I had a really bad experience with Airbnb. In January 2020 I booked a reservation for August 2020 in Croatia. As I am 57, on April 5 I decided to cancel the reservation because I was afraid that I couldn’t travel and because I was afraid about COVID-19 as well. I am about to lose my job as well. It has been two months since I have received any wages. Because of COVID-19 I did not want to but I had to cancel. I paid 460€ but I got back just 168€. That’s a shame because I cancelled but it was not my fault.
Tag Archives: Airbnb no refund
First and Last Time with Airbnb, Never Again
Our family trip was scheduled for June 15-19, 2020 in Orlando. We live in Michigan, the third highest in deaths and sixth highest in COVID cases with the most aggressive stay-at-home order.
On April 26, I saw an announcement on the Airbnb website stating hosts could cancel all 2020 trips booked before March 15 and cancel by April 30. I confirmed with Airbnb that all 2020 trips canceled before April 30 could be cancelled with a full refund with no penalties to the guest and host. I have two confirmations of the conversation.
Again, I confirmed with Airbnb that no penalty would be charged to hosts and guests for a full refund. They told me to cancel with the host. The host said to submit the cancellation, and he would override the normal refund for a full refund. This was completed by the host, except the refund was missing $237.10.
I contacted Airbnb and it was more hellish than prior interactions. Long story short, despite confirmations to cancel without penalty and provide a full refund, Airbnb has refused to refund the difference for its operations.
Airbnb Refuses to Give Refund due to COVID-19
I am a relatively new guest to Airbnb. I booked my second trip to Cape Town to give my family a holiday that they never could afford themselves. Excited, I made a booking on January 22 for a home from April 18-25. Some of my family members live in Ireland and South Africa. I live in Dubai.
Our borders and flights were already shut down in March due to COVID-19. I received an email March 14 from Airbnb stating I could cancel my holiday and receive a full refund. I then contacted my host via email on March 18 and requested a cancellation.
Not hearing anything from the host for four days, I got worried and cancelled my booking on the website on March 22, with the reason being COVID-19. Airbnb gave me a 40% refund and a lousy voucher.
I have been battling with Airbnb staff who have no authority and can’t help me with a full refund which I’m honestly entitled to. Case managers answering emails for Airbnb haven’t approved the Extenuating Circumstances Policy for my booking dates when my booking was cancelled.
This is total fraud and they would rather steal my money than just pay back a honest client. I also requested a refund with the resolution centre and directly with the host. It’s been days now and he has totally brushed me off. I am so disappointed with Airbnb to say the least.
Missed an Airbnb COVID-19 Refund by Six Hours
It was a complete nightmare trying to get this COVID-19 refund. Our check in was March 13th and California issued a state of emergency on March 4th while the WHO declare it global pandemic on March 11th. I canceled on March 12th and only received 50% of my money back.
Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances state that any reservations made on or before March 14th were covered under the extenuating circumstances for COVID-19 blanket. They are now claiming it would only be covered if I had cancelled on March 14th (a day after my check in?).
My check in time was 6:00 PM Friday, March 13th, six hours before the 14th. I even would understand if they won’t give me the money for the night of the 13th but they are refusing all of it which makes no sense; they wrote the publication and nowhere does it state they will only cover a refund if a reservation is cancelled on or after March 14th.
Yet their publication on March 13th said “any reservations before March 13th through April 1st are covered!” They then went and changed their policy on March 30th to “any reservations made before March 14th through May 31st with check in dates on or after March 14th are covered.”
Don’t get me wrong: I’m really glad they extended the time frame for people but I’m sure there are a handful of people that fall into a tiny crack like me with check in dates of March 13th.
Uber in Accident While Passenger on Phone with Airbnb
I had been in this Airbnb house for two weeks already. I got a call around 11:00 AM from a woman representing Airbnb telling me my reservation had been cancelled and I needed to go check out now. She said my host had already been notified I would be checked out by 3:00 PM today.
“WTF are you talking about? What is going on? I haven’t broken any rules. I’ve haven’t done anything. Explain to me what it is that Airbnb thinks I have done.”
“Well I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”
I started losing it over the phone at this woman. I had just paid $800 for next month. I don’t have any bad reviews. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. Where did they expect me to go? I wanted to know what it is that I did.
All the while I was getting louder and louder to the point I was screaming at the other end of the line, punching the back of the Uber seat (passenger’s side) and stomping on the floor. I was angry.
My family and I have been using Airbnb for years and never had issues: no bad reviews. I was just going off in the back of this poor lady’s car yelling and waving my arms around. She was trying to calm me down saying, “Sir, what’s the matter?”; “Sir, please please calm down”; “Sir the language”; “Oh my god sir please what is the matter? You don’t need to be rude to her”; “Sir please I don’t appreciate that word (the C word)”.
I wasn’t paying too much attention to what she was saying; I was focusing on this call. This went on for about another minute because out of the corner of my eye I noticed the driver was not paying attention to the road. She had her head turned around towards me yelling at me because I called this woman on the phone the “C” word. I noticed she had drifted into oncoming traffic. I yelled “Watch out!”
She turned and I swear it was like slow motion: this car swerved out the way of us and I watched it scrape a parked car. I said to the driver: “Pay attention to the road. Are you trying to kill me?”
While she was driving really fast, I still had the lady from Airbnb on the phone. That in itself was strange. She pulled up to my street going 40 miles per hour and pulled a cali stop. She didn’t notice the cop sitting at the light. My host was maybe five houses from the corner.
When I made it home, she said to get out of her car. The cop came, noticed she was an Uber driver, and asked me if I was okay. As I was walking in the door, I could hear her going off on this cop about me. Then he interrupted her and asked her what happened to the side of her car. I’m listening to everything at the door.
She asked, “What damage?”
She got out of the car. I heard “wtf?” then the cop said “Ma’am I’m placing you under arrest for hit and run, leaving an accident, and speeding in a residential area.”
All the while she was yelling: “That guy in the car: it’s his fault! He was driving me insane. He was yelling and stomping on the floor and punching the back of the seat. He called her a… I don’t like that word.”
The cop asked what this had to do with her sideswiping that car back there. I guess someone watched her, got her plate, and called it in. That cop happened to be in the right place and saw her plate.
The real kicker is he asked me to come outside and explain what happened. I said, “Man, I don’t know. She was driving like a bar out of hampering the start. I kept telling her she needed to slow down. That’s when she turned her head to me and said to shut up. That is when she scraped that car.”
He asked me why she didn’t stop.
“I don’t know. She was yelling ‘See, see what you made me do!’ Then before I knew it we were here and you rolled up.”
I could hear her in the back seat of the cop car yelling “He’s lying, officer!” just ranting, raving, and going off.
That was just the start of the day. My woman thought I was full of it with that story about the Uber ride. I thought she got what she deserved. She shouldn’t have been rubbernecking my conversation with Airbnb.
Anyway getting back to Airbnb. They claimed at first it was some security BS and she couldn’t tell me why my reservation was cancelled. They were going to contact me within 24 hours. My host was tripping out, saying she was sorry. She said when it got cleared up, I could come back. I was planning on staying there for maybe four months.
I have a job I’m doing out here. I like to use Airbnb because I can save money. I’ve been with them for years. All my family as well. Meanwhile I’m freaking out because I don’t know where a good cheap clean hotel is. My woman found one online. I’m mad as hell and want to know what happened.
Come around 7:00 PM, I got a call from Airbnb saying “Oh, we’re sorry. It turns out it was a glitch or something in the system and automatically cancelled your reservation.”
I’m like, “Okay now what? Are you guys going to compensate for the day of work you caused me to lose and reimburse me for the hotel room?”
She said, “I’m not qualified to make that decision. Do you have a pen? Here is your case number.”
“What do I need a case number for? Did I catch a case on a crime I didn’t know about?”
“I’m sending your case to a different department. We will contact you within 24 hours.”
They finally sent me the number and at the end of the message it said: “This message was sent by Airbnb with love.”
They finally got back to me after I’ve sent them hundreds of messages trying to get compensation for the missed day of work and the days I’ve been in this hotel breaking my bank account. I’ve already paid $511.91 on this hotel room and I still can’t make a reservation with Airbnb. Then they insult me with an offer of $146 towards my room.
That told me this company has no respect for its customers at all. This is completely their fault. It’s now starting to effect my girls and my woman. Airbnb is taking food off my table and the country’s got the population control problem going on right now; they don’t care.
I deal with a lot of BS from people but when it affects my way of life and my kids, there is a problem. I want my name cleared so I can make a reservation. I also want to be compensated for the hotel. My bank account is empty. I’m doing what I can to keep food on the table.
Like I said, I had the room covered for a month: $800 already paid. I just paid $500 for seven days. I want them to make it right. Any reputable company would acknowledge their mistake and make it right. What kind of people are working there? It’s like they got monkeys answering the phone, passing each case from department to department, never returning your messages.
I’m putting this out there right now: if this company doesn’t give me back my money and doesn’t clear my situation with the reservation, I will get even and I will get satisfaction. Think you can take food from my kids and make my little girls cry cause I can’t come home? I had to work on the weekend to make up for their mistake.
I don’t know what you’re thinking Airbnb. You should have never posted so much information on yourself. I love my kids to work weekends for them. This I promise. On my mother’s life, nobody — I mean no one — is allowed to make my little girl cry. Only I can make my woman mad, only me. Airbnb has messed with my life and I want compensation.
Airbnb Refuses to Refund First Responders
We had a group of first responders planning to stay at an Airbnb for three days in April. During this time, the COVID-19 virus had made its way to Southern California. We have been transporting symptomatic patients everyday and many of our paramedics/firefighters have been contracting the virus. This virus has the possibility to be asymptomatic and our fear was coming in contact with civilians that could suffer life-threatening symptoms.
I reached out to the host explaining how it was best if we cancelled. Our host had the ability to give a full refund and said he was on board. Immediately after I canceled, he went back on his word and kept the money.
A few days later, Airbnb released extenuating circumstances for a full refund for customers that fell within certain dates. Although my dates were included, I had already cancelled; they refused the refund. I tried to explain the situation I had with my host.
I received very generic and automated responses from customer support denying any help. I am very disheartened about how Airbnb customer support has handled this situation. This has cost me a lot of money and I don’t see my myself ever using their services again. To all that are reading this: stay safe during this tough time.
Getting Refund from Airbnb Employee like Talking to a Robot
I had to return from Cozumel because of a family illness on March 29. I had scheduled a week-long stay at an Airbnb on March 28. My hotel was closing. My stay was supposed to be from March 29 through April 5.
I contacted the host as soon as I reserved my flight back to the states. The host was very courteous. I explained that I would like to return as soon as Cozumel tourism resumes. Airbnb deleted all my contact information with my host so I’m unable to return to the unit I paid for nor will they refund my stay.
My last message from the customer service robot was I needed to contact the host… which is impossible since Airbnb has blocked any contact information. I’ve contacted my credit card company.
Sick of Greedy Airbnb Hosts
I’m trying to get a partial refund from our host as we unfortunately had to cancel our trip due to COVID-19. Her cancellation policy is strict but a tiny bit of compassion and flexibility would be so welcome these days. Times are tough for everyone — I get this — but the host (who is a real estate agent by the way) is ignoring our emails which I find extremely frustrating.
Airbnb has tried to help but with no success. I have never reported a listing or complained about anybody online but I find the greedy attitude of this Airbnb host baffling and frankly I am sick of these sort of people. We are shutting down our account and will be looking at more ethical travel options. If you are travelling to Inverness, Scotland spend your travel money wisely and stay away from this host.
Airbnb Keeping Money Despite Full Refund Promised
This text was also submitted to the Florida Attorney General and other sites. I made several Airbnb reservations for an extended trip, and made sure the cancellation policy for each allowed for a full refund up to 14 days ahead.
Then coronavirus struck, and as a senior citizen we decided to cancel. I have two complaints. The first is that despite very clear words on the reservation page and confirmation email that I would get a full refund, Airbnb is keeping their service fee. They provided a rule that only three are refundable per year, and my trip involved seven, so I would lose four service fees or about $210 of my $950.
My complaint is they practiced deceptive advertising: the reservation page said “full refund until September 1”, but users would have to click a link for full details, then from that page a second link with more information let someone find this rule in the “fine print”. An exception that overturns my ability to get the full refund promised on the checkout page should be clearly stated on the first page and as part of the checkout process, not requiring the user to click backup “info” links and searching through backup webpages.
The second and bigger issue is that I settled for losing these four service fees to get the bulk of my money back. I cancelled the reservations and have emails stating they are refunding me $740 of my $950, but after ten days I called and they said my refund failed with no explanation, and any attempts to resolve this have been not only unsuccessful, they will not even talk to me or reply to my messaging.
When I call, I can talk to their first-line clerk but they know nothing and cannot help. They say they “will elevate” the call but nobody ever gets back to me. When I message them, they ignore me and do not reply. Airbnb is deceptive and in my opinion criminally keeping my money but there is nothing I can do.
Airbnb Not Honoring Policy, Screwed out of $1017
I was not given the refund outlined by Airbnb’s COVID-19 Extenuating Circumstances Policy at the time of cancellation. When I cancelled, my host instructed me to go to Airbnb customer service.
I went round and round with my customer service agent for several weeks when he would take 24 hours between responses. He gave me three different excuses for not getting my rebate.
The first excuse was that the booking dates/location were outside of the policies in place at the time of the cancellation. This was not true since my reservation was made before March 14th and for March 17-20, well within the COVID-19 affected dates.
The second excuse was that the cancellation occurred before March 14th. However, Airbnb posted a note on my reservation saying this was in a COVID-19 affected area and they would honor a refund.
The third excuse was that they said they needed to see a message from me asking for a refund within 24 hours of canceling. I asked to have this policy shown to me but they refused to do so.
At this point, I think customer service was making up stuff to get rid of me. I paid $1836 for a reservation that was not fulfilled because of the virus shutdown. My host gave me a partial refund of $820 based on the standard cancelation policy set in place before the policy. I am owed $1017 from Airbnb.