properties, and preventing you from contacting guests.” Fortunately, I had already printed all booking details and told my guests we were in the middle of a dispute with Airbnb; there would be a chance we would migrate elsewhere. It was the smart thing to do given the very strange behavior of the people in charge of our safety.
One representative wrote: “We are under no obligation of explaining our decision to you. Goodbye.” Fine, I am taking my bookings with me, and I have already recovered over $12,000 of what they canceled… and counting. I’ll make sure my guests have a fabulous experience. It is surprisingly easy to take my guests back… it must have something to do with Airbnb not being the owners of any property, not being the hosts nor the talent. They have no product. We are the product. Anyways, I will just take my $50,000 in bookings elsewhere… a couple places actually, as a precaution. It’s not good to keep all your eggs in one basket.
My advice to people after this glorious experience is to list your properties on sites other than Airbnb in case you host an extortionist or any other vindictive person. Happy hosting.
Black Mold is Considered Clean and Sanitary to Airbnb
This was my first experience with Airbnb and it went terribly. I really wish I had researched the company a little more before committing to a four-night stay in Myrtle Beach. I thought I had found a great deal and was excited about my trip. Unfortunately, the condo reserved was covered in mold and filth. There was black mold on the curtains, shower curtain, the walls, and the baseboards along with just general filth and stains everywhere else. I went to take a shower and the shower liner was covered in mold and the most disgusting part is that there were pubic hairs on the walls of the shower. There were random stains on the floor that didn’t even look like they had been attempted to be cleaned.
I contacted the owner who said that they would send someone to clean it. The longer I was in the room, the more I realized that this wasn’t a “cleaning lady” job and that someone needed to come in to remove this mold as it was a health and safety risk. I was also wasting precious vacation time on a long weekend away. I waited two hours for a cleaning person to show up. When no one had come, I reserved a room elsewhere assuming that once Airbnb saw my pictures, they would completely be on my side (that’s how dirty the room was) and would feel the same level of disgust. I followed the online steps and submitted a request through the resolution center within the 24 hours stated. Unfortunately, Airbnb restricts the number of characters that you can put in your request so I just tried to give the general run down and attached the pictures of the filth.
When I hadn’t heard anything the next day, I wanted to contact Airbnb directly. It was difficult to find the contact number but I eventually found it and spent quite some time on hold. When I finally spoke with a representative, the woman stated that we needed to give the owner time to respond and that she thought a refund wouldn’t be a problem… she was wrong. Airbnb denied my request for a refund and only provided me with a $200 credit (why would I be interested in using Airbnb again?), not the $475 that I paid on the room. The response from the resolution center claimed that I didn’t give the owner time to have someone come and clean. When I reminded them that I waited two hours and then sent additional pictures of the mold stating that my short stay wasn’t adequate time for them to take care of this issue, the representative then told me that I didn’t follow the proper procedure.
I not only contacted the resolution department within 24 hours but the next day, I called and spoke to a representative who gave me the feeling that I wouldn’t have any issues. As a reminder, their policy states, “at the start of a guests reservation, the accommodation: (i) is not generally clean and sanitary (ii) contains safety or health hazards that would be reasonably expected to adversely affect the Guest’s stay at the Accommodation.” At the start of the reservation… so, at the start of a reservation, the room should be clean. Also, I would think that black mold would be covered under both statements (i) and (ii) considering how dangerous it can be. Apparently not. The room is still up for rent. Airbnb and the host are still collecting their money.
I honestly cannot describe what I’m feeling right now; it is enough to want to cry. $475 is a lot of money to me and this falls in the midst of me trying to save every penny for a wedding. Not only am I out the money for the Airbnb but also the money for a safe hotel that wasn’t covered in mold and stranger’s pubic hairs. I feel like the money was stolen from me. They falsely represented a clean and SAFE room. They didn’t deliver and are keeping my money anyway, even though I didn’t stay at the accommodation. It is so unethical on the host’s side as well as Airbnb and is such a hard thing for me to accept about a company that appeared to be reputable. I have many more pictures but only attached the number of photos that the system allowed. The attached photos are what Airbnb and the host consider to be “generally clean and sanitary” and with no safety to health hazards. They “reasonably expect” the condition of this room not to affect my stay. They are crooks.
Airbnb Charged Me Twice, Still No Reservation
I was trying to make a reservation for three nights at a location that would have cost me $35/night. I started working on this around August 26th. My ID couldn’t be verified as it wouldn’t link to my Facebook account, despite the fact that I’m very active on it. I have 339 friends which they said is enough (besides, I’m particular about who I allow to see my personal information). At first, despite it being super annoying, I tried to get my ID verified but I just couldn’t do it. The second I told them that I was done trying to get involved with their company, my ID was suddenly verified and I was told I should go back on Airbnb and make a reservation… which I did. BIG MISTAKE. They charged me $101 on September 2nd and then the next day sent me an email saying that my reservation was cancelled because I wasn’t verified. On September 5th, my money was refunded so I just thought I would leave it at that. They kept sending me emails saying that I needed to verify my ID, which I didn’t bother doing.
On September 8th, I went to go use my debit card and I was overdrawn! I checked my account and due to another $101 withdrawal Airbnb made, I was now overdrawn my 28 cents. I called Airbnb and they refused to connect me to a supervisor. I probably had to ask at least eight times. Then I spoke to a representative who accused me of lying and saying that they only charged me once. That’s right… the supervisor pretty much called me a liar. She said that she would email accounting but since then I haven’t heard from her. She was there on Friday and left without calling me back. Today one employee ended up hanging up on me, but not before refusing to let me talk to a supervisor. Then another at first told me the supervisor was busy, then said the supervisor wasn’t there, then when I asked him for the address so I could use it for my BBB complaint, he told me that I could look it up on the Internet and it wasn’t his job to give me that information. I think that in order to block them, I will have to cancel my debit card and maybe change my email address.
Not My Blood on that Airbnb Host’s Duvet
I needed a break. I had work on a business plan that needed to be done but I was distracted and my apartment (and the city) were loud; I wanted silence. A friend recommended a cabin in the woods and the idea took hold. With somewhat limited time – an earlier planned vacation fell through and I was scrambling – the need for a location with wifi, and budget constraints, I decided to join Airbnb after recommendations from friends. The host I found was in one of my favorite spots in British Columbia and in my budget for a four-night stay. I could cook, visit local trails, watch deer on the large property, and walk a pleasant 40 minutes to the nearest town center. I thought it was perfect, and the host agreed it was a great spot for writing especially after I specified I wanted peace and quiet. I thought it was only going to be a retired couple in the adjacent home so I wasn’t worried about loud parties.
When I got there and the host showed me the place, he casually mentioned I might hear the odd noise from the person renting the suite next to mine. I brushed it off, thinking it couldn’t be that bad. The home was older, made of wood, and the walls were very thin. The neighbors woke me up in the morning and kept me up at night (they went to bed later). It sounded like they were constantly renovating or building something. Then the neighboring property had a loud party that went on quite late. I had to leave each day just to get the peace and quiet I went there for. It was disappointing and I didn’t get any work done. Before I left, I made sure my dishes were done and put away. I used the carpet sweeper on the rugs, cleaned the bathroom and made the bed. Things you do when you stay at someone else’s place.
When I got home that evening I opened up my email to find a ranting message from the host saying I had left a bloody mess on the duvet, tried to clean it, and then made the bed to “hide the now wet and bloody mess.” She wanted money for the damages. I was stunned. First off, it was a very hot week (mid-August) and temperatures were in the low 20s C even at night. I pushed the duvet off to the side along with the wool blanket covering it and used only the top sheet, none of which had any stains. I made the bed as a courtesy, and didn’t notice any stains. I was not menstruating and had no wounds that would have bled. If that stain on top of the duvet was blood, it most definitely was not mine.
I explained this to the host along with my surprise at the tone of her accusatory message and asked for more detail about the stain. She provided pictures of an orangey stain she was adamant was blood. After hearing my side of things, she agreed one of her cats could have brought something in and left it at that with the hope I would write a nice review. I was so stunned I didn’t know what to say. Not wanting to leave a bad review, I said nothing hoping this was a one time misunderstanding. Airbnb closed the claim and labeled it resolved. I should note they have a 48-hour window once a reservation ends to file a claim. I was relieved.
Three weeks later (too late for either party to leave a review) I received another message stating she wanted money because she couldn’t remove the stain. I declined responsibility, citing the earlier resolved claim. Two days later Airbnb reviewed all the facts and documentation and sided with the host, charging my credit card the security deposit. Since Airbnb’s head office outside of the US is in Ireland, I would have to attempt to reach someone at 2:00 AM, which is when I was receiving messages from them. They are not in the business of hospitality; they are there to “handle the money so you don’t have to.” Successful hosts and guests have been lucky. Please use due diligence and do your research as there is no recourse for you should something go wrong. Better yet, don’t use Airbnb.