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]

[Carolyn430]

SOMEONE HAS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

[Keith336]

I’ve had many problems with the Airbnb app, last year it was regularly allowing people to book months in advance even when I had a two month restriction in place. 

Airbnb customer service always cancelled these bookings for me. This year the problem had been with syncing my calendars. The sync fails and I get double bookings. It was always sorted out but now they are refusing to take responsibility and I was fined for it. I tried messaging and I’ve spoke to about 10 different people (a different person each reply!)  but they all give me is the same line about not cancelling the penalties this time.

    It’s obviously annoying to lose money when it is their app that causes the problems. I’m hosting every day so I am probably going to experience another “glitch” soon and more fines. I was told to prove that the app was to blame. I’m not sure how to do this, if it can be done. I opened an account with booking.com now, and I think I will give them a chance instead.  

 Not sure if it’s worth perusing the fines they gave me. I am definitely not confident in continuing to use Airbnb now. 

[Daisy123]

Well hello fellow Airbnb victims. I have been trying to resolve a privacy issue with Airbnb for the last week. I got an email from Paypal telling me that I had just booked over $700 worth of accommodation. I am unemployed atm, so I freaked out as you can imagine.  Paypal were great and cancelled the unauthorised transaction. Airbnb on the other hand has been dreadful. I have reported the matter about 5 times on the phone and 3 times in writing. My complaint has gone to the security team and they have done exactly nothing. It appears that Airbnb algorithms picked up my boss' personal information from the Facebook page I was editing for him and associated my information with his information. I worked this out myself. The poor old Airbnb cyphers on the phone and in the security team have no information about how the system works and merely trot out the same old guff, even using the old 'because of the Privacy Act' line. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in Australia actually requires Airbnb to take steps to check the accuracy of personal information and to secure it against improper use. So it looks like I'll have to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner to get Airbnb to fix a problem which they could fix in one minute flat. So if you're reading this Airbnb, please take that one minute to fix it.

[Lisa10]

Same here - having the WORST support from a case manager regarding reimbursement for guests who stayed 5 hours after check out, left feces and vomit on carpet,  bedding & towels and required hours of extra cleaning.  I'm a member since 2010 - super host - huge Airbnb advocate. I can't even count the number of nervous would-be hosts who were fearful of listing their homes that  I convinced to become host by sharing that the very few times (3 times in 9 years) I've had to report damage to Airbnb the process was swift and fair.  No longer the case. I'm being told by my case manager (Andre R) they would not cover extra cleaning costs nor the fact that guests stayed hours after check out despite the fact we had photos and videos to show damage and messages via their system begging the guests to give us an update on when they'd be leaving. We had new guests checking in the same day whom were inconvenienced, not to mention our poor housekeeper who had to keep coming back to the house trying to get in (guests wouldn't answer the door). Such a stressful situation and now to find that after 3 weeks, Airbnb's "support" isn't actually supporting us - a slap in the face. I am actively seeking alternate marketing sites (any tips welcomed). The robot Andre R says:

"Regarding your issues related to extra cleaning fee and late check out, Our Host Guarantee provides payment for direct physical loss or physical damage to an accommodation. Going forward, please consider your cleaning fee to account a middle-ground between reservations that require more or less cleaning after check out. I hope you can appreciate that we cannot charge a cleaning fee twice.

In order to clarify, the host is able to create the house rules for the accommodation listed in our platform, however, please note that as per our Terms of Service, we are unable to reinforce reimbursement for them. We are unable to compensate host for arbitrary costs, we are only able to enforce our own Terms of service, which are the ones that users agreed to."

A "middle ground" doesn't anticipate feces and vomit - it does consider xtra trash, dirty dishes and the occasional stains. These guests ruined 2 full sets of bedding (from duvet, sheets, mattress covers AND mattress), 8 +towels and more! We are getting partial payment to replace all the ruined linens and zero for xtra housecleaning and the 5 xtra hours they stayed in our home. 

I have already tried calling Airbnb hoping that the "super host" CS could be of help and they pawned me off to the hugely unhelpful "resolution" team. Anyone have ideas? Thanks in advance. 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Rosemary141 it sounds exactly as described, waterfront and many steps.

Did you ask the host many questions before your stay?

[Rosemary141]

Hi, there

The cottage was not at all as described and I believe the owner has likely changed the description.  We were there quite shortly after he started renting it out,  A ten story flight of stairs was definitely not mentioned. As well as being attached to the owner's cottage- it was advertised as private and in Canada, waterfront actually means the cottage is on the water. 

I actually called ahead to confirm all of this, with none of these details explained to us.  Felt extremely deceived.

Glad you enjoyed yourselves, though.  

[Damien133]

Yes I've never come across a company that deals with complaints 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 locked 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, a local bed shop and ebay (about £250 total) but airbnb said that because another guest had already checked in to the original room that 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.   I'm slowly moving back to renting to tenants instead because although I receive more money in the summer months than a basic rental, I receive less in the winter and it's really is not worth the huge amount of extra work involved when it becomes very clear that the illusion of the host guarantee and the £500 deposit I have placed on the listing are worth nothing in reality

[Barbara2005]

Dear Friends

I am also experiencing the same exact problem with payment issues and lack of responses from Airbnb. I have a host guaranteed payment that was to be made 3 weeks ago and it is not showing up in my bank account. I call every day the Airbnb hotline and also chat to their reps and they keep giving me the same silly answer asking if I checked my bank (of course!) and that senior case manager will get back to me within 24 hours (never happened). I am ready to escalate it to the CEO or anyone senior enough who can actually look at this case thoroughly. Do you have any suggestions and advice that worked? thank you.

[Andre8700]

Hi Barbara,

should we join forces and complain together Airbnb to the ombudsman? I have had the same problem with 4 different guests! 
Do you want to link in? I would love to hear how you have gone about it and try to find a way to seek compensation for this lack of professionalism and avoiding payments?

[Arun29]

Hi , As a host , I am also having same issue with abnb case manager . It appears the  case manager decision is biased and not fair . I was advised to reach out to AAA however they do not have jurisdiction in Australia . They only deal with matters  in USA . Any one has any input please advise . Cheers . 

[Alisa62]

What is AAA?

[YogyaandNitin0]

I am an airbnb super host but recently airbnb has closed my complaint without resolving it. My issues is that I have not received the payout for last guest and it’s been 2 weeks now. How do I escalate my complaint to airbnb bossses?

[Andre8700]

Hey

I have had the same problem. In fact in my case there were 4 different guests since October.

if you are able to figure out how legally we can go about it; I am eager to join forces and seek compensation. 

[Phil2754]

I have a complaint which has not been resolved fairly. Case manager is trying to close the conversation and not supporting my requests to escalate. Host did not provide lock on door leading to an unsafe environment so we moved family to a hotel having firstly agreed with the host a refund. Other people had access to our apartment and my wife was terrified. After admitting it verbally and implying admission on text he is now backtracking, saying his texts were ambiguous and we cannot provide photographic evidence and so will still charge us for the first night (despite refunding the rest of the trip). I am still in the area and could take some photographs for further evidence with support but they are trying to close the issue. Air BNB case officer saying that the host only gave us a refund to avoid an argument rather than us having any grounds. By this logic the host would have also refunded us if we had not liked the color of the sofa? I need point of escalation please. I have texts, timeline and proof of stay in another hotel

[Andre8700]

I am also having issues regarding lack of payment. Are you planning to report them to the ombudsman? Would you like to join forces?