Robbed by host in Medellin, Airbnb still letting him rent!

Craig566
Level 2
Aspen, CO

Robbed by host in Medellin, Airbnb still letting him rent!

So,

 

I rented this airbnb in Medellin, Colombia on 10/23/19.

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We never received the correct keys at check in.  We asked the Venezuelan manager ** to address the problem with the keys.  They could not get them to work.  So this property rented by ** has 2 doors and a gate.  

 

We were robbed by a man working with the Colombian National Police.  The man apparently already new the code to the outside gate.  We could not lock the first door because of the mixup with the keys.  When the 2nd door was opened at about 3am the man stormed in with 3 CNP.  They put us in handcuffs and robbed us of $800 dollars.

 

When we brought this to Joaquin’s attention the next day he said that they had nothing on their cameras.  It looks like (Jennifer) the rental manager had erased the cameras from the previous night.  So we went next door to the Casa Cambios, and got the film from their cameras. It shows the man ** opening the outside gate and entering with 3 Colombian National Police.

 

We later in the week caught the man on the street, chased him down and had him arrested.  I have the paperwork (Denuncia) of the arrest.  During the arrest we met a guy on the street from Belguim.  He said he also was robbed by the same man.  Since his Spanish was better than ours the police officer (Ruiz) gave him the Cedula number of the crook and he forwarded the number to us.  The next day officer Ruiz showed up at his hotel. The Belgian man (Kim) said he had a crazy look in his eye. The man apparently ratted out the police.

 

We have been dealing with airbnb for months and cannot seem to get our money back.  What is worse is airbnb are still letting the delinquent host rent his property on the airbnb platform.  Has anyone else had problems like this?  We are still waiting on airbnb to correct this situation.  We cannot fathom how he is still able to use the rental platform to rent his units.  This man is putting renters lives in danger.  We are really ready to forward this to the U. S. Embassy in Bogota.

 

I have a picture of the man, the arrest paperwork (Denuncia) and a video of the police breaking into the unit with the crook. We also have the WhatsApp texts of the illegal Venezuelan kid not providing us with the keys.  Can we post the pictures and video of the crime here?

 

Absolutely appalling that airbnb is still working with these criminals to rent this unit.  Shouldn't airbnb be liable for anyone else that is robbed or worse?

Here are more of this criminals properties for rent on airbnb.

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**[Sensitive information removed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

5 Replies 5

@Craig566 I'm sorry to hear that you've had this experience, but you can't post personal details and phone numbers on this forum. It's against the rules and it doesn't help your case. 

Money obviously means more to Airbnb than the safety of their guests.  This guy is still renting his unit using the Airbnb platform.  Unreal.

Nick
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Craig566 

 

Like @Anonymous I'm sorry you had this unfortunate experience. Could I please ask you to check your Airbnb inbox as you've been contacted by the respective department?

 

Thanks

Nick 

HI Nick, rules apply all of a sudden?  I cant believe Airbnb still lets this guy use their platform to rent his units.  Should Airbnb be responsible for any oother illegal activities at this unit.  Would they not be legally responsible for this guy endangering future guests?  Btw, I have been dealing with Airbnb for months and they do not even want to see the photos, video or the arrest for the thief that already has the front gate code.  Airbnb has done nothing to help, it seems the just want to ignore this.

Nick
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Craig566,

 

Just to clarify, this is not Airbnb per se, rather an online community for hosts (and guests) to connect. I want to make sure you know - pardon me if you already did - as I get a sense you think I'm an Airbnb CS representative, which I'm not. As a Community Manager of this CC, I have to make sure rules are followed, regardless of the ill-fated incident you were involved in, for which I'm sorry once more. I had to edit your post and take out personal and sensitive information so that it doesn't break the CC guidelines.


In terms of your case, I spoke with Support, and they said that they have had some contact with you regarding this, but have not had a response from you in some time. Following on my previous reply, I'd suggest you check your email/Airbnb inbox, and if something is still not resolved then please do reply to them there and they can assist.

 

Hope this helps
Nick