Payment issues and inability to contact customer service

[Nicholas-and-Tomoko0]

I have been hosting for about 3 years and realize that Airbnb is struggling with staffing during the pandemic. However, I am having some serious issues with the site/app as well as reaching customer service. I am not sure where to turn to at this point.

Issue 1, I cannot reach customer service. I have written messages to the customer service with no response for days. I tried to call in only to be told by the automated system "The next representative will be able to assist with my issue in... 'several hours'", yes it literally said "several hours". WTF! Gives me no option for a call back and I just have to sit on hold.

Issue 2, I had a guest recently cancel and I have been attempting to refund the rest of his money because I was just being a friendly host and wanted to help him out since his trip to the area had been canceled. When clicking issue a full refund and going through the steps it tells me there was a server error and to try again later. Tried from app on phone, website in multiple different browsers, to no avail the issue has persisted now for three days. He also tried requesting payment from me only to have me get the same error when trying to complete.

Issue 3, a potential guest was recently told that she could not book because she was getting a message saying, "choose another place to stay airbnb prevents reservations for entire homes when a pattern of factors suggest the booking may be unsafe please try a hotel room instead". To me that doesn't make much sense. An entire home booking should inherently be safer than a shared or partial space...

I am at my wits end now and not sure where to turn as I can't get in touch or get any resolutions.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Nicholas-and-Tomoko0 Some thoughts:

Issue 1 - Call very early in your day and you'll probably get a UK or Irish support desk.

Issue 2 - I wouldn't rush to refund as some hosts are reporting that the refund is netted off other payments until the point at which the guest would have stayed. Also there is a risk of a double refund. Make it clear you will help to get the guests money back but leave it to them to deal with Airbnb.

Issue 3 - This is likely to be a guest flagged by the Airbnb algorithms as someone who might have a party or worse in your property. The message suggests its the property that is the risk but actually its the guest!

[Clara116]

@Nicholas-and-Tomoko0 I would not be sending refunds if the guests haven't stayed at ur property...good thing u got an error....let Airbnb take care of the guests refund. Many young folks are trying to book places and it's not allowed. So some of the struggles might be helping u and u don't even realize it. Good luck

[Suzanne302]

@Nicholas-and-Tomoko0  You'll have to try calling support at odd hours. I did manage to reach support, twice, last week.

The first time it said the wait would be 1 hour and I was connected in about 45 minutes. I just set my speaker on and went about my business. This was actually in the middle of the day.

Also, once you reach support, be nice and it will make things easier. The poor guy I got was only 3 days into the job, and his computer completely crashed during our call. As frustrated as I was, it is not his fault Airbnb is understaffed and not his fault his computer crashed. I was patient and kind and he told me how much he appreciated that. The "powers that be" at Airbnb really need to overhaul their support function, but it's not the fault of the poor reps who are just hired to do the job.

[Karen2621]

I am having the same problem.  I issued a refund to someone who cancelled within days of her stay and she should have gotten zero refund.  I gave her a partial refund but Airbnb's payout to me was net of the amount she should have paid while they still reduced my payout by the refund given to her.  I'm out $770 by airbnb and cannot reach anyone.  I've called with the same wait time issues above, messaged 4 times over the last 3 days and just recently tried twitter all with no response.  This is just not acceptable.