Can I get refunded if I'm uncomfortable with the host?

Shachar1
Level 1
Mazkeret Batya, Israel

Can I get refunded if I'm uncomfortable with the host?

Hey everyone! I am currently staying at an airbnb, and yesterdays things got really hot between us and the host. We really want to leave this place since we feel extremely uncomfortable in here, but we are very concerned that our money will not be refunded since airbnb doesn't state that having trouble with the host is an eligable reason for a refund. I wrote the following to airbnb's help center from my girlfriend's account on her behalf since we used her account for the booking, and am hoping for a quick response, but if anyone here has any experience or could help us out in any way - I know its long but please bear with me.

Long story short if you don't want to read the long letter, we were staying in the place we originally booked when my girlfriend got sick, so the host offered us a nice place to stay at a discount since the place was booked for later. We agreed and were asked to book a few nights on the site and we would stay longer than we booked - we booked 4 nights when we would actually stay 11 night, and we would pay the difference we still owe them by cash. When we left the first apartment we were blamed unreasonably for messiness (we left the place reasonably clean and even asked to pay for a maid which they offer) and for a blocked drain in the apartment (which we told them about prior to our leave). On the day of the leave we were waiting for the hosts for 4 hours in the heat in the garage for them to take us to the place as they said they would and since they wanted to come with us. On top of that we discovered last minute we wouldnt be alone in the place as opposed to what they promised us. After taking all this false blame and waiting for so long outside - while my girlfriend is feeling extremely sick - we got very angry since it was impossible to get a straight answer from the host, they kept denying and not taking any faults while just blaming everything else. Things got hot on the way top the new place, there was shouting and a very uncomfortable argument which ended in my girlfriend bursting into tears. Anyway, we've been charged for the new place and now feel very uncomfortable. The host offers us a ridiculous refund and we are afraid for our money and dont want to take further steps until we know that airbnb would have our back, and until then were trying to resolve things quietly with them.

 

"Hi. I am currently staying in an apartment and would like to know my rights and options before I take further steps. I am writing this email on behalf of my girlfriend, Courtney ** and she has given me permission to send this from her account and proof read the letter prior to sending. We are in urgent need of a response as we'd like to move tomorrow with the hope airbnb will support us.

I've booked a place on airbnb with my girlfriend through her account from September 30th until October 7th (2016). The host was absent since she is studying long term abroad and apparently she only manages the airbnb, and her parents are the ones actually managing the place. We were overally satisfied with our stay at the place for the week, the host's parents were friendly. We did though face some issues with the apartment, mainly concerning the shower which had no hot water and on the second day the shower's drain got blocked. We didnt concern ourselves with these problems too much because it was still managable and a nice place, we just wanted to pass our stay. We did report about the drain the day before we left so they could fix it before a new guest arrives, I even offered to do the job myself is they provide me with a plunger, and the lady said they would send someone up later that day. Few days into the stay my girlfriend got very sick. We tried to ask if we could stay further so she could rest but unfortunatly the place was booked, but the parents offered us to stay at a different place they had, claiming it is a big apartment, completely private, in a nice area etc. all that for a discount, instead of paying around 4000 rupees a night we were asked to pay 1550 a night. They explained the place is their main living apartment and they are currently not there and living in the apartment next to us due to being there for renovations, so the place is currently unoccupied. We gave it some thought and agreed to the kind offer and decided we'd like to stay there until the 18th of October (11 nights). We were asked to book the place on aribnb for 4 days so they and us can get the reviews for both places, instead of just paying in cash, and the remainder amount we will pay with cash. The place was up for rent on airbnb for 3000 rupees a night, after service fee and taxes we paid 14,500 rupees for the four nights. They assured us they will give us a ride there and take care of everything and help us with my girlfriend's sickness. This is where the story starts getting dirty. On the day of leave we left the apartment at around 11:30 am, brought our things down to the garage and we were asked to wait just for half and hour while they clean the apartment quickly. We left the apartment at a very decent place, cleaned up before we left, but since my girlfriend was sick we didnt tip-toe clean it and told them so in advance that we couldn't do so. On the apartment's page it said that we are requested to leave the apartment clean, and if in need of cleaning service it could be provided for 10$US (around 650 rupees), so we asked in advance the day before for a maid, explaining that I alone would have a hard time cleaning it all. Back to the day of the leave, 2 hours in to waiting in their garage in the heat, my girlfriend sick and suffering, the lady comes down from the apartment (went up there with 2 more men to clean the place up), and complains to us about the place being filthy and hard to clean and the drain being blocked, and said we didn't inform her of any of that when we in fact did. We tried to explain how we've left the place decently clean and even asked them to hire a maid (which even seemed bizzare for us since we've never been asked such a thing, to clean up the place before we leave) and about the drained we told her again that we complained about the problem the previous day, were told it would be resolved later that day, but solution never came. No matter how we tried to explain things she wouldn't listen and blamed us for the "mess", at which point we saw that there is no one to talk to so we just agreed to whatever she said just to get going with the moving. After this we waited in the hot garage for 2 more hours, getting no indication of whats happening. I went and asked a few times if we'll be leaving soon and whats going on and kept recieving answers like "half an hour more", "soon", "any moment", and so on, never taking the blame for any delay or any other thing and making exuses on the way. By that time both me and my girlfriend start getting angry at the situation, and if she hadn't been sick and we had a different place to stay we surely would have cancelled and gone somewhere else as the situation was getting ridiculous. Finally after 4 hours of waiting a cab arrived, and as it arrived the lady came to tell us she is coming with us not just to show us the place but also to stay with us for a few nights in a different room in the apartment, to make sure were settled fine. We only wanted our privacy and were promised before the apartment is completely ours. Tired and furious from waiting, we confronted her about this and told her it is unacceptable to wait for so long, to be blamed for all the things we didn't do wrong, and that we really want our privacy, had we known that is the situation we wouldn't have asked for the place. After facing excuses and justifications, we unhappily got inside the cab, only wanting to get there and rest, tired of arguments and just wishing for our peace. In the car things got hot, she kept blaming us about everything and excusing her actions and the lateness, to which we tried to explained reasonably and quietly that we did everything right and that it is unacceptable to have been waiting 4 hours in the heat of the garage, especially with my sick girlfriend who was getting very bad in there. The argument developed into raised voiced on her side answered by mine and things got out of control, while my girlfriend only wanted to calm everyone down, but she just had to get the last word every time and after each time I lost my temper even more, until my girlfriend just burst crying from all of it. The lady was trying to comfort and appeal for us after being very rude and very loud, tried to reach and touch me and my girlfriend which was very unacceptable of me, so I blocked her hand away and asked her not to touch us. She would not quit her very annoying apologetic efforts until my girlfriend just told her to stop and leave her alone. We got to the place and the both of us felt very uncomfortable being there since she was there as well, but we decided to stay at least that night since we have no where else to go. As we calmed down we wanted to make things right, we all apologized to each other but we felt like its still very tense. We contacted the host on airbnb (their daughter), asking if we could get a refund since this situation is very uncomfortable for us. She kept defending her and her mom, blaming us yet again for everything that happened and offering to refund only 5000 rupees. This was unacceptable for us, and we did see there was an option to refund 11000 rupees depending on the host's approval, and asked her to approve that for us - to which we got an aggressive response, saying we only care about the money in this whole situation and denying the refund. As we thought about it further, my girlfriend, who has already been charged the sum, didnt want to lose the money and wanted to just make things right and get the stay over with, asked me to stay in the place until the end of the agreed stay (until the 18th) or at least until the last apartment was available again where we had our privacy. We had been told before that if we'd like to move back to the last place we could do so on the 11th of the month since that place is booked until then. We sent another message to the host on airbnb asking to calm everything down and stay at the place, to which she requested we look at another place they had just next to the place and consider staying there for 1200 rupees a night, since her sister will be coming back to stay at their house on the 11th. We agreed, and decided we could make the effort and stay until the 11th and see the nearby place, stay there if we like it or otherwise move back. The next day we went to see the place which was very tiny and unworthy of the price or of staying there at all, and so we went to airbnb's site to see if the first apartment would be available from the 11th, hoping we could even out the money we've paid. We discoverred it wasn't, and the only available place was another apartment in the same building available for a higher price which we are not willing to pay. At this point were feeling very uncomfortable, even my girlfriend who was willing to make peace doesnt want to stay here anymore. And so we decided we want to leave the following day (which would be tomorrow), and messaged the host asking to stay in the available apartment for the price of the last one so we dont lose our money and dont pay unreasonably, and were waiting for an answer from her now.
Honestly, by this point we both feel unbearably uncomfortable staying in any of their places and having to deal with these people, and want to move out and find a new place, but were very afraid for our money., and therefore we will stay here this night as well unless its resolved soon. We don't want to take this further yet and want to see how can we resolve things with the host without airbnb's help, but we would like to know what are our options and know we have your back in case they don't want to refund our money. If our money cant be returned we would have to stay here for the sake of not losing our money, but that would be very very uncomfortable for us.

We like using airbnb, but after this hellish experience we would like to know that airbnb has our back in extreme cases such as this, even though we are aware this is not exactly a good claim for refund according to what we could find on your site's policies. I did see airbnb gives their hosts a back in cases they have trouble with guests, and hope you could give the guests a back in case of trouble with hosts.

We feel this entire conflict could have been avoided if the host had cooperated with us. Majority of evidence is presented in the airbnb inbox between my girlfriend and the host.

Sorry for the very long letter and thank you for your attention, I'm hoping you could help us resolve this issue and that we could have your back in all this."

 

Thank you guys very much, any help is appriciated 🙂 

12 Replies 12
Cookie0
Level 1
Baltimore, MD

Yes you can they will refund you immediateLY JUST GO TO CANCEL IT'S EASY OK GOOD LUCK

Shachar1
Level 1
Mazkeret Batya, Israel

What option can we choose to cancel? The only reason we haven't done it yet is we had no idea how to cancel without forfeiting our money!

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Shachar1

If the new booking/change/payment is made through airbnb, you should call the airbnb emergency number in your itinerary.  If you have paid cash outside the system, you are in a pickle.

Dawn33
Level 10
San Marcos, TX

A worthy host would NEVER direct you elsewhere and then ask for cash payment. That should have been the frantic red flag for you.

 

You dealt with shady business.

 

Call Airbnb and tell them the problem. Good luck to you.

 

Thanks for the answers! We didn't pay any cash yet although we were asked to pay part of the sum in cash to cover the remainder of the stay (we were asked to book 4 nights on airbnb for the sake of another good rating on the regular fee but agreed we could stay there for 11 nights and the remainder would be paid by cash). We tried calling the emergency center but didn't get an answer. We're going to stay this night here to try to resolve this and also since we have no where else to go and cant spend more money on another accomadation until we know that we can get refunded, but we will leave first thing tomorrow morning in any case and hope airbnb can resolve this. Cheers 🙂

Any refund will take time to wend its way through, does not happen immediately.

David
Teri27
Level 2
Toronto, Canada

I just LOVE a well crafted -negative- review . . . just keep it to the point becasue you know you are above reproach.  It is they who are beyond it . ( Im actually smiling to myself imagining the lady wondering whats going on when people stop booking.  I  know I should be so gleeful but it's okay to be when the motive is noble.) And write it together so you can both laugh.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Posted in error.

Mary3689
Level 1
Poway, CA

Airbnb always supports the host not the guest. I have run into several issues with hosts lying on their listing etc and I have found that Airbnb does not protect their guests! It’s really  unfortunate!

Latheta0
Level 1
Birmingham, AL

I will never use this again!

Latheta0
Level 1
Birmingham, AL

My host has been ignoring me for 3 weeks now dealing with the covid-19 so i can't reschedule anything. I don't want to stay there at this point because it's very shady to just take someone money. I asked to reschedule my dates because of what's going on and airbnb is giving me the run around!

@Latheta0 

VERY SHADY !

 

BTW. Your host will not have any of your money. AirBnb have it all.

 

Now, what dates are you wanting to cancel?