Investigation of fake listing

[Niall55]

Hi, a friend has booked a listing that is without a doubt fake - pictures stolen from another site, address is wrong etc. He has spoke to Airbnb who have said a 'specialist team' are investigating. Does anyone have an idea as to how long this investigation is likely to take and when they will process the refund. Thanks

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Niall55  nobody knows I'm afraid...

but could your friend cancel the booking? Under which cancellation policy this was made and how many nights remains until check-in day?

You can see different cancellation policies and refund options here: https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#flexible

Your friend should be persistent and contact Airbnb again

[Niall55]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 thanks for the reply. We can cancel for a refund minus the service charge which is not insignificant, so we would rather have airbnb cancel it. The booking is for 5th June, so we are keen to have it sorted before booking another place. He has since phoned Airbnb who have said the case is on the priority list but hasn't been assigned. So fingers crossed it'll be sorted soon.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Niall55make sure you know until which date you can cancel for a full refund.

If Airbnb doesn't cancel by then it would be better to cancel yourself than to lose more than just a service fee.

[Helen3]

@Nick  @Stephanie  can you help? 

[Stephanie]

Thanks for the mention @Helen3 

@Niall55 Thanks for your post. My name is Stephanie and I'm a community manager here on the Airbnb Community Center. We can't talk about open cases, however I have just added direct messaging access to your CC account so you may get in touch with me directly about this.

As it is your friend rather than yourself that has the ticket open, I can't "pull it up" on the system as it were to see what the progress it looking like. I recommend your friend get in touch with Customer support for updates - could you share how long it has been that the case has been open?

Thanks

[Niall55]

@Stephanie 

Hi, he first raised the issue with Airbnb on Monday. He has since been told that it has been raised to a specialist team, and the case is on the priority list but hasn't yet been assigned. 

I understand we're being a bit impatient, but we are just after some reassurance and an idea of the timescale if possible as we are hoping to book alternative accomodation as soon as possible. Thanks