Airbnb Customer Service is not Responsive

It was a bad beginning; I could not enter the property for 1.5 hours. The “Superhost” was not answering his phone and there were no keypad instructions. Oops, sorry, amenities were also not available: soap, shampoo and hangers are amenities one expects, but not available. The big one was no cable TV as advertised. Oops again, we cancelled it, but you can use your own Netflix.

I don’t have Netflix and I was settling in to watch the baseball playoffs. My team, the Astros, were playing. It is fraud to advertise an amenity that you don’t have. Airbnb asked if I told my host I was gong to watch the playoffs…. a really poor defense. Can I advertise a hot tub and not have one?

I have called numerous times, written out my complaint numerous times and have been told numerous times they are sorry, they will get back to me. But they do not, hence all my calls and emails. Frontline personnel have little or no authority and they won’t connect me to a supervisor.

I am sure when all goes well Airbnb is a fine company but they should be measured by how they handle the difficult situations and for those times they fail miserably. Their hope is we go away, get tired of complaining, leave them alone. Mr. Brian Chesky, you need to empower your case mangers to resolve issues not to just give voice to incessant stall tactics. If you are unaware of unhappy clients go to www.airbnbhell.com.

Terrible and Irresponsible Customer Service from Airbnb

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We booked an apartment in Panama City, Panama with a so-called Superhost. The neighborhood was so dirty and unsafe that we had to cancel our booking right after arrival. Please see attached one of the pictures and one of the many fruitless emails to Airbnb customer service. Airbnb not only did not refund our money, more importantly they did not do anything to rectify the situation and de-list this property so other guests don’t face the same situation. It seems they do not care about their reputation or the safety of their customers.

When we arrived at the location, we realized the condo was in an undesirable, unsafe and unclean neighborhood. Many people were hanging out and part of the intersection was under construction. Moreover, there were two big dumpsters right in front of the entrance, and homeless people were digging in. I have posted some pictures which show the garbage (even a toilet bowl) lying on the street and sidewalk right in front of the building.

We felt unsafe, both in terms of safety and health, to stay in that condo. I should also add that the condo we booked had a different name than the name sent by the host in the welcome note. When we inquired, the host mentioned that it was an error by their administration and assured the condo is the same as shown in the picture, while Google Maps shows them in two different locations.

As soon as we arrived and realized the situation, without checking in, we contacted the host’s assistant, reported the situation and asked if we could be placed in any other units owned by the host. Since they were all booked, she suggested that we cancel the booking to be refunded. We contacted another host, and he was kind enough to accommodate us last minute even by waiving the minimum 30-day requirement. We have since contacted the host and have asked for the full refund of our booking, which has been unanswered.

We would like a full refund including the booking fees charged by Airbnb. We have since given up on getting our money. Just wanted to share our experience so hopefully someone pays attention.