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.