When thanks are in order.

[Juan63]

As many of you may know from the threads the last couple of weeks, I am very unhappy with Airbnb's response in regards to all the full refund cancellations and the lack of Host support. But, I want to give thanks to many of the Airbnb employees and their efforts. They have done a great job trying to assist me with issues, both related and unrelated, to the covid cancellations. They have been surprisingly nice, respectful and I truly feel like they are trying to help under the intense pressure and within the limitations of their position. They have been available to me with very little wait time. They have also provided me with very helpful information, like local Airbnb restrictions and disinfecting protocols. I really appreciate your effort!! I hope your work is rewarded. I only wish I had the woman's and man's name that helped me this last week, because they specifically deserve praise. 

Thank you!!

[Sarah977]

@Juan63 Maybe you'll get one of those questionnaires they seem to send out sporatically asking you to rate the service you received. They really should do that for all CS contacts. Maybe it would lead to canning the clueless, unhelpful ones and looking at how the good ones handled the cases and using that as a model to show new hires.

I was nice of you to post this. While I have often gotten cut and paste replies that don't address my issue, by staying polite and appreciative and firm, as well as keeping it as simple as possible, I've gotten pretty good service over the years. I'll admit I've never had to deal with them for a bad guest issue or missing payouts, it's been mostly tech glitches and contacting guests who weren't responding.

I've posted a couple of times tips for dealing with CS. I don't think any of us would want that job. I'm sure they get spoken to rudely and yelled at by angry hosts and guests all day and of course everyone thinks their issue is of utmost importance. But it's important for everyone to remember that they aren't responsible for making policy,, and I'm sure they're instructed to send robotic responses and so on,.to start with. I would also imagine they are pressured to close cases as quickly as possible.

[Juan63]

@Sarah977 I’ve lost my cool with them before and sometimes it’s hard not to see them as the wall between you and the right solution, but many times they get it right. Sometimes they have even surprised me with their generous solutions. I’m happy to have spoken to more than a few great AIRBNB employees.

[Sarah977]

@Juan63  I always message them, rather than call. I think it's easier to lose your cool on the phone- when you're writing you can choose your words easier. I once had a question and the CS rep just sent me a cut and paste reply directing me to help pages that had nothing to do with my question.

I sent her back a message along the lines of " Hi XX, Thank you for your reply. However, it appears that you either didn't read or understand my question. Not only did it not pertain, you sent a link to help pages for guests, when it should be evident that I'm a Superhost. As such, I always first look for an answer in the Help pages before I would waste the time of CS. Do you realize that sending these cut and paste replies is exactly the sort of thing that gives Airbnb CS a bad name? It's very frustrating for hosts.  Please kindly reread my question. Awaiting your reply and thanks for your time. I know you guys don't have an easy job."

She wrote back right away, apologized, and proceeded to help me. We exchanged a couple of back and forth messages which were polite and on point from both sides, and my issue did get resolved.

[Juan63]

@Sarah977 I like calling. Many times the case manager's first language isn't english. I feel messaging makes a simple request more difficult at times. 

[Lizzie]

This is fantastic to hear, thanks so much @Juan63 for sharing this. I'll also pass your message here over to the team. As you mentioned they've been working flat out to get back to huge volumes of calls and messages and thanks like this goes a long way to help.

I'm really pleased you managed to get everything sorted. Hoping for more positive times ahead. 

Thanks again. 

Lizzie

[Jonathan1257]

You actually went silent when the email wasn't full of praise.

[Huma0]

@Juan63 

I'm glad you have had a good experience dealing with Airbnb CS during these difficult times. I think it's very important to give praise where praise is due as people tend to mostly post about the things they are unhappy with or when things go wrong. I also posted a thread ages ago (can't find it now) in defence of Airbnb CS having mostly had good experiences.

However, I think you may have got very lucky. I have to say my experience in the current situation has been a real mixed bag (both over the phone and via messaging) and I'd say that at least 80% of it has been very bad indeed. Of the numerous reps I've had contact with over the last few weeks, only one has actually helped me in any way. Even when you speak to a rep who seems knowledgable and understanding, who say they are going to help, the end result is disappointing, in that they don't do what they said they would, make some kind of incomprehensible error or simply go silent on you, or a combination of these. On some cases I've been passed around from rep to rep to rep (up to five or six on a single case). This is unbelievably frustrating.

Now, I understand why that has been happening as they must be severely stretched, but some very weird decisions have been made and I've received a lot of nonsensical responses.

Another host told me that she had heard that only the reps in the US and Ireland are authorised to make any decisions. The rest are outside contractors who are there just to deal with the calls but can't actually fix any significant problems. This doesn't surprise me as there's always been a massive disparity between the quality of reps when you call up. Some are really clued up and others have no idea of basic Airbnb policy.

Where this really becomes a problem is when they do not pass it on to someone who is authorised to do something. Rather they send you copy and paste responses that don't make any sense or simply stop responding. A very standard response at the moment seems to be "Hello, I am the manager now taking over your case. However, I will be out of the office for a few days. Bye!" It's like they are trained in stalling tactics and just hope you will go away!

Sorry to be such a downer, but there are some serious flaws in how Airbnb run their CS and this situation has really brought that to light more than any other. The one useful rep I spoke to was great. I was so reluctant to close the thread with her as I knew I would never be able to get hold of her again!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I've definitely noticed, not just during the COVID crisis, but always, that they always seem to be going to be "out of the office" for a few days, right after they start dealing with you. It happens with such consistency that it can't possibly be true.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

The helpful rep (who seemed to know about policy), got back to me really quickly except once, when she took two days to reply, but apologised saying she was off over the weekend. That is logical.

The other scenario doesn't make sense at all. Why would one case manager hand over to another one, just as the latter is going away for a few days? It's pure nonsense!

[Robinson-Lee0]

All of the CS reps have been nice enough but they just keep sharing the same extenuating circumstances cookie cutter response.  

The question I’ve asked was specific to a booking that is 3 days outside of the mass policy but is clearly not a booking that is going to happen due to Provincial restrictions in my province. So at this point, I have to keep the only 4 day booking I have for the entire month of June or be penalized for cancelling it.

I have simply asked them to assess the booking on its own as an extenuating circumstance that falls just outside of the current protocol.
They have told me to just wait because the next announcement MAY cover that time period.  I cannot wait if I want to rent the place for the month and recoup a portion of what I would’ve made with a full month of bookings that is not going to happen now. 
Our province is telling us that we will be under these restrictions until at least June so the booking where the guests will be travelling from out of province (currently restricted) to perform for a large group of students (currently restricted) in various schools (all closed) is not a feasible one. 
I’m annoyed that despite all of this, we don’t meet the criteria for extenuating circumstances and I will be forced to cancel and be penalized in order to secure a month long tenant in that unit. 

[Robinson-Lee0]

And the CS agent I got today was purposely obtuse and sarcastic when I asked for them to consider my booking as an individual extenuating circumstance as I’ve had happen before. And insisted that no one at Airbnb has the authority to cancel an individual booking ... I am beyond exasperated with the lack of “support”. No effort to understand or use common sense or good judgement.