How to get a refund when Host refused?

[Jaci152]

Hey Everyone, 

My family and I are in a real difficult situation. We are in the process of moving from one province to another where we have purchased a home. We had 2.5 months between our rental and possession date of our new home. We decided to use Airbnb for the interim period and our first month worked out pretty good. There were some issues which we didn't realize from the listing but we made it work. We were traveling with a 1.5 year old, 2 cats and as much of our life in a suitcase as possible. The host of the first place needed the unit back so when we found unit #2 which would allow us to stay until possession date, we were so happy. The photos looked great, the area not ideal but with pets, you take what you can. We packed up everything and headed to the next unit as we familiarized ourselves with a new city and province. 

On arrival we were a little surprised by the condition of the building, particularly the homeless population in the area and apparent crime requiring a security company to sit and monitor the front entrance.  We said that's going to have to be ok, not many options and had already paid the first month. Into the unit we go and notice the entry door didn't function properly, couch was totally destroyed (and covered in a blanket so we didn't notice), half used food in the fridge (not sure if that's normal or not but during a pandemic, not sure its a great idea).  With a small child and potential security issues we felt totally unsafe there. Not to mention the construction site directly outside the unit. Working from home would be great with that and of course naps for the little guy. 

We decided this was not going to work for us for 1.5 months; a week sure you can deal with that. We left the unit immediately and contacted the host.  They offered to buy a couch when they returned home 2 weeks later and stated they wouldn't be sure the lead time of one. We looked back further in the reviews then and noticed that the couch and door issue had been a complaint for well over a year yet nothing had been done. So needless to say, not much confidence anything would be done.

So with no options we checked into a hotel and then decided to return to our home province to stay with family as we had so much money tied up in Airbnb we couldn't make it work. So here we are, staying with our parents. The host will not provide a refund, we followed the instructions 1. contact host, 2. contact Airbnb. Both are refusing to refund us anything, yet we didn't spend more than 30 minutes in the unit. 

What do we do? Please help! 

[Emiel1]

@Jaci152 

For stays of 28 nights and longer the "long term stay" cancellation policy applies. Which means if cancelled (did you cancel ?) the remaining nights upto max. 30 nights are not refunded.

If you encounter a "travel issue" there is a strict procedure to qualify for refund:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868/airbnb-guest-refund-policy

So if you followed this procedure, why does Airbnb denies the refund ?

[Jaci152]

HI @Emiel1 

Thanks for replying. We are claiming a travel issue as the unit was miss represented and unsafe. We did not cancel the booking. We followed the procedure and contacted the host immediately. The host didn't provide a satisfactory response and was out of the country. We filed a claim with Airbnb and are currently on our 4th customer support agent. Each previous one had to go off on their 48 hour time off. So we were getting passed around. Its been almost 2 weeks of this now. The latest support agent doesn't agree that the host violated the hosting standards.  You can see in the photo one of our concerns is the couch's condition. The listing photo shows a couch in perfect condition. 

[Mark116]

@Jaci152  If you never cancelled the booking, I don't see how you even think you are owed a refund.  You have tied up the host's calendar for a month without cancelling, so he/she could not even have a chance at re-renting.

[Jaci152]

Hey @Mark116 

Totally agree, but we were told by the first support agent not to cancel the booking.  We are certainty not experts in this and would have hoped the support agent could guide us in the correct manner. I guess this is what you get for trying to do things the right way. 

[Mark116]

@Jaci152  That couch should certainly never be in an Airbnb, but since the host offered to replace it, I'm not sure you're going to get anywhere in getting a refund with an active reservation.  You could keep trying with CS until you might get a sympathetic person, but Airbnb is much more strict, I think, with refunds for long term stays than for short term.

[Sarah977]

@Jaci152  You should always try to do things the right way- in the end, although it might take time, it gives you a much better chance of getting a fair resolution.

The problem here is that the CS dept has fallen off a cliff in the last couple years and their reps are outsourced and mostly clueless and give out faulty info. The rep should have cancelled the booking for you for starters. As it is, you still have an active reservation that is blocking the host's calendar  (not that he should be renting it out in that condition). 

All you can do is keep trying to get a knowledgeable rep and assistance. It's the same bad service for both hosts and guests these days. You need extreme patience and fortitude.