Complaint

[Sanjay89]

I am a host and what's the fastest way to get someone from Airbnb to call me if I am having issues? I was chatting with someone from Airbnb support and was promised a call back 4 days ago and no one has called me despite numerous follow ups. This is getting very frustrating and stressful. What's the best avenue to make a complaint?

[Sarah977]

@Sanjay89  "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all" is relevant to not telling your wife she's getting fat. It isn't relevant to getting advice for host/guest situations. 

Not everyone sugar-coats their advice, so try not to take personal offense. 

When someone comes here asking for advice, and then chooses to ignore advice they were given, then comes back asking for help because they ignored it, yes, you might get some tough love replies.

I concur with others who said it would have been better to refund the guy to start with, as he cancelled only an hour after booking. 

There are many reasons why last-minute bookings can be problematic. I suggest you set advance notice to 2 days, so you don't get last minute bookings.

As far as the review goes, leave a review. Just say the guest cancelled an hour after booking and never stayed. You can also mention that he sent you nasty messages because you stuck to your cancellation policy.

And it's pointless to fret about a review you haven't even read yet. When it gets posted, you can leave a brief response to it if warranted.

You are wasting your time trying to get ahold of Airbnb if you think they will disallow a review. They won't, unless it violates review policy.

[Huma0]

@Sanjay89 

If you did genuinely clean the place and buy the breakfast groceries during the one hour between the guest booking and cancelling (and I guess that's possible with a last minute booking you have to rush around for), then I can see why you were not willing to refund the full amount. But you could have instead kept the cleaning fee and the cost of the breakfast and refunded the rest, explaining to the guest that you had already spent time and money preparing for his stay.

I can understand that technically you were entitled to keep all of it, but the guy made a mistake and cancelled in an hour. He did not leave you waiting to the last minute or not show up and then expect a refund. In that case, I would have kept all of it for, including the cleaning fee.

Personally, I do not take same day bookings either as it's a complete headache. It's not just inconvenient, it's this whole cancellation/refund issue, plus you are more likely to attract dodgy guests.  I used to have minimum one days' notice, but I changed it to two a while back and I haven't noticed any detrimental effect because of it. Most of my guests book at least several days in advance.

[June270]

I have just been informed from the Call Center that I am not allowed to make a complaint, this is new to me, and also against the law. If you are calling the call centre with a problem you should be allowed to raise a complaint and for someone to get back to you.

[Sarah977]

@June270  What do you mean, not allowed to make a complaint? Can you be a bit more explanatory? 

[June270]

I was informed that I was not allowed to raise a complaint until seven days time if the money has still not shown in my account then she will consider raising a complaint. So I wanted to raise a complaint about the fact I could not raise a complaint and she still refused to do that. After she had spoken to her supervisor who is Honda to come back to the line and tell me that I cannot raise a complaint.

[Sarah977]

@June270  You are still not being at all clear what you are talking about.

Are you saying that you haven't received a payout for a booking and that's what you are complaining about? 

If so, I'm not sure what more you are trying to complain about. You were told to be patient and wait to see if the payment comes through until a week after it was due. It isn't that you aren't "allowed" to complain, it's that you already have, so you've made them aware of the issue already.

So do as instructed- raise the issue again if you don't get a payment by the 7 days.

[Lesley439]

@Lesley439   I was fined by Airbnb for not answering within 1 hour yet I am still waiting for an answer re a stay that has ended.  I got the usual Im out of office from the support ambassdors and nothing at all was done to deal with the disturbance in my home for nearly 3 weeks.   How do you raise a major complaint. 

[Sarah977]

@Lesley439  You don't get fined for not answering within an hour. To what are you referring?

[Lesley439]

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@Sanjay89 wrote:

I am a host and what's the fastest way to get someone from Airbnb to call me if I am having issues? I was chatting with someone from Airbnb support and was promised a call back 4 days ago and no one has called me despite numerous follow ups. This is getting very frustrating and stressful. What's the best avenue to make a complaint?

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@sarah977Thanks for the answer.  I have a guest who requested hotter water via airbnb at 10pm.   I told the guest prior I was going out and would not have my phone on.  I stayed for 2 hours after he arrived a 4pm to ensure he was OK I also left a note with the names of other residents of the house who could help if a problem.   Airbnb tried to call me and I couldnt answer so they cancelled the reservation and fined me.   The guest actually stayed the night but I did not get paid.   This is my home ie a shared house so sometimes things  go wrong (including an excessive amount of hot water used by others) . The next guest was not suitable for a shared home and although I informed Airbnb about this they have done nothing.   Its clear if you do use support you just get messages at midnight saying how can they help again and again and not reading the messages.   Im asking how to make a major complaint about the lack of support when the next guest caused us all to loose sleep night after night.