Canceling a booking without uploading a government ID

[Alberto569]

Does anyone out there know how to cancel a booking without uploading a government ID? I made a reservation, all the way up to giving payment information, and then suddenly I can't do ANYTHING AT ALL on AirBnB without uploading a government ID! I can't cancel the reservation, or review, or send any messages to the host, review the receipt for the reservation, check my account settings, delete my account. On every page a message appears at the top saying account access is limited until verification is complete. I have absolutely no intention of giving AirBnB unfettered access the highly sensitive information like my government ID to be stored indefinitely and so insecurely. I would have no problem showing ID to a host when checking in to a location, like one would do at a hotel, but really, to give my ID to this website and whoever else they decide to share it with? Nowhere did it require me to give the government ID before giving payment information or completing the booking. Only after all that was done, did I suddenly have to provide a government ID. No where was I informed that I would have to give that ID before the booking was made, or that I would have to provide it to AirBnB in order to cancel the booking. This is all happening the same day as I made the booking. I should be entitled to a full refund, but apparently AirBnB can hold my money hostage until I give them my government ID? This whole experience has turned me off Airbnb entirely. I want to cancel my entire account. My wife has an account and she has made reservations and has never had this problem. She has never once been asked to upload her ID. Is there anyone who can help me cancel a booking without giving up my ID? I have sent several messages to AirBnB. 

[Sarah977]

@Alberto569 Of course you should be allowed to cancel the reservation if you don't want to submit the ID. I think what Airbnb has done to you is really sneaky and dirty.

Personally I would be okay with a person's profile photo matching the face of the guest who showed up at my door.  But in many cases, the guest is only ever identified by a first name to hosts, so if the photo isn't clear, how would I know the ID matched?

But guess what? Last week, Airbnb decided that it was a good move not to allow profile photos of guests to be visible to hosts until AFTER the booking is confirmed. I guess this is supposed to cut down on discrimination, in case I was a white supremacist and declined your booking because you look Latin American, but made some other excuse for why I was declining. So now I can't even decline a reservation because a guest posts a photo of himself with an assault rifle and swastika tattoos, because I can't see the photo until after I accept the booking. Only then can I request a photo from the guest, and then I'd have to go through the whole cancellation mess.

Believe me, your complaint is only one of tons about the way this company conducts business.

[Victoria567]

@Albert111o

Its amazing how many plates of spaghetti etc, there are as people’s profiles!

Here in the U.K. only a government official or police officer, can ask for a persons ID, therefore that’s why a U.K. viewpoint somewhat differs from potential guests viewpoints, from other parts of the globe regarding ID.

In fact we don’t even have ID cards as a nation.

Therefore many hosts do ask for Government ID verified via air bnb.....but then others don’t 

[Alberto569]

If your county’s laws prohibit you from asking for a person’s ID, then I could see how a host might feel they have no choice but to use the Airbnb verification process. But the verification process is fraught with security concerns. It’s really unfortunate that Airbnb doesn’t find some other way to address this issue for the security and privacy of both hosts and guests. 

[Helen350]

Not sure you are right about only police & government being allowed to ask for I.D. in the U.K. @Victoria567. - It's now the law that landlords renting houses to tenants or rooms to lodgers as their main residence have to check right of abode in the U.K... - which presumably involves I.D.!

[Alberto569]

I hope Airbnb can find other ways to verify people are who they say they are. Asking for government IDs and storing them on their servers or whereever (it's really not clear where they store this information, who has access to, or what they do with it, beyond the promise that IDs are not given to hosts) just is asking for a hack that will results in thousands of people's identities being stolen and personal information compromised. This includes the information hosts have to upload as well.

[Alberto569]

UPDATE:

The host responded to my wife's messages. The host prefers not to cancel the reservation themselves because it will cause the host to lose their SuperHost status for 1 year. The host seemed understanding that we tried to cancel the reservation from our end but were unable. The host indicated they would contact airbnb also.

We spoke with a customer service representative. The customer service rep indicated over the phone that my account complied with all "the requirements" and that is why we were able the make the reservation. But the rep didn't see any reason why I should have been asked for government ID. The rep said a case manager was already assigned to this problem. The rep said the case manager would call back in 24 hours to cancel the reservation. The rep did not offer any explanation for why I cannot send or view messages from my account without adding a government ID. After talking to the rep, I still cannot send or receive messages from my account.

Basically, nothing has yet been resolved.

So, I suppose we shall see if the case manager actually calls back.

[Alberto569]

To be clear: the customer service rep made it sound like the host was not the one requiring the government ID according to what they could of the host's profile/account, so the rep did not know why my account keeps asking for it.

Additionally, the host, in their messages to my wife, did not explicity deny or confirm that they want the ID, even after we made clear that we would not go through with any booking that requires an upload of an ID to Airbnb (we told the host we were happy to show ID upon check in).

[Susan17]

@Alberto0

Your concern is justified. Airbnb does not carry out the verification process, but since 2013, has outsourced it instead to a controversial start-up called Jumio, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016, following the ousting of founder and CEO Daniel Mattes, amid allegations of financial irregularities. 

In response to vehement opposition from other shareholders, a $22.7 million bid by early investor and major shareholder Eduardo Saverin (Facebook co-founder) to buy out the company was blocked by the courts (citing "every red flag possible"), and was sold instead to private equity firm Centana Growth Partners, for just $850,000. (Saverin had resigned from the board just days before Jumio filed for bankruptcy, but remains heavily involved in the rebuilding of Jumio Corp., as its now known)

Saverin and other company executives were later sued by another shareholder, Bloso Investments, who accused them of having "grossly mismanaged" the firm and driving it into bankruptcy, and said they'd been running Jumio without proper financial and accounting controls for years. 

The following is a review by an Australian company that signed up for Jumio's identity verification services, but found them sorely lacking 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ReviewTechUSA/comments/4go0ph/jumio_review_flawed_product_and_unethical_com...

As regards the reason why verification was required in your case - whether or not its requested by your host, the Airbnb system also randomly selects a certain percentage of users to undergo the verification process. (I'm not quite sure but I think it may be 25%)

Hope you manage to get everything sorted soon. 

[Alberto569]

UPDATE

I am getting text notifications to my phone that “You have a new support message from Airbnb” with a link that I supposedly should follow to review and reply to messages. However, as I mentioned several times in my communications with Airbnb, my account will not allow me to view it send any messages without uploading  government ID. When I try to click the link they are texting me or try to access my messages via my account, I am automatically redirected to the verification process which is requiring me to upload a governments ID. 

I have not yet received any calls from Airbnb as promised. 

[Sarah977]

@Alberto569  What an absurd and frustrating Catch-22 loop.

They are known for not calling back even though they promise they will. Keep calling back until you hopefully get a CS rep who is knowledgable and helpful. Believe it or not, some of them are. It's the luck of the draw. Or contact them on twitter, if you are able to with your account being frozen like it is. Reports are that twitter gets the best and fastest results.

[Alberto569]

I don't use twitter, have no account. It seems like I may have to open a twitter acocunt just to have this issue resolved.

[Alberto569]

UPDATE:

I am getting more text messages saying I have messages from Airbnb support. However, I am still unable to access them. I have not received any phone calls either.

[Alberto569]

UPDATE

I have opened a twitter account and tweeted my situation. 

[Sarah977]

@Alberto569   Good luck- let us know how this resolves. ( I also don't do Twitter or Facebook or any of that stuff and I think it's nuts that we should have to join some other social networking platform just to get some decent response when we should be getting that help no matter how we contact Airbnb) 

[Alberto569]

UPDATE

The case manager never called yesterday as promised.

Airbnb responded to my tweets pretty quickly. They said "Thank you for authenticating your account. We've updated your Case Manager on the info you have provided. We've also left a note that you are unable to access the messages and to communicate via email instead. Rest assured that the team is look into it and will be getting back to you."

Meanwhile, I did get an email from "Airbnb Trust and Safety" (text follows). Of course, I still was not able to access any messages or do any other action almost when I logged into my airbnb account without hitting the government ID. So basically, even this Solomon from Airbnb said I should be able to use my account normally, I have not been able to.

Solomon, Oct 28, 16:20 PDT:

Hi Alberto,

My name is Solomon and I’m a member of the Airbnb Trust and Safety team.

Thank you for completing the necessary verification steps! You should now be able to use your account normally.

Your account was enrolled in this process because our systems detected unusual activity. When this happens, we ask you to complete additional verification to help make sure that you, and only you, have access to your account.

If you’re still having trouble using your account, please let me know. I'm here to help.

Best,

Solomon