I have been overcharged by Airbnb over and over again. I have just booked accommodations in Italy and was quoted the price in USD. However, I was charged in YTL despite not having any bank account connected to Turkey in my Airbnb account. Airbnb converts the amount to a foreign currency and takes a hefty commission actually without doing anything. Now I will also be charged by Amex for a foreign currency conversion. It is daylight robbery actually. Despite me taking precautions to prevent it, this has happened again and again. There is also no way of contacting Airbnb – no customer service whatsoever.
Nora, I don’t believe the OP meant that their was nowhere to go. Rather, they meant it was just a brick wall to smash your head against.
I also read about the 3 percent somewhere on the airbnb site. It’s a con (of course). Pay in a different currency and (as has been stated) you will be charged 3 percent by airbnb, plus whatever percent your credit card charges. Usually this means 106 dollars for every 100 dollars you thought you were paying.
Personally, I think airbnb should be held liable for that 3 percent. It is not stated anywhere on any listing page. No doubt there is a sentence somewhere in the scores of pages filled with ‘terms and conditions’ that lets them off the hook, and no government (and therefore no judge) will be on your side over it. After all, the billion dollar corporation gives them hundreds of millions in taxes every year. Unless you’re a billionaire, the government doesn’t care one jot about you. The people behind airbnb don’t either. If they did, the total cost that you will pay would be stated before you give them your financial details. It’s a con, like the ‘service fee’.
Oh and by the way, if you pay for a long term rental using a credit card and you’re observant enough to notice the 3 percent airbnb steals from you, and decide ok, I’ll change the payment card, you can’t. You’re locked in with the original card. You could ‘negotiate’ to cancel the booking and rebook using a different card, but you know how that will turn out don’t you (you’ll get charged the ‘service fee’ again, the ‘host’ will raise the price for the new booking, and you’ll probably be screwed out of the ‘security deposit’ of the first booking too).
no customer service whatsoever ?
try this ?
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/contact_us
And this?
http://contactnumbers.guru/airbnb/
In the same boat. Used a US visa to pay for a US rental. US visa is a cross border type issued by a Canadian bank. So Airbnb converts my US visa transaction to Canadian $ plus their 3%’commision. My US visa then charges a further conversion to change back to US $. Unbeliliable!!! I have now paid an additional
$149US $ for my rental.
Oh and to add a final twist I said ok here’s a Canadian Visa, reverse the charges on the US visa and post on the Canadian visa. They said ok but we need to charge another 3% conversion fee to do so. I give up.