Customer support now offshored?

[Cathy8]

Hi everyone,

I had several calls with phone support staff over the weekend and much to my surprise I was speaking with a call center in India, not with American CX staff in Portland. A couple of other hosts confirm they has similar experiences. The issue took a lot longer to resolve than had been our experience in the past; the call quality was atrocious; and the poor guest ended up double charged and wondering whether he should ever Airbnb again. 

Has as anyone else had this experience recently? 

Cathy

[David126]

I have only called a couple of time and the last one I think ws in India, I believe they outsource first line support.

[Ken28]

I've called a few times in the last week. Once was answered by someone with an Indian accent that was in a call center. The other three times I reached what sounded like a native English speaker. 

Once I heard background noises - I think it was answered by someone in their home, as I heard a microwave and other homey noises.

[Kate157]

@Cathy8 Thanks for the heads up- I don't look upon this as a positive sign. A couple years back I needed a new remote for my cable box. I was routed to a call center in India and the agent there kept having me jump through hoops, pulling out the cable box, unplugging everything. I kept trying to tell her that as a customer for many years, I knew it was the remote that needed to be replaced, but she didn't get it. I finally hung up and called again. This time an American voice said no problem, the remote will be sent out today. I

I don't think this is a smart move from Airbnb. We already know their customer service was lacking.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Cathy8,

I hope you are having a nice morning.

As Airbnb reservations are taking place all over the world 24/7, Airbnb has Support Teams in different regions all over the world to help with this. Two of the main Support Teams are as you say in Portland and also Dublin. 

I would imagine, if you call from America you are more likely to reach a US based Support Team, however perhaps if it was a particularly busy point you may have then been diverted to another one.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Lizzie

@Kate157, @Ken28, @David126

[Catherine672]

Hi there, 

I am based in the UK and I must say there is definitely an issue with customer service and it has gone down hill to the extent that I am considering no longer hosting. It's a shame as 99% of the time it goes well but for that 1%, airbnb takes no notice and refuses to help. 

I have had very few problems with guests but now I no longer feel protected by airbnb should anything arise. 

I recently had someone stay who brought someone in my home without my knowledge. Airbnb advised me to log it but not cancel their booking to avoid disruption to the guest, which I did. 

I received a terrible review from this guest and have had to deal with  damage to my property as well. I can prove the review is nonsense from emails between myself and the guest. 

When I called back after the review  airbnb told me I should have cancelled the booking and couldn't do anything about it. There was no evidence the guest had broken any terms and conditions (including proof that they had brought a non paying person into my home without telling me who I bumped into in the middle of the night). 

When I argued my case I finally received an email stating they would review my case and get back to me. After 3 weeks I called in to find out that they had just closed the case and didn't bother to tell me.

There has definitely been a change to the customer service levels awarded to hosts and I can say that as a super host it has made a very big difference

Today I called back again and they told me the only other course of action was to get in touch on here to voice my concerns. So here it is, way to go airbnb!