Amenities not as advertised Cancellation Policy more strict than requirements for accurate listing

[Jeremy97]

I planned to live and work for a month remote from New Smyrna Beach, FL. My only requirements in a rental were price and to have a standard wired internet connection available. (Not wifi only) I booked a listing based on those requirements. Once I arrived, the condo only had wifi available. Wifi is not enough to do my job. If I can not do my job, then I can not be at that location, it's that simple. There is nothing I could have done differently here and has nothing to do with the speed of the internet. It has to do with the type of internet available. I have $2,300+ tied up in this booking and I've been trying all day to get my money back to me so I can get into a spot that works for me. The issue here is the listing does not work for me, and was not as advertised. Based on all of the issues today, the host has since removed regular internet from the listing. The host has also stopped responding to my messages. I can't believe that airbnb is not working with me to issue refund immediately.

This is simple, I booked a listing because the amenities fit my requirements in what I needed for a living situation,

I received a spot that did not match the listing and therefore is not what I agreed to pay for and does not suit my needs,

I need my money back in order to book a new accommodation,

Airbnb is not resolving this in a timely manner and is making me fight over and over all day to get this refund. 

The host is not responding to me, will not tell me anything since early this afternoon. As you mentioned they are new, they messed up on their listing and have since changed it, why am I suffering now for their mistake?

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Okay, okay, okay... it sucks that you specifically wanted a cabled land line and got only Wifi.  Most guests don't care that much.  Personally, we have both, but most guests don't travel with cables nor know how to connect directly.  That being said, you looked at the amenities and, alas, they were not 100%.  Unfortunately, a direct uplink is not an Airbnb standard.  You must give them some time to resolve this issue.  THIS is the major difference between a hotel and private ownership. 48 hours to resolve this type of complaint is not unreasonable, imo.   Be patient or just go ahead and move to a hotel that can accommodate you.  

[Jeremy97]

Thank you for the comment. The site and the community won't work if listings are not accurate. This mistake has cost me a day of work and who knows how much more to book another spot last minute. The point is money is tied up and I can't just go book a hotel, this is where my money is committed and there is not another $2,400 kicking around to just try again. There is no way of knowing how much of a priority something is for each person, that is why amenitites are listed in the first place and we can search by them. Anyway, I think you would agree as a host and potential guest that listing accuracy is important for a 30 day reservation. If this was one or two nights I could make do. I can't have internet issues on a 30 day booking, it's just not reasonable in 2017. 

[David126]

Presumably if there is wifi there is a router so it is just a cable issue, has been many years since I have come across somebody without a wifi card in their computer. Regular internet to me would be wifi.

I could accomodate somebody who really needed to connect that way but would not expect it to arise. Did you communicate your specific needs to the Host before booking?

[Jeremy97]

Hi David,

I have all the cables necessary and a brand new laptop, I'm definitely able to connect to wifi. I use a phone through my computer and the system only works when I am hardwired and plugged in to a router. In this situation there is no router available. The condo complex uses something called skyfi and it is patchy. It only works in certain parts of the unit and even when it works it is super slow. Again, even if it was slow, I noticed there was both wifi and internet listed, the fact that there are two, means that wifi is wireless internet and Internet means a plug in option. Otherwise there would be no need to differentiate the two. Yes, I contacted to confirm the internet was as listed. The host was not understanding the difference and that only was realized by me once I got to the unit and found no router. Only a patchy wifi that wouldn't even play a youtube video. Def won't work for a full time job for 30 days which requires a plug in connection.

[Wesley--伟思礼-0]

Unfortunately, to many non-technical people, WiFi IS internet, and that isn't the only thing AirBNB fails to properly explain to hosts.  I had to push for a refund for an "instant book" because no one was there to let me in.  Turned out that AirBNB lets you select Instant Book without bothering to ensure you know what it means.  I still haven't received the refund for another place for which I could not locate a key.  It was a garbage dump anyway, so I wouldn't have stayed.  I told AirBNB that also, but they ignored me.

[Lyndsey2]

Another issue that may be important here: While on the website there are two internet options under amenities ("Wi-Fi" and "Internet") only one exists on the phone app. I found that when I added "WiFi" as an amenity on my phone, it also added "Internet" on the listing. I didn't even realize there was a difference and it's only by luck that I noticed at all.

I hope your claim is resolved soon-- as a host I always want my guests to have what they need and I would be devestated by the misunderstanding and even moreso if Airbnb's customer service made it a pain to resolve. I'm glad you brought this to my attention, but I would also expect that in the future you may find others who are confused by the ambiguous amenities listings and especially by the difference between the website and the phone app. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jeremy97

As others says - to many people, both hosts and guests WiFi IS internet and many guests would put internet in their search filter even if they only need wifi.... so almost all listings has both checked. I am not sure if 1% of hosts and guests ever thought about a difference between the internet and wifi.

If you specificly need a router and wires than you have to communicate it clearly with your host in advance because 99% of guests brings only their iphones or tablets with them