No Help with Refund One Hour After Reservation

Earlier this evening I made a reservation on the Spanish Airbnb site for myself and five other friends to go to La Coruña in March. Having made the reservation, we were given the address (I cannot understand why this is not available before payment is made) and now according to my friends the apartment is not where it appeared to be from the photos uploaded. Therefore, it is too far away from where they wish to be. I have been asked to cancel.

When I try to cancel I am told that the amount I have paid (50%) will not be refunded as the payment policy is strict. I am stuck I have tried to cancel one hour after making the reservation and cannot possibly understand how I can be charged 50% now when the reservation is for mid-March and only one hour has gone by. The host says she is new to Airbnb and cannot as intervene “because she will be penalised.” As you can imagine I am not happy at all about this and have emailed Brian Chesky requesting him to please intervene and authorise a full refund as I cannot speak to anyone – every time I try the Help Centre telephone number it cuts out. As you can see I am not a happy bunny

Posted in Airbnb Guest Stories and tagged , , , , , .

4 Comments

  1. My husband and I booked a place in Anna Maria Island. The Dolphin is the name of the place we booked for a week back in November 2017. Come January 27 2018 (aprox) 2 weeks before we leave, ALL OF A SUDDEN the Property is NOT AVAILABLE!? This place was a pet friendly rental…. We have a small 7lb Pomeranian and they offer us an alternative place stating No pets Allowed! Why would we be interested?
    Also in the email there was no mention about crediting our visa for $2400.00 You try to call nobody answers and nobody knows anything!! Now we sit and wait and wonder if we got SCAMMED!!!!! NEVER EVER AGAIN!

  2. I recently have the same experiences. The Help line is useless, they just pass you back and forth between different people. Give you the wrong information. Hours wasted later, you are back to exactly where you started.

    I have realized that there is actually very little legal liabilities Airbnb has to bear. They don’t guarantee safety. They don’t guarantee the condition of the apartment. They have no process in place to judge the sanity of the host.

    When there is a problem, they are like a “terrible real estate” agent. They pass the buck back and forth between the host and the guest. But doing nothing in real terms – because in fact they own very little responsibilities.

    It is the same model with Uber. Even when there is illegal conducts, what responsibility does Uber really have. What happened is between the user and the host.

    No more Airbnb for me.

    With proper hotels, you have plenty more recourses.

  3. The person above me is being an asshole. I’m ex Airbnb staff, if you send an email or get through on the phone and explain that the area on the map was incorrect, they will confirm the address with the host, check out where exactly it is using Google, and if it’s not in the same area the host will be penalised and you will get a full refund.

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