Misleading

[S132]

I’m truly annoyed with Airbnb and their services. They literally stole, yes stole money from me. Their policy about overlapping was not clear at all. I booked one place for December 27th check in at 3pm through December30 check out 11AM, then I booked another places December 30th check in 3PM though January 2nd. Both places had free cancellation which I did for reasons and Airbnb kept my service fee. They claim it’s overlapping even through the check out and check in did not overlap each other and that I should have read their policy. However, I did read their policy and overlapping by definition is when something is covering another thing. If my check out was at 3pm for the first place and check in was at 2pm for the other place then that’s overlapping and I’d respect my mistake. If I ordered the second place from a different account which clearly I should have done, but I didn’t think I would have been scammed by Airbnb’s misleading policy, nontheless if I did that then it’s not overlapping the over reservation, therefore why is it consider overlapping because I just used my account for both orders. Change the way you word your policy, it should say “unless the booking is on the same day”!. Also, Airbnb did not seem to want to help me with this and instead ignored my messages for hours then when they finally replied they closed the chat on me. So just a fair warning, Airbnb’s definition of overlapping is not literal, it’s their own scam to get any money they can from you. 

[Emiel1]

@S132 

At Airbnb you book nights (not days). You booked 3 nights in first reservation and 3 subsequent nights in a second reservation. Which offcourse are not overlapping reservations, even not when the check-times would overlap on the day of check-out/check-in.

[Sarah977]

Just because the agent closed the chat on you doesn't mean you need to take this as the last word. Many Airbnb agents are ill-informed and unhelpful and extremely eager to close cases. Sometimes hosts have to call or message many times until they finally get an understanding, helpful rep. Patience and persistence often change the outcome. Of course, you have to weigh how much your time is worth against how much money you're arguing over.

@S132

[S132]

I’m new to this Airbnb, I honestly don’t know what to do. It was a good amount of money to me, but I’ll try again to come to an understanding with them. I even asked to speak to a case manager or to at least write a complaint in, but I doubt they even did that just said they would and hung up. Seems like They just wanted me out their hair. I was overall disappointed in the service 

[Sarah977]

Start a messaging stream with them. Go to the Help pages on the main Airbnb site (not this forum), type in something that speaks to your issue (you'll get some useless pre-programmed answers, then follow prompts and drop down boxes until you get to a "Contact Us" message box.

You could also contact them through their Twitter account. Calling seems to be one of the worst ways of getting help.

When you do contact them, it's important to make your issue as clear and concise as possible. Don't write in paragraphs, lay it out in easy to read format:

I booked XX listing from Dec. 27- Dec.30

I booked YY listing from Dec. 30- January 2

I needed to check out of XX on Dec. 30 and move to YY for check in on Dec.30.

These were NOT overlapping reservations- my last night at XX would have been Dec.29.

My first night at YY would have been Dec.30.

I needed to cancel blah blah blah.....

@S132

[S132]

I wish I read your reply before I allowed them to call me. She told me that there was nothing that she could do and that she could have me talk to someone higher than her but there was no point because the outcome would be the same. However I’m going to try to do what you said. Thank you.

[Emilia42]

@S132 I'm confused . .  you are saying that Airbnb canceled your reservations because they were "overlapping" and didn't refund you?

[S132]

No hun, I canceled the reservations and they didn’t refund me the service fee because they told me my bookings are considered overlapping.

[Lisa723]

@Emilia42 no, she canceled, and in spite of flexible cancellation policy Airbnb didn't refund the service fees, claiming the reservations were overlapping.

[Sharon1014]

@S132   The evasive response and cut off may be because the outsourced call centre staff have instructions not to refund any more than $2.50 per 15 calls (if memory serves me correctly from something posted on another thread a little while ago).  So, no, not surprised they are making up excuses not to refund you.  And yes, go to Twitter and make a fuss.

[Ute42]

.

@Sharon1014 

Sorry to correct You. But it was $2.50 per 200 calls 

(commitment made less than 0.5% / total calls handled)

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@S132 

What Airbnb typically means by a *full refund* is they will refund whatever *would have been* paid to the host and will keep their own service fee. But if you do meet the criteria to get the service fee refunded, ignore what the previous case manager said, pretend that discussion never took place, don't even bring it up with the next person you talk to. Just state the facts clearly as per advice from @Sarah977  and simply request that  your service fee be refunded "according to Airbnb policy". Repeat (copy+paste) once a week 😓

[S132]

I shall try again tomorrow! Thank you, everyone has been so supporting and more informational then Airbnb agents lol 

[Sandra856]

@S132 In most cases you need to cancel  a stay within 48 hours of booking to receive the service fee. What cancellation policies do the listings have?

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1345/is-the-airbnb-service-fee-refundable?_set_bev_on_new_doma...

[Emilia42]

@Sandra856 That's always how I thought it worked too. And I would use it as leverage to get Instant booking guests to cancel when I wanted them to cancel. "Cancel now and you will be refunded the Airbnb service fees." But I am not so sure anymore. I think they may have changed the policy because it is very unclear. 

It says:

The service fee is always refundable if:

• You cancel within 48 hours of booking
• You haven’t already cancelled 3 reservations in the last 12 months
• The reservation you’re cancelling doesn’t overlap with another reservation in your account
• The total nightly rate is fully-refundable according to your host’s cancellation policy

Bullet 1 is overridden if bullet 4 applies, I'm guessing?