Airbnb blocked my listing for a gas leak (there is no gas line in my building!) and is now ignoring me

[Andrew796]

Hello Everyone

I am a super-host with over 700 stays hosted. I rent my suite full time and it is an important source of income for me, especially during the pandemic.  I recently received an email from Airbnb out of the blue saying my listing was blocked to due a report of a gas leak, and that all my bookings will be cancelled if I do not provide proof that the gas leak has been fixed. Airbnb has not provided me with any details at all beyond this. This is completely bizarre as there is no gas line in my building, no gas appliances in my suite, and no guest has ever complained to me about a gas leak...

The only explanation I can think of is that I recently had a guest cancel her stay after checking in due to the smell of cigarette smoke from the prior guest who had smoked a cigarette indoors contrary to my house rules. I refunded the guest but she told me she was also going to reach out to Airbnb to see if they could flag my prior guest for breaking the rules. My best guess is that somehow there was a miscommunication and logged this as a report of a gas leak by mistake.

I emailed the case manager assigned to the matter to explain the situation and included screenshots of my messages with the guest in which it is 100% clear she cancelled due to the smell of cigarette smoke. I also sent them a recent building inspection report, which does not refer to gas lines or gas appliances because there are none. The issue is the case manager has ignored my emails, all the while my listing remains blocked! I have tried calling Airbnb 4 times,  and they are sympathetic over the phone but keep telling me there is nothing they can do because the Airbnb Safety Team is a separate department and does not have a direct phone number available for hosts. I have tried asking to speak to a manager, but they told me this would be useless as they also cannot contact them.

I am completely at a loss for what to do next. I have been a super host for years and Airbnb is a major source of my income. Now overnight my listing has been blocked and I've been put on notice that my existing bookings will be cancelled with zero explanation and zero follow-up or response from Airbnb... all for something that never happened.

Has anyone else had a similar experience and had success getting in contact with the Safety team?

Thank you!

[Sarah977]

@Andrew796  Calling seems to be the  worst way of dealing with CS. Maybe try contacting them on their Twitter account, said to be more responsive.

I usually use messaging to contact CS. I've found it helps to put "Trust and Safety Issue" ( or whatever dept. needs to handle the issue) as the first line. When I have done that, I generally get a message back from someone in the correct dept. rather than having fruitless back and forths with poorly trained front-line reps.

But I know CS has been a mess for quite awhile now, so YMMV.

Good luck. Many hosts report these kinds of frustrating listing suspensions for various bogus safety issues.

[John5097]

@Andrew796 

I'll try and tag a few of the admins who might see it on Monday and hopefully can help put a message in a bottle for you to support. Good luck!  

@Liv @Nick 

I'm not sure if its necessary but maybe get an inspection anyway so you have proof there is no gas leak and no gas appliances or gas service to the entire building. Maybe the guest was trying to get a service fee refunded also and made that up about smelling gas. From reading the post here it can take a while for support to resolve an issue. Sorry this happened, very frustrating! 

Would also try messaging like @Sarah977 said. 

[Andrew796]

Thank you John, anything helps!

[John5097]

@Andrew796 Glad I could help. I was on my phone. I think the title is Online Community Orgainzers, as the team members here also formulate strategies or input like  a focus group, and some of the executives also post topics and work together. Usually someone will notice help topics like this within a week and pass it on the to right support team, comment, and follow up. Of course I hope you get it resolved by then. Keep us updated. 

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Andrew796 I will go one better and tag @Catherine-Powell who will, sadly almost certainly, ignore the fact that yet again a host is found guilty of an offence without any proper attempt to sort out the issue. There have been many examples of hosts being asked to prove something doesn't exist which is very difficult to do.

My only other suggestion is you find another listing site asap.

[Barry346]

I've had a similar experience as per many on this community and have documented it here https://medium.com/@barrymurphy_73830/bad-airbnb-experience-from-a-superhost-1398a40795e

[Nick]

Hi @Andrew796 I've just sent over the information you provided to the team, and I will DM you as soon as I have an update from them. Thank you

@John5097 thanks for the tag on this 

[Tin18885]

Hi @Nick I am having a similar issue now with Airbnb. There was a claim of gas leak AFTER we have sent an RC because the guest had damages whilst staying in the property. Now, the property was UNLISTED and Airbnb is asking for a gas leak company to do an inspection but there is no gas leak in the first place. This was established by my co-host. 

Can anyone from Airbnb be tagged and get help?

[Tin18885]

Hi @Nick  I am having a similar issue now with Airbnb. There was a claim of gas leak AFTER we have sent an RC because the guest had damages whilst staying in the property. Now, the property was UNLISTED and Airbnb is asking for a gas leak company to do an inspection but there is no gas leak in the first place. This was established by my co-host. 

Can anyone from Airbnb be tagged and get help?

[Barry346]

Hi @Nick I wonder if you could help me too - https://medium.com/@barrymurphy_73830/bad-airbnb-experience-from-a-superhost-1398a40795e

[Ute42]

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@Andrew796   

My proposal is that You retain a gas maintenance company to check Your place. A handyman will come in trying to fix the gasleak but he can't as there are no gaspipes. The company will then issue an invoice and a report „Gas issue fixed“of the work they have or have not done. The invoice may be for the amount of $120. Then mail the invoice to airbnb's trust and safety. What they want to see is and official invoice on a companies letterhaed – ok, here You are.

You may now say, but why doesn't airbnb believe me that there are no gaspipes. Well, You could be lying, right?

Maybe there are internal guidelines at trust and safety that say, whenever there's a safety issue, an official invoice of a maintenance company is needed to lift the ban of someones listing. If this is the case You have no choice other than providing such invoice. Don't try to be logical when communicating wich T&C, just give them what they need.

[Robyn351]

I manage this listing with @Andrew796 . I had a service technician from the provincial gas company come in and confirm there is no "gas leak" because there is no gas to the apartment, or the building! The company does not issue written reports, but the technician provided his phone number to call to confirm. The department that has deactivated our listing continues to ignore us, listing is still deactivated.

Can someone from AirBnB please resolved this non-issue now?

[Ute42]

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@Robyn351   

You did not follow my instructions.

I told You to retain a gas maintenance company that does issue a written confirmation on a companies letterhead. But You are retainig a company that does not issue written confirmations. That makes no sense at all and it is not what I told You to do.

Robyn, don't You understand. You need a sheet of paper, with a companies letterhead, a report and a signature that can be scanned, turned into a PDF-document and then uploaded to the trust and safety department. You must look for a maintenance company that does issue such written reports. And if You can't find one, use Photoshop.

Robyn, You're almost like my husband. Every day I'm telling him what to do but he doesn't and then we're getting in a fight over it. Why can't men just do what they are told to do? How hard is that?

[Ann72]

@Ute42  There is such a male/female divide on this issue.  I have seen it in other discussions.  The men say, "We had an expert.  It is fixed.  Why can't I get satisfaction doing things the way professionals do things.  Why don't they take our word for it."  The women say, "The guy came and told me it was fine.  He gave me his number.  Let me see, Airbnb needs something on letterhead.  I have a computer.  I can make something on letterhead, with a logo, and turn it into a PDF.  I will call the tech and confirm that's okay.  We are all set.  Airbnb got back to me and said everything was fine."

😂😂😂