Airbnb support are not showing help at all

[Cristina-Wing-Yin0]

I am currently having the worst Airbnb experience ever or else I would just not use Airbnb anymore.

[Sorry for long story] I booked my 4-night stay a week ago at *** and the host is ***. 

***

1. After my reservation, I got sent a third party website (superhog) to submit my personal details, deposit (£200 refundable) and transaction fee (£4 non-refundable). I told Airbnb right away because the action of charging a guest outside Airbnb and storing a guest's personal details clearly violates the Airbnb policy. Although I was stupid enough to have submitted all the above.

2. The host sent me an impolite message because I have a bad review out of all those reviews. The previous host wrote this review because I found out she was only the tenant of the property but the owner, so again I reported this to Airbnb right away. That's why she got mad and left me that review. Anyway, my focus here is about the bad attitude of the host. The host even told me to cancel my reservation if I am not happy with this, but this reservation is non-refundable. Obviously she wants to keep all the money without providing any services to me.

***

3. The host sent the check in instruction 3 or 2 days before my check in. However the night before my check in date, I found out the host gave me the wrong instruction because the instruction is meant to be for another property. If I didn't have a final check then I would have ended up waiting on the street. The host should have a better quality control/ less careless.

4. Upon my arrival, the lighting in the big bedroom didn't work and I couldn't connect to the Wifi. Inaccurate listings. 

5. I chose to contact Airbnb directly because I don't contact the host directly base on the above experience and would like Airbnb to act as a middle person. She gave me the incorrect Wifi password twice before my arrival and finally gave me the correct password once. Afterwards, she still insisted that the incorrect password is the correct one. She also offered to send an electrician to change the light bulb (although we are unsure whether is the light bulb problem or something else), but I wasn't free until 9pm because I had other commitment. Because she has my deposit, she told me she would send a technician after 9m by charging me £200. This is absolutely insane.

6. I GOT LOCKED OUT WHEN I GOT BACK TO THE APARTMENT ON MY 3RD NIGHT BECAUSE THE HOST CHANGED THE PASSCODE OF THE APARTMENT REMOTELY. SHE EVEN HUMILIATED ME VIA THE INTERCOM NEXT TO THE APARTMENT DOOR. My luggage was inside the apartment and AIRBNB HAVE NOT BEEN HELPING AT ALL, I had no choice but to go to the police station for help. The case got logged with a proper log number. The police called the host and took me to get my stuff back, the host told the police the changed passcode via the intercom. 

7. Ended at a hotel and of course had to pay myself. AND AGAIN, AIRBNB HAVE JUST PASSED MY CASE AROUND WITH DIFFERENT STAFF AND NOT GOT IT HANDLED PROPERLY. ABSOLUTELY DIFFICULT TO REACH OUT THE SUPPORT TEAM. EVERYTIME I HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE WHOLE STORY AGAIN TO THEM. SUPER FRUSTRATING.

8. After the nightmare happened yesterday, the host still messaged me to remind me the check out procedures. Again another humiliation.  

I just hope that Airbnb can show my some support by refund me fully (including my deposit and the transaction fee), reimburse my extra 2-night hotel stay and ban the host completely from Airbnb platform.

**[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen744]

@Cristina-Wing-Yin0 We can do nothing at all to help you with this issue ,as we do not work for Airbnb  Call them ,and I do not think naming hosts is permitted on this website and probably will not have the effect you hope for H

[Yiu-Ming0]

Not sure if you are the host OP referring to but what makes me feel interesting is that while you suggested naming hosts is not allowed, asking OP to fill in their personal information and collect any kind of payment outside airbnb is also not allowed. This is a sign reminding people be aware of the host and not to stay in.

[Huma0]

@Yiu-Ming0 

@Helen744 is an individual host in Australia, while @Cristina-Wing-Yin0 's host is clearly a company based in the UK. Also, @Helen744 is a regular contributor to this CC, if you would care to take a look, so no idea why you would jump to the conclusion that she is the host the OP was referring to. It's a bit far fetched! 

She is also correct that sharing this sort of information here is against the rules of the CC, so that information WILL be removed at some point, once the moderators come across it. She was just pointing out the policy that was in place and also that this is a forum for discussion, not a direct way to contact Airbnb customer services. 

You are right though that requesting payments off platform is against Airbnb ToS. I personally never would have made payments to that host in that way. I am not sure why the OP first paid and THEN reported the issue if she thought it sounded suspect from the start.

[Cristina-Wing-Yin0]

Because at that time I already saw a pending transaction on my bank account and thought my reservation had already been accepted by the host. I couldn't cancel the reservation because the property has no cancellation policy. That means I would lose all my money if I cancelled it. I am new to the community centre so I didn't know posting a host's name is forbidden. 

By the way I would like the discussion to be focused on the point that I got locked out of the property given that I have paid of the stay and no help from the Airbnb side. This is absolutely not tolerable. 

[Huma0]

@Cristina-Wing-Yin0 

Ok, so what you are saying is that you booked and paid for the stay via the Airbnb platform, but still paid the deposit and transaction fee off platform, knowing that it's against the Airbnb rules to do that? I still don't understand why you first paid, and then contacted Airbnb. You should have asked Airbnb to cancel the reservation for you penalty free because the host was asking you to pay extra monies off platform. 

Anyway, it seems that the main issue here is that the host changed the door code during your stay and while your belongings were still in the apartment. What reason did she give for doing this, if any? 

[Cristina-Wing-Yin0]

Because I was having dispute with her and AIrbnb support was already involved at that time.  But still, it doesn't mean that should could just change the passcode during my stay (my stuff was inside) and I had to go to the police station for help. Eventually the police accompanied with back to the property and she told the police the changed passcode via intercom. Then I went in, got my stuff and left the property and had to pay extra to book myself a hotel. Absolutely nightmare. 

The host is in Preston UK and its icon is a company rather than an individual, please avoid if you are travelling to Preston. 

[Huma0]

@Cristina-Wing-Yin0 

So, what did Airbnb have to say about the host locking you out of the apartment and you having to call the police? Sorry for the questions, but it's hard to offer advice when the information you initially posted is a bit unclear.

It does sound like a bad situation, but when dealing with Airbnb CS you have to be crystal clear as often they don't even understand basic stuff, let alone something as complicated as this issue. 

[Cristina-Wing-Yin0]

Of course I did contact Airbnb support right away. But you know how unresponsive they are, they only said they tried reaching the host but in vain. Airbnb could book me another stay on Airbnb platform or another hotel straight away.  

[Huma0]

@Cristina-Wing-Yin0 

Yes, they can be very unresponsive or often just evasive, i.e. not addressing the actual problem and just sending generic responses instead. 

Did you mean that Airbnb could NOT book you another stay? You said before that you had to pay for the hotel yourself.

[Cristina-Wing-Yin0]

Of course they didn't. They could have booked me another hotel/ Airbnb but they just didn't offer a helping hand at all. They even refused to speak to the police even though the police was willing to speak to them on behalf of me.

[Huma0]

@Cristina-Wing-Yin0 

I don't think that Airbnb CS in general gets involved with police matters, so that doesn't surprise me at all.

However, a host locking you out while your stay was still in progress, is not okay, especially with your belongings still there. I assume the host never cancelled or shortened the stay because, otherwise why would you have been sent the automatic check out instructions later? 

The only thing I can suggest is that you go back to Airbnb and cite their own Aircover policy back to them: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/3218/getting-protected-through-aircover