App Notifications Delayed

[Ann72]

I'm getting notifications 1 to 4 hours after a message.  Luckily I've been at my computer a lot lately and have seen the emails come in, but it's a worrisome glitch because of the pressure to respond immediately.  Anyone else having this issue?

Oddly this didn't happen at all in technology-challenged Maine, but in New York where I have faster wifi and better cell service.  But really only for the last couple of days.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Ugh. I stopped receiving text alerts completely several years ago, and while  the rep did understand what I was talking about, his first suggestion was "Maybe your text inbox is full". I told him that was rather insulting of my intelligence, of course I would have checked that before contacting them. The next suggestion was that it must be an issue with my phone provider. I told him it wasn't- that I got all other SMS messages no problem. 

He finally deigned to talk to the tech team, who confirmed it was a a tech issue on their end (surprise surprise) and suddenly, about a month later, the alerts started coming through again.

But I have experienced similar, but not the same, as you- I usually get the alert of the initial request or inquiry, but often don't get subsequent ones, and there can be a time lag of several hours. 

That conversation you had with the brain-dead rep is why I message rather than call when I've had issues. I find I can usually write a message, in the clearest, simplest way, as if I were explaining something to a 3 year old, (no paragraphs, short bullet point form, in chronological order of when and how the issue presented itself) and they usually comprehend, although not always the first time.

I also start my messages with a heading- "Tech Issue", "Trust and Safety Issue", so they don't have to decipher what it is I am contacting them about.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, that is often the best way. I was corresponding with this particular rep via messages as well and that didn't work either.

It was very odd. She spoke and wrote English reasonably well but could not understand a word I was saying. At first I thought maybe it was a bad phone line, or maybe she couldn't understand my accent (which is pretty RP, so people usually tell me my spoken English is very clear), but it was the same thing with the messages.

It's funny that, when I have a good experience with a competent rep, I'll often get a message afterwards asking for feedback. I never get those after experiences like the above!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Same here re that feedback form. It's been mentioned before. I think the CS rep generates that form if they feel they solved your issue or you told them they did. That would explain why we wouldn't get one if the rep realizes the user was frustrated or angry. 

[Tania827]

This original post is from over 3 years ago, but I'm jumping in now (09/24/23) to note that emails and SMS messages from Airbnb are hours delayed today, are appearing out of order, etc. Really buggy.

[José-Antonio30]

It's happening to me since yesterday too.

[Paula]

Hey @Tania827  and @José-Antonio30! Thanks so much for sharing this with our Community. Other Hosts have followed these steps when facing a similar issue:

1. Log out from all affected devices/browsers.
2. Close all open browser windows/tabs on these devices.
3. Open just one new window or tab.
4. Clear cache, cookies, and browser history.
5. If you're using an app, delete and reinstall it.
6. Finally, log back in using EMAILFROM_ACCOUNT_.

However, if the problem persists after trying these steps, please share some screenshots or videos showing the issue, and we will forward them to the team for review.

[Helen427]

@Paula @José-Antonio30 

@Tania827 

Another factor to take into account with delays or non sending and receiving of Notifications and messages which has come to our attention is where Customer Services/ IT representatives may be based and where Government Black outs of the internet is happening under the provisions of the Submarine/ Telegraph Act 1885.

There's an interesting and informative article in The Guardian about this  this week that may help shed light on matters some may not be aware of because of the way the internet operates with Telecommunications and servers these days and what is happening in other countries.

Some of us grew up in the era of Telephone and Electricity cables above the ground and usually found out through Bush Telegraph that there was a disruption to services where a vehicle had caused an outage  or if it was a weather event locally and they were pretty smartly repaired by our wonderful locally based Technicians.

Now it's vastly unknown because of the way of the world.