Active open case - how do you handle support when you don't have somewhere to stay?

[Nathanael18]

We arrived to our location excited about a week long stay at a quiet vacation home. Three of us arrived a day early to prepare, what we weren't prepared for was the state of the home.

Uncleaned, spatter, splatter, and leftover food matter. Since we made our booking last week a review popped up talking about the pool giving a family a rash because of chemical imbalances (thank goodness my pregnant wife hadn't gotten in when I cried foul and packed that car back up). The trash left around was forgiveable, the dirty towel hung up in the first bathroom I went into and the glass pane that nearly fell out of a window is not. 

I feel for the host, so much so that I hated sending the message telling them we wouldn't be staying, but this place was awful.

The support process began, I took fourty or fifty pictures of the various broken, dirty, and frankly yucky things I could and we sent then along to CSR #1. No reply from the host.

While waiting for food in the Hilton lobby (thank goodness there was a room nearby, after 10 hours of driving) I contacted them and was met with CSR #2, who immediately saw the photos and told me he would escalate.

THEN... the person he conferenced in proceeded to ask me if I had sent in pictures...

So here I am, out the cost of week's stay, no assurance that they resolve the issue, and I had to find a place for us to sleep.

How is this a viable business model? What kind of company leaves customers without a place to stay? Why do we put up with this?

[Sarah977]

@Nathanael18  Airbnb customer service has become a total joke. All their support staff are now outsourced, they give incorrect information and bad advice and their response time to resolve an issue is ludicrous. It's the same whether you are a guest or a host. 

There is an arrogance at the top levels of this company that seems to assume that there will always be more new hosts and guests to replace the ones who have left the platform in disgust. 

I'm curious- why did you feel bad for the host? Was this a remote host who uses a property manager who fell down on the job? (It doesn't sound like the place was cleaned at all)

Normally, Airbnb protocol is that if a guest arrives to find a place unacceptable, you are supposed to first notify the host to give them an opportunity to correct the issue. A really good host would have profusely apologized, paid for your hotel room for the night, and sent in the cleaners to make sure the place was spic and span for you to return the next day.

If a host can't, or won't correct the issue, then you contact Airbnb and cancel.

Airbnb used to work to find guests alternative comparable housing if they arrived to find the place unacceptable in some way. They don't seem to be doing that anymore.

I'd say you will eventually get refunded, but it might take awhile. You'll probably have to go through multiple clueless CS reps all of whom will ask you the same questions ad nauseum.

[Nathanael18]

Given the review from the last guests where the host refused to hire someone to correct the pool chemical issue (guest had paid to get test strips to identify why they got a rash) and the state of the house I had little hope of a correction. Cleanup would have gone well into tomorrow night if they had agreed, and I have five more people arriving tomorrow.

When the host failed to respond I got on the phone and found exactly what you described.

[Sarah977]

@Nathanael18  Too bad that bad review wasn't posted yet when you booked this place. A good host would have been all over making sure the place was all in order after receiving a review like that.

Of course, you can't believe everything you read, not everyone reviews honestly. Revenge reviews are a "thing" that has plagued many hosts. A guest gets called out for throwing a party and trashing the place, or violating other house rules, and their response to that is to leave a review filled with lies.  But you can usually get an idea if a review is an outlier if it's the only bad one amongst a lot of great ones. 

[Nathanael18]

Looking at the pool was enough for me, thankfully we have pictures

[Nathanael18]

Host finally replies to accuse us of having done the damage in the time it took us to document and book a hotel room.

This is the easiest way to ruin a vacation I can imagine

[Sarah977]

@Nathanael18  OMG, this host should be delisted. 

I'm so sorry you had the misfortune to book this place and that you can somehow make some lemonade out of the lemons for your group.

Was this some place that is run by a property manager with tons of listings? 

[Nathanael18]

While certainly not made whole, a high level support person and many hours on the phone brought this to a point where we are in a good place, with a good host, and have a refund in process.

[Sarah977]

@Nathanael18 Excellent. Thanks for updating. Enjoy your holiday.

[Nick]

Hi @Nathanael18 I hope you are well. I was wondering if this is resolved? I reached out to Customer Support on your behalf after reading your post but there isn't an open ticket on this particular case. I'm hoping there was a resolution on the situation. 

Please do let me know either here or via DM. 

Thank you