Appartment not as described and Airbnb won't respond... what to do ?

[Kate1715]

Hello everybody,

I traveled with my husband and my 23-months-old son to Lyon, France, just last week. 

Knowing that it would get very hot in Lyon and that my son doesn't handle the heat very well, I looked only for appartments with air conditioning. 

That was my #1 requirement. I found a place with air conditioning and according to the listing, it was "ideal for a couple with children".

Long story short, when we arrived of course there was no air conditioning and the appartment was not safe for children (and even for adults) : on the first floor the handrail was incomplete (an adult could easily fall from the 1st floor) and the ceiling had a very low beam (we banged our heads several times). Also other things that are unsafe for kids but too long to describe here.

I contacted the host about the missing aircon and she just said that it was a mistake on her behalf and she apologized, nothing else. Even when I said that my son doesn't handle the heat well, she didn't offer anything (just apologies again).

Then I sent a message to the AirBnb support within 24 hours of my check-in, as I'm supposed to do in such case.

2 days later, I sent another message to the AirBnb support, also to say that the place was unsafe and that we already had several accidents.

2 days later my trip was over and I sent an email with pictures of the appartment.

I never got any reply to any of my messages !

Today I tried to call them, I waited and waited... after 30mn (that was supposed to be 5mn), I gave up.

What would be your suggestions on what to do now ?

[Anonymous]

@Kate1715  Your frustration with Airbnb's customer service operation is shared by just about everyone dealing with it these days. This situation was obviously quite time-sensitive, and now that the stay is over, your support ticket is functionally obsolete.

What should have happened is that when you called Airbnb to report that an essential amenity was missing and the property was unsafe, the agent cancelled your booking and refunded you for the nights you didn't stay, so that you could relocate. That's really all that Airbnb would have been in any position to do for you. 

Since you chose to complete your stay despite the problems, there's no longer any reason to waste your time with customer support. But I do recommend writing an honest account of your experience in your review, and particularly noting in your Accuracy rating that the amenities were falsely advertised. Airbnb might take action on this (most likely in the form of an automatically-generated warning email to the host). But Airbnb has over 6,100,000 listings, so you won't find that they're rigorously doing quality control on each one of them. If you don't want to vacate the property, your recourse is your review.

[Kate1715]

@Anonymous  thank you for your reply !

I understand what you're saying, however I'm in France and the french law does state that if an essential amenity was missing or falsely advertised, then the contract that I agreed on for renting that appartment was not valid because my agreement to this contract was based on an error, therefore I should get a refund of the total amount of the stay (even if I chose to stay and even if the trip is over, because sometimes people have nowhere else to stay).

I thought that the Reimbursement politic of Airbnb quite reflected this law.

But honestly, do you think that Airbnb support would have replied or done anything if I had left the appartment before the end of my stay ? I guess in that case I would have lost the place to stay AND the money I spent on this place.

Now I wonder, does Airbnb ever helps guests having such problems ? Or they never do anything so that the hosts can keep on falsely advertising amenities without any consequences and without any recourse for the guests (except the review) ?

Also I chose this apartment because it had 11 reviews, all very positive (4.78/5). Does Airbnb delete negative reviews or is it that guests with bad experience just don't bother/dare posting a negative review ?

[Anonymous]

@Kate1715   Did you actually contact Airbnb by phone? It is frustrating because people often have to wait a long time on hold and are at the mercy of the competency of whoever answers. But when an issue is as time-sensitive as needing immediate relocation, an email alone is definitely not going to help, as you have no idea when it will be received. 

To answer your question, Airbnb's Guest Refund Policy

  is not localized to the specific laws of each of the 220+ countries/regions it claims to operate in.  You will notice in the text that the policy entitles you to refund if, due to the travel issue (and yours were legitimate) you are unable to complete your stay. There is absolutely no provision in there stating that the host must provide you with a fully free stay just because the property was missing amenities. If you believe that French law entitles you to a refund that Airbnb policy doesn't, you'll probably have to pursue your claim through the courts. 

It should never have to come to this, though. Getting a third party to intervene should really be the last resort when all else fails. Did you tell the host that you wanted to leave, or send a change request to shorten your stay? Most hosts would be inclined to refund your payment on Day 1 if you're willing to cancel the booking and vacate the property before using their facilities, but zero hosts are inclined to give you a free stay.

This one happened to have only 11 reviews, which is not many. Airbnb doesn't delete reviews for being negative, but many guests choose not to review. It's possible that you're the first guest who had a serious problem. As you know, most people in Europe are used to living without air conditioning, and there's not really anything the host can do to make the ceiling higher - sometimes, you just have to remember to duck.

[Kate1715]

@Anonymous  on the contact page for this specific problem ("the listing is not as described"), it said that there was no possibility to contact them by phone due to the situation (covid-19), only by mail. Only when my stay was over I tried contacting them by phone, they said my waiting time was about 5mn, so after 30mn I gave up.

I totally understand that zero Airbnb host would want to give me a free stay (because Airbnb is not Couchsurfing), but also zero Airbnb would buy an AC more expensive than the total amount of my stay !

About the AC and the safety issues, I was not asking that they fix it, I just wanted some help to get another equivalent place and that they would stop falsely advertising their listing. 

[Mark116]

@Kate1715   Airbnb is right now simply not able to keep up with the customer issues.  Normally, when a guest raises a significant red flag of a critical amenity, not having A/C in the height of summer, you would have gotten a fast response, maybe not the response you wanted, but a response.  Usually the options are that the host will agree to fix the problem, which in this case, they did not, or you would cancel the booking and relocate getting a full refund.  Since you chose to stay the whole time, despite no AC, I'm not sure you are due a refund, certainly not a 100% refund, but airbnb may eventually give you one anyway.

[Kate1715]

When I order something over the internet (it may be groceries or household items, anything), if the shop sends me an incomplete order (for example, because they are out of stock), then they automatically give me a refund for the items that couldn't be delivered. Even if I accepted the delivery and used the available items.

I feel this should be the same for missing amenities : I paid a higher price to have an appartment with A/C and suitable for children, if the host can't deliver all the listed amenities then why should I still pay full price ?

When you say "airbnb may eventually give you one anyway", do you know when that may be ? Or when/if I would ever get a reply to my messages ?

[Anonymous]

@Kate1715 I don't disagree that the home is worth less than you paid, if it doesn't feature all the items included in the offer. But did you communicate your contention on this to the host?

It only seems fair that if you believe you're entitled to a partial refund, you should be explicit of your intention to pursue this, so the host has the opportunity to either make a discount offer to you or cut their losses and send you on your merry way. 

One thing you do have to accept when dealing with peer-to-peer accommodation is that you're bound to get some hosts who aren't particularly experienced or professional with hospitality. With only 11 reviews, this host might still be a beginner - no excuse for listing an amenity that isn't there, but it only increases the importance of communication on both sides. You can sit around all day waiting for Airbnb to get involved, but there's no reason that two adults can't come to a resolution without calling Daddy.

[Kate1715]

@Anonymous I agree with you, but in this case I should also ask Airbnb/Daddy for at least a partial refund of their "Service fee", which they describe as :

"To help Airbnb run smoothly and to cover the costs of the products and services we provide, like 24/7 customer support, we charge a service fee when a booking is confirmed."

[Anonymous]

@Kate1715   Ha! Good one.

I can't predict what action Airbnb will take on this, if any, but at the end of the day, the opposing case is still pretty strong: whatever discomfort you felt with the heat or concerns for your child's safety did not prevent you from completing your stay. If you're a squeaky enough wheel you might get greased, but it's not as though throwing any amount of money at you is going to reverse the discomfort that is already now in the past.

While you could try requesting a partial refund from the host, I don't see how they have any incentive to offer you anything now that you are no longer their guest. It's a dead certainty that you're going to write a bad review anyway, so why sacrifice income now?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kate1715 Based on community feedback a missing amenity (if its important) will generate a 50% refund

[Kate1715]

Should I ask this refund directly to the host ? Or should I wait for a reply from Airbnb ?

[Helen3]

You are right Lyon is impossibly hot at this time of year, not a great environment for a toddler.

You could have raised the issue of the discount with the host at the time/asked Airbnb to cancel the booking as a key amenity wasn't available and pointed out the safety issues you mention (presume these weren't mentioned in the listing). You could indeed have called them - you can find their phone number by looking at the Contact us section on their website.

As you didn't do this, you can ask the host for a partial refund.  A 50% refund is not a given sometimes it is much lower for a missing amenity.  See what the host stays.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/248/what-should-i-do-if-somethings-missing-or-not-as-expected-...

[Sarah977]

@Kate1715  One thing you could have done was to ask the host to please provide a fan. That's something they should have had in place or offered, considering the inaccuracy of the AC amenity.

No one here is arguing that you shouldn't be entitled to some refund, or that you shouldn't have been able to cancel your stay and hopefully have Airbnb rehome you to a more suitable place, it's just that with the abysmal customer service right now, no one, be they guests or hosts, has been able to get their issues resolved in a timely fashion.

That's certainly unacceptable, but it's the current reality.

[Kate1715]

Just to let everybody know what happened in the end...

So I messaged the host, asking for a partial refund and explaining why, and as expected she never replied to me.

But unexpectedly, Airbnb support called me to know if I still needed help and I explained the whole situation again. They told me that I should be compensated for the missing amenity and the safety issues and that the host should be penalized. Then they called the host and then called me again, saying that the host finally agreed to give me a 50€ refund (which is about 19% of the total amount paid). I have no idea how they calculated this amount but that works for me.