Airbnb CS does not want to remove 1 star retaliatory review

[Alice595]

I posted my bad experience with a guest who called Airbnb to cancel within one hour by claiming high temperature in the house which was at 71 F (21 C). Here is the link https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guest-wanted-to-cancel-due-to-temperature-and-got-full-r...

I waited till the last day and posted my review. And I am able to see the review left by the guest. As I expected he left a retaliatory review with one star in all category. I contacted Airbnb to remove the review. Here is what Airbnb CS response

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**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

Where is the justice! Could I get any help here in the community forum?  I saw that some retaliatory reviews were finally removed. Why not this one? 

Airbnb knows that Amit is a bad guest and kicked him out a few days before I posted my review. When I tried to check the review I wrote to him on his profile and found out his profile page no longer available.  Airbnb could remove him but why still let his false review still stands!

[Alice595]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Thanks for providing the information about TOS 5.8(i). I did try to use it when I contacted Airbnb support. But the case manager assigned to the case just ignored the message I sent. And he insisted on his decision.

Is there anything else I could do? @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 You have a post specifically discussed about the retaliatory reviews. Hopefully this can bring more hosts' attention.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Retaliatory-Reviews-Inequality-what-to-do/m-p/103682...

It seems that hosts here are more and more tolerant to Airbnb's skewed and contradictory policies. It does not seem that any hosts have any interests in discussing this at all. I probably would just follow the suggestion from @Branka-and-Silvia0 . Just let it go.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Alice595 

Persistence benefits in these circumstances. You are quite right in your claims and as @Robin4 has previously suggested, and might suggest here - the CS reps don't all sing off the same TOS and often interpret them differently. The action to take would be to get your case closed and then raise another case to obtain another rep. Factually, you are in no rush to sort this out and if lies persist to be published  - this is public defamation. The facts are plain to see and your record should be evidence enough to persuade a more affable CS rep.

You already rightly quoted content policy as it appears in the TOS. Any other policy is inferior to this.

The Content Policy (reviews) states:

By posting content in public areas on Airbnb, you agree to abide by these guidelines and all other Airbnb policies.

Note: 'All other Airbnb policies'. This legitimises the TOS Content 5.8(i).

If your guest lied * Then this is "(i) is fraudulent, false, misleading (directly or by omission or failure to update information) or deceptive; "

* Interesting... If the guests profile has been suspended - did they do this because he lied?

It would be hypocritical to allow a review of a lying guest who gets suspended, methinks.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 · Accepted solution]

@Alice595 

I'm struggling with this, because the only other Content Policy apart from in the TOS that I can find is in this location:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/546/what-is-airbnbs-content-policy

THAT is a help article. It is not a policy.

I never signed up to a help article as a host. I never signed up to a help article as a Guest. What any user only ever signed up for was the TOS. The TOS cannot be changed by a help article, and referring to a help article which neither Host nor Guest have agreed is ridiculous. Enforcing a help article, doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and does not override any terms.

This is where the Content Policy (help article) can be found:

Help Home > Hosting help > Your Account > Reviews > What is Airbnb' Content Policy?

The Content Policy is already defined in the TOS agreed by both Hosts and Guests. A help article does not override the TOS. The TOS are what both Hosts and Guest agree the service should provide.

The TOS can be found here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms

Airbnb > Terms

Airbnb need to apply their TOS and not a help article. They should be reminded of this when discussing the application of their TOS in relation to reviews which are subject to their TOS:

 5.8 You will not post, upload, publish, submit or transmit any Member Content that: (i) is fraudulent, false, misleading (directly or by omission or failure to update information) or deceptive; ii) is defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive; (iii) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group; 

Content Policy (Europe) : https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms#eusec5

[Alice595]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  The help article link you provided is exactly the one Airbnb CS quoted me as the Content Policy.

I don’t know why @Valerie56 post is no longer here in the thread. But if @Valerie56 could share your experience, it will be helpful for other hosts who have got retaliatory reviews as well.

I have tons of evidence to prove that the guest lied in his review. And he did not have any even a single fact to support his lies in the review. There was another guest staying at a master bedroom in the same house and same night left me a 5 star glowing review. He definitely can provide evidence that Amit lies in his review.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Alice595  Valerie56 posted here:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Retaliatory-Reviews-Inequality-what-to-do/m-p/108471...

[Alice595]

  You wrote 

“Airbnb need to apply their TOS and not a help article. They should be reminded of this when discussing the application of their TOS in relation to reviews which are subject to their TOS:”

This is very helpful! Thank you very much. I will continue to fight for this unfairness.

I thought once once a case is closed and you would not be able to overturn it. Airbnb normally close your case very quickly without any explanation. @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Do you know if it is still possible to appeal after they close the case and no longer want to re-open it? Is there anywhere I can find that information?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Alice595  Perhaps @Valerie56 might chime in here. She raised a new case as suggested and managed to get a review removed. She might be able to provide further details.

[Alice595]

@Valerie56  I saw earlier you had a post. Not sure why the post disappeared. Was it removed by the forum administrator? 

@Quincy could you please check it out? Why a post from @Valerie56   no longer existed? 

[Quincy]

Certainly @Alice595! Just to clarify: We do not remove posts unless it breaches our community guidelines. I just had a look and it seems that there was nothing in our spam inbox regarding Valerie's post, but I was able to find her post elsewhere https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Retaliatory-Reviews-Inequality-what-to-do/m-p/108471....

[Alice595]

@Quincy  Thank you very much for looking for it. I might have mixed up her post with somebody else's post. 

[Alice595]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Thank you very much for your help. Here is an update. Hopefully my experience can help hosts who face this kind of situation in the future.

After I interchanged messages with the first case manager, the review was not removed. And the case manager closed the case. A few day later, I contacted Airbnb again and requested the retaliatory review to be removed. This time the case manager was graciously took the review off. But his explanation was that the guest was kicked out by Airbnb. Therefore, his one sided review could be removed. But he still stressed that the review did not violate the Content Policy, which is in the help article.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Alice595 

If Airbnb thought it bad enough to kick him off, they should have removed his retaliatory review too!  Why they needed you to pursue this again after your initial complaint was just negligent in the first contact.

This time the case manager was graciously took the review off. But his explanation was that the guest was kicked out by Airbnb. Therefore, his one sided review could be removed. But he still stressed that the review did not violate the Content Policy, which is in the help article

Lol!! Of course it wasn't - they're quoting a help article again and not their Terms which contain the REAL Content Policy. Section 5.8.

At least the review was removed to your benefit. Have they also removed the star ratings left do you know?

[Alice595]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  I assumed that the star rating is removed. But I did not ask and I don't have a way to verify that either. I used to see that my rating is kept at two decimals. Now I can see it with only one decimal.

When I received 1 star review, my overall average fell below 4.8. Before 1 star review was removed, I barely reached 4.8 after three consecutive 3 star reviews to bring my rating back from 4.7 to 4.8. With the removal 4.8 is still shown as my average. If the 1 star rating is removed, my rating probably goes to high 4.8.

I don't understand why Airbnb quote only part of the content policy in TOS 5.8 in their Help Article. And all most all case manager use that Help Article to deal with the review. Definitely they are trained to handle the review that way purposefully. Even though I pointed them out TOS 5.8 according to your suggestion, the case managers still insisted on their point.

Anyway, thank you very much again! Without getting your help and suggestion, I would have suffered the second retaliatory review.