Airbnb has worst support i faced in my 15+ years online life and i'll tell you why.

Luka285
Level 2
Tbilisi, GE

Airbnb has worst support i faced in my 15+ years online life and i'll tell you why.

Airbnb has worst support i faced in my 15+ years online life.

 

In March of 2020, someone booked on Airbnb from my CreditCard, it was not me, i don't know who did this, maybe someone stole my CC info somewhere, i don't know. Please keep in mind that i'm software engineer with 14+years experience and things like phishing/hijacking and etc. is impossible to do with me, so someone just took a photo fo my CC or something like this. So, i'm charged from Bank and transaction is already was done, I sent message to Airbnb and guess what they did? ) - Nothing ) 3 times i sent message and each time they are answering me - Please contact your Bank. That's all - no explanation, no detailed message, no sorry, no refund. I contacted to my Bank and they sent me screenshot of transaction, it's already done, so they are unable to make chargeback process, in this case responsible is only AIRBNB but they don't care, they are sending me message once in a week and just copy paste - please contact your bank. I hate your support Airbnb and this is my last visit on your site.

9 Replies 9
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Luka285   Sorry this happened to you and yes, Airbnb CS is difficult to deal with at the best of times. But this came at the worst possible time to get help from them- they are totally swamped with calls and messages regarding COVID cancellations. Even long-standing Superhosts are having to wait on hold for hours right now to get through to anyone, and lots of users aren't having their messages responded to at all, not even cut-and-paste responses. I know that guests who've experienced these booking hackings have had their money refunded, so you might just be getting such useless responses because of the timing. I know that doesn't help you right now, but what I'm saying is to not give up, but maybe try again when everyone isn't in the midst of a pandemic situation.

Your response is 10x times useful and helpful than Airbnb's official support. I know that no one cares about my money regarding nowadays critical situation, when whole world is in panic, but you can just explain me as a human, am i wrong? You are support, currently you are working in Airbnb, so it's your job and you MUST. But feedback like - "Sorry Luka, please contact your Bank, we are unable to release any information bla bla bal...?" and just copy paste 3 times? - You call this support? Sorry but it's everything except support.

@Luka285 I know. I don't blame the customer service staff, though, and always try to be polite to them- they're just lowly employees and are instructed to act like robots by corporate. There are actually blogs where Airbnb CS staff talk with each other about their terrible working conditions- low pay, pressure to close cases, inadequate training, etc.- it seems they are as poorly treated by Airbnb as users are. 

They do exactly the same thing to hosts when hosts call in about missing payments- they tell us to check with our bank, even though there is no problem from the bank's end and we've been receiving payments through our bank without any issue for years.

It takes a great deal of patience to deal with them- when I get those cut and paste responses, I write back, politely, thanking them for responding, but pointing out that it is evident that they didn't really read my message and to please reread and try to resolve my issue. It has taken a few back and forths, but in the end, it gets resolved. 

I know it's hard, but the approach I've found works best is to stay polite, thank them for their time, even though you want to strangle them, state your issue in the simplest possible terms, using short, bullet point form, rather than long sentences and paragraphs, and don't give up. 

Also, there actually are some knowledgable, helpful, CS reps. It's the luck of the draw who you get when you contact them. Often it's best, when you get a clueless response, to just disengage, stop dealing with that employee, and start over, not mentioning that you've already dealt with someone there, hoping you get a better rep the next time. It's tedious, for sure.

That's all I can suggest- good luck.

@Sarah977 , 

There are actually blogs where Airbnb CS staff talk with each other about their terrible working conditions- low pay, pressure to close cases, inadequate training, etc.- it seems they are as poorly treated by Airbnb as users are. 

I understand as a human, but as a "business", honestly i don't care in what conditions they are working, it's not my problem, there is a lot of people in the world who wants job like this and i'm sure they will work better. But again, as a human, i understand but it not gives them some privileges to act like this.

Okay, Sarah, thank you and i'll keep in mind that patience and trying 100x times is best way to solve my problem :)) it's kinda not serious but okay, what can we do.

 

Stay health and wish you best!

@Luka285   "there is a lot of people in the world who wants job like this and i'm sure they will work better. But again, as a human, i understand but it not gives them some privileges to act like this."

Not necessarily. Low wages and poor working conditions, and a job where you're dealing with angry and frustrated customers all day yelling at you for policies that you had nothing to do with creating doesn't attract the best employees. There's nothing glamorous about the job. And if they are pressured to close cases, told to send cut-and-paste responses and try to get you to go away by their superiors, it's not really their choice. That's what I was trying to say. The attitude is coming from the top down. And no, it's not okay, at all.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Maybe things are different in your country, @Luka285, but it's simply a case of telling banks (here, at least) your card has been used fraudulently for an immediate credit. The bank is at *fault*, not Airbnb. Best of luck getting to the bottom of this. 

You don't get it, the real problem is "style of communication" of Airbnb support, i don't care who is a *fault*, btw transaction was happened on Airbnb and they have all of this information not my Bank, my Bank already gave my all this info what they have, but Airbnb - not.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

You're absolutely right, @Luka285, your problem is much bigger than the pandemic we're in the midst of, and they should absolutely reel off full details of the transaction. 

@Gordon0 , honestly i don't get you sarcasm, maybe you are one of them, but anyway i already have "immune system" to talk people from Airbnb. 

But... What about this photo (google search result)? Oh yeah, i forget about H1N1 Pandemic, also forget about Ebola and etc. Maybe the real problem is in Airbnb itself? You can search anywhere, the result is one - Airbnb support is one of the worst! Sorry, but it's true.

 

Screen Shot 2020-03-28 at 15.11.50.png