Bad experience

[Orlando162]

This was my first experience with Airbnb and unfortunately, it was terrible. I booked the room around 9 p.m. On December 30 everything was going well until I got there. The communication was poor they could not speak English. The elevator was damaged, and I had to walk to the sixth floor I knocked on the door several times, and nobody answered. I proceed to call them on the phone, after trying for a while they answered me. The first thing I heard was that they had a problem with electricity, that there was no electricity in the apartment, and that I should return later when the problem was resolved, I told them that I was tired and wanted to take a shower. They insisted that I return later, or I should take a candle. I told them they were crazy because I wasn't going to expose my life in that place. After a while, a guy came from the building, and I told him that I want my money back or that I would call the police. They gave me the money around 11 p.m at that time I could not book any other place, and end up in the subway until 6 am. I love the concept of Airbnb. Airbnb should control these people and not allow this to happen. Be careful these people are greedy, liars and dishonest. I just hope Airbnb does something about this.
Thank you

[Aondona-Jude0]

That's really sad. I'm sorry you had to go through that at all. Did you contact Airbnb via to app for a refund and insist compensation is made for the inconveniences. 

[Juan63]

Not really sure where you get these assumptions that "these people" are greedy, liars and dishonest. Yes there are some bad hosts out there. When you rent an airbnb you should know you are not booking a hotel so you may have some issues. It's important as a guest that you do a little bit of work. You are booking really late and on the same day, you should have messaged the host prior to booking. Did you look at reviews, did you not pick a superhost, did you pay for the cheapest place? I can't imagine that was the only place available. Airbnb is a great service, and most hosts will take care of you better than a hotel, but some of the responsibility also lies with the guest. Part of your story seems a little unbelievable, why would they refund you cash? What would the cops have done? This was a civil issue. This story seems very fishy.

[Helen3]

Why on earth didn't you do as Airbnb directs you to on your booking confirmation and contact them after your host confirmed the electricity was out for their help to cancel the booking and help you find somewhere else @Orlando162 

You are not allowed to ask a host for cash. They wouldn't even be in a possession of your money at check in stage.

Presumably you reported this issue to Airbnb and left an honest review?

[Orlando162]

First of all, that was the first time I used a service of this type, and I didn't know the company's policy. I was looking to reserve a place on December 30 it was very difficult because each place was reserved. I booked this place around 9:45 pm. I was tired, and all I wanted was to shower and sleep. These people do not know the concept of responsibility that was very irresponsible, and stupid on their part, they just wanted to take the money. If you have a business, you are responsible for what you offer. They believed that I would accept a candle and put my life in danger. I will make sure that these people have no chance to do this again.

[Sarah977]

@Orlando162  I'm sorry you had this happen to you, but if you use a service for the first time, it behooves you to familiarize yourself with the policies first. Not knowing the policies isn't a valid excuse for not proceeding according to protocol- the information is there for you to read on the Airbnb site.

As others have said, you should have communcated with the host when you booked, not just gone there- Airbnbs are all individual, they aren't hotels. Sounds like you Instant Booked it and then just immediately went there, before the hosts even had a chance to maybe see that they had a reservation.

Demanding that the host reimburse you in cash is out-of-line behavior- the host doesn't even get paid for a booking until 24 hours after a guest checks in.

And while it's certainly unacceptable that the electricity wasn't working, if you had bothered to communcate with the host before arriving, they would likely have let you know that there was an issue. 

And I don't see why you felt your life was in danger because they suggested you use candles if you really wanted to check-in. That sounds overly dramatic.