Community expert tells me blatantly wrong information

[Susan1188]

I recently contacted client support via chat and got a "community expert".

I asked about the Extenuating Circumstances policy, as I have a guest who booked non refundable.
Experienced guest.  Type of profile I have had abuse the "extenuating circumstances" policy before.

The "community expert" tells me that the guest can cancel for illness, injury or personal situations - this is the policy BEFORE January 2021.

People can no longer cancel for personal situations *EXCEPT* being diagnosed with Covid themselves or being required to isolate and providing proof of the positive test or isolation order.

When I dispute that and express my astonishment, he digs in, confirming it is true.

Only after *I* go in the TOS and dig up the *new* extenuating circumstances rules, does he realize he is telling me something completely wrong.

So a word of warning:

When you are on Airbnb support chat service, talking with a "community expert", you are basically talking with another host as if you were here on the forum.

You might get some insight and help, but you might also get some false information.

Having said that with another more serious situation I was assigned a CS person who followed my case and called back mutliple times, so that was good.

Good luck everyone!

[Gordon0]

Isn't a community expert just one of us, @Susan1188, as in a host who probably spends too much of their time trawling the net? Glad you got it sorted all the same.

I'm now off to dispense some info on DIY brain surgery (I think I might have read about it somewhere...).   

[Susan1188]

Yes - thank you @Gordon0 , what I wanted to point out is indeed:

When you go on the help chat

And get a "community expert" 

you are basically getting - not an airbnb trained support person who would, for example, say "i don't know the answer let me escalate" - you are getting a community host who perhaps has no more experience than yourself in solving the issue.

This should be made more clear.

I do not want to throw my "community expert" who gave me the 200% wrong information under the bus.  I only wish it had been made more clear I was speaking peer-to-peer (this person has perhaps less experience than me and less 5 star reviews than me).

[Inna22]

@Susan1188 sadly, community hosts most likely know more than airbnb support.  A trained airbnb support person is a mysterious creature who has been extinct since march of 2019

[Pat271]

[Elaine701]

@Susan1188 

Airbnb host support is notorious for false or misleading information. And inexplicable actions. And ignoring facts. That's not new. 

We no longer use Airbnb support unless all hell is breaking loose, and it's obligatory to inform them of it, for posterity. You can largely dismiss any illusion that Airbnb support will give you qualified answers or help. But you might get lucky, occasionally. 

There's only two things you can expect from Airbnb: bookings and reviews. Neither will always be ideal. Sometimes disastrous. But it's solely in your court to manage the prevention of undesirable bookings and ostensibly, the resulting reviews. Despite Airbnb. 

Sorry, but every host needs to set their expectations realistically, or eventually suffer the consequences. Watch your own back. 

[Susan1188]

@Elaine701 

All duly noted and agreed!

Although I have recently seen that Airbnb is lacking in... hosts!  not guests! so perhaps what goes around comes around.  Perhaps we have some hope of being acknowledged.

I only want to attract notice to the fact that "airbnb host support chat" is now the equivalent of a forum post.  You may get someone who knows more than you, maybe probably not.  This is misleading and abusive and I believe should be called out.

[Colleen253]

I’m glad you’ve been shielded from the harrowing truth of Airbnb Customer Circus until just now @Susan1188. It’s not a new thing. 

“When you are on Airbnb support chat service, talking with a "community expert", you are basically talking with another host as if you were here on the forum”. 

Actually, anyone who needs support and good information is much better off coming here than going to Airbnb. 

[Susan1188]

@Colleen253 

Yes I agree, usually much better support here and on multiple off-platform chat groups.

However, I have to say, calling is better than texting.  Every time I have made a call and referenced an ongoing reservation, I have gotten excellent support.  

In this particular case (and others), I have started up a help chat preemtively because I was anticipating a problem from a future guest.  I really don't care what the "community expert" says as long as the issue is documented in advance.

So once again I reiterate:  do not rely on "communtiy experts" to help you, better to rely on this forum and others on other social media.

[Mark116]

Thankfully I rarely have to contact Airbnb CS, but from my experience they are equally likely to give wrong v. right info. 

Every time I've called about a third party booking, they always tell me its fine, which is false.  They also recently told me that a day of arrival cancellation would mean the guest couldn't leave a review, which I know--only from this forum--is also false. 

[Colleen253]

@Mark116 The only reason to contact customer circus would be for entertainment purposes. The nonsense they dish out makes for good laughs. 

[Mark116]

@Colleen253  The thing is, those two examples I gave, those aren't any kind of subjective decision-making issues, where you might expect that different reps would or could come to a different decision.  These are hard and fast yes/no answers that CS still gets wrong.  While it is laughable how poorly trained they are, it's also quite alarming, because for the vast majority of hosts who do not frequent this forum...they would have believed those wrong answers and proceeded accordingly. 

[Susan1188]

@Colleen253 
The other reason would be, for documentation purposes.
I recently got a 900 euro payout, with 6 month delay,  that I would not have gotten, if the entire story had not been documented including my exchanges with the (useless?) "community expert".

[Susan1188]

Airbnb invests a huge amount of money at every step through the "conversion tunnel".

They spend millions (tens of miillions? hundreds?) on google etc. referencing.

They send ads to your guests thru email, fb, insta, etc.

they spend actual money per click.

if you get a booking and then refuse it (because: 3rd party, bringing 3 german shepherds, bringing 5 toddlers, smoking...). it's money wasted down the tubes for them.

Make your listing super clear so you don't get requests or interest from undesirable renters, which, in effect, is wasting Airbnb marketing money.

[Elaine701]

@Susan1188 

Yes, well, it appears as if marketing and support aren't well connected. It's like the left hand from one and the right hand from another. 

Being clear is indeed important (critical, really), but that alone doesn't go far enough. You need to vet guests as thoroughly as you can. Ask questions, and if you sense you're not getting satisfactory answers, then you're better off to scare them away. Airbnb is very good at attracting bookings. There's another, probably better one wanting those dates. Just be patient. 

There's plenty of ways to scare them away diplomatically. Demanding a hefty security deposit usually does the trick with undesirable or unsuitable guests. And even when they agree to it, you have some peace of mind at least, because they'll be much more careful if there's a wad of money hanging in the balance. 

Of course, with homeshare hosts, the need and tactics are a bit different. It's a different animal altogether.