Tag Archives: airbnb rip off

Hosts take advantage of family w pregnant wife – no refund for simple mistake!

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Husband & Pregnant wife +19 month old baby girl look forward to a last holiday before newborn arrives…… WRONG!  It was a disaster staying through Airbnb with FABIO & CHRISTINA. Looking at the beautiful photos of Byron Bay & all the options on airbnb, I booked ahead looking forward to a well earned rest before our new born arrives in December.  We headed down from Queensland to New South Wales forgetting about the 1 hour time difference(NSW 1 hour ahead). We were asked to let them know when we would be arriving so I said 2 pm, approximately, when we arrived there was no one there as we had the times mixed up! No big deal I thought just an error in judgement. When I called Fabio, I asked when we could be given access, he started getting angry & did not seem to want to remedy a solution. Eventually I passed him onto my wife to let her work out a solution!   We managed to get him to agree to come to the houses an hour later.   If he had explained/communicated that we had to be there at a specific time as he would be waiting specifically for us, then I could have understood his annoyance, but he did not!  His partner I guess, Christina, was there and did all of the talking, he said nothing, not an apology, not a peep, which I did think was odd after he had been so angry on the phone. We all stood in the kitchen, I checked the room out, It was ok, the bathroom was ok, then I thought that I had better check that the bathroom was just for us.  The reply was “no it’s a shared house with 4 room”, & the kitchen to was shared. I explained that was not what I was expecting as my understanding was that we had booked a self contained unit!!  Christina then offered for us to cancel/ not stay & “she would not be offended” along with the fact that she did not have the money, Airbnb had it, & we could get it back from them if we wanted.  I gave my pregnant wife the option to make the decision to stay or not.  She chose the latter. We said goodbye & left, trusting what we were told regarding the monies/refund! We were left at 5pm Halloween evening on the side of the street scrambling around frantically to find accommodation, we ended up sleeping in a caravan/ mobile unit, not the holiday we were expecting sadly.  Then we moved out and stayed another 2x nights somewhere else. When I returned to Brisbane I followed up with airbnb & Fabio & Christina for our refund…………. We are told by airbnb that Fabio & Christina HAD received the monies in full & they could/would do nothing as they could not force them to give the money back as per verbal agreement…… When I asked the Rude host Fabio he said that it was all our fault & we should have gone online on the day we left to get our monies back!! Fabio & Christina are using airbnb to scam/rip off money out of unsuspecting customers who do not know their rights & are lied to in order to take advantage of in this kind of situation! I wonder how many other people have been caught by this couple & others using the same tactics. In the end I gave them the option to play fair & give the money back or I would have no choice but as my duty to warn there people wanting a cheap holiday NOT TO BOOK THROUGH AIRBNB. “BUYER BEWARE”, THE OLD SAYING GOES! IF SOMETHING SEEMS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE THEN IS PROBABLY IS! A VERBAL AGREEMENT FROM HOSTS MEANS NOTHING, AND AIRBNB WILL DO NOTHING TO HELP YOU!

BEAUTIFUL 1 BR APT IN RITTENHOUSE forget this one!

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This is not a bad apartment though not great. Really bad experience though due to poor instructions about how to leave the key. They confiscated our security deposit because we left the key incorrectly even though they were at fault for late communication. That’s the gist; buyer beware. They can and will take your deposit over a minor detail. Specifics: The communicator sent us an email 48 hours prior to our arrival with instructions about how to get the key from the lockbox (including details like “Can be sticky”, “Use a key for pressure”). The lockbox flung itself open before the code had been fully entered, and the face fell off. We had the key then and got in, and with some difficulty re-assembled the (old rusted) lockbox. We’d retrieved a message from the AirBnb site about our occupancy and instructions for check-out, but no word about where to leave the key. Reluctant to leave it in that hinky lockbox where it was not secure, we left it on the kitchen table. The apartment was spotless when we left. I received a literally screaming voice-mail message from someone associated with this apartment (female), and numerous angry texts later; “WHERE IS THE KEY?” I think there’s a disconnect between the person who appears to be advertising this AirBnB and the staff person who seems to be pretending to be that guy. Your messages go to the person who will scream at you if any problem occurs. Your deposit is in her hands. I will never go back to this place.

Ripped off

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I was using the Airbnb site looking for somewhere to stay in London for a few days after travelling from Australia. I found an apartment in Covent Garden, perfect, dates were free. I next get a confirmation email from what I thought was Airbnb. This asking for payment for almost $1800. After a few emails back and forth, I was still waiting to be given the address of the property, by this time we had traveled to the UK. I then realized that I had been ripped off and had to find other accommodation. The response from Airbnb was basically, sorry can’t help you, it wasn’t booked through our site. What a joke, lack of security to protect the customer and no help after from Airbnb.

Thanks for nothing, Airbnb

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We had booked a flat in Barcelona last August and paid $600 for five nights. Before the Barcelona leg of our trip, we stayed in another apartment (also booked through Airbnb) in Paris for five nights, which worked out well.

Prior to flying to Europe, I had communicated with the host of our apartment in Barcelona, who said he would arrange a car service from the airport to the apartment, and asked me for my flight details. That was the last I heard from the host. When we arrived in Paris, I began emailing him, asking him if he was able to arrange a car for us as he said he would, and for check in details. Each day, my emails were ignored, and I heard nothing from the host.

The night before leaving Paris and flying to Barcelona, I decided enough was enough, and I called him. The host was immediately abusive, and began screaming obscenities at me, so of course I hung up on him and immediately tried to call Airbnb for assistance. I waited on hold for 40 minutes ($2 a minute adds up quickly) before I gave up and emailed them.

Airbnb responded by sending us links to three different apartments that they suggested we try…however the apartments didn’t have our dates available. We then received an email from Temperance at Airbnb…a Customer Experience “Specialist” who said our case had been sent to a member on her team, and that we would be in good hands. I replied that we were now on our way to Spain with no place to stay, and a child with us.

And, that was the last time I ever heard from Airbnb. I have been emailing Temperance daily, and it has now been four days. I had to go into the original booking and cancel it, and they issued a 50% refund. We had to shell out the money to stay in a hotel, so I will be contesting all charges with my credit card company once I am back in the states, as I’m not paying for services not rendered.

I am also not able to leave a review for the host (his name is Kristian, if anyone is interested) who was a complete psychopath, so there is no way to warn potential future guests of his.

I will continue to email – and call, once I am back in the States – Airbnb until someone from their incompetent organization acknowledges me.

Airbnb are criminals.