Airbnb Customer support scam

[Tibor34]

On MAy 14 2024 we had a problematic guest. He disturbed other people in the apartment block, than complained that someone was rude to him. He wanted to leave the apartment and get full refund. customer support contacted my co-host about the matter and whether or not we would give full refund to the guest as it is against our refund policy. My co-host explained, that we give full refund only if the guest cannot give a bad review afterwards, so that Airbnb removes any bad review from him. the Airbnb ambassador agreed with this suggestion. She sent a code of the conversation to submit to Customer service in case there is a bad review from the guest. 

Once the bad review arrived, I submitted the code to Airbnb Customer support. To my surprise, they concluded they cannot remove the review policy. they also wrote they checked and such a promise was not mentioned.

I kept on writing to other Customer service members about my issue. After a week, one of them stated that they are not able to review phone calls from the past. All phone calls are recorded, but it does not mean that anyone in customer service can review a phone call from the past.

upon discovery means two things: 1. all previous "review" of my case was done without actually listening to the phone call. 2. the Airbnb customer service ambassador who talked to my co-host on may 14th, knew that the phone call would not be possible to review later so she was promising stg knowing that is cannot be proved later. It was a scam.    

[Marie8425]

@Tibor34 

I am sorry but your cohost and the Airbnb Support person made an agreement that is against Airbnb rules.  The Cohost by offering a full refund but demanding no negative review is offering money to the Guest to  buy  the review.  Refunds and Reviews arre two separate things.  Your  refund policy being tied to the review received actually puts your listing  at risk of being investigated.  I  don't think pointing out what was  a  agreement that broke rules will have a positive result  for you.

[Tibor34]

My Co-host never offered money for the guest for good review. The discussion was between the co-host and Airbnb support. Ghe guest was not involved to the conversation from our side.

That said, I would welcome an investigation. My problem is that, despite all phone conversations are recorded "due to training and quality purposes" in reality Airbnb support is unable to review them hence investigate them.

All in all, they can say anything on the phone, later it cannot be investigated. That is exactly  how Airbnb support Ambassador scammed us.

Shame on Airbnb customer "support".

[Helen3]

it's good for a host and a cohosts to be familiar with key policies around how Airbnb works @Tibor34 

A quick read of Airbnbs review policy will show you that you shouldn't offer money ie a full refund in exchange for the  guest not leaving you a negative review. Airbnb can suspend or even delete your listing for doing so. 

you have no idea what was said on the call you weren't on it. Airbnb always confirms advice in a follow up message . What does that say? 

Airbnb will only remove reviews if they agree they don't meet their review T&C or it's demonstrated it's a retaliatory review.

perhaps you should focus on trying to improve your ratings by addressing the issues around cleanliness ', furniture, broken doors, amenities not working that are leading to your lower reviews 

Airbnb are cracking down on listings with 4.6 ratings  or lower and suspending or even removing them from the platform altogether.

personally I wouldn't have refunded the guest if you did nothing wrong.

[Tibor34]

It is also good to understand shat you read. I never ever offered money or any other benefit for a good review. If you check carefully the reviews you may noticed I would be very close to superhost status if not for the above mentioned revenge review. Airbnb Customer Support is a bunch of scammers as they offer deals on the phone than tell you later they cannot review the phonecall. This is called misleading customers.