COVD-19 returned money twice by mistake

[Olena39]

I have made a mistake and sent money twice to my long-stay guest because of the COVID-19 interruption. Immediately after I sent the money I realised the mistake, called AirBnB, but they said that the money is already with the guest and there is no way they can get them back to me unless the guests sends them back.

So I go ahead and request the money back from the guest - no response. After a long back and force conversation with the AirBnB support team, they basically told me that it is ok to steal £500 for the month stay, and the person can walk away from it without consequences.

Should not there be some sort of buffer to have such things sorted.

P.S. I know this is my stupid mistake, I know the guest is not doing the right thing, but it really sucks to think that there is no protection for a genuine error against dishonorable people who would not return the money for something they have used...

[Alexandra316]

@Olena39That's absolutely brutal. I didn't think that the system allowed you to pay too much: if the guest paid $500 for their stay, it would be impossible to send them $600, for example. 

If you haven't tried them on Twitter yet, I would try contacting Airbnb there. 

Absolutely abhorrent of the guest to be so dishonest. If you have the ability to review them, I hope that you manage to find a way to mention this situation.