Tag Archives: airbnb payment

Airbnb Non-Payment from Successful Stay

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I had a guest for two days and Airbnb did not pay. They claim the payment did not materialize and now they have been “looking” at the issue for a week. A case manager is supposedly solving the problem with no results and no feedback on what is exactly going on. I called today and the person I spoke to threatened to hang up on me. I was not satisfied with her answer, “someone is already looking into this case,” and have no idea about the status of my claim. I asked and told her that I wish to speak to her supervisor. Her response? “There is no supervisor.”

The bottom line: I told the people I spoke with that this issue is not my problem. They approved the guest, their fees are collected lightning fast, and the mind boggling avalanche of data flows to your email, SMS, the Airbnb app, and any other contact information they have registered for you. It works with terrifying efficiency. I am not the one responsible for going after my non-paying guest. This is an issue that is definitely up to Airbnb, who subtly suggested I contact the guest for payment.

Airbnb Charged my Account without any Bookings

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My PayPal account was charged over £669 on September 3rd, 2016 by Airbnb: £422 from my bank account and £247 from the backup credit card listed on my PayPal account. I was not a guest and I had not booked or tried to book anything via Airbnb, but they still charged me. Fortunately, I had set up the PayPal email warning system to tell me every time my account is used and my husband noticed the warning. I have never used Airbnb or had anything to do with them, having seen all the reports in the UK press about the horror stories. I did not lose anything, as the charges were eventually reversed. However, there have been no details from PayPal about how this could have happened. I have emailed them several times asking how it was possible Airbnb could apply charges to my account. So far, all I’ve heard is silence and a load of standard emails telling me they are always trying to improve their security systems. My opinion: they’re not good enough.

Closed my Account, Airbnb Still Owes me Money

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I had rented my condo on Airbnb for about two years with few issues from the company. I finally decided to pull my listing and shut down my account early last January as I no longer wanted to use them as a service to host. Shortly after, I started receiving emails to my account stating “It’s time to get paid” and I needed to update my payment information; they had over six hundred dollars that was still owed to me from a guest staying. I did not realize I had any more money coming my way. I tried to log in to update my payment information as the email suggested but the system would not let me as I no longer had an account. I called customer service many times and waited on hold while paying long distance, but they said they could not help me as I did not have an account they could pull up. I wrote multiple emails in response to the emails they sent me and to customer service team and not once did I receive a reply. Airbnb is basically holding the money they owe me hostage despite them repeatedly admitting they owe me a substantial amount of money through a bombardment of recurring reminder emails to collect the money owed me. I am still getting these emails every few weeks but have exhausted all options to collect it from them as Airbnb will not help me get my money from them. This is totally illegal and straight up theft by Airbnb.

Airbnb’s Little Loopholes that Screw Hosts

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I have had two separate “awaiting payment” issues two days in a row. Airbnb doesn’t give you any indication that a guest’s payment may not be valid until you accept the reservation. This automatically holds the reservation and prohibits the host from declining guests or opening up for other guests that might have their affairs in order. I called Airbnb and spoke to a representative about declining these guests; they would not change their policy, so my listing is off the market with no secured payment for 24 hours. Why would Airbnb hold a host’s opportunity to make money hostage? I was told that the odds of the payment issue being fixed are greater than the chances of it failing. Nevertheless, Airbnb takes all the host’s rights away in order to protect the company’s interests for 24 hours. The fact that a host hits accept and gets an immediate “uh oh… there seems to be a problem with the payment” is proof that the software Airbnb uses can immediately detect if there is an issue with a guest’s payment option. This simple line or two of software code should be implemented when guests click “book”, not when the host gets stuck with a blocked calendar. I told this to the Airbnb representative… he would not help me cancel the reservation awaiting payment and left me feeling like this policy is not going to change.

Airbnb Refunds are Sketchy at Best

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I’m a first time user of Airbnb. There were problems. Airbnb takes your money before completing any transaction and then declines to provide service. The credit card deduction is NOT the last stage of the process. This is a bad business practice. Airbnb takes your money immediately (within 30 minutes) but any refund takes five days. This is also a bad business practice. At this point in time, I have been promised two refunds but have not received anything (within the five-day refund wait time) so I can’t verify that Airbnb actually does give refunds. There is no indication of the problems causing a booking to fail. There is just a late email saying that it has ‘failed to verify’ and ‘accommodation is cancelled’ and that my money will be refunded in five days.

Customer service is patchy as email requests for solutions are ignored or given belated responses. Presently,there has been no response to my emails for more than ten hours. Using Airbnb is too much effort for a holiday pastime. I will stay away from Airbnb in the future. My first experience was on July 22, 2016. I booked a night under Airbnb. I gave my credit card details and the money was deducted from my credit card; then Airbnb requested details from my ID… and then the booking was rejected, with a promise to refund the money in five days. The problem took 24 hours to sort out and find alternative accommodations. The accommodation was fine and I was very happy with the host. Due to the problems encountered, Airbnb customer service promised a refund but this has not yet occurred (because of a five-day delay?)

My second experience was on July 24, 2016. I booked two nights under Airbnb. I gave my credit card details and the money was deducted from my credit card; then Airbnb requested details from my ID… and then the booking was rejected, with a promise to refund the money in five days. The problem has still not been sorted out after 23 hours, and there has been no response to my emails for 11 hours.

Lucky Escape from Fake Airbnb Listing

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My boyfriend and I are currently looking for a long-term rental in Milan, and we have already come across three scammers. The most significant one we have experienced was for a huge flat right in the centre, that was advertised on Bakeca. It was for just 940 Euros a month (very cheap for Milan)! The flat was beautiful, but we couldn’t see it in advance because (like I’m seeing with many stories here) he was supposedly out of the country. We exchanged a few emails and he said that he used Airbnb because it was the safest option. It was clear that it was an email he had copied time and time again because he never answered any of the questions I asked and he never addressed me by my name. Nevertheless, I trust Airbnb because I have always had good experiences, so I asked him to send the link to the flat. The site looked normal, the reviews were incredible, and yet something seemed off… then I noticed that the usual padlock that marks that you can pay securely wasn’t in the address bar like it is on the real Airbnb website, and if you tried to click on any of the links they didn’t work… apart from payment of course! Anyway, although I noticed before it was too late, I very nearly went through with it. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM!