Refundable damage deposit taken out of account and hasn't been returned

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

On May 2, 2020, my husband and I made reservations and paid a substantial refundable damage deposit in lieu of the nonrefundable damage deposit.  We're adults who leave the place as clean as we found it if not cleaner so why pay anymore money on top of the other fees, right?    We paid the deposit prior to our stay and it was paid through a link that Airbnb sent to us.  Money was immediately deducted from our bank account.  When we checked out May 6, 2020, the inspection was completed, and the hosts stated, via Airbnb message system,

"We have submitted a request for refund to Airbnb and they will send you an email once they have processed it."

 It is now May 20th and we have not been refunded our money.  How long does it take to get this money refunded?  This was not a "virtual" hold on our account. The charge came out of account and was a direct withdrawal. Someone has our money.  We have reached out numerous times for resolution without success...other than being told it is moved to another department that doesn't have phone support.   We were told someone will contact us...that was 4 days ago.  

[Anonymous]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0  It looks like you booked through a "host" who is actually a large property management firm disguised as a host. Airbnb gives certain privileges to these accounts that classical hosts don't have, and apparently one of them is the ability to charge a deposit. (Fun fact: for a host with just one or a handful of listings, they don't actually charge or hold a security deposit at all). 

I wish I had useful advice for you, but unfortunately this situation belongs to the shady side of Airbnb that works quite differently from the one most of the peers in this community use. Based on the review on your profile, it sounds like there is a dispute regarding a damage claim. (I can't see a reciprocal review from you; if there were one, it might have helped your case). In normal times, these can take several weeks to be resolved, and considering that Airbnb has recently laid off 25% of its staff it's possible that the wait time can be even longer. 

Perhaps a reader out there happens to be a mega-host with secret perks that they can share some insight into?

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  The mega-hosts only appear here to rant about how much money they lost from their cancelled bookings 🙂

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

@Anonymous Thank you for your reply.   We do appreciate any insight we can gather.  There should not be a damage claim as we left the place in good clean condition and without any damage.  The inspection was completed the same day we checked out (May 6) and the "hosts" told us they requested our $3,000 refundable deposit to be released.  The only response/review the host gave stated something along the lines that we left the place clean but that we should have read the house rules.  I responded  back to their comment and explained that the house rules were read and  we called and messaged them for clarification purposes.  I added a "thank you" at the end because they answered my questions and confirmed that the damage deposit was refundable.  This was the only communication that I am able to see on my end.  The hosts responded to us yesterday and said the deposit was taken out of their account so we are hoping that the deposit will be returned soon as we have bills to pay with that money.    We were not expecting to be without this money for this long since they released the money on May 6...after a satisfactory inspection and release of money request was issued.    

[Anonymous]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0  Sorry to hear that you're in such a frustrating situation. At the moment, there are two major issues with Airbnb that may be affecting your results: the aforementioned downsizing seems to be leaving lots of service tickets unresolved, and the huge volume of refunds has created a cash-flow bottleneck. A lot of big companies in the travel industry are using similar practices, unlawfully holding onto customers' money for as long as they can to stave off bankruptcy. I'm going through a similar thing with some bookings for cancelled flights right now; it's luckily a smaller amount of money but still, I haven't yet found a workaround. 

You can try posting your story on Airbnb's social media or contacting a consumer watchdog website or news column. These things can take a maddening amount of persistence. When you get results, please update us, as it would be a big help to people going through the same problem.

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

@Anonymous We will keep you posted.  Thank you again for the information and understanding.   We have been tweeting and posting on their social media daily and we get a response similar to "We're working on it."  

We will continue to ask for a response from someone...and our money returned very soon would be very appreciated.  It took them seconds to take the money from our account...but it's going on 3 weeks for the refund.   This is very frustrating and @Airbnb could do so much more in the department of customer service for everyone.  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0  if @Anonymous is correct and it is the 'Leslie and Steven' second listing then I think there is confusion regarding the refundable/non refundable pricing. This is a weird Airbnb concept where bookings are 10% cheaper if you go non refundable (although Extenuating Circumstance cancellations are still allowed!). It has nothing to do with refundinding the cleaning fee and there is no damage deposit.

If its not that listing then I have no idea what is going on!

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

@Mike-And-Jane0   Thank you for your reply. We appreciate your time.   To clarify:  We didn't cancel our reservation.  We paid the cleaning fee and all applicable taxes.   The money we are referencing is a refundable damage deposit. There was not any damage at the property and the "hosts" have requested the release of the money (they told us.)  We checked out May 6 and I was just asking how long does it take to get our money returned or at least a phone call from someone in the correct department that is able to tell us something.  We've called numerous times and no one is giving us an answer. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0  - For us 'normal' hosts there is no damage deposit taken. Was this paid through Airbnb or was it a separate agreement with the host?

[Anonymous]

@Mike-And-Jane0   Topics like these are where Susan could advise what was going on with the most authority. Airbnb's accounts for bulk property managers are operating on a much different system, and it looks like Susan's persistence in speaking out about this is what ultimately frightened Airbnb into banning her from the community.

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

@Mike-And-Jane0  It was paid directly through an Airbnb message with link for payment.  The charge on my statement reads, "Airbnb".  

[Samuel--And-Amy-0]

UPDATE:  @Anonymous @Mike-And-Jane0 @Sarah977 Someone from Airbnb called us yesterday (Sunday, May 24) and said that the money will be returned and could take 5-15 days to see it back in our account.  No money yet but at least someone called.  

[Anonymous]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0  Thanks for updating us, and glad to hear you finally got some results.

[Sarah977]

@Samuel--And-Amy-0 Great news! Happy for you.

[Sandra126]

All credit card reversals take a while, 7 days maybe. It's j u st how it is.