I Paid Outside Airbnb for a Condo, Not a Filthy Trailer

I contacted the host for this Airbnb and was asked to pay her directly, circumventing Airbnb payment system to get a reduced rate. When I arrived at the rental I was shown to a filthy trailer seething with decades-old cigarette smoke. The pictures were of another trailer nearby occupied by the host’s mother and depicting a charming residence being advertised as a condo at the time. She has removed that claim from the posting as of now.

As we stood in the trailer my throat began to swell from reactions to the toxic smoke coating the interior of the trailer. I explained to her I could not stay there and asked for a refund, to which she agreed right away. She and her mother were as charming as could be and I left confident they would give me the refund they promised. I asked several times, and finally she relayed that I would get the refund “the next week”.

Next week came and went with her continuing to ignore further inquiries about my refund. Finally she texted me asking why I really needed the refund since I was so wealthy (not true at all). I then contacted Airbnb, who responded telling me they couldn’t help since I paid her outside the system (at her request of course) and as of this posting they continue to advertise for this fraudulent listing. Beware of renting from this listing – it’s a fraud.

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

4 Comments

  1. How is this possibly Airbnb’s fault? You booked a room outside of the Airbnb system, and it bit you in the arse. What the woman did was absolutely not right and you should take her to small claims court, but how could this possibly be construed as an issue with Airbnb?

  2. Translation: I am dumb and paid in advance outside the service and got scammed. Now the service is clearly at fault even though they clearly state to not pay in advance for anything outside the service to avoid getting scammed… gosh people are stupid.

  3. When somebody requests you to jump off the Trump Tower, would you? You simply wanted to pay cheap and this is what you got – try Cheapskate Hostel next time 🙂

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