AirBnB cancellation function wont work - support do not reply - losing money each day

[Nick2419]

I am a guest in an AirBnB that has a cancellation policy that will give me half of my booked time back from the day I cancel.

I need to cancel so try to using both the AirBnB app and the AirBnB website,  I will either get:

- The little three 'processing' dots in the app constantly wiggling, then after about a minute they will freeze, turns out the actual app has frozen.

- The app will say something like 'We are unable to process this' or 'an error has occurred', then 'contact AirBnB support for assistance.

- Same errors as above on the website also.

I have contacted support and selected that I want to communicate via messaging as I am travelling and working.

They DO NOT REPLY - it's been about 40hours so far.

Thing is, each day my refund gets smaller and smaller.  I do not think I should have to lose these unused days because of a faulty AirBnB system.

What do I do?

Contact support about not being able to contact support ???!?

[Emiel1]

@Nick2419 

As an alternative you can try to sent a shortening request to the host  ("change" option on the reservation) , you can see what it calculates before sending it.

[Nick2419]

Ok, sure, but it's too late now.

I'm coming at this from a more principled position as that's all I'm left with. Basically, I should be able to use this functionality, and as it's faulty it's an AirBnB issue I shouldn't have to think about workarounds, nor ask the host to help me action an alternative.

Furthermore, I pay the host, and presumably AirBnB takes a cut from that - there is a clear flow of money from me via the host to AirBnB. So why isn't help offered in a timely fashion?

- I've paid for a service that isn't functional.

- I've paid for support that isn't there.

Plot twist: within about an hour of writing my original post - AirBnB got in touch. 

Magic 

Still yet to deal with it though, they need to speak with an 'account specialist'.

[Linda108]

@Nick2419  It is sooooo frustrating to deal with technology when it is NOT working.  Love it when it is working but hate it when it isn't working.  By any chance did you send a message to the host regarding your need to cancel?  If so, that documents your intent and Air BNB will be able to retroactively adjust your refund.  Hope it works out for you.  While we are hosts on this platform, many of us are also guests and are sympathetic to your issue.

[Nick2419]

I messaged the host later the same morning, but I also took screen shots of the error messages and my intent to cancel should also be clear from my support request where I clearly stated that I was trying to cancel but could not.

The support person at AirBnB seems to understand my position, but I haven't heard back from them for half a day now.

If they do refund me, I do not think that the host should pay for it. The room sits empty and they could have re-hosted someone, but as I'm still a guest in the system, they cannot.

It's in AirBnB's interest to sort this, not only to account for the bare minimum of promised functionality, but because it's literally costing them the difference in refund (which from their perspective, gets larger each day).

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nick2419]

34 hours later since Patrick N said

"No problem Nick, I got your back regarding this case."

Nothing ... 

Silence

Hello AirBnB ????

[Nick2419]

Still nothing...

WHERE ARE AIRBNB???

[Nick2419]

Another day and still no reply.

Tried requesting a phone call, no phone call.

[Nick2419]

Another day and still no reply.

[Sarah977]

@Sybe  Is this how Airbnb thinks they will retain guests? By ignoring a simple issue that could have been dealt with in 5 minutes?

[Nick2419]

Hi Sarah, I'm a bit busy currently to fully look in to it, but sometimes I wonder if I've gone down the correct path in contacting support? (the transition from bot to human is a bit unclear, and so is the distinction between these forums and actual support..)

But then Patrick N did literally say that he 'had my back' (see attached screen-grab). It's possible that Patrick had the ticket specifically assigned to his queue, and then it's possible he's not been able to come to work for reasons. Thing is, the system should account for this kind of thing.

I once worked in customer service and this functionality was implemented in a CRM developed in the late 80s ...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Sarah977]

@Nick2419  This forum is really just a discussion forum for hosts and guests where we try to help each other out. There is no customer service monitoring these forums, but the foruum moderators (who have no part in customer service, they just keep the forum running smoothly) will often be helpful and try to light a fire under CS to get them to deal with an issue where a user is being ignored ( Which is why I tagged a moderator here, hope you don't mind). It's no guarantee it will get things dealt with, but it seems  to make a difference sometimes. 

Front line customer Service reps are ill-trained, I imagine their wages are low, and they have no vested interest in doing a good job. They are outsourced from a third party provider, they aren't even direct Airbnb employees.

They are always "on my days off" as an excuse for shoving you on a back burner, they never ever call no matter how sincere they sound about doing so. It's really a sad state of affairs and most of us wouldn't be able to hold a job if we were so incompetent at them as Airbnb CS is.

[Sybe]

@Sarah977 thanks for the tag! I hope we are successful though in keeping the CC running smoothly. I may miss a thing or two but luckily we have these amazing members we can count on. 😃

@Nick2419 I'm sorry to hear about this issue. As Sarah mentioned, I don't have access to any files or settings I could change. It sounds like you're unable to get a quick answer right now so I'm more than happy to send this over to try and give it a little push. If I get more info I'll let you know, otherwise I hope it gets resolved swiftly!

[Nick2419]

Patrick got back to me last night, said it would take another 24 - 48 hours to get the account specialists to do something before my refund can be accounted for. He didn't go in to details.

Seems like the processes involved are too convoluted, and certainly not customer focused.

I'm ok being out of pocket for this time, but I'm lucky, could be a real stress for someone living closer to day to day budgeting.

Patrick trusts me in that what I said about trying to cancel at the time, but around periods of complete absence then seems hamstrung to do anything about it. At this stage I cannot see AirBnB getting anything else but a fail grade in terms of support.

[Sarah977]

@Sybe You moderators do a great job here. Too bad CS doesn't do their job as well as you guys and  gals do.