Appalling service from Airbnb representative

[Pedro1613]

Hi fellow hosts

I've just had the most appalling unprofessional customer service from an Airbnb customer service representative called Kurt. 

I called the Super Host help service at 10.01pm to talk about a guest who has turned out to be quite a nightmare. Not her as a person, but has been breaking all the house rules and apologising either saying she had forgotten or she had misread them. To cut the story short, she decided to go out tonight and sent me a message at 9.23pm saying, "Hi Pedro, just to let you know I’m out tonight. See you later". Problem is my house rules say no entry after 12 midnight. I spoke with her about the house rules and then she apologised again saying she had not read this particular one. She then sent me the following message on WhatsApp:

"I’m sorry but the midnight rule doesn’t work for me"

"Is it possible to get a refund and cancel so I can find something else"

I then called Airbnb to ask for help not knowing that I was going to have exactly the opposite. I had no support whatsoever. Kurt was highly unprofessional and kept trying to annoy me by repeating himself several times as if he was reading some sort of scripting. 32 minutes of him talking and he still had not offered me a solution.

I told him the guest was asking for a refund and I had no problem  giving her a refund. He said that I had no evidence the guest was unhappy about the house rules and had asked for a refund. I told him the communication had happened via WhatsApp and the n he started giving me a whole sermon about WhatsApp messages. He then said if I wished I could share the written evidence. I told him I was not trying to prove anything, that the guest wants to leave and I'm about refunding her. He then goes on to repeat himself. I then say that I'm more than happy to share the WhatsApp messages if they are needed. He doesn't say he needs them, but then starts repeating himself again but trying to make a point that I could share them if I "wished". I don't him I didn't have an issue about sharing them if he needed them. However, he was not having that. He was determined to have some sort of unprofessional inappropriate type of competition with me on the phone.

He then started threatening accusing me of being difficult and saying that he was here to help but I was not letting him. He asked me if he could send a message for me to send the WhatsApp messages and I said yes. He then tells me that he needs me to put me on hold and I answer "that I do not have a choice". He then says that he cannot help me anymore. The call is cut. Then he calls me again and then I'm not joking he starts robotically repeating to me everything that he had said in the previous call. Forcing me to listen to everything  again. This second call lasted 28 minutes. At some point I asked him what we should do. He said I was interrupting him and threatened to hang up. He then forced me to say that I "wished" to share the WhatsApp messages with him. I had to submit to his bullying in order to try to get some help.

I sent him 4 WhatsApp  messages. He then went on a long sermon saying that the messages may not be valid evidence (evidence of what??) because they showed the name of the guest but not her number. He spent about 5 minutes speaking in a very passive aggressive manner clearly trying to diminish me.  In the mean time I erase the guest as a contact so that her number (not her name) would show on the messages and sent everything to him again showing the guest's number.

While he was talking non-stop forcing me to listen to him without offering me any help whatsoever, I also sent the gust a message on WhatsApp asking her if she could come back to the house at 11am to do her check out. I then also sent her a booking alteration.

I have never had such an appalling experience with Airbnb before. In fact, everyone I've spoken with on Airbnb have been helpful and professional. I called Airbnb when I most needed help and I am unlucky enough to come across such an unprofessional,  horrible person. You don't call Airbnb at 10pm on a Friday night if we don't need help. I called for help, not to be bullied, attacked and diminished.

I've decided to post this here to express how disappointed, appalled and angry I am to be bullied for over an hour by an Airbnb customer service assistant. I also intend to report this horrible experience to the appropriate team at Airbnb.

[Pedro1613]

@Anonymous 

A curfew is a law that says people must not go outside after a particular time at night until the morning. I think you must be a little confused here. I don’t follow or expect people to follow such law. 

I simply establish house rules to keep order in my house. I’m responsible for my well-being and safety, and for making sure my property is secure. I’m not going to give up control of my home and place myself and my property in a vulnerable position by letting strangers come and go into my house at any time of the night while I am sleeping.

There are thousands of different places on Airbnb catering for all sorts of guests’ needs. It’s the guest’s responsibility to ensure the accommodation meets they needs at the time of booking.

[Helen3]

Wow it sounds like London has changed @Huma0  I moved away six years ago and was often out way past midnight and I'm sadly no longer in my 20's or 30's 🙂

All the major clubs in London were open till 2- 4 a.m. in the morning and bars in the centre often open past midnight. 

Here in Bristol there are many places open way beyond midnight so my guests often come in, in the early hours. They are always respectful and quiet.

I noticed that @Pedro1613  also has house rules that state guests can't be in during the day as well as having to be in by midnight, so it sounds like he wants to operate more like and old fashioned English B&B rather than a short term rental booking.  I am not sure it was clear when the guest booked but it certainly is now. @Pedro1613  I would also suggest you make these unusual rules clear up front in your listing description as well as having them stated in your house rules.

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

No, it hasn't changed. Clubs are open late and yes, there are some late night bars in the centre. If you are looking to stay out late, there are certainly options and it's probably easier than six years ago because of the night tube and the proliferation of Uber type cheap taxi services.

However, the majority of restaurants, pubs and bars do not stay open past 11pm because, when later liscensing was brought in, most places that applied were refused due to objections from local residents.

In my neighbourhood (Stockwell) there is a late night club but I would not suggest my guests go there because it is a dive. It attracts a very drunken and desperate clientele who have nowhere else to go! They are harmless but they are a mess. There are lots of lovely pubs here, but none of them are open past 11 and last orders at the restaurants are usually 10pm. Still, people only need to wonder to Brixton close by to find several late night places. 

Also, in many European cities, bars will close when the last customers leave. Here, the staff at pubs will seriously harass you to get out on time and not a minute later (unless you are lucky enough to be a regular at a place that does lock ins). 

[Pedro1613]

Hi @Helen3

My house rules have always been very clear, and I refer to them at several locations in my listing where I ask people to read the house rules and make sure my accommodation meets  their needs. I also ask people when they book to confirm they have read the house rules. Unfortunately some of them are not honest.

I don't think the London nightlife is relevant to my posting, but as many people are mentioning it, I'd also like to say that "night life" is subjective and different to everyone. For some people it means going to the theatre or going out for dinner; for others it might mean staying out drinking with friends till 2 or 3 in in the morning. Others might prefer to leave home on a Friday night and jump from club to club till Monday morning. Yes, there are clubs in London that open on a Friday and only close on Monday non-stop. I was a proper clubber in my 20s, but of course I never had to force my clubbing life onto some Airbnb host.

🙂

[Huma0]

Personally, I would not have a rule about what time guests can come back, but I am guessing perhaps @Pedro1613 has had issues with this in the past, seeing as his rules are largely focused on this and on drugs, not coming back high or intoxicated etc. Also, I do not know what kind of lock he has, but it says that he locks the door (I am assuming double locks it) at midnight for security reasons.

Anyway, whether you agree with the rule or not, it is very clearly stated near the beginning of his rules, so the guest should not have booked in the first place if she was not okay with it. I don't think it's okay for guests to 'cherry pick' which rules they will and won't follow. Just book somewhere else.

I have no idea why he went through this rigmarole with CS if he knew how to do a booking alteration and was happy to refund. I've had a really long and frustrating interaction with a useless rep myself lately. She was really patronising and treated me like an idiot, even though she was the one who couldn't understand a basic question and not at all apologetic when she finally realised she was the one getting things wrong.

If it is something I can sort out myself, I would certainly not bother contacting CS. It's just masochistic! 

[Pedro1613]

Hi @Huma0 

Yes, I won't be contacting Airbnb anymore if I have the same issue. I thought I had to contact them to explain things. Normally I explain things in writing, but as it was after 10pm I though it'd be fast just to speak with them directly. Also, all my previous experiences with Airbnb CS had been positive, so I had no idea I was going to come up against such bad service. If I had any idea, of course I would not have called them. I think I'd still have contacted them in the morning though just because I thought it was necessary.

[Gwen386]

Also, I do not know what kind of lock he has, but it says that he locks the door (I am assuming double locks it) at midnight for security reasons

@Huma0 Now this is scary. What if there’s a fire?  

[Huma0]

@Gwen386 

The double locking thing is not uncommon here really. Most of the standard door locks have the ability to be double locked. From the outside, this normally requires a key. From the inside, it's a button. So, it's not actually difficult to unlock it from the inside quickly at all. It's more to stop people getting in than out.

However, guests are not the same as people permanently living in the space and it's quite likely that they will not remember this sort of detail/instruction in an emergency, so yes, it could be a concern. 

[Huma0]

@Gwen386 

PS, so I would probably double lock the door before going to bed if I was just living with my family, but I don't do it because of the guests. Forget about emergencies, they would just get confused. It's enough trying to get some of them to remember to shut the door when they come in or out!

[Gwen386]

@Huma0 Thumbs up