Tag Archives: airbnb nightmare

Incompetent Airbnb “arbitrator” circumvents policy

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I had a guest who first said she was “uncomfortable”, then changed it to she “feared for her personal safety”.”She ended up saying she was about to have a panic attack and said she ran out of my house because she was “afraid for her personal safety”. She also said the last host who she told that she was “uncomfortable” just handed her money for a refund, and she wanted me to hand her cash, which I did not even have yet. These days if you’re lucky they pay on time, which means 24 hours after the guest checks in. Then I had to deal with an Airbnb “arbitrator” named Kevin T who did not seem to know what “Guest Refund Policy” was and kept dismissing what I was saying, and only listened to her side without giving me a chance to defend myself. In the end, he circumvented my cancellation policy, and yanked nearly $1500 from me. He told me on a recorded phone call that he would pay me for 3 days and paid me for less than 1. Now, the case is closed. I love the way they do something unconscionable and then say the case is closed. Oh yeah, their legal team was supposed to contact my lawyer but never did. No way to contact their legal team. I am thinking of contacting the American Arbitration Association. I wonder if Airbnb will ban me if I do that. I guess transparency and honesty will go out the window at that point.

Airbnb Doesn’t Care if Hosts Lie and Mislead Guests

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Booked a house in Fish Hoek, Cape Town from one Sonny Naidoo. In his listing he claimed the property had 2 bedrooms and a steep flight of stairs. The picture in his listing was of a flight of stairs that looked fine – however when I got to the address I found that the picture was taken in front of another property all together. The actual house had multiple flights of steep stairs to climb in order to reach it. Upon the climb I found that the house actually didn’t have a second bedroom, only a sort of pseudo loft in the kitchen accessible only by climbing a ladder. No safety gate of any sort on the platform either, making it very unsafe for children (listing claimed to be child friendly) AIRBNB support told me the following: “I’ve reviewed the video Joel and while I understand that the staircase shown was not the same as the one you actually climb to the listing but the whole point of the picture was to show the view. It was stated in the description that there was a steep climb and that you would need to be able bodied but that is why porters were supplied. At this point as the description covered the basis of the fact there was a steep climb I would be unable to process a refund for the reservation besides what I have already given.” So – it seems a host can post a picture of another property – inferring that it is the actual property, and airbnb doesn’t care. A host can claim 2 bedrooms, while not describing it accurately, and AIRBNB doesn’t care. I’ve attached a screenshot taken from the listing, showing the staircase from a different property – a clear misdirection – then the actual listing and pictures of the ACTUAL climb property taken by myself.

Airbnb has the Worst Customer Service

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I rented a room where the host said he would clean it after he got off work at 6. The check in time stated 3pm, but I didn’t feel like I could force him to come home from work earlier so I planned around his schedule. When I came back around 7:30 he had still not come back and the sheets were dirty and there were dirty towels from the previous guest. The toilet had urine on it and the apartment smelled bad. Airbnb wanted him to come home and remedy the situation instead of reimbursing me. When he was not home by 9 they finally agreed to reimburse me. Which is great, but I had to go back and forth with them for almost an hour and get a supervisor involved. They also agreed to pay up to $150 for my first night in a hotel. So I get a hotel for 2 nights thinking everything will be ok. Then this morning I find the case manager has sent me 2 emails between 9 and midnight stating she needs the receipt and then that she is not paying for the hotel anymore. When I call back i’m told I just have to wait for her to return and they can’t give me a timeline. Way to ruin a vacation! I wouldn’t have been upset with the dirty room if customer service had responded to the situation quickly and fairly and I was able to put it all behind me, but I’m still having to deal with them.

How To Recover Your Money from Airbnb

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Here’s a warning and hopefully some help for others in the Airbnb nightmare club. I recently used Airbnb for the first time. I have several friends that rent their houses through this service so I though I’d try it. This review does not pertain to every person on Airbnb. There are good people there, I know some personally. However, there are bad people there too and I just got a lesson in how far Airbnb goes to protect known scammers. If you read to the end I’ll explain how I unscammed myself.

Ok, I rented a room in Bozeman for 12 days. I paid for it in advance of course. Now, Airbnb claims they don’t charge your account until you check in. What they don’t mention is that for them “check in” occurs 24 hours before your rental starts. The host already has your money and has possibly spent it before you arrive. Possibly on drugs that make them crazy when you get there. Just saying. Apparently this happened to me. When I showed up, the hosts were super sketchy. The house smelled like people just pee in the hall rather than going all the way to the bathroom. There were people sleeping on every couch and piece of free carpet it seemed. The room was in the back. It had probably never been cleaned since the last junkie died there. I mentioned I was disappointed that the house was not as described and not the one in the pictures. They asked me to leave. I couldn’t have been happier to get out. Really, it was a health hazard. I called Airbnb and they said they would help. They’d call back in 5-10 minutes. They’d help me find another place and we’re sorry. I said ok, I’m sitting in my car in a blizzard so somewhere close would be best. They said if it was more than 15 minutes they’d call with an update.

They called almost 4 hours later. They said that since I’d already talked to another employee there they couldn’t help me. I never talked to anyone else. I assume the host called pretending to be me. They said that their hands are tied and they can only do what the host wants anyway. I said that is says clearly on your site that in extenuating circumstances or if the rental isn’t as described, Airbnb will override the host’s policies. He said he doesn’t think it says that. I explained where to read it. He said, well I don’t have the authority to do anything like that. I asked to be transferred to someone who can. He said there is no one who can. ??? He then said the only way is to contact the host and ask for a refund. Really? The scammers make the rules? By this time the hosts had “canceled” my reservation. You’d think this means a refund. You’d be very wrong. What it means is I can’t leave feedback about the host because I no longer have a reservation. If I go to my emails and click the links there it says that reservation does not exist. So, if the host has any clue you will leave a bad review, they can block you from writing one. Also, read through the Airbnb policies on the website. First it says all reviews are honest and from real renters. Keep reading. Wait for the part where they say they erase and or modify the reviews as they see fit. Seriously? Honest reviews re-written by marketing experts. Seems like a real nice version of honesty to me.

Ok, so what to do if this happens to you? Well, hopefully you reserved your room with a credit or debit card. Call your bank. Ask for the fraud department. Maybe even the Airbnb fraud specialist. No joke Wells Fargo said they think they need a few. The guy that helped me said this is the 4th similar Airbnb scam he personally helped with today. At this point, if they hear Airbnb they just shove the money back in your account. He said sorry this happened, and I had my cash in about 12 hours. Don’t try and deal with Airbnb if you have a problem. Well, you can try but do it with the expectation that they won’t help. So, I want to say once more that there are good people on Airbnb. You may rent a place and love it. But please protect yourself in case you do get initiated into the Airbnb nightmare club.

AirBNB Superhost Raised Price AFTER Accepting Booking!

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My first time booking with AirBnB, and it was an amazingly FRUSTRATING experience. After my host accepted my reservation, she then messaged me saying she had posted the wrong accommodation prices, and asked me to accept the new property price listing. I told her that as she had already accepted my reservation, I would not pay her extra. She then told me to pay her in cash in person. I then contacted AirBnB and told them what had happened, and they said they would assign a case manager. After an initial email, I have had NO replies from the case manager and his last email stated “If your host ends up asking for additional payment at the time of check-in, you can also refer them to the Resolutions Center. The Resolution Center allows you to offer or request money for your Airbnb reservation. By using the Resolution Center, Airbnb is able to verify and process any agreements that you may reach…If your host does not allow you to check in, then please contact us immediately and we can get you a new place to stay. I hope this is helpful.” NO THAT WAS NOT HELPFUL! Do you want me to rock up to the accommodation and then contact Resolution Center if she demands more money from me in person?! Or she doesn’t even honour the reservation?! PLEASE DO NOT BOOK WITH AIRBNB FOR YOUR SANITY!!!!!!!!

Guests Trash Host’s Townhome – No Support from AirBNB!

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I rented my lovely Whistler townhome to someone who claimed to be a 27 year old coming up with his partner and another couple for a weekend to explore Whistler and the surrounding area. They were actually a group of at least 7 guys, probably younger than 27, who threw a big party at our quiet complex. There was evidence of cocaine, pot, cigarettes on top of the hundreds of beer cans and liquor bottles left behind – not to mention all the dirty underwear and various personal belongings they forgot. There was vomit on the curtains, cigarette butts and vomit on the balcony. Neighbors reported a loud party with a disco ball, loud music and women that appeared to be strippers/prostitutes. My cleaning lady told me she has never seen such a horrific mess in her 8 years of working in Whistler! My cleaning lady took 12.5 hours to clean my home, which normally takes 3 hours. Of course this came out of my pocket. Despite having photos of the mess and an invoice from my cleaning lady, Airbnb offered me no support and gave the guests’ damage deposit back! I have a strict no-smoking policy listed in my house rules on their website, and despite photos of cigarette packages and butts, they wouldn’t even support me for that! I am shocked and appalled by their lack of customer support and promptly delisted my property. I also have my home on VRBO who are much more supportive of their hosts. I will stick with them!

Airbnb Host Stole Belongings of Guest – No Airbnb Help!

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I got scammed on Airbnb and it was a totally legit listing. I only communicated with the people through the Airbnb app. When I got to the house and met the folks they seemed cool. When I went out for dinner, they stole all my stuff and locked me out. They told Airbnb my dog was violent and they were scared. I tried multiple times but I couldn’t get any refund and my luggage and laptop and camera, everything was stolen. They are still on Airbnb offering the same listing. I’d say Airbnb needs to be made illegal in every state. That’s the only time I used them so in my eyes they have 100% scam rate. There is no protection if you use them. The renters were even able to change their refund policy after I paid and the new rules were instantly considered valid. To make it worse, they sent me an email saying God bless, Jesus loves you. Also, once they canceled my reservation I wasn’t allowed to leave negative feedback. So, no one will ever know by looking at their listing.

Host Lies & Claims Security Deposit After Honest Review

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I stayed in Copenhagen for 5 nights at this listing (https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/4465929) hosted by this guy called Cem Arslan. I didn’t want to leave any review for him because there was nothing great about my stay. But the host has texted me and emailed me twice to have a good review. I got the rude shock this morning (after 2 weeks after my trip) when airbnb sent me a request to claim US$250 from me just because the host suddenly claimed that I damaged his TV console?!? He left me a good review after my stay, and after I gave him an honest review, he turned against me and demanded payment for some made up accusation which never happened. I was horrified to find out that airbnb still entertain such baseless complaints and demanded that I respond. In addition, he also told so many lies in his public response to my review. Gosh! I told him at the booking that there will be 2 children and he even replied saying they can sleep on his couch. Now he claims that I didn’t tell him there were young children. And he also claimed that I left the apartment dirty?! Why have a change of heart after 2 weeks when your review after I left was so good?! Beware of such host because your credit card details and security deposits are certainly not safe even weeks or months after your trip!

Unprofessional host ruined my holiday

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Found an apartment last minute on airbnb in Copenhagen. The apartment was ok, not great but no complaints other than the greasy kitchen and broken shower head. On the last day, I was told I need to leave by 10am (though the website states check out time was 12pm) because the next guest was coming. So I obliged and left the apartment at 9.30am even though it was a mad rush as I am traveling with two young children in winter. I got a rude shock when 2 hours later, the angry host texted me with a series of photos of his apartment floor – and asking me why there were cereals on the floor among other things. He also threatened to charge me because I did not clean the apartment before I leave. I had to apologize profusely to him. I thought I paid €58 for the cleaning fee?! Then he told me the €58 was for pre-arrival, and I will have to reinstate his place to its original condition (does it mean the next guest doesn’t need to pay cleaning fee because it is my duty to help him reinstate his apartment to original condition?!). I was pretty upset over this but I just apologized to him on that day and moved on. Later he messaged me again telling me to leave a good review for him as he has left a good one for me. I did not respond to his message as I didn’t feel like leaving someone a good review after being scolded. I just want to leave things as it is. However, it gets pretty annoying when the host left another message today asking me to give him a good review!

If you have a serious problem, Airbnb is nowhere to be found

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New host. Had several reservations booked. Became concerned when I didn’t hear back from my correspondence with guests. Had one guest who became pushy and passive aggressive before her rental dates. Informed Airbnb. Customer service was good at mediating and said they’d protect me. To call them if I had a problem with guest. Guest was not a good communicator and had no graciousness at all. Wanted me to let someone into the unit before her, that had not made the reservation. I wasn’t comfortable with it. Airbnb had every excuse for the guest and said I should let other members of the group in that didn’t make the reservation. Ended up cancelling reservation. Reached out via text message to next guests cell phone, only to find out she never received my emails through their site. Tried to talk to Airbnb and some dope named Lyle senior case manager decided it was all my fault and I’d pay a penalty for it. Tried to call with new information that guests don’t receive email, got tossed around. Got contacted via email from Lyle even though I asked to go above him. Was told their community relations dept would call me back. They never did. Called them a day later. They disconnected me. Called again. They had no record of the day before a conversation and reiterated that the decision by Kyle was final. They never let me talk to anyone higher. I dumped their service, app, my reservations… Everything. They couldn’t care less.