Tag Archives: airbnb verification process fail

Identification Trouble from Airbnb Hell

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I’m not a frequent Airbnb user, but it has always been a good experience for some years now. Recently, Airbnb requested some real identification and asked for a copy of my passport. No problem, I can understand about that kind of request. It may even be some improvement to avoid scams or other abuse.

However, Airbnb then asked for verification with a live image of mine. I tried. I tried ten times with the app. I could take a selfie with the app, but then I just dropped back to the home page of the app. There was no kind of confirmation whether this image was received, and obviously it never was.

In parallel I tried to contact Airbnb support. They always wanted to walk me through the confirmation process. I did three times and it never worked. I asked to escalate this problem to someone who could find another solution. They walked me through the process again.

They asked me to install Airbnb on another phone. I did. Now the app asked for a confirmation code, which I received on my own phone. Again, that’s a reasonable request, but the second app did not give me any option where to enter this four-digit code which I had received.

I’m still in identification hell. I tried to book two different accommodations several times. After 12 hours this reservation will be deleted automatically since I still lack proper identification. You might guess that there should be any kind of bypass for the support team to accept any other kind of identification, but there is nothing else they claim they can do.

Broken app which has never been properly tested? Broken support, who can not help you at all? Unfortunately, there’s not much alternative to Airbnb nowadays (in Germany), other than ordinary hotels and booking.com.

Somebody in Airbnb Development should be Fired

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I am three days into a four-month trip to Peru. This is with three reservations via Airbnb of one, one, and two months. For whatever reason (I entered a wrong password, am trying to sign-in from Peru, am using my new laptop) the Airbnb site is asking in a pop-up to send me a verification code.

It offers just two options: in a text message to my phone or in a call to my phone. My phone does not work in Peru so I have no way to receive the verification code. I have called the toll-free number a couple times now. The wait time has been short and the person on the other end appears to be trying to be helpful but today I was told it was given to a case worker and there were none available. BS?

I suggested there was a bug in the website in that it was only showing those two unworkable options. She said there was no bug. BS? I suggested that if that was by design that a traveler was required to carry a US-working phone with them when traveling (and there was no way for the help center to intervene) then that was a very bad design and that designer should be fired.

Everybody I’ve talked to in the help center seems to agree this is stupid but nobody can do anything about it. Airbnb needs to get some better developers.

Feeling Like A Freak, Felt Discriminated

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I’ve never been able to use Airbnb. The first time I installed the app I was asked for a picture, driver’s license and credit card. I submitted everything, but I never received an approval nor an email, nothing. Since this was some months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico (2017) and we were surviving with the Google Loons, I thought that it was the lack of a good internet connection and forgot about it.

A year ago, November 2018, I wanted a place for a surfing trip. To my surprise all my information was in the Airbnb account: my ID checked, my profile with a picture, my Amex approved as payment method, all cool. When I tried to reserve something, I wasn’t able to do because my credit card needed to be checked (again) and since I wanted a place for the next day (swells don’t wait) I forgot about Airbnb.

In the last couple of weeks (October 2019) I started looking for places to stay during a surfing competition. All my information was there on my profile, and when I tried to reserve a place I wasn’t able to. The message from Airbnb was that my card needed to be verified. I agreed for some debits to be made to my credit card to confirm.

I had been a front desk and reservations agent for Hilton and Hyatt. This was kind of a strange procedure, but I decided to wait for the approval. I started receiving emails, text messages, and messages in the account inbox on the Airbnb app, all messages pressuring me to reserve, the property owner greeted me, but guess what?

I wasn’t able to reserve anything. Now they were asking for a picture of my credit card statement. “No way,” I said to myself. I kept receiving messages from them the whole night.

The next morning I had notices to reserve because I had a pre-approval from the owner while they verified my Amex. I tried to book, and once again I wasn’t able because they needed a picture of a recent credit card statement. Nervously to the maximum extreme, I took the picture and sent it.

A couple of hours later I received an email message through the app and a text message to hurry and book because I had been approved and verified and the property was being held for me for a couple hours more. But as you can imagine already, I wasn’t able to book. Now the nightmare begins.

I decide to review all the messages before contacting the help center and all the messages on the app were gone. My credit card information, gone. I wrote the help center and when they answered hours later it seemed that they thought I was hallucinating or something. They told me they were transferring the situation to customer service (the chat with him was customer service).

I explained the situation over and over to different customer service representatives who contacted me. My main concern was what happened to the information I was providing them. Had I been scammed? Was this procedure normal each time that you tried to book? They wrote me back each time: “Enter your credit card information on your account and wait for it to be verified.”

I couldn’t believe it. Were they morons? I breathed and breathed each time I answered back to be polite and well mannered and to restrain myself from saying what I just said. I even asked if I was talking to a computer. I wrote that I wanted to communicate with a supervisor. I was feeling very angry because I thought he was making fun of me for being a middle-aged Hispanic woman.

I was completely ignored now. I told them I would report them to Consumer Affairs. I was feeling like a freak. I couldn’t believed what happened. Was I overreacting? I took screenshots of this last conversation before they disappeared again.

Looking for their corporate information and willing to even write a classic certified letter, I found this blog. Now I know I’m not a freak. Airbnb customer service is the most inefficient, disrespectful and inconsiderate that I’ve ever seen.

Initial Signup Nightmare, Mistaken Identity

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In September 2019 I completed all of the required signup processes (including a copy of my driver’s license). I booked my first stay in an Airbnb property an was promptly contacted to setup linen service and cleaning service. All good… yeah, right.

Three to four days later, I received an email stating my reservation had been cancelled. I promptly attempted to log into the site to get any details of why the reservation was cancelled only to find my account had been suspended. I emailed the customer support team and the only information they would provide was that my claim was under review.

At this point, I was done with Airbnb. I made my reservations through the exact same rental company that was involved in my Airbnb effort and moved on. I enjoyed my four-day weekend at a different property.

Fast forward to October 23rd (over a month since my customer support claim/ticket was submitted). I received an email that I could dispute the finding of their consumer report. What?

I logged into the site they provided. It seems that I was linked to a guy in Arkansas with a laundry list of misdemeanor and felony convictions (same first and last name, same birthday, but different state and race). Remember I provided my driver’s license during signup? Anyway, I’m not using their service. I sent an email to Brian Chesky, but doubt I will get a response. We have better options.

Repetitive, Obnoxious, Superfluous and Totally Unnecessary Verifications

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In the last week of April 2017, I was prevented from making a reservation through Airbnb because it claimed that the credit card I added was new and it was necessary to verify that I was indeed the card holder. There is nothing new about my credit card. I have using the same card for more more than three years and Airbnb is among those which have debited my card, many times, twice in April 2017 alone. I had to send Airbnb a bank statement to prove this. As pointed out by another furious ex-user of Airbnb, not everyone possesses the necessary tools to scan a bank statement and send it to Airbnb. Moreover, few people in the world carry bank statements on them. Such documents are at home. If you are lucky, it may be possible to download them from the Internet, scan them, and send them to Airbnb. If you are at home, this is usually no problem, just a waste of time and energy. If you are abroad, especially in a country without easy access to a computer and scanning equipment, then forget it.

After going through this process, I was finally able to make my reservation. In the second week of the following May, I was again prevented from making a reservation for exactly the same reason. Airbnb had to verify if I was indeed the holder of my “new” credit card. However, unlike my first bad experience, this second one was far worse. I was told no fewer than four times that the problem had been solved and that I could proceed with the reservation. Four more times I tried to make the reservation, four more times I was asked for proof of ownership of my credit card, and four more times I had to get hold of a bank statement and send it to Airbnb as proof. I am still unable to make the reservation.

Airbnb has acknowledged that there is a problem with its site and I must wait a few days before I can make my reservation. I have already wasted three days trying to make this reservation. Time is money and loss of time is loss of money. Airbnb used to be user friendly. Its success has turned it into a site that leads you to waste a huge amount of time. Try finding a telephone number on its site; I tried and failed. I had to do a Google search to get hold of a telephone number to Airbnb’s customer’s service. The time wasted to respond to its unnecessary and obnoxious verification certainly does not justify the fact that it is cheaper than hotel accommodations.

Will I use Airbnb again? If and only if it is my very last option. There are far better sites with far better services and means of communication. Promises that customer service will get back to you before the end of the day or that the problem has been solved or will be solved within 24 hours, are simply not respected and no attempt is made to explain why or to say when the problem can be solved. I still cannot make my reservation.

Airbnb Verification is Nothing but Invasion of Privacy

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I was going to New Orleans for a work trip and thought I would find a nice Airbnb. I looked around, found one, and made a reservation. Everything was good so far. Then I started working my way through the reasonable verification process. I sent in my drivers license picture and then clicked the Facebook verification tab to complete the process. Despite having had a Facebook account for years, it seemed like Airbnb didn’t think I wasted enough time on it; they rejected my Facebook verification. Then I tried the video verification. The website said that I would get approval from their verification team within a few hours. I recorded the video, and nothing happened. There was no ‘submit’ button and it didn’t seem to submit itself. It just sat there. I figured I would let it do its magic and left for a few hours. When I got back I had an email from Airbnb saying that I only had a couple more hours to do my verification video before my reservation got canceled. I searched all over their website looking for a way to get an answer, but despite the friendly ‘we’re here to help’ messages all over the site I discovered that they were decidedly not here to help. There is absolutely no way to contact Airbnb through their website. I kept going back to the verification page trying to figure out what was wrong. When I did I saw that the Facebook verification option had disappeared and been replaced with an American Express tab. Then the video verification tab disappeared as well. When I originally tried to verify with Facebook there was a page that showed all of the data that they wanted to mine from my profile. That included all of my contacts. I deselected that box because I didn’t want my contacts to start getting hounded by this company. What are the chances that my Facebook profile was rejected because I wouldn’t give them unfettered access to my private data? I’m thinking pretty good. I always had a pretty good opinion of Airbnb and the way that they helped people make a little money. I now have a pretty lousy opinion of the company. They refuse to allow me access if I don’t let them scrape all of my friends’ information and they make it nearly impossible to get any customer service. Shame on Airbnb.

Why is Airbnb Refusing to Cooperate with the Authorities?

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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 been robbed on AIRBNB !!! 5760 EUR!!!!

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I been robbed on AIRBNB!!! 5760 EUR!!!! How possible that AIRBNB Does not checks owners? Does not allowing any access for verifications within the process? The worst does, not check deeply to prevent recurrence!!! They prefer that the customers will lose their money than to spend money on human resources !!! Don’t do business with how that don’t respect your safety!!! See description of my Case on http://www.orenyyy.022.co.il/BRPortal/br/P102.jsp… And look what I show today on Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7202241… Look at the pictures and see how easy Airbnb let it happen!!!! and that’s only one sample from a lot ….