Tag Archives: lies

Supposedly furnished studio was not furnished!

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I had never used Airbnb before, but friends had said positive things about their experiences. I wanted a studio apartment, furnished, for a month in Strasbourg, France, while I house-hunted and decided on my future. I reserved a furnished studio. I knew the location. The host accepted the reservation, and Airbnb took my money.

The host then called me to say she wanted to cancel as there was no bed in the apartment (why didn’t she know this before?) – this was while I was on my way to meet her at the apartment to get the keys! I couldn’t afford to wait for a refund and pay another rental at the same time. In any case I had to stay three nights in a hotel while waiting for the bed, which the host then decided could not be delivered for another two weeks (I could have gone to IKEA and bought a sofa bed the same afternoon in her place). At this point she offered me a 200€ refund, which I accepted, being otherwise homeless and already having spent a bunch of money I hadn’t budgeted for.

The description said the place had basic kitchen items, but there was no plate, cup, saucepan, cutlery – nothing. I had to buy all that, as well as all the bed linen. Towels too. The shower curtain was filthy, the shower didn’t drain properly, and the paint was peeling off the bathroom walls. The mirror was broken. Later I realized there was no smoke alarm, illegal in France. People smoked cannabis in the lift, corridors and hallways.

The host insisted that on move-out day (today) I had to return the keys at 10 am. So I had to leave some bags in the hallway as I couldn’t move everything at once. She just shrugged. When I came back for my last bag (a small suitcase of clothes) it had been stolen. She of course was long gone by then. I had left the apartment cleaner than I found it.

This is 1a rue des Cigognes, Strasbourg, France.

Lying, Psychopathic Host – Total Nightmare!

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Here is a AirBNB Review for you. I made a reservation with a host in California through AIRBNB. When I arrived the place was a filthy mess. When I mean a mess, I mean, pubes on the bed, hair on the bathroom floors, pet hair on the couches, pee stains on the toilets and what appeared to be vomit on the sheets on the bed.

I obviously called the owner and told her the issue and she instantly became defensive. She said someone had gone to clean the house and she knew it was spotless. When speaking to her before this time she had stated she was out of town, but when I called her to tell her about what was going on she said she would drive over to see what was going on.

When she arrived she was in a bitchy mood to start off with. After showing her all the mess she stated that she knew everything was clean because she had cleaned it herself. I had taken pictures of the bed sheets and the mess before she arrived in case she was to get feisty with me and ask us to leave.

What happened next is truly disturbing….

First, she stated that we had too high expectations.
Then she states that we probably were the ones who made the mess.
We had not even been there 30 minutes before we called. (30 min. was about the time it took all 6 of us to get the luggage off of the car.)

She continued to try and argue with me that it was our fault and that she would not cancel the reservation, meaning if we were to leave that we were still going to have to pay for the whole stay.

I was pissed by this time. I told her I was not about to argue with her about it infront of my kids. I called Airbnb from there, she called on her phone. Then we starting to tell them our sides of the story. She started saying that we had turned her house upside down…lying right in front of us. I mean to say we were upset is an understatement. She said she didnt give a fu&* what we said we were going to have to pay.

So we took our pictures and left. I emailed them to Airbnb and they stated we were still going to have to pay for the weekend unless she was able to find someone to stay the other days. Are you kidding me?!

I am the only girl on my family and I have 4 brothers, so I’m used to defending myself, and this was not going to be a fight that I was going to lose. And I didn’t. I got my full refund back after I texted the owner that I had looked into her home zoning and she was not only in violation of renting her home but also in violation with her home owners association. You see many locations do not allow a home to rented under 30 days without a permit.

Moral of the story… Stay away from Airbnb.

P.S. I’m not usually rude but when people try to screw me over, I don’t take it lightly.

Dog (un) friendly, Lying AirBnB host!

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I needed the impossible- an affordable place to stay near A1A (name of beachside town) in Florida in mid-December that was both near my parents (Alzheimer’s mother and terrified father) and dog-friendly, as I would have just finished showing all weekend at the biggest dog show in America, in Orlando. I could not believe my luck when I found this cute bungalow with an almost-oceanview, under $100 a night and sure, I could keep my dogs there, in their crates. I explicitly told my host that the dogs would be alone for several hours each day while I visited my parents (and talk about ‘those things’ with my dad), at their beachfront condo (no dogs allowed there), only a mile away. She was very nice about it, saying ‘of course, no problem.’ Totally understanding! What a relief. This was 4 whole months prior to my Florida trip and I felt quite secure knowing that this little annoying detail was taken care of in an affordable way. I had just finished spending nearly $1000 in hotel fees during the dog show at a fancy high rise hotel near the convention center, so I really needed a stress-free financial break at that point. Especially dealing with my parents at this time. They’d spent their lives alienating some of my siblings, including me, and the visit was potentially volatile. But—oh boy, my host was so COOL and relaxed and welcoming and friendly!

Every day I had coffee with her in her living room (she stayed in her other bedroom) and we talked about all kinds of things. I made sure to bring up ‘how are the dogs behaving when I’m not here?’ each day. She always replied, ‘Good! Fine! No problem.’ I told her, ‘Well, if they bark or whine, you can just pop your head in there and tell them to shut up’ and she was just like ‘No, don’t you worry about it- it’s all good.’ I just wanted to make sure she was happy and every day I was so very careful to pick up each and every dog turd from her tiny back yard. I had 3 medium sized show dogs with me, so that was something I did want to make sure was perfection. Half of her back yard was covered with very old, rotted and broken decking and of course that is where the dogs preferred to poop. I am not tiny, so walking on this decking was dangerous to me but I was very careful in my foot placement so I would not break through it and stretched (thank you, yoga!) to get every brown surprise out there.

I was there exactly 2 days and 3 nights, from late Monday night to Thursday mid-morning. Imagine my shock when I opened the email notice of my host’s review of me- and discovered that she had patiently waited to air her grievances about allowing dogs not during our morning coffee discussions, but on the public review page on AirBnB. She complained about the dog’s barking, her relationship with her next door neighbor (who has loud children! Plus I was careful each day to say hello to said neighbor), that the dog poop smell was coming into the bedroom (I have a very good nose for dog scat and no, it was not. There was no hose out there and if there was, I would have used it. It is not my fault that she has broken decking on the ground in her back yard. How do you clean poop residue from that? I did not leave much, if any, residue anyway. Dog show people are notoriously good at cleaning up after our dogs). She ended by angrily stating that she would not allow dogs anymore, as if I was one of ‘those’ dog owners. I was so mortified that I deleted my 100% perfect AirBnB profile and will never use AirBnB again. She ruined my trust of AirBnB hosts.

Moral of the story: hosts are liars. If they seem cool, believe me, they are not. You get what you pay for at fancy high rise hotels!!

Belgrade reservation nightmare – Airbnb Q and A

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Dear Airbnb, I decided to write this open complaint directly to you after the awful experience I had with your website and several hosts that use it to rent their homes.

THE FACTS In few words, I used your site to rent a small apartment for 2 people in Belgrade (SRB) from the 30th December 2015 to the 4th January 2016. After a deep research and several trials, I received a lot of negative answers from different hosts that declared, according to your website, they had available apartment during the requested period. Despite a frustrating experience provided by your unreliable website, on the 28th of December 2015 I found an apartment that apparently fit my need. The apartment is called Rustic Fantastic [https://www.airbnb.it/rooms/9567237?s=__tuuKMM] provided by the host Alex and Vlada [https://www.airbnb.it/rooms/9567237?s=__tuuKMM#host-profile]. I asked the host some specific question about the apartment characteristic in term of precise location, price, car and neighbors noise, including particular features such as shades and blackout curtains availability to sleep in the dark. I hate eyemasks, earplugs and other fussy tools to help light sleepers but, unfortunately, I know that my requests are not very popular or sound strange throughout the common world people. So what ? The host, after some impolite answers said he had all the characteristic I was looking for. Meanwhile I asked for a hard discount because I know that in Belgrade prices are very low and I reasonably estimated that a doubled price according to the normal rate was enough. After some discussion we agreed to a price of 50EUR/day, 80EUR+12EUR by Airbnb website and 170EUR once arrived on site. While we were discussing I asked for more pictures of the home because I didn’t realize its arrangement.
The morning after (29th December 2015) I woke up with an intrusive thought about the sleeping room I didn’t see from his pictures. I saw just a small cubicle with a single bed. I wrote immediately to the host asking about the bed and he told me that the one in the picture was the only bedroom in his apartment. I pointed out I rented the apartment for 2 people, me and my wife. He said that it was not a problem. He just put a mattress (written “madraces” I couldn’t understand) on the floor. I remained astonished !! I started complaining that the price was excessively overrated considering he rented his home with 1 bedroom and 1 normal bed for 2 people as he declared officially on Airbnb description. I complained he had declared false information on the apartment features therefore I asked at least a reduction of the price to 40UER/day as immediate compensation for the problem. He refused. He said to cancel the reservation and he avoided to write me and to answer to my phone call which cost me at least 4EUR after he refused to connect with me by Skype or Viber. I felt ripped off and I decided not to drive more than 800km by car to meet this unpleasant and dishonest host with such communication problem.
It was 9.00 PM, car and luggage ready to go. After searching the Airbinb website (it was about 10.40PM), I didn’t find any section to open a dispute with this host. Only 2 option were clearly available: modify the reservation or cancel it. All the rest wasn’t clear even in the various FAQ !!! Any way to contact anybody!
I chose the second option (to cancel). At first an email advised me that cancellation didn’t give me the possibility to receive the money back. After a while I received another email telling me I was eligible of a reimbursement of 80EUR. I got angry: what about Airbnb commission ? I tried to find an email address to write to about his issue. AGAIN: I didn’t find anything.!!!! I found just a community support forum but the answers I got were too general and not useful. I signaled the host. I remained without commission reimbursed. I remained with blown up plans for New Year Eve just 10hrs before leaving my house in Italy! I got mad, angry and I tried to find immediately another location. Obviously everything was fully booked or overrated even if several accommodations seemed still available on your website. Completely unreliable! This happened not only in Belgrade, where I received other impolite answers, but all over Italy where I tried to book. That’s unbelievable. Finally I stayed home!!!!!! T

HE REQUESTS Now, after cooling down, it comes the EXPLANATION and COMPENSATION TIME!!! I decided to write directly to you considering the Customer Service structure you set up is, according to my experience, completely useless and deliberately distracting. Therefore I am here asking you to declared officially your purpose just before this complete story goes on your official best fan site [http://www.airbnbhell.com/] Here my questions and observations follow:
1) Why is home location approximate and I cannot receive more detailed information about the house location to realize if it is noisy or not? Privacy is not an explanation considering these people intentionally decided to put their apartments/room etc up for rent? Shouldn’t transparency be your first target? – Hosts prefer not to share their exact address unless the guest has already booked for safety reasons, but you can inquire with each host about privacy and noise issues to talk with them about their home.
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, I read carefully your answer but according to my personal experience, is terribly weak. Should I trust the host and his opinion about noise. Are you sure the host tell you the truth instead of having a different noise perception and letting you discover that his location is not the one you like once booked (therefore paid him and your commission ) ? As I wrote above I don’t believe that location privacy should be an issue for somebody who deliberately decided to rent his house. Like an hotel or a bnb: would you like to know in advance where is located or do you prefer to discover on site?
2) Why can’t I contact the host directly before renting the apartment ? Are you afraid to lose commission ? – You can contact the host directly but only via e-mail. Dear Airbnb and Sloan, Your reply isn’t correct. I can contact only via e-mail only inside Airbnb website; that’s the obstacle I am complaining about. Hence your answer is neither complete nor detailed as requested above.
3) Why should I trust on guest review, as suggested by your personnel, considering, as we all know, they are partially fake like on Tripadvisor ?  Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer!
4) Why don’t you allow host and guest to exchange more pictures of the place if requested ? – A host may upload more pictures to their listing if they choose. That way you can view the photos before booking.
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, As you read the host didn’t do that because he said he had no more picture (1st lie) and he had not more pictures taken by a professional photographer as per your license (2nd lie). Instead your internal email platform doesn’t allow to exchange pictures !!
5) How is it possible a fraudulent host is still present and freely operating on your website even after my warning [https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160595695]?
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer!
6) What does it happen to signaled hosts? Nothing as I believe? [https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160595695; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160811531; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/109152187; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160596776; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160596010; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160595848; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160602090; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160821290; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160595251; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160595392; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161104804; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161122748; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161121919; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161122486; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161122097; https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/161122984] Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer!
7) Why did you allow to open a claim easily and immediately [https://www.airbnb.it/help/topic/260/resolve-a-problem; https://www.airbnb.it/help/article/783/when-can-i-involve-airbnb-in-my-resolution-center-request]?
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer !
8) What should I do if I find discrepancies from what declared on your website and what the host really provide ? Do you think should I discover on site ? Maybe on the 31st December ? – Feel free to reach out to us to resolve an issue as soon as you discover it, so we can help.
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, Are you serious ? Are you kidding me ? Can you imagine me in Belgrade on th 31st December, without roaming and without internet connection ? How and where should I contact you ?? Should I sleep in the car at 10°C below zero ? Would you find an hotel for me ? Do you think you gave me a smart answer ?
9) Why did you charge your commission once I started complaining and signalling the host not finding an easy way to open a claim procedure ?
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer !
10) What does it happen to impolite and rusty hosts [https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160811531] ? – If guests are not happy with a host’s listing, they will usually leave a review that reflects that. Also, you can “report” any statements in the message thread, next to the message you are concerned about, and they will be reviewed.
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, I can’t leave any review before being a guest ! If something goes wrong on the reservation phase I can’t signal on the site. Differently tell me how to advise all the people listed above. I am pretty sure nothing happens to unpleasant hosts if they didn’t do something really bad that requires police intervention. Here your answer is totally unreliable !
11) How is it possible that people without available rooms or apartment are still present on your website maps of available accommodation once I inserted the requested staying period ? These host, the great part, should be kicked off from your website immediately ! – You must put in the dates you want to book first, before searching for listings. Hosts do not always have availability so you must only search for those who show availability during the time you are looking to travel.
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, one of us is misunderstanding the main point!!I IF I HAVE ALREADY PUT THE DATES I WANT TO BOOK and I obtain a host list (visible on the map too): the problem pointed out derives from that hosts that, once contacted, declare they are fully booked ! This is not acceptable according to your statement BUT it is the rule !!! Hence you answer is inconsistent AGAIN !
12) How is it possible that house agencies are allowed to present their home on your website [https://www.airbnb.it/z/q/160596388] ?
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer !
13) Why don’t you provide a customer service accessible email address where you can talk directly with your team managers in order to solve claims in adequate why ?
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, missed answer !
I consider that, despite what declared from your personnel (Edera T. ??=poison ivy] on the phone, that a coupon of 25USD (do you really think USD is my currency ???) doesn’t represent an acceptable compensation of having lost the possibility to spent my only holidays possibility during 2015 New Years Eve in Belgrade. I lost happiness, a lot of time, health and sleep and I got really angry, frustrated and sad. I hope you can compensate all that and punish adequately people signaled.
I want clear and detailed answers provided by a person directly to my email address i can reply to ! I hope you will work to improve your site eliminating all those people that declare wrong or diverting information on your website. Right now finding a good solution is like trying to play to Russian roulette !!
“Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us. I am so glad we could answer these questions for you. Please let us know if there is anything else you’d like to know. We are always here to assist!”
Dear Airbnb and Sloan, Do you think you gave the required answer ? I have the strong feeling you are trying to timewaste with me ! Don’t like at all !

Final story: commission money back, 150 voucher free given, review not allowed, host NOT punished. Ba careful GUYS!!!

Host lied, then demanded cash payment!

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I stayed at an Airbnb recently as I’ve used them 5 times already with no issues until recently. The place I rented was advertised as a 2 bedroom in NYC, but it was actually just a room with someone else living there! I was only told once I had paid the money and it was too late and too much of a hassle to book anywhere else. Long story short, it was one of the worst accommodations I’ve stayed in. The host was actually the brother and things were just not organized. Sheets smelled, put in the flat mates room, guys came home late with a woman at 3am forgetting they had a paying guest, didn’t provide the cash discount for the error to keep the booking after much persistence (apparently another Airbnb violation).

I complained to Airbnb, who were going to talk to the host while I was still staying in the rental, which I advise against, and I was offered a refund of 50% for the issues. Since I was still living there, I had the owner call me a liar and a cheat for having gone behind his back to complain, and given my visa status, he even threatened to file a claim against me if I didn’t adhere to his demands to refund the amount Airbnb took from him. I had to settle this with the host but I’m wondering if it’s worth bringing up with Airbnb. With the host threatening to sue me, and if he did go through with it (although I was not in the wrong) could have serious repercussions for me.

I’m wondering if Airbnb would be able or willing to protect me at all. After reading these articles, I highly doubt it.

First Airbnb Experience – WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!

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I wanted to book a place to stay with few of our friends.

1. We booked the first place: We let all our friends know and planned everything, then the host contacted me asking for more money!  I had already invited all of my friends and had sent them pics of the place so reluctantly I agreed to pay more!

2. The day after, the host told me that she would be home with her daughter (staying in the same place)!! So to clarify, I had paid twice the price of a 5star hotel to spend the weekend with her and her daughter rather than having the place alone with my friends like we thought —–> AWESOME

3. I cancelled that booking (at this point I still didn’t know that airbnb had already charged me the service fee and would not refund that)

4. I booked a new airbnb place and I sent a message to the owner and he confirmed.   I paid for the booking.  One hour later, he told me that I have only paid for 1 person and asked me for more money. I had paid $500 and apparently it was only for 1 person!  I wanted to cancel the booking BUT I WAS ONLY GETTING BACK $50 OF THE CLEANING FEES OUT OF $500 + lots of stress as I already had invited everyone to fukkn Blue Mountains!!! What am I going to do???  I had to contact Airbnb to cancel, but there’s no number listed.  After 20 minutes of searching I found a phone number —> Called >>>> 30 minutes wait … My case was sent to a “case manager”.

So after wasting 3 hours, lots of stress, and $1200 of my money ON THE AIR (still not refunded), I have absolutely nothing to show for it!  I have invited all of my friends to the Blue Mountains and I’ve sent them the pics and address of the place, BUT I HAVE NO ACTUAL BOOKINGS and I wasted all this time and effort. NOW IT’S TIME TO BEG TO RECEIVE MY MONEY BACK!!

​ Securty deposit means NOTHING + Resolution Center Lies

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I had an issue with the heaters/wall in my flat during a guest’s Airbnb booking…

On jan 15, i received a message from Lily : Add file 1 Then i sent everything, the before/after photos, invoice, the phone numbers of the previous Airbnb customers just before the arrival of guest who made the trouble with the heaters. On January 25, i received this message : Lily is out of the office so I (Aidan) will be your case manager moving forward. He told me that my invoice is not accepted even if it’s was same work needed to be done by the company because when i bought the apartment the heaters was not fixed correctly on the wall. Anyway, i understood the point as the invoice was dated two months earlier. Normally, Aidan should have told me to send an estimates as mentioned before in Lyli’s message and Airbnb terms. It was the only missing piece to proceed the checking of the case… What’s coming next is Aidan responsibility and lies. In few words, he told me to pay for the work myself then send the invoice and proof of the payment of the company. All of this before the case manager’s decision! Securty deposit means NOTHING then ? This is unbelievable, if i did the work myself it means all apartment owners using Airbnb doesn’t have any protection from the deposit. Can you imagine ? If something happen in the apartment, the owner should pay for everything himself (and of course resolve it in less than 72 hours!). Only after that action the case manager examined the case and decide what to do with the deposit. This is totally crazy… Add files 2 and 3 and 4.
On jan 26, Aidan clearly refused the estimate that i was waiting for. It was the only missing piece, remember this is important.

On feb 3 I decided to send an email in French (via https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us) about our discussion with Aiden that i found really weird as he did not accept the estimates.

On feb 4, I got a call from a french representative (Oceane B). I told her about the invoice/payment receipt before the case decision. She confirmed me that i don’t need to pay anything before Airbnb leave his decision and she is totally right and following the terms. Then she said she wasn’t sure if she could accept my new estimate because it was already few days after Aidan last message with his 72H thing. Then she asked to another person in the office, probably a case manager… someone responsible for sure. I was waiting for few minutes on the line. She finally got the answer to me : “That’s ok We’ll wait for your estimate, please send it as soon as possible”. I also receive a email as proof : Add this file : https://www.dropbox.com/s/c2mw4dxf74m9g2q/Screenshot2016-02-0521.54.38.png?dl=0 “N’hésitez pas à nous envoyer le devis dès que vous le recevez.” = “Feel free to send us an estimate as soon as you receive it”. So i was finally relaxed, my case will finally be examined, i just need to send the estimate as soon as i receive it from the company. Add this file : https://www.dropbox.com/s/73w5h007v0z3r1t/Photo05-02-2016135401.png?dl=0 Later on, Aidan told me that he and Oceane are in the same office in Berlin, and he spoke to Oceane in person regarding my phone call.

On feb 5 (the day after), I received : Add file 5 I was shocked, Even more shocked as i get notified the day before by email that Airbnb will wait for the estimates. Wait a minute, did you remember he refused the new estimate i was waiting for on jan 26 ? Now he says i didn’t follow up providing any receipts or estimates. With the issue in my apartment, i have now another issue coming from the guy at the Resolution Center. – Asking the owner to pay for the work before Airbnb deposit decision is totally forbidden, i can complain not only in courts but also in the media and blog by sharing the previous proofs. – Not accepting the estimates and later saying i didn’t follow the terms is a lie. – No apologies. Please spread the news around you.

Airbnb SuperHost raised price after guest arrived, and Airbnb did nothing!

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Airbnb customer service lies to its customers and is useless. I filed a complaint against a host in Oahu because she decided to change the rate after arrival. She wanted $30 more per night saying Airbnb made the mistake. Since Airbnb didn’t accept the price increase, the host demanded I pay in cash for the next 7 nights. I telephoned right away to file a complaint with airbnb. The host violated one of the most critical rules. Her listing was to be removed as Airbnb said as a super host and as a general member. Well it never happened. Her listing is still there and it is still shown as a super host. I visited all the way from Europe and was disappointed that I had to deal with this crazy host and lousy Airbnb customer support. Be careful of some hosts and their listing price. Once you have arrived a host may speak of excuses why the price has gone up and Airbnb couldn’t give a damn.