Tag Archives: airbnb host lied

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Airbnb Host has not been Responsive and Lied in Reviews

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I usually have pretty decent luck with Airbnb but not this time. As guests, we understand that things and issues can happen all the time. When things happen, hosts should respond promptly and try to resolve the issue as best they can. However, this is not what we’ve experienced; our host is not helpful and ignoring us when we seek solutions, even if the damaged amenity is the bedding.

In short, this is what happened. We found the air mattress at our Airbnb damaged so we notified the host immediately for a solution because we wanted to sleep comfortably on something, not on the hard floor during winter.  The host acknowledged the issue, then ignored us.

We contacted Airbnb customer service regarding this issue, the host being very unresponsive when we, the guests, were trying to communicate. The issue turned into a claim and guests are eligible to request a refund from the host. Our host was not happy about the settlement of the claim and wrote a crazy review accusing us.

In a more detailed fashion, this is what happened. We booked this Airbnb for our ski trip. Although it is a studio, the listing said it can fit six people. We were a group of five so we thought it would be fine. Users on Airbnb might notice that the housing price varies by the dateby a lot; the place usually is around $170ish per night and due to the holiday season, we paid almost $500/night.

The night when we arrived at the studio, we found out there was a hole in the air mattress and immediately notified the host to see if there was any way she could fix it. The host replied: “Oh no! There’s a leak in the air mattress? I’m so sorry I don’t have another. How else can I fix this?” We were very surprised that the host was not aware of the damage to the air mattress.

Most hosts check the key amenities after the previous guests check out and before new guests check in. There are also dishes in the dishwasher that we were not sure were clean or dirty from the previous guests. I guess she didn’t check carefully before we arrived. We were also surprised that she didn’t have a spare air mattress and was asking the guests for a solution. We were already pretty tired from skiing all day and really needed comfortable sleep to recover.

We then messaged her: “I guess we need to figure out ourselves how to squeeze five people in one bed and sofa? We are also going to stay tomorrow night. Anyway, can you fix it tomorrow so everyone can have a comfortable sleep?” The host didn’t reply to us the entire night, and the last message we sent her was only around 9:00 PM.

This is the first time we experienced this. Our past Airbnb hosts have all been very responsive and able to fix issues very quickly. We weren’t sure if she was going to help us to resolve the issue so we reached out to Airbnb customer service about the situation with a picture of the hole in the mattress. They provided us with a couple options but none that could help us the first night. We squeezed three people in one bed and two people on the sofa. It was really really uncomfortable. Customer service also mentioned they were going to reach out to the host regarding this matter.

Finally, the host replied to us the second morning saying she was really sorry about the air mattress and she had another mattress at another rental she could bring over around noon - 1:00 PM. I then gave my friend’s contact information to her since she would be staying at the Airbnb the entire day and the rest of us would be out.

Around 5:00 PM we went back to Airbnb and my friend told me the host hadn’t showed up yet. I then checked my message inbox and ddn’t see anything about rescheduling the time or a delay. A couple minutes later, I got her message saying she would be there in 30 minutes. About an hour later, she still hadn’t show up. I messaged her asking when she would be there and she replied: “On my way up.”

About five minutes later, she finally showed up with air mattress. Because of the lateness, I thought she lived pretty far from there and it took time for her to get to our place because of the snow. I asked her: do you live in town? She pointed at a house right outside the window saying: I live right there. I was pretty shocked at that moment . Why did she ignore us the first night and take so long to get our place if she lives next door?

Another issue came up when the host was trying to set up the air mattress for us and she realized that she didn’t have the air pump; we couldn’t use it. She then went back to her place and found a cot and asking us if that was okay. I said yes because it was better than nothing.

I also want to note  the sofa bed and cot were not comfortable at all; we kept rolling and sinking to the center since none of them have support from the bottom. The only comfortable bedding is the bed. I talked with Airbnb customer service again regarding the second night situation updates and they suggested I initiate a conversation with the host to request a refund regarding our first night’s experience. They can start there once I’ve initiated the conversation.

Based on Airbnb’s refund policy,  if key amenities are missing or damaged, the guest is eligible for the refund from the host. We then sent the host a request for a possible refund due to missing/damaged amenities. Of course the host didn’t reply to us at all so we had to reach out to customer service again. Reaching out to Airbnb customer service is a very painful experience; once your claim gets assigned to a case manager, you can only work with them on your case. There is no way you can directly contact them. The only way is to write an in-app message and hope they see it and get back to you.

My experience of getting a response from a case manager on this case has never been shorter than one day. After a couple days of waiting and calling the Airbnb customer service number to ask them leave a note to my case manager for an update, my case manager finally got back to me, saying that he was unable to reach out to the host and they want to talk to the host in order to make a fair assessment about the claim.

Two more days later, and my case manager said he was able to speak with my host and sent me this message : “The host was a bit surprised about my request, and she also mentioned that there were scratches on the pots/pans.” The host probably thought that she could not get away from the refund so she started making things up.

First of all, based on Airbnb’s refund policy ,  if key amenities are missing or damage during our stay, guests are eligible to request a refund. She shouldn’t be surprised at all because we were missing one bed on our first night’s stay. Second, the scratches on the pots and pans were already there when we got there. It is ridiculous to claim they were made by us.

I asked Airbnb customer service if she wanted to report the scratches on the pots and pans against us, she should provide before and after pictures with a timestamp matching our stay (we were pretty sure such photos didn’t exists because they weren’t made by us). After more waiting, an Airbnb case manager replied that they haven’t heard anything back from the host in regards to the pot/pan scratches and were able to settle my claim about the damage amenities.

The settlement result was we received a refund of our first night’s stay. A couple hours after I got the news from the case manager that the claim was settled, the host left this crazy review accusing us of everything. She didn’t respond to customer service in a timely manner but she wrote bad reviews promptly. She just relentlessly made things up… such a crazy and ridiculous host.

In the review she wrote we:

  • Trashed her place. The fact she rented it out to another group right after we left probably meant we didn’t trash it enough.
  • Abused her kindness. Hmmmm, if lying and slow replies are considered kindness then I think we did abuse it.
  • We lied about our dog being potty trained, if our dog pooping outside is considered as lying about potty training. We didn’t even talk to her about anything in regards to dog potty training because our dog was well trained a couple years ago.
  • We filed a complaint against her because we didn’t know how to use the pull-out bed. I need to be honest about this one; we didn’t know how to use the pull-out sofa when we first arrived, but that was not the reason we filed a complaint against her. Though the pull-out sofa was very uncomfortable, the claim was about the air mattress leaking (damage/missing amenities). We were unable to sleep on it.
  • I think she forgot to mention about the scratches on the pots/pans which she mentioned to customer service. I think she needs to add that to the review just to keep her lie consistent.

Airbnb Host Opens Claim After Claim

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An Airbnb host has opened several claims against me. All cases have been ruled in my favor but he keeps opening others. The first was for asking me to pay additional fees including utilities when they weren’t in the listing. I had paid $460 without valid bills.

Forty days after check out, he asked for more. I refused because he refused to give me valid documentation for the bills. He opened a damage claim on day 55 saying I damaged the coffee table. I had images and videos of me checking in and out. Airbnb closed it and then refunded me for the utilities.

He then today opened a damage claim to replace the stove for $600. He didn’t say what was damaged. I sent images and videos of the stove upon check out in clean and working condition. I think what he is trying to do is that I told him that I didn’t think his cleaning person did a good job or that he never changed his drip pans. I bought new ones for him for $13.

I don’t know what to do and it is causing me stress. He also kept showing up to the property like a stalker because 60 days after check out he keeps contacting me for more money. I’m not sure what to do and I hope Airbnb will once again rule in my favor. I sent them everything on all of the other cases but they keep letting him open cases.

Even when I was there he said I might see him like ten times a day to check on things and I asked him to text me to let me know so I will be aware someone is coming into the property. This has caused me stress and depression that even after checking out 60 days ago I have to keep dealing with this.

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Inaccurate Airbnb Listing Leads to Leaving Early

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My disabled husband and I booked this accommodation being told it was an entire home; it was not – it was a tiny room at the rear of building. It was supposed to be less than a two-minute walk to the beach but it’s nowhere near the beach.

As this was completely unsuitable for my husband we had to leave immediately and get a taxi to take us around Barbados to find suitable accommodations. We had to book two separate hotels as it was the Christmas season and paid almost £2000 for our stay here.

Airbnb still lists this property as less than a two-minute walk to the beach and as an entire home. We are struggling to get a full refund even though I have all the evidence needed to prove it is an inaccurate listing. The host also did not turn up for us at the airport nor send someone for us nor inform us he wasn’t coming for us. When we got there the host started shouting at us when challenged regarding the distance to the beach.

Airbnb Experience Completely Ruined our NYC Stay

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After confirming my stay with the Airbnb host, she messaged me asking if it was okay to stay in the occupancy during our visit. She sold it by saying that her place was two units that were joined and that her side was remote and isolated, that we would only be sharing the living and kitchen area, and that she was barely home anyway.

When we arrived, physically looked at the space, and spoke to her, the exact opposite was true. The pull out couch was right outside her bedroom door, next to her desk which she said she’d be using. The bathroom she assigned us was literally in the kitchen. The room she assigned us was smaller than a broom closet, while hers was huge with a private bath. There was absolutely zero possibility for privacy. She misled us in order to stay while making money off her unit.

Unfortunately, being a nice guy, I agreed based on her description. Airbnb said there was nothing I could do, since I didn’t record our encounter. I’m not a PI; I’m on vacation and don”t even know the legality of recording her or her private space. I told her the situation she just put me in was undoable. With no other option I had to leave and rent a hotel room. This experience completely ruined our NYC stay.

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Host Tries to Claim an Extra $1500 with Fake Photos

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A group of friends and I were delighted to find a listing that had private rooms and bathrooms for each of us in Hong Kong. We booked way in advance before the protests started, and the entire listing was over $1300. Later, as the protests got more intense, that particular area became quite the hotspot. I saw videos online of bricks being torn up to create roadblocks, of police tear gassing protesters – all within a block of the Airbnb.

I contacted the host to see if we could cancel and got our first lie in response – that the Airbnb was ‘far from the protests.’ She said we could cancel but we’d lose half of what we’d paid. $600+ is nothing to sneeze at, so we reluctantly decided to risk it. Luckily, the situation calmed down.

Upon arrival, it was clear she was lying. The sidewalk in front of the Airbnb was cemented over because, though it wasn’t featured in the videos, it had been torn up during protests. That was no big deal compared to the actual Airbnb itself and her later behavior.

We checked in, and all the rooms except one (the one heavily featured on the listing) were much smaller. The photos, on closer inspection, had been taken with a fisheye lens to make them look bigger. The size we could live with. The smell and grime we could not. The place smelled of musty mildew and that smell never went away.

The bathrooms were also tiny, having the shower placed pretty much above the toilet. Again – this wouldn’t be that bad if it weren’t dirty. One toilet was so close to the wall you couldn’t sit without your knees touching the wall. The person in that room gave up after a night and got a hotel room for the rest of his stay. The rest of us endured but also got hotel rooms for two nights.

We were not aware that we could have complained to Airbnb and gotten alternative lodgings. I had never encountered such a situation before, having had positive experiences, so we assumed that if we were to back out we would be out of $1300. Now I know better.

After the stay, I submitted my review, and after discussing it with my fellow travelers, got over my dislike of confrontation to ask the host for a refund. She offered to refund just the cleaning fee of $60. I then submitted a formal request for a refund via the resolution center, and this is where it gets crazy.

She claimed the place had been professionally cleaned (please look at the photos and tell me if you think that counts as professional cleaning) and threatened to report me to the police and said she would be charging me for damage. What damage? She sent me a request for an additional $1500 for stained white sheets, complete with photos. The photos were fake. We had taken a video before we left that clearly showed the sheets provided to us in completely different colors and patterns.

I refused to pay this, of course, and this was the final straw that made me escalate to Airbnb support, who – to their credit – gave me a 50% refund. The host sent me one last message before I blocked her, saying she’d reported me to police for refusing to pay. Needless to say I will never use Airbnb again if I can help it.

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Most Terrifying Airbnb Experience, Haven’t Received Anything

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I had a super intense depressing day. All I wanted to do was just take a shower, lie down, and relax. I recently had a fire and lost everything so I got an Airbnb yesterday. Everything in the post was a lie: it said it had its own entrance; it said it had a hot tub; it said it had two beds in my room; it said it had heat; it said it had a gym.

I came to find out the house that I got dropped off at after I spent $30 for a Uber ride wasn’t even the address listed on the post. I found this out when a girl from across the street came out and said she was the Airbnb host. I walked across the street and asked her why the listing said it was that house. She said that it was a glitch in the GPS.

I walked inside the house and there was no heat. Mind you, it was below zero outside. The whole house was nasty and trashed. My room was not the room in the post. That it had no heat was bad enough, but she also had a bunch of people there. She was doing drugs inside the house with all her friends.

There was no hot tub. I didn’t have my own entrance. I mean basically everything was a complete lie. I got on the phone with Airbnb and they ended up telling me to leave. I ended up walking a mile to get to the next closest place. Mind you, it was below zero and I just had the worst week of my life. I ended up at a Wawa convenience store. My phone’s going to die here.

The Airbnb people told me they were going to comp me some money to go somewhere and get some food until they figured out what to do. They told me they were going to call me back. It’s the next day and I still haven’t got a refund or anything. I had to spend another $30 on a ride, spending extra money out of pocket to stay somewhere. I missed a day of work and got written up for it. It’s been one thing after the next and they still haven’t even called me or done anything to fix my issue.

Airbnb Supports Fraudulent Listings by Hosts

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I checked into my cabana and it was listed as having two beds. There was one bed in a closet. The previous tenant had busted the TV, left it up on the wall, and had no plans to replace it. The pool and hot tub were freezing. There was no hot water in the shower. The space heaters, which were the only source of heat, kicked off continuously because they were plugged into power strips.

I immediately contacted Airbnb and informed them of the fraud. They told me that I had to give the host a chance to fix it. After four days of no sign of repair, I called Airbnb back and moved out. The host would not even take their phone calls for a week. It’s now three weeks later and I have spoken to twelve caseworkers, a specialist and one manager and now the final answer is I’m not getting my refund because apparently this is all my fault. Airbnb has left me with nowhere to go. They have kept my money, ruined all of my holidays plans and caused a great deal of stress. They are criminals.

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Bad Experience with Airbnb Host in Vancouver

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I made a reservation on Airbnb for a bedroom with a private bathroom and paid the full amount on November 23, 2019 to stay December 5-8, 2019. On the check-in day, December 5th, the host emailed me to change my bedroom with a private bathroom to a shared bathroom at 3:00 AM in my timezone. I didn’t check my email until a few hours before the check-in time. I never expected a change in the reservation on the check-in day.

I insisted to the host that I still wanted the bedroom with private bathroom which I reserved and had paid for since November 23rd. The host replied that he already sent me an email about the change. However, he did not clarify on compensating me for the difference between a private bathroom and a shared bathroom. The only thing he replied was that he could cancel my reservation if I wanted.

On the check-in day at 10:00 PM at night, if an Airbnb guest cancels his reservation that he made on November 23rd, where can the guest stay that late at night? Why should I deal with this host and this situation? It was a very bad experience for using Airbnb for the first time in Vancouver.

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Airbnb Host Says There is a “Washer”

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I wanted to find a place to stay in Bacolod for a week that had a washer and dryer. I used the filter to specify for a washer. The host’s listing showed up as one of the results. I contacted her and asked if they had the washer in the unit, to which she responded that they had a “laundry shop” located at the ground floor of the building. Having lived in America for twenty years, I assumed that she meant a laundromat, so I decided to book for a week.

When I arrived at Cityscape to check in, the nosy security guard begged me for two pesos to pay for photocopying my ID. I wondered why he was not given funds for operating expenses. It felt cheap. Guess what? The word “cheap” describes the rest of her offering.

Compared to my previous stay at residences that cost a few more dollars per night, this condo unit offered half the value. The building was so-so, the studio and bathroom was half the size and the balcony was less than a quarter in comparison. That previous place also had a washer in the unit. The interior of this condo was alright, nothing to talk about to folks at home. At least the wifi was better than most places.

When I pulled up the curtain next to the small dining table, the window was not clean. There was a smudge that resembled bird poop. Best to let the curtains down. Then I opened the cupboard and lo and behold, there was a Tetra Pak of cooking oil that was already opened. I was like, “I didn’t ask for cooking oil but boy this is unsanitary and oh so cheap.”

Here’s the reason I asked for a washer and dryer and was willing to pay extra: I had met a handsome young man online who lived in Bacolod while I was staying in Iloilo. He was a sweet, charming, and wanted to become intimate. We met in person and found each other attractive. I invited him over to my place and intended to list him as one of my registered guests. We had an awesome time as you would expect of mutually infatuated adults who scored big.

The next morning, I pulled off the sheets, collected all used towels, and added my worn clothes. I tidied the room and then went downstairs to the “laundry shop”. As it turned out, there were no washers nor dryers in the building. The “laundry shop” was a collecting area where they bag you dirty laundry to be washed and dried offsite. The regular rate meant that your laundry is returned after two days at night time, but by paying double you get your laundry back by the end of the day.

I was obviously pissed off. I wouldn’t have clean sheets and towels nor clothes until at least overnight. I contacted the host and complained about being mislead. She responded by being obstinate and insinuated that it was my fault that I, an American, thought there were actual washers and dryers in the building. She was not forthcoming about the true nature of this so-called “laundry shop”.

I complained to Airbnb directly and wanted them to cancel the rest of my stay and be refunded properly for being duped, but ironically the representative replied by saying that the host did nothing wrong and she was vetted. What a sham. I told the representative that she ought to consult a dictionary to know what a washer is. In fact, I should have referred her and the host to use Google Images to see what a washer actually looks like. If you checked the box that says you have a washer, you should have an actual washer in the facility, not some collection site where they couldn’t get the job done on time compared to having an actual washer in house.

Nothing was resolved and the Airbnb closed the ticket. What a laughable disappointment. I’m glad I only used Airbnb a few times. I’m deleting their app once my week is over. I vowed not to use them again. I have heard horror stories and now I have one of my own to tell.