Tag Archives: Airbnb scam

Another Airbnb Scam: Stranded in NYC

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I booked a verified listing that was an amazing apartment near Central Park in New York City. The host contacted me with information on how to receive the keys, and asked about my stay and how he could help with suggestions. After arriving at the “place” only to find that the building had been torn down (the police said three years ago…), I was effectively stranded with nowhere to go; we had to book the only hotel we could find available for $500. When we called Airbnb, we were put on hold for over 20 minutes to finally be told they would refund the amount that we paid. When I insisted they pay for the hotel bill that night, they refused saying they would book us in another Airbnb. When I asked them how they would verify that that building was not demolished either, they had no response…

This is a complete joke of a verification process. At least drive by the building to see if it is still there before allowing scammers to post fake listings. One of the customer service agents agreed to pay a portion of the hotel bill, which I have yet to receive…

Awful Experience San Francisco, Refuses to Refund

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I had an awful experience using Airbnb in San Francisco. I paid $1545. The condition of the apartment was deplorable: food stains on the beds, cigarette butts on the floor, old and stale food open in the kitchen, excrement in the toilet, flies around the trash, chewed and ripped up rugs, broken furniture, broken shower (meaning it did not function) and it smelled like musty dog pee. It looked nothing like the clean and nice photos on the website.  We checked out well before 24 hours after explaining this to the host, who simply disagreed with my assessment, claiming she’d had someone clean the place. We were willing to pay for the one night we were there, and wanted the rest back.

We provided all communications with the host, and photographic evidence of everything we found there, to Airbnb customer service. They’ve refunded the one night and kept the rest. After five phone calls and a slew of emails, our case manager sent this: “I have looked through all the documentation on this reservation including message strings and resolution case comments. I have also spoken with you and the host by phone. based on the overall situation and verifiable events I concur that a one-night refund the host provided is reasonable. This is a dog-friendly listing and building, which is clearly stated in the listing description. It is unfortunate that you did not enjoy this experience. However, there are no apparent or significant violations by the host that have not already been compensated.”

Dog friendly was never our issue. I own a dog; she doesn’t pee in my house, so it doesn’t smell like dog pee. Dog friendly has nothing to do with food stains, flies, trash, excrement in the toilet (as far as I know dogs don’t use the toilet or wipe with toilet paper), a broken shower, broken furniture, and open, stale food. The violation is that this place is falsely advertised as clean with a working shower. Our case manager refused to speak with me to explain how he and his team came to this decision to steal over $1300 from us. Not to mention the money we had to spend on different accommodations. Apparently, he doesn’t have a supervisor, and no one at Airbnb has the power to escalate this any further. Apparently, Airbnb can’t be held accountable for anything.

We’ve contacted our credit card company to see what our options are. My advice? Screw Airbnb.

Bogus Airbnb Listing: Scammed in Brighton

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Hi Natacha,

I’m Dan from Airbnb’s Trust and Safety team.

On our site we only have one confirmed reservation with a Host John. There are no other records of you enquiring or corresponding with others hosts.

At Airbnb, we work hard to keep our community trustworthy and safe, but in rare cases, attempts at fraud do happen. To help us look into this case, please reply to this email and include:

– Screenshots or copies of your emails with this person
– Details about how you came into contact with them
– The web address of their listing or Airbnb profile
– The method of payment this person requested
– Proof of any payments being made

Keep in mind that Airbnb will never ask you to pay off-site or through email. If you receive an email from anyone (including an automated@airbnb.com or any other username@airbnb.com email address) asking you to pay or accept payment off-site, don’t respond, and always report it to safety@airbnb.com immediately.

Anyone who contacts you through an external site claiming to be a trusted service for Airbnb who asks for payment via bank transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram etc. should also be considered fraudulent.

Thanks for your reply. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have other questions or concerns in the meantime.

Best,

Dan S
www.airbnb.com/help

 

Dear Airbnb,

Thank you for your response. Having read numerous articles on Airbnb since this happened to us, I am amazed at how often you allow this to happen as it seems it been happening regularly since you started the website. As travellers, we are forced to verify our accounts in order to be able to stay with a host but it would seem that anyone can advertise anything on your site with absolutely no security procedures or verification. Essentially, I could advertise a fictitious chateau in France (which I do not own) but under UK law, that would be fraud. How, therefore, are others allowed to offer a product through your website and use you as the contractual partner?

This incident hurts on so many levels but, in this case, it is not just about the money… my friend’s son is disabled. He has just finished school for the very last time. There is nothing at this stage to look forward to – not going back to school in September to see his friends with whom he has spent the last 16 years, not going back to the establishment where he has built relationships with a fantastic team of staff who dedicate their lives to children with a variety of disabilities, children who would not understand the horrible world in which we live, where large organisations allow hard-working people to be swindled. Therefore, as a special treat, his mum wanted to make the end of school a special occasion rather than flatly going into the school holidays. She booked a show in Brighton and found a lovely place for him to stay with his two respite carers (yes his disability is that severe that he needs two). She asked me to pay for it as I had an Airbnb account. Having used Airbnb only once before, I followed the same process and was sent an email from yourselves asking for payment. I duly paid the money and then heard nothing more. The first time I used Airbnb I paid via the website but not having been a member for long, I assumed that some hosts have different methods of payment and that AirBnB would have verified them, especially as the email came from yourselves.

When this young man goes away (which is rare), the preparation process is vital. His mum spent ages this week, printing off photos of the accommodation to put in a scrapbook for him to get used to his environment – an environment which we found never existed. The impact on this young man is phenomenal. Most of us can get on with things and contact the police, the bank and hit our heads against the barriers that Airbnb put up to facilitate contact. This young man cannot get past the fact that he has been let down. Whilst his naivety is refreshing, it does not help his mum manage the situation that the ensuing stress causes, such as fits. Despite having sent you the email I received from you via Twitter, you are now asking me for it again, so here are all the screen shots and the email.

We look forward to the refund of the money.

Kind regards,

Natacha

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 Warning About Getting Refunds

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Yet another cancellation story but also a warning to do things in the right order. I booked a three-bedroom apartment in Soho, New York City run by a lady called ‘Clodagh’. A month after the booking was accepted I received a message from her saying she had to cancel the booking. But Airbnb still showed the listing as valid. Only after I sent her a message telling her to handle the cancellation properly from her end did I receive an email from Airbnb. It offered me a refund or to use the money I’d paid, plus a 10% credit, on another property. I’d already booked another apartment, with great difficulty as it was getting close to the dates, so I chose the refund. I believe she sent me the cancellation message expecting that I would then request a refund and the cancellation would then have been instigated by me and I’d have probably lost my money under the VERY STRICT cancellation policy imposed on guests ONLY. If you receive a cancellation message directly from a host, wait until you receive a message from Airbnb before you do anything. I’m not going to use Airbnb again until they offer some kind of security for booking or sufficient compensation to cover hotels for the cancelled period.

AIRBNB IS NOT A RELIABLE WAY OF TRAVELING AND CERTAINLY NOT FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL!

Falsely Charged By A Scamming Airbnb Host

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My family stayed at a beautiful Airbnb in the central village of New York City, owned by a man named Nick. After our stay, he specifically asked us for a good review, which we found odd at the time. Once we had done so, he waited a few hours to accuse us of the most absurd damage claims. He claimed we completely destroyed his apartment, including a washing machine, a chair and a bunch of towels that we had literally never laid eyes on in our lives. He asked for 1000+ Canadian dollars, thinking we wouldn’t fight it, and just pay to make it go away. Not only did we spend hours finding holes in his story, which clearly proved that we were being scammed, but Airbnb didn’t even help us, taking Nick’s side almost immediately. We clearly proved he was lying on all points, but they took the lazy way out and charged us about half the amount, to make it, in their words, “fair.” There’s no telling how many people he’s first asked for a good review, then charged when it’s far too late to make an edit or delete the review, just for the sake of improving his apartment. I’ve attached the link here, so i warn you, AVOID THIS AIRBNB AT ALL COSTS.

From a Loyal Airbnb Customer to a Duped One

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This is my sad Airbnb story. A group of friends and I planned a trip to Amsterdam and Ibiza. We found the house we wanted on Airbnb; the host was a registered user with good reviews from the apartment, so apparently everything was normal. We contacted the host through the site, who responded to our request via email where we exchanged information to confirm the reservation. We went back to the property page, to proceed with the booking, and once again everything seemed normal… or the site was a perfect copy of that on Airbnb. Maybe even an original, because everything was the same: logos, fonts, layout, etc.

I proceeded with the reservation and confirmed the same details, then I got an email from airbnb@reply-booking.com (again, the same as that sent by Airbnb) to pay for the booking to a bank in the UK, HSBC BANK PLC. Unfortunately, once the payment was made, we received a new email confirming that the host had been transferred the money, and the reservation was ready and secured. The host confirmed by email that Airbnb was informed that he had been paid the booking, and told us that on the day of our arrival we should contact him to arrange delivery of the house keys.

With our start date approaching with no response from the host, we began to get suspicious that we were victims of fraud. We contacted Airbnb, who just informed us that there was no reservation for that number, and asked for our payment information and other documents; we sent everything to them. More than 48 hours have now passed and there has been no response from Airbnb, which forced me to make a complaint on their Facebook page. By a sheer miracle, this made them send me an email immediately, saying I had been defrauded. They apologized but said they can not do anything. It is amazing how a company the size of Airbnb does not help victims of these crimes, nor take responsibility for a scam that happened on their website with a registered user, using their platform to catch victims!

The first instance of fraud is accomplished on the real Airbnb website; they should take responsibility for it. I did not ask Airbnb to give me back the money I lost, but at least to improve their customer service and provide information on the host, including how he was able to defraud me. I believe it is an inside job from someone who works at Airbnb along with another person outside the company, because the initial contact is always done on the Airbnb site, where they “fish” their victims.

Airbnb Scam: Set up and Burglarized in NYC

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We were burglarized the morning of our first day in an Airbnb apartment in New York City. The host refused to refund our rent for the apartment and so far Airbnb has refused to support us in any way. We lost over $5000 in property: every valuable thing we brought including luggage, jewelry, medication, clothing, along with passports and other personal and financial documents. The police confirmed it was likely a set up and the host has now removed the listing from Airbnb. We have since learned that renting apartment units in New York City is illegal. We are furious about the lack of support from Airbnb customer service, who is now telling us that it is our responsibility to ensure the safety and legality of property that we rent through their service. We will soon be employing an attorney to file charges if things are not corrected soon.

Guest Threatens Bad Review to Get Free Airbnb Stay

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My guest spent his first time in Airbnb at my place and I paid someone to clean and give him the keys. He claimed that he didn’t like the place and had to pay $500 for a hotel. He clearly expected a hotel and he didn’t cancel the reservation on the biggest holiday weekend of the summer, which was also the busiest. All I know is that he didn’t cancel, kept the keys the entire weekend, and now claims that he will post a bad review if I don’t give him a refund even though he made it impossible for anyone else to book the property. On top of that, my wine glasses were broken! It is a classic lose-lose situation for the host. Beware: do not rent to first time Airbnb guests and stay away from creeps like this guy who try everything they can to scam you!

Fake Airbnb Listing: Cliffhanger in Alabama

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So, I never used Airbnb before. I was encouraged by my friends to do so despite my misgivings about staying with total strangers or even being alone in someone’s home without them there as really, anyone could have keys. Imagine someone walking in on you as you never know who the owner gives keys to! I booked a place in Birmingham and had never been to Alabama, so I thought it was flat and swampy and that working class people like me live there: only things I had seen in the movies. I did not care as I am not a wealthy person. Mind you, the ad said “Birmingham” but this home is not in the city at all. Beware of people posting ads saying this as it can make all of the difference in your experience.

Well, the obviously fake glowing reviews of the place did not mention this man’s house is on a cliff! The house is IN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS and he referred to it as a “little hilly.” Literally all the houses in the neighborhood sit on the side of a mountain with million dollar mansions and his house is empty because he is selling it. He says he “travels” but he lives in another state when I actually got him on the phone. He even said we might go for a bike ride… as if he lived in Alabama! He said, “I travel for business,” “I live in Arkansas,” and “I live there full time” all in one day to me! Does this sound normal to you?

Well, imagine not knowing where you are and driving for hundreds of miles through farmland and then BAM! You are not in Birmingham but in a weird place called “Shelby” where for some odd reason millionaires live in the middle of abject poverty; everyone around them is poor as dirt! The entire area is out of place and the hotel in which I ended up had transients and “regulars” living there, as the working class people are poor. It was like a dystopian future in which the feudal lords live on a mountain overlooking the peasants!

Well, I called the police, not believing this man’s ludicrous story anymore for fear I would be breaking and entering into someone else’s home: a bait and switch. Even the local police thought it was odd he was only charging 45 dollars a night for a MILLION DOLLAR HOME IN A MILLIONAIRES CLUB ESTATE ON A SIDE OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS! My truck would not charge my phone due to a small electrical problem as it is new and had a quirk, so I had to sit in a local restaurant to charge my phone and when the police came and I showed them the home and the ad he even thought it was fishy and recommended a hotel up the street for my safety.

Can you imagine if I actually went into this empty home IN THE DARK and someone arrested me or something? Beware of a “too good to be true” ad or people claiming to live somewhere they don’t. Unless you look up the owner, how do you know you are not breaking into someone’s home for whom they got a key made? The entire night cost me $175 dollars and I was so scared in the DARK, never having been to Alabama. A house on a cliff in the middle of a neighborhood of rich and powerful people with nobody living there is ridiculous. If you could see the location you would think an eagle lives there.

The final insult was when I called the man who placed the ad, and he asked me if I knew where local roads were and to “pop” up the hill when his home is in the MOUNTAINS and the back of them drop off hundreds of feet to your death! An empty house, non-resident owner, no proof the person actually owns the house, and omitting pertinent details such as HOUSE SITS ON A CLIFF OFF OF A MOUNTAIN equal no more Airbnb for me. BEWARE normal everyday people, because if you end up in a millionaire’s estate, you had best believe rich people can get you arrested or worse. With all the shootings going on too, who knows what could have happened to me? I had no way of verifying this man even owned this home, and when you look at a property, ASK IF IT SITS ON A CLIFF!