Aircover: Pretty webpage, Zero substance or follow thru

[Daniel9196]

I'm reposting this, as it was quietly taken down with no notification or reason given:

"AirCover: Top-to-bottom protection" what a load of lies. Most of what is on https://www.airbnb.com/aircover is completely untrue. "Host damage protection covers you if your place or belongings ever get damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay." That's the protection promised by Airbnb. The Host Damage Protection they "say" they have is 90% of the reason I felt comfortable enough to list on Airbnb. But as I'm seeing from all the comments from hosts, It's all completely untrue and just a scam/fraud from Airbnb to get us hosts to list with them.

I had a guest damage the Washing machine making it completely in-operable. After submitting every single thing required as listed under the Reimbursment Process on the Host Damage Protection page, I was told that wasn't enough and they needed a "Damage report from a reputable company". They then told me that the first one submitted wasn't good enough because it didn't say with "Certainty" how the guest broke it. It then took me almost a month of going through every repair company in the city to find one that was willing to Guess with "Certainty" how the guest might have broken it. Most company's either told me that wasn't their job, or they didn't want to guess in writing due to liability issues with the third parties involved. After getting a sufficient damage report submitted, I was told "We will proceed with the payout".  "Oh great" I thought. Then 5 days later I'm told because the washing machine was 10 years old that it has no value and they will pay $0 for it's repair or replacement. (so why did they jerk me around for a month to get a Damage report if they had no intention of paying in the first place?)

But then said they contacted their supervisor and will pay 20% of the repair(So generous!)...

So basically the fine print under Host Damage Protection means for my listing that, with the exception of the new fridge and hotplate, the guest could destroy every other appliance and piece of furniture in my unit and Aircover would pay me $0 to repair or replace the damaged items because of the  "proper deduction for obsolescence and physical depreciation"

However this wouldn't have bothered me so much if they were just honest up front about it, instead of telling hosts lies like "Host damage protection covers you if your place or belongings ever get damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay." Or my favorite from the Resolution Agent after telling me they will pay me $0: "Guests are responsible for leaving the listing as it was presented to them and therefore, responsible for paying for damages they may have caused during the course of the reservation. This being said, the Host Damage Protection program does provide payment to the host whether or not we succeed in collecting all of the funds from the guest." I guess they think that by paying me $0 they are technically providing me with "a" payment! lol

In Canada I could not find a home insurance company that would cover anything to do with Airbnb. I had an almost impossible time trying to find insurance that would cover just Me because of the Airbnb rental under the same roof. I finally did, but they won't cover anything related to the rental. I foolishly thought that would be fine because Airbnb offers and brags about their "$1M damage protection". Which doesn't actually exist for hosts.

Lesson learned, I will keep looking to find insurance to cover my listing. But in the meantime I've taken down my listing and am trying to decide if I even keep using a company like this that upfront lies to their hosts. I will probably end up switching to another company that is at least honest up front about what they cover and don't cover.

[Emilie]

Hi @Daniel9196, 

I am sorry to hear one of your previous posts isn't visible anymore. I did see you posted this as a reply in other threads as well, and when someone posts identical comments or topics the CC platform sometimes does identify and remove those. I can look into it more if you'd like. 🙂

In regards to your Aircover issue, I am really sorry that it's still yet to be resolved. I have checked in with the team and your claim is currently being looked into. Someone will follow-up with you as soon as they are able to.

Thanks, 

Emilie

[Daniel9196]

@Emilie@Catherine-Powell 

Is it possible to have an actual human reply to me? One that could read what I write and address my questions and concerns? Other than @Emilie   I grow tired of only getting replies that just seem to be random copy&paste paragraphs from different places that have little or nothing to do with what I'm asking. I was contacted by airbnb support and asked to basically re-submit everything, which I did. Then 3 days later I get the following Response:

Airbnb Support4:20 PM

Hi Daniel,

Thank you so much for patiently waiting and I apologized for the late response. I just get back to the office.

Upon further checking on this one you have to fill up this and our team is currently investigating this
www.airbnb.com/request-reimbursement/request__________________________

I am glad to be of assistance to you. Remember we are just a call away for immediate assistance or if you encounter the same issue, you can access the link below in the future.
https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/introducing-aircover-469

I would also want to confirm if I have fully addressed your concerns and how can I make your day even better? I would also want to confirm if I have fully addressed your concerns and how can I make your day even better? We are here for you whenever you need us at: www.airbnb.com/help or https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1542/how-do-i-contact-airbnb You may receive a system generated message to confirm if you still need help on your account otherwise you can choose “No” to close this ticket. Have a safe and wonderful day!

___________________________________________

Then a bot asked me If I wanted to close this support????

Like, how on earth did this address anything? The message told me a team is investigating it, then asked me to go to a link to Sign away any and all rights I'd have after Airbnb makes it's yet unsaid action. Then I was asked if my concerns have been addressed? Umm, NO. Not even in the slightest. I replied back with such and got my favorite copy&paste response (which I've gotten word for word before on a different issue):

"Just to let you know, my shift is about to finish for today and I’ll be out of office until tommorow.
While I may not be able to reply right away, please do message me if any issues arise and I’ll follow up with you as soon as I’m back."

That was 5 days ago...Still no response.

How is this customer service?

At this point I've given up on my Aircover request. But I would like someone to address my concerns with your Fraudulent Aircover system for hosts. Concerns like the fact that the terms&conditions makes lies out of almost everything Airbnb has written and bragged about aircover. Concerns like the fact that with Aircover not covering what it says it covers, how are hosts supposed to feel comfortable with strangers in their homes? After my experience, my worst case scenario is now preventing me from listing again. What happens if a guest burns down my house? Will Airbnb even pay for the house, or is there fine print for them to weasel out of that too? Because Aircover wouldn't cover most of belongings that I lost in the fire due to the "proper deduction for obsolescence and physical depreciation", So I would lose everything. And guess what? My house insurance wouldn't cover it either because they won't cover anything that happened as a result of the Airbnb rental. I could not find a Canadian Insurance Company that would. Foolishly I thought I'd be covered by Airbnb's much bragged about $1Million coverage!

Trying to get Human customer service seems like a lot to ask from Airbnb lately.

[Emilie]

@Daniel9196 Thanks for updating us, though I am sorry you're yet to reach a resolution. I've raised this again on my end so someone can follow-up with you - if I get any more updates I'll let you know!

[Sarah977]

@Daniel9196  How incredibly frustrating and angering.

Here is my technique for dealing with the robotic, non-helpful messages we all get from CS, which seems to work pretty well, and you might give something similar a try. 

I send a message along the lines of "Hi XX, thank you for your message. However, you don't seem to have read or understood my last message, so please reread it, as you are sending me links which do not address my issue.

This is exactly the sort of thing that leads to bad press about Airbnb customer service all over social media and the Airbnb community forum. Users need answers to their issues, not to be sent robotic replies with useless links.

I would not waste my time or yours if the answer to my issue could be found in the Help pages. 

If you do not understand my issue, I would appreciate you passing it on to someone who can actually give me the information I requested.

Thank you for your time."

I have gotten apologetic messages after sending a response like that and actual help or a timely reply from whoever they passed it on to.

Happened to me last week- trying to get an explanation of the taxes Airbnb is charging my guests and what taxes they are not collecting that I need to submit myself. After first replying as if I had asked a totally different question, not only did the CS rep apologize and pass it on, I got a phone call (miracle!) from a more knowledgable rep within 24 hours, and when I pointed out the discrepancy in what she was telling me and what I was seeing on the guest booking form, I then got an email from yet another rep in the financial dept who explained everything completely clearly!

I made sure to tell him it was the most pertinent and clear message I had ever gotten from Airbnb customer service since 2016 when I started hosting, asked if he could  clone himself to populate the CS dept. 🙂 and thanked him profusely.

[Daniel9196]

@Sarah977 

That is Fantastic!!!

Now if I could only just set my account up to use that an auto-reply to any message received from robo-support! 😉

[Sarah977]

@Daniel9196  Well, they sort of have to be tailored to the actual situation to some extent, but the basic idea is to be polite, point out their shortcomings without it being a personal attack, and asking exactly for what you want as concisely as possible.

I try to keep in mind that it is actually Airbnb itself that is responsible for this sad state of affairs, by undertraining, and directing them to respond in this robotic way. I am sure those front line reps are paid peanuts- it's not like they're going to spend their days off boning up on Airbnb policy. 

I've even said in dialogues with CS reps that I know they have a heavy workload and do their best, that I sure wouldn't want their job, and wish them a good rest of their day, etc. 

They have angry, frustrated users phoning and messaging them all day. Acknowledging them as human beings who are overworked and underpaid does wonders as far as getting them on your side wanting to help you , which is the whole point.