How to get a host kicked off and how to get our deposit back from scammers?

[Amanda1505]

Hi all and any help is welcome.

We booked a Pocono, PA house in Henryville to be exact back earlier in the year in 2020 for a week stay in Aug 1 to 8, 2020.  The day of we were contacted and told we could not go to the house because the previous renters were still there and would not leave.  They told us to go to another house which was about 5mins away.  This other house was first not what we paid for it was listed for $199 a night and what we paid for was $500 a night.  This house also was dirty and we had to clean up when we got there.  This house had a leak in the upstairs bathroom that leaked to the first floor where multiple people slipped and fell during our stay there which was 2 days due to the preview renters not leaving.  Also during our stay this house was up on the market for sale so we had 2 realtors stop by with people to see this house while we were there, which we obviously denied becuase all of our stuff was inside and its just not safe due to covid to have random people look at the house.  The bed in one of the rooms was broken.  Finally on day 3, August 3rd we were able to go to our original house, which we left that house emmaculate considering the circumstances we made the best of it.  At this point we had spoken to not the original host Julia, but her assistant Surge who was relaying all this info and he told us he would give us $500 back due to the inconvenience, which was definitely not enough considering we missed out on 2 days and really 3 since we couldnt get to new house day 3 at 2pm.  But anyways we dealt with it and upon arrival at the original house the cleaners were still there cleaning since the prior renters had destroyed the house before us.  This original house that we had stayed at now for what we payed $500 a night for had lots of issues as well. The bathroom upstairs had a leak to the bathroom below which plumbers actually came to fix during our stay as well and the plumbers notified us that we should not be there especially with the children due to the black mold in that bathroom.  Many amenities were broken but still usable we made due like I said we were nothing but nice considering the circumstances.  We also received a text from Surge with a picture saying we broke one of the dressers in the previous house which was total b.s. because we did not use any dressers while we were at the original house since we did not unpack for the 2.5 days we were there and the nerve to even complain about that due to all the trouble we have gone thru so far and its only day 3.  With all this said we stayed the whole week and dealth with issue after issue.  Now come to the day before we leave Friday Aug. 7th he still is talking about this drawer which we did not break and he said in text its ok don't worry about it.  We even told him to have someone come here to inspect the place before we leave because we dont want to hear any issues when we are home.  Because he still had out $1000 deposit which he needs to give back since we left the place same way we got it.  K We are now home and he is saying that they wil have to take money out of the deposit due to the broken drawer which was a cheap ikea draw which we did not break.  So it is now end of Aug. and silence from these scammers.  No deposit back $1000 and no $500 in refund for our misplaced stay.  They also have taken off their house on airbnb as well I have it saved but when I click on the link it says its not there.  What do you do in a situation like this?  They robbed us of our deposit and we were nothing but kind for all the inconvenience.  This host Julia has about 3 houses on this website and they should be taken off.   If anyone has any advice on what to do anything would be appreciated.   

[Linda108]

Sounds like a nightmare, @Amanda1505 !  You provide detail about the situation but it is unclear to me what you have already done with respect to seeking a refund besides contacting the host.  Have you contacted Air BNB?  It might be true that Air BNB will not be able to make the host give a refund if the host does not have future payments with Air BNB.  As to the deposit.  it was never actually taken from you.  Under Air BNB policies, a security deposit is only an agreement to access the credit card should a host claim be substantiated.  Hope this helps a bit.

[Amanda1505]

Hi, @Linda108  my brother in law actually booked this vacation.

I am writing on his behalf to see what I can do.  We found it on airbnb but after speaking to Julia the host she wanted us to book offsite which we didn't think anything of since we have done this before with no problems.  I guess we didnt realize this is bad when dealing with people like this.  My brother in law emailed airbnb.  He has tried contacting the host numerous times and still no response.  And yes they did take his deposit he sent it to them thinking he would get it in return as we have done this before.  At this point obviously we want our money back but also want them to not be allowed to use airbnb and be flagged so that they don't do this again to other customers.  I actually found them on vrbo and they have multiple houses.  People need to be warned about them.  They are not to be trusted. 

[Colleen253]

@Amanda1505  If you did this all off of the Airbnb platform, there is nothing Airbnb can or will do unfortunately. If this host still has an Airbnb profile or listing etc, you can report them.

[Amanda1505]

thanks how can we report them? where do I go to do this?

[Colleen253]

If you had a conversation at one time with the host on platform, there is a flag icon beside their name that you can click on. Or from the listing there is 'report this listing'. @Amanda1505 

[Amanda1505]

Thanks.  He did have a conversation on here, but now the listing is no longer found so they probably took it off just so we can't report it.  I actually found them on vrbo for same house listing and they have 5 other houses they rent.  These people are thieves!

[Mark116]

@Amanda1505  Airbnb doesn't take a regular deposit, so there is no way that if it was done through Airbnb that the host has $1000 of your money.  If paid a security deposit outside of Airbnb, then unless this is a professional property management company where Airbnb has different rules, it seems like an issue between you and the host.  You can claim the $500 refund though.

[Sarah977]

@Amanda1505  They didn't book this through Airbnb- they paid for everything off-site, is what it sounds like to me.

"We found it on airbnb but after speaking to Julia the host she wanted us to book offsite which we didn't think anything of since we have done this before with no problems.  I guess we didnt realize this is bad when dealing with people like this."

@Amanda1505  It's totally pointless for you or your brother-in-law to pursue this with Airbnb. You booked off-site, which is against the Airbnb terms of service (both your brother-in-law and the host would be considered culpable) , so it has nothing to do with Airbnb. And now that the listings are gone from the site, you can't even report it. 

[Amanda1505]

We aren't pursuing or blaming airbnb at all.  We are just asking for advice on the situation.  We know we booked off site but at this point airbnb should not have people like this on their site.  I've seen this complaint before.  We did not know we were being scammed obviously. 

[Sarah977]

@Amanda1505  Of course scammers shouldn't have listings. But if you bypass booking through Airbnb, so you have no recourse through them, and also can't leave a review to say what happened, then these kinds of listings never come to the attention of Airbnb. 

 How were you able to exchange contact information with the host in order to book off-platform? Because Airbnb hides phone numbers and email addresses until a booking is confirmed.

 You are making out like the host was all to blame, but you were complicit in circumventing Airbnb and you say you've done this before. So you aren't completely innocent in participating in scammy behavior.