Refund

[Lisa6429]

Hi all,

I booked a place in Toronto for 28 days with my husband and my infant. 

The host started acting weirdly but it did not alarm me. Weird things were asked. One of those being "not to approach the building concierge". 

We checked in and directly saw the listing was unclean, filthy. 

I then realised there was no sofa bed as included in the listing (just a sofa). We required that as my husband was going to use it.

We try to look for the blinds, nothing. 

I directly send photographs to the host showing the state of the flat and ask for a cleaning team to be sent the next morning. 

We also ask about the blinds.

Host apologies for the state of the flat and says a cleaning team would come first thing in the morning. Host says she will check with her husband how the blind works (?!). 

At that stage I know something is off, I can see there are no blinds at all, the host does not know the flat. 

The next day no cleaning team shows up in the morning. I follow-up with the host that then says the team would come at 1pm. Nothing... we continue to follow-up and finally a lady shows up at 4pm for a "touch up" without even a vacuum or floor cleaning equipment. Stays less then 1 hour and leaves. Flat is still filthy.

Out of desperation, I start cleaning myself. I can't stay like that with a newborn... I feel disgusted.

After several attempts, we finally got the "host" on the phone. We ask about the blinds / sofa, she gives a blurry answer and finally admits: this is not her place, she has never been in that flat, she has never been in canada and is based in manilla, the profile is fake (fake name and profile picture). She is hired by a company to manage this listing among others on airbnb.

We proceed to contact airbnb. They come back to us the next day and tells us that the host has agreed we can have an alteration of the reservation and be refunded the remainder of the stay. We ask airbnb to guarantee we will be refunded and they do guarantee it. We are relieved. 

Based on that we book another flat on airbnb and leave. 

Airbnb then comes back to us one day after and says "sorry the host changed his mind and now does not want to pay back. Nothing else we can do about this." 

We escalated this to a supervisor who said the same and closed the claim without even letting us respond. 

We only left because we had that guarantee otherwise we would have stayed as its not in our budget to pay that much money.

Out of the last 5 months we used airbnb for 4 full months without any issues. I believe we are good guests.

What can we do ? 

Thank you. 

[Lisa6429]

@Brian2036 My understanding is that under the terms of service that we have agreed with airbnb when we booked the place, any claim needs to go to arbitration first. 

I assume that going to the small claim court would be a violation and would potentially lead me open to be counter sued. 

[Lisa6429]

@Debra300 

Not sure what a reasonable amount of time would be? 

30 sept - we move in and I directly inform the host of the issues

01 oct  - we inform airbnb of the issues since the host failed to help us 

02 oct - Host agreed with Airbnb to refund the remaining nights and airbnb informs us. We told airbnb we would move out the next day (we could not move out earlier). We ask what process we should follow and ask for a refund guarantee (this was because we wanted to avoid leaving the flat and not getting our money back!). Airbnb guarantees we will be refunded and says they will manage the alteration. At no point cancelling the booking is mentioned even though we have asked what we should do. 

03 oct - we move out and give airbnb all of the information they required

06 oct - I follow up with airbnb with no response 

07 oct - airbnb comes back to us and let us know the host changed his mind. 

I just followed airbnb instructions because I naively trusted what they advised me to do. 

I am also unable to cancel this booking for some reason. 

[Debra300]

@Lisa6429,

Here are some hard truths.   

1. There are a lot of scammers that rent spaces long-term to get a good discounted rate, but want to stay for a shorter term.  After arrival they claim there is an issue, want to cancel and get a refund.  You moved out three days after your arrival (defying your assertion that your family couldn't live there).  If the place was in such a horrible state that you requested the host to break the cancellation policy that you agreed to, then it means that you needed to vacate immediately for your family's sake.  It cannot become livable for two more days while you get yourself situated, because then you could have just requested a discount for the inconvenience since the space wasn't inhabitable.  
2. It's your responsibility to know the cancellation process.  Airbnb has a very comprehensive Help Center in multiple languages.  Plus, you can do a Google search and easily find the help article that you want.  This is what I found for, "How to cancel an Airbnb booking": https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/169/how-do-i-cancel-my-reservation-for-a-place-to-stay (Airbnb use the help article number in all languages that it publishes.  For French, I just changed ".com" to ".fr", and the French version was displayed: https://www.airbnb.fr/help/article/169/comment-annuler-ma-r%C3%A9servation-pour-un-h%C3%A9bergement%....  Personally, I would have been looking for the help articles in the time between contacting the host and Airbnb.  Followed the process, and then sent Airbnb customer service a written message via their message system stating what had occurred with the rental and host, and that you've submitted an alteration request.  Then I would have started looking for an alternative location, called customer service, and asked them to process the alteration request and new booking, to avoid being responsible for two bookings.
3. Travel plans almost always have unplanned events, and I always recommend that people purchase travel insurance whenever they travel regardless of the destination or duration of the trip.  Based upon your post, I am guessing that you don't have such a policy, because otherwise you'd be dealing with them directly instead of going round and round with Airbnb customer service.

With all that I've said, I do believe that you are due a refund based upon the fact that the place didn't have an important listed amenity, the sofabed.  In my opinion, you should pay for the three nights.

[Lisa6429]

@Debra300

We left only because it was proposed to us AND we booked another place on the same platform for the same period at a similar price. This is not exactly the best scam you could do. Actually it is a pretty crappy one. 

I did not request the host to break the policy. I requested the host to send a cleaning team. I don't think this was too much to ask, was it ?
In the meantime, I washed the linen so we could at least sleep in clean bedsheets. 

I contacted airbnb, described the issue and asked for their support (I never asked for a refund or to leave! I just asked "what can you do to help me?").
Airbnb came back to me telling me that they discussed the issue with the host and if I was unhappy then the host agreed that we could leave and they would pay the remaining nights.
This is when and only when we considered leaving and this is also why I am beyond annoyed. I left because I was told by airbnb this was the solution. 

Cancellation process :

There was a no cancellation / no refund policy on this booking.

I also tried to first communicate first with the host to solve the issue. When that did not work we contacted airbnb and you know the rest.

I was not looking into cancellation policies in details simply because this was not my intent. It was proposed to me by airbnb and I accepted, this is very different. 

Travel policy: yes you are right. Lesson learned.

[Debra300]

@Lisa6429,

I was not implying that you are a scammer.  Just highlighting that what occurred falls into a pattern that is often used by scammers, and probably was a factor why the host changed her mind about agreeing to the refund.  Hosts will often offer a refund early in a reservation for a variety of reasons:

1. They know the guest cannot be satisfied during their stay.
2. To reclaim possession of the space to address the defects.
3. To salvage the experience as much as possible and avoid a negative review.

The other lessons learned are customer service for most companies aren't very good, and it's your best protection of your purchases to research and read the policies/processes regarding returns, cancellations, alterations, refunds, etc. Particularly, things that cannot be returned once their shelf-life has passed.  Help Centers for most consumables are available online, and it's always a good idea to refer to them to ensure the accuracy of whatever you are told by an undertrained and underpaid CS rep.

Again, I do wish you all the best luck.

[Lisa6429]

@Brian2036 

Just want to highlight that I think I am considered to be a long term tenant as the booking was for more than 28 days. Not sure if this changes anything. 

We are definitely getting in touch with the building management to have something in writing and at least prevent them from renting again to other customers. 

[Debra300]

@Lisa6429,

Please send Airbnb customer service a follow up message detailing the conversation via their message system, and ask them to confirm if what you've said is accurate.  You need to have written proof of what's been communicated.

Yes, the long-term stay cancellation policy does stipulate that for cancellations after check-in you'd be responsible for 30 days rent or to the end of the scheduled reservation, whichever occurs first.  However, you said that Airbnb customer service said the host agreed to a refund, hopefully in writing.  We all have learned lessons the hard way, and it's not fun when it's happening.  Life isn't fair, and often times get what you're entitlement requires what you can prove, and not third-party hearsay (e.g., the complete listing details showing a sofabed as an amenity and pictures showing that it didn't exist, pictures of the uncleanliness).

Since you said that you've recently relocated to Canada, I hope you purchased travel insurance or used a credit card that offered trip coverage.  Travel insurance would be another avenue to seek reimbursement for the original reservation.  You will have to provide copies of the pictures and written communication between you, Airbnb, and the host that support your claim.

[Lisa6429]

@Debra300 All of the communication with airbnb was done in writting so I have a written proof. The only communication I had over the phone was this morning when I did a follow-up and even then I have sent a follow-up written message with a summary of what was said during the call. 

I have pictures which were all sent to the host and that I have kept. 

Yes we just moved to Canada, I do have a travel insurance however it only covers medical emergencies as for the credit card we have checked and we are pretty sure it won't cover this type of issues. 

I guess my only option is now following-up with airbnb again and again. 

[Debra300]

@Lisa6429,

Don't give up.  I have read posts here from hosts that kept on top of Airbnb for several months or years, and finally prevailed.  I hope it doesn't take that long for your situation. 

[Sarah977]

@Lisa6429  Further to Debra's post above, guests get a pop-up when they go to book another place without cancelling the first place, that tells them that can result in them being charged for both bookings. Did you not see that, or ignore it?

[Lisa6429]

@Sarah977 I can't recall a pop-up message, neither my husband. I don't think there was one but maybe we missed it ?