Escalate a complaint

[Kim376]

I want to know how to escalate a complaint,

I have a so called case manager- **, who is meant to be dealing with my complaint regarding a refund to my credit card, which is not happening.

Does anyone know where I can go from here are there any legal bodies I can approach, ombudsman, etc

[*Title and name edited]

[Alexander26]

Kim I'm a super host also with 10 Airbnb's and I have to admit I cannot express how incompetent the customer service is at Airbnb.  We have had situations where guests are smoking marihuana in the listing and left the apartment smelling terrible and Airbnb wouldn't do anything about kicking the guest off the platform.  We have photo evidence of all the residue they left and Airbnb provided a refund of $200. 

But the guest was allowed to continue renting on Airbnb and also to even comment on their stay.  I'm sorry but this is just a complete slap in the face to us Super Hosts.  To not only allow people like this to continue renting on the platform but also to even comment on their stay.  We could have called the police and had them arrested.  The way in which Airbnb defends the guest at all costs to the Host is just utterly outrageous.    

[Margaret536]

Robin if the help link was useful do you think myself and all these poor people are at their wits end with the ridiculous answer that they need another 48hours. I am waiting simply for the guests payment to be released and I’m the manner they claimed it would be. 11 days and counting no payment received no update given unless I ring even though I have a case manager. 48 hours 48 hours 48 hours. If I could physically go to their Office I would stayed there until they released my money not their’s. Your comment was not helpful. I wouldn’t get involved if I was you when of course you do know nothing about the claimants circumstances. God won’t help either. That’s bloody ridiculous thing to say to a person owed $1100 for doing their job. Nothing more. 

[Rosemary141]

My husband and I have encountered a similar situation regarding our leaving an airbnb, as it was advertised as a "waterfront cottage", it was neither waterfront nor a cottage, but a 100 foot drop to the dock below - try walking down 10 flights of stairs and then back up again, if you forgot your sunscreen.  Treacherous when wet (we walked down after it rained), very steep and slippery.  Extremely tough climb back up.  Seniors beware!!  None of this is mentioned in the host's ad - it says "many steps".  LOL!  Yes, about 1,000... We have had no luck with a refund and we are looking to esclalate this - please advise if you know how to do this if you know.

[Sara1101]

Hi there, I’m interested to know what progress you made in securing your refund? What did you do?

I books accommodation in Europe at Xmas, the host cancelled and then adverised the property elsewhere at a much higher rate so she cold earn more.  AirBNB didn’t take things seriously and allowed that host to keep advertising on AirBNB. I’m now waiting for my refund for the cancelled accommodation. 

I have waited three weeks for a refund to my credit card and there is none. The bank is adamrnt they have received no funds; AirBNB won’t take it seriously, look into it, or escalate the complaint. 

I’m going to ombudsmen and Fair Trading to make a formal complaints against AirBNB, and would be interested to know how you got on.

[Maxine53]

Hi do you have the details of the ombudsman you're using please?. I have found the 'resolver' service, but that has come back with nothing. I've paid for accomodation which the owner says is not available. I find this practice of taking money before knowing whether the product exists highly dubious, and in need of serious investigation. Thank you Maxine.

[Sarah4456]

Little late in responding but if you paid online you can and should report this to police as online fraud. They have investigation teams specifically for stopping this. Air bnb needs to learn theyvare not above the law! They can't rip people off and if they don't have the man power to run a service they need to close it down.

[Ahmad40]

Can anyone tell me how I can escalate my Complaint at Airbnb?

I joined the platform as a host only few months ago and things were slow but fine to start with.

Then I had a guest from hell who against our specific house rules consumed food and smoked in the bedroom. He claimed to have checked out but left his suitcases in the room and kept the keys to the property. Basically he imposed himself to stay an extra night. I told him in no uncertain term that his conduct is unacceptable and that he should move out completely the following day.

At first someone at Airbnb offered to compensate me for cleaning costs for the stains made on the bedding and the carpet in the bedroom as well as cleaning all the cigarettes’ ash from the bedding, carpet and the furniture.

Wrote a review based on his conduct. In response he made up some excuses and claimed that "There appear to be a camera recording device in the lounge ......."

Just for the record my property does not have a lounge.

This false and malicious accusation prompted my account to be suspended for over two weeks. My review warning all future hosts about him was also removed.

To make things worse I had the displeasure of dealing with an extremely dense case manager from the so called “Trust and Safety Team”. Never in my life I have experienced such stupidity and inanity concentrated in one person. “Jade” (Obviously a made up name) did not have a clue what she was doing or writing. She kept ignoring my concerns and instead of answering my questions kept introducing new and irrelevant points in her correspondence.

Having been in service industry for over 20 years, I am at a loss as how “Jade” is employed as a case manager. She kept asking to prove that I do not have video recording equipment at my “LEAVING ROOM”! At one stage she asked for “documentations” that I do not have any!!!!

My repeated requests for a complaint to be logged on my behalf and that the case should be referred to a manager, kept getting ignored.

If Airbnb are truly concerned " that the safety, security, and privacy of our community is our top priority …” then my comments about that guest should not have been removed. That if they believed that I had any recording equipment at my property they should not have let other guests stay at my property whilst the case was investigated.

My account has been reinstated now but without a word of an apology. I was unable to accept new guests for two weeks though. No thanks to Airbnb and their choice of inadequate staff in dealing with the public I have decided not to host any more guests till this issue is resolved and that I am compensated for my cleaning costs.

Any comments anyone?

[Damien133]

Yes I've never come across a company that deals with complains so badly, they just fob you off and then close the message thread.  If you call them they tell you you have to send a message on the website, send you some jibberish reply that doesn't answer any of your questions and makes no sense and then close the thread again.  They refused to give me any formal complaint procedure or ombudsman details even though I repeatedly and specifically asked for them during a call that lasted half an hour.  How can a company the size of Airbnb behave like this?!?  They sent me a mentally ill alcoholic guest who after checkout proceded to move to a spare room in the house and continue living there for several days.  Initially we didn't even know she was there because she just stayed in the room and never came out.  When we eventually gained access with police and social services we discovered she had urinated, deficated and vomited in the room and bed.  Obvioulsy the bedding and mattress/pillows/duvet had to be thrown out and replaced and the room thoroughly cleaned as well as the other guest compensated (who unsurprisingly cancelled and checked out early).  I only claimed for the material cost of replacing the items using cheap replacements from primark and ebay but airbnb said that because another guest had already checked in to the original room the the problem guest was in that they could not offer me a refund "to protect the guest and the host"...  What??  That doesn't even make any sense.  We have a police report so there's no question who is to blame!  Every attempt to contact them they just fob you off and hope you will go away, which obviously makes me more determined to make sure as many people know about it as possible 😉  They're a shoddy company and they clearly do not really check out the people they are sending to your home because they really don't care if you have a problem as long as they can charge both the host and the guest a commission on the booking.  The more guests they send to a host, the more money airbnb make so they lower their basic checking standard so that anybody can basically come and then take no responsibilty if there's a problem.    

[Elmar95]

I have a similar issue. I rented an appartment and it was only 25 m2 instead of 35 m2 (in the description). I was cheated. AirBNB help desk did not help me on this matter and were very slow in the handling. I invited them to review the appartment, but there was no reaction. No refund, no excuse bu the service center and no partial refund. They even told that I falsified my measurement. There is something wrong with this company. It is my first complaint after 10 bookings and it just does not work. I am loosing my confidence in AirBNB Help Desk. 

i would like to raise this to top management of AirBNB. Who can help me. Help Desk did not want to provide me any email of top management complaints. 

[Mona858]

I too had a very bad experience with a case manager, would like to know how to escalate, in the U.S.

[Marcelo382]

I'm going through the same problem with customer support.  I'm having issues with adjustments being mixed with other properties in their transaction history report, and I started several conversations, they close them without a solution or even without an end to the conversation and I have to start another one and explain all from start, all over again and again. When I call them on the phone, they don't have an answer either, leave me on hold, come back with another improper answer, until they realize that they don't know the answer to my problem, they say that they have to el;evate my case to an specialist whi will call me back. Never happpens... I'm so frustrated.  If someone knows how to deal with a specialist expert directly and avoid the phone or message representatives please let me know. Thanks a lot

[Mish-and-Leigh0]

I am also having problems with airbnb. I was informed on 3rd Nov of money beng paid into my account - for a guest staying in our place. But it was not paid.  I then had multiple requests from airbnb saying my bank details needed to be updated.  I humoured them my doing this - chased up payment, was told my "Genevieve” over phone and vi- messaging numerous tones she was “personally following this up”  -every time I asked what was happening -  whatever that means. Today I’ve been told she is “passing this on to a colleague” - FFS.  There is nothing to investigate - a guest has paid them money and they owe it to me. We have been an airbnb host for many years without issue before - but this has put me off. And I have blocked my account and am setting up with another short term accommodation provider and putting this out there on social media. I’m wondering if they are going broke and are  no longer able to pay bills. And consequently hosts are feeling it.  Does anyone have details of where to take this to get my $- I’m owed close to $1k. 

[Jay368]

Same issue. I’m a Superhost who recently had to ask a guest to leave because she could not follow simple instructions for checking-in, compromised her account that was supposedly taken over by a disgruntled ex, and was trying to get a discount on her reservation by fabricating a lie about how the apt was unclean (it is spotless and I have close to a 100 reviews from guests saying otherwise). She also expected me to be home to let her in whenever she returned to the apt and managed to lock herself out all within the first day of checking in. At this point, my concern is primarily regarding my safety especially because she indicated that her ex had access to her Airbnb account and was trying to get back at her. The case manager hasn’t been helpful. They simply read off of a script and can’t  seem to do anything other than to say, “We will get back to you.” 

I wish they had representatives who were actually competent, not third party folks working out of some call center. 

[Helen742]

Me too. They need to be regulated. They are absolute crooks.

they have no complaints procedure. They need to be penalised by government.