I booked an Airbnb for $1700 for a week an hour from our house. It was a non refundable listing, but had good reviews so the following saga was surprising. I live in California and the Airbnb is in Santa Cruz.
When I got there, the provided entry code was wrong - I called and texted the owner with no response. I called and texted Airbnb support who said they’d contact the owner within 1 hour or so or I’d get a refund, and they’d call me back within an hour.
The owner didn’t provide the code but offered a $1000 refund over text. I didn’t really like the place or want to deal with it so I said yes. They said I had to cancel the reservation and they’d refund.
It was over an hour later and Airbnb hadn’t contacted me. This was all super sketch so I called Airbnb again. I asked about the cancellation option the host agreed to, they said they couldn’t refund unless the host called them to say so (the message in the airbnb app where host agreed wasn’t enough). They said they’d call the host.
Hours pass, still no correct code, host messaged yelling at me to cancel soon, no response from Airbnb. I call airbnb again, say I wasn’t able to get in for hours, I wanted to cancel for full or at least agreed $1000 refund. This Airbnb person told me that the host still hadn’t responded to them, but because it was in writing from host, I could file request for refund after cancelling. I said I want the refund now, I don’t trust the host. The Airbnb support assured me that if they lied, Airbnb would investigate and find in my favor due to message thread evidence.
I had a baby in the car, just wanted to go home, so I told support to cancel if they assured me I’d eventually receive $1000.
Airbnb rep cancelled, showed up as ‘guest cancelled’. I filed the request. Sure enough the host denied it saying I’d actually entered the place (which wasn’t true, but I don’t think it matters as they hadn’t mentioned that in the offer). Airbnb then finds in favor of host, saying it was according to the cancellation policy! I say they promised, ask to speak with supervisor, etc - I haven’t heard from support for 2 days now though.
I think the host got angry at me because I had earlier politely asked to shorten the stay, which they denied - I was fine with that though. I’m not sure why they became so dishonest though when previous reviews were good.
What do I do? Can the host lie to me in writing, and Airbnb support lie over the phone, to trick me into accepting Airbnb cancelling? I’m planning to file a dispute with my credit card. Will that work or can Airbnb sue me over that or successfully dispute it? Please advise, thanks so much in advance!
