Host is a catfish

[Emma2238]

Hi. I hired two Airbnb properties when we were between moves. They were advertised as exactly the same house, but turned out to be one house cut in half. The other side of the house being obviously more suitable for us, I ended up hiring both at massive expense! But that was not the main issue. The main issue was that the host ‘Sophie’ didn’t exist! She was a bunch of guys, estate agents I think from the number of For Sale signs outside the house. I ended up talking to a main guy called Gareth who had ‘Sophie’s’ picture even on his WhatsApp against his mobile number. They did not respond to complaints or requests for help. The houses were really cheaply done and not registered with the council so bins were not emptied. We ended up leaving and I requested a partial refund - I left because it was so filthy and there was no way to clean, or wash clothes, or any of that on a longer term let, bin bags were piling up so much there were rats. We had to pay to privately launder their towels and sheets and yet every complaint fell on deaf ears. There was no Sophie!! 

I have been an Airbnb guest for YEARS and always choose hosts carefully. The fact that this was a catfish profile meant I was really uncomfortable. I ended our rental on both houses a week before we were due to leave - do 14 days in total - 7 on each house. But only requested 6 days of refund to be fair. It was refused and the resolution centre said that the host is allowed to catfish, that the amenities are clear (but the house described is different to the house we stayed at) and there was no mention of the bad communication or rubbish not being emptied. 

I don’t want to waste my life on this but I will never use Airbnb again because this is absolute madness. How can a catfish account be ok?!

[Anonymous]

@Emma2238   This article went viral awhile back:  https://www.vice.com/en/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-airbnb

It's a known problem. But right now Airbnb is focused on its IPO and doing everything it can to be more attractive to large-scale property managers - many of whom do deploy catfish profiles to obscure how deeply their tentacles reach into the housing supply. 

If you're inclined to use Airbnb or any home-sharing site in the future, I recommend always looking closely at the reviews. If I have any doubts about the host, I'll comb through reviews for mentions of direct interaction with them. 

[Emma2238]

Wow man that article!! Yes I mean the red flags were there. Really cheap furniture. No WiFi. No washing machine. No dishwasher. No bedroom furniture except super cheap bed. No communication. Then uncovering the catfish. As soon as I said I was leaving the hosts whoever they were immediately wrote to Airbnb (not me - after not replying to any message they were clearly reading them!) and I heard straight back from the Airbnb resolution centre to say that if I left early they would not refund any money. So annoyed but what can you do?!

[Super47]

@Emma2238

Below is an account of a London version of the same scam, from February of this year, by James Temperton of Wired UK. (These scams are going on all day every day, in towns and cities all over the world, with Airbnb wilfully turning a blind eye and doing little or nothing to stop them)

I stumbled across a huge Airbnb scam that’s taking over London | WIRED UK
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london

And the follow-up article -

Threats, fear and chaos: the messy fall of an Airbnb scam empire | WIRED UK
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london-suspended
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london-suspended

So what you need to do now is play them at their own game. Send those two articles to both the 'host' and to Airbnb, and leave them in no doubt whatsoever that if you don't get your full refund - and pronto - you'll be contacting James Temperton yourself, and asking him to investigate exactly what's going on here. That just might light a fire under their arses. 

Best of luck! 😉

[Emma2238]

Thank you so much!!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emma2238 Its perhaps a stupid question but have you left reviews of the properties?

[Emma2238]

I have just received the request to review. 👀 on both

[Mike-And-Jane0]

Enjoy but don't fall foul of the rules which will allow them to delete the review

[Emma2238]

The review only shows if they review me. Which they won’t to stop my review showing

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emma2238 Not quite - Your review will show up after 14 days OR when they review you. Whichever is the sooner.

So please do review them - it will just take 2 weeks to appear on their listing.