I have never used Airbnb and do not have an account with Airbnb. Somehow they charged my card two days ago so my bank made me call them. It’s very difficult for them to help find the charge if you don’t have an account. Customer service submitted a request and said I should receive an email. After 24 hours I was worried because a $600 fraudulent charge is something that is clearly concerning but there was no sense of urgency on their part. I called again and they said it could take up to 24-48 hrs just for someone to start working on my ticket. I am slightly distraught that Airbnb has now had my $600 for three full days and I might not even get it back tomorrow or the next day.
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Airbnb Invoice after Holiday for Additional Money
I used Airbnb thousands of times; it was never big a problem until now. My boyfriend booked accommodation for 1900 pounds for four months. After two months, the host told him he was not the owner of the flat and the owner would come tomorrow for they keys; he was going to cancel the reservation.
Airbnb called him (my boyfriend) to see if he agreed to end the reservation because the host wanted to cancel – he said yes. He found new accommodation through Airbnb and waited for his refund. He checked his profile to find a completely different reservation – the reservation was only for two months and the price had doubled.
He contacted Airbnb support. They told him that his host didn’t cancel the reservation; he wanted to avoid a fine so he made a change to the existing one. Tomorrow he will be charged a one-time payment of 450 pounds, which he tried to avoid, making the total for not even two months’ accommodation 1500 pounds.
Airbnb, instead of solving this, insisted that the price had doubled – 30 pounds for one night instead of 15 – because he stayed only two months, but it was not his choice. We can’t block the payment through the bank. I think this is insane after the accommodation, reservation and agreed-upon price, they still charged our credit card because they decided they wanted a higher price for his stay.
Airbnb Screwed us out of our Security Deposit
We stayed in a villa in Bordeaux for seven nights in June. We had a good time and took good care of the property. However, after we returned to the United Kingdom, we were contacted by the host who claimed we had damaged the furnishings in his property. We were not aware of doing this and upon inspection of the photos, the damages looked relatively minor. We wrote back saying we didn’t think we had caused the damage and that at any rate it looked like minor damage; we needed some proof that we had caused this damage.
We were then contacted by Airbnb (a person called Sydney – we have never been able to find his surname) who told us the host was claiming that the repair costs were £600! We again responded in the same way: said we didn’t cause the damage, asked for proof of the damage and proof that the £600 was indeed the appropriate cost to fix it. Airbnb subsequently replied saying they had reviewed the evidence (not shared with us) and decided in favour of the host, awarding him £580. They then proceeded to deduct this from our account. All subsequent responses from us appealed to Airbnb asking them to be reasonable, and to provide the proof that we are asking for. They simply keep replying saying they consider the matter closed.
We have been completed ripped off here and don’t know what to do next. Can we take them to the small claims court?
Red Wine Damages in Beautiful Penthouse
We checked in the late morning on April 4th. On April 8th, we checked out early as we all had morning flights. We called the housekeeper to collect the keys from us as the owners were not available. We left everything as we found it but did not take out the rubbish as we weren’t provided with refuse bags or instructions on where it should be left. We personally didn’t think that this was an issue as the property was quite dirty on arrival with sanitary rubbish in the bathroom dustbins, dirt under the beds, old food in the fridge, etc. We left some leftover food and drinks in the fridge and left all the dishes and kitchen clean.
On my return to the office on the 8th I sent a message through Airbnb to the owner, as follows:
Hi Lasse! Thank you very much for having us stay in the penthouse. One of the girls tripped over the sliding door rail when coming in from outside and fell onto the couch with a glass of red wine. Please let us know what the charges are for the cleaning of the couch. I apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The accident happened on the evening of April 7th when we were locking up after dinner, before retiring to bed. Our manager entered from the balcony with a glass of wine in her hand, tripped over the rail of the glass sliding door and fell onto the floor and partially over the couch, spilling her wine on the floor and couch. There is a difference in the height from the floor outside to the inside creating a step, which in the dark is difficult to see. The couch is against the glass door so was in the immediate path to the kitchen from the balcony. We immediately offered to pay for cleaning the couch. If it was immediately handed in for cleaning there may have been a chance of removing the stain but the owner decided to wait almost a month before attending to the stain. I followed up via text messages on a couple of occasions and Lasse claimed that he didn’t have time to look into the cleaning of the couch and that he would do it between the times the penthouse was occupied.
It had been two months since we reported the spill on the couch when we were made aware of the fact that the dry cleaning had been unsuccessful and therefore recovering the couch was required at our expense (close to $1000). Whilst I understand that Lasse feels that the replacement of the fabric is required, I don’t understand that he feels that we should be held responsible for the charges. It was an accident and accidents happen. I would have thought that anybody with expensive furniture or appliances carry enough insurance to be covered for any incidents that could potentially damage or destroy their property. I was surprised at the request for the payment in total of the damages. I feel that Lasse only acknowledged the damages five days after I reported it. If something had been done about the spill immediately, the outcome may have been very different. A dispute was supposedly logged with Airbnb who found in favour of the host, leaving us with a massive bill (deducted off my credit card without my permission).
Be careful staying with Airbnb. Their terms clearly state that no matter what you do you are liable. Even if a property causes your death it is still in some way your own fault!