Make a claim at your peril!

[Robin4]

I am concerned that there have been a considerable number of hosts, not just here on the CC but on the other two sites I am active on, who state they have submitted a claim to Airbnb against a guest who has rejected the claim, and Airbnb have subsequently removed the hosts listing, profile and cancelled their future reservations with no explanation, and no right of appeal. 

I know we only hear one side of the story here but, I am curious, is there a legal precedent where a user of a company can be terminated for nothing more than asking the company to abide by its own rules and terms of service!

Maybe @Susan17 you can shed some light on this troubling scenario!

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Airbnb-closed-my-account/m-p/665884#M153482

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-Punishing-Hosts-for-Enforcing-House-Rules/td-p/12...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Closed-Account-Horror-Stories-What-s-the-Deal/m-p/105822...

I could post another 5 recent links but, you get the message. Is Airbnb loosing patience with it's host base to the point where it would rather delist them than deal with their legitimate problems?

Cheers.....Rob

[Helen350]

@Robin4  All very scary & Kafkaesque... 

Only in the last two days I was thinking the same, having just read posts by a young man in the, UK, & a couple in  Belgium, who said they had been suspended/de-listed following legitimate claims. Both had excellent reviews.

I hope it's not new intended standard practice..... I wonder, as the offending guests refused liability, could it be that they invented some horrendous counter claim, which got the host banned? Does not bear thinking about, if we all become too scared to put in claims for fear of this type of retaliation - a whole step up from the old retaliatory review.... The guest holding all the cards and the hosts holding none?

[Robin4]

@Helen350 

Helen it used to be that a host was able to defend a guests claim just as the guest is given 72 hours to respond to and defend a hosts claim.

I can understand that the occasional one of these instant host dismissals could be substantiated, but there is just too many now for it to be  coincidental.

I don't think too many would dispute that it is happening, the thing I am interested in is are Airbnb using a legal precedent to do this!

When you agree to use the Airbnb platform you are instructed to accept and abide by the company's terms of service. Those terms of service do not just commit the user to certain conditions, it commits the company to certain conditions also.....or does it?

Cheers......Rob

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

Sorry Rob, I can't comment. There's actually a tonne of  stuff I could - and would love to - say on this ongoing epidemic, but I've effectively been gagged. I've received a warning about the negative (I prefer to call it, truthful) content I post here, the marked bad effect it has on other users (not my words), and the consequences for me if I continue to do so. So I'd better sit this one out. 

The only two things I'll say on the subject are "gross over-saturation", and "surplus to requirements". I'll leave y'all to connect the dots. 

[Robin4]

@Susan17 

Sorry Susan last thing I would ever want to do is compromise you in any way.

The thing I love (and have always loved)  about the Community Centre is....the impartiality of it!  Other sites I have been active in are quick to pounce and remove material their moderation feels contravenes some ideology or other! But here, we have always been able to speak our minds, be it complementary or derogatory. The moderators have done a wonderful job in maintaining that integrity and impartiality, which at times I am sure would put them in a difficult situation. They do after all represent and speak for the company!

But I have always been under the impression that if I overstepped the mark with comments (as I have done from time to time) I would get a nice DM giving me the reason why my comment would have been better kept to myself, and the comment would be regretfully but politely removed, just as other identifying material is removed from time to time. 

I have always liked to think that censorship was not a part of belonging to Airbnb.....I have liked to think that both we and the company are better than that. I am not putting forth hard evidence, I simply state the hearsay that the CC revolves around!

I love this company, it has been so good to me, without belonging to Airbnb my life would have been the poorer. Each month Airbnb fills my booking calendar, they pay me without fail, are amazing to contact, and I could not wish for a better relationship with a business partner!

I just don't like to see injustice, I hate seeing somebody penalised when all they have done is work to rules, and I just hope we are not seeing evidence of that creep into the platform........

I want a fair go for everyone!

Cheers........Rob