Cheated by host, no help from AirBNB

[Ian27202]

My host said I had not paid for the last night and asked me for cash. 

She said I did not need to pay through AirBNB.

I gave her the money and then I checked my emails and saw that I had actually paid for the last night.

My host had now gone out and so I called the host and explained this.  She said she would give me the money when she came back.

When she came back, she said she had no cash.  She said she would send me the money by Paypal, tomorrow (the day I was leaving).

I never received the money.

I sent many messages.  She explained she had now travelled abroad to a funeral and could not do the transfer.  Then she stopped replying to me.

I explained all this to AirBNB.

They said there was nothing they could do since I had given money outside of AirBNB.

I explained that it was an AirBNB host who had asked me to pay her outside of AirBNB.

It is a dishonest AirBNB host.

I also explained that the whole experience in the apartment was bad - the electric wall sockets were hanging off the wall, the toilet was not working properly, the internet was intermittent, and the TV could only work if the TV worked.  There was no handle on the inside of the main front door and it was difficult to get out - it once took me 10 minutes to open it, in the dark, because there was no light in the corridor.  I believe the building was marked for demolition.

AirBNB refused to give me a refund  and just closed my conversation with them.

I paid twice for the last night.  I have never got my money back.

My last question to AirBNB was who I could appeal to / complain to about their decision, but AirBNB did not respond and just closed the conversation.

[Nanxing0]

Sorry about your experience but I guess when you booked on Airbnb, you should have been notified by Airbnb that you should never make any cash deal outside the Airbnb platform. The host asking you for cash is a behavior prohibited by Airbnb and his/her hosting account will be suspended if you make Airbnb aware of his/her behavior. 

I'd suggest that you send your host a message stating that he/she has been paid by Airbnb so should return you the cash you paid to him/her. If not you will report this to Airbnb. My feeling is that this is not only a dishonest host but somehow an intended fraud however since the amount is small you might not get too much help from law enforcement. If the host doesn't care, the only thing you can probably do is to report the host to Airbnb and they will shut down his/her account. 

[Helen350]

I disagree @Nanxing0  - What IS prohibited, is guests using the platform to make INITIAL contact with hosts, then attempting to make a FIRST booking off platform. Once a guest has payed ON platform & stayed with a host, then any future stays off platform are a private matter between host & guest & nothing to do with Airbnb. Airbnb do not control the future relationship between host & guest for evermore, just the initial booking booked & paid for on platform.

@Ian27202  CHOSE to pay the host cash. I don't know if the host intended to charge twice or made a mistake. Obviously if the host did not realise it was charged on platform, & it was a genuine mistake, then s/he should refund the overpayment, morally.  But Ian chose to make a cash payment, so he is at fault for doing this without checking.

[Sammy35]

@Helen350 yup

don't know how people fall for this kind of duping (which aren't inadvertent unintended oversights) in real life.  there are ways to go about discounts and costs.  airbnb doesn't even offer enough host protections as it is, let alone to off the platform agreements and verbal contract disputes.  

[Nanxing0]

@Helen350 What I was saying is that if you are well on top of things you can choose the method you prefer, as long as you understand all the advantages/disadvantages of each method. Apparently the OP is a new user here so adhering with the default payment method would be the safest. I know lots of people have problem with Airbnb including myself but that's not the argument here.

Based on the OP's description this incident doesn't look like a "mistake" made by the host, unless the host is also a new host and doesn't understand the process fully. A "confirmed" reservation looks completely different than something unpaid. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/199/what-should-i-do-if-someone-asks-me-to-pay-outside-of-the-ai...

Note: Any reservations that are made outside of Airbnb violate our Terms of Service. If we identify that a reservation was made through a third-party service, we may cancel the reservation and deactivate the accounts of the person who made the reservation and the guest.

[Helen350]

@Nanxing0 Yes, but there is nothing to stop someone making an initial reservation through Airbnb, & then when they are staying, coming to a private arrangement about future days. If someone books DAY 1 of a stay with Airbnb, they have obeyed the rules, of using the platform, & reserving/paying thru the platform. 

My point was, that once a guest is in the host's place, they are free to come to any arrangement for subsequent nights booked. If someone books one night, the Airbnb contract is over next morning, at check out time. Host & guest ARE then free to come to a private arrangement if they wish! Airbnb does not own that relationship! 

[Nanxing0]

@Helen350 I completely agree with you on this and in fact I frequently have guests asking to extend stays and some of them do offer to pay cash. My point is that before making the decision, guests should be aware of the difference between the two methods, namely the host/guest protection that Airbnb officially offers. Usually I explain to them the difference.

I know some people might argue that the host/guest protection offered by Airbnb is not helpful, but I had pretty positive experience with them. I have had several complaints filed for damage caused by guests that are all covered. They do have something they don't cover, as well as a specific procedure you have to follow precisely, but it's better than nothing. At least in my area, if we simply accept cash for a short term stay, there's no protection at all. Even the homeowner's insurance would not cover anything.

[Sammy35]

airbnb is very judicious about shutting down accounts without extreme examples and proof.  please don't make that assumption.  that process isn't super reliable, especially right now during covid

[Sarah977]

@Ian27202  Sorry you encountered a dishonest host who ripped you off, but I can't understand why you wouldn't have checked your payment record before handing the host cash, instead of after. That's pretty naive. Of course Airbnb can't and won't do anything about it- it's just your word against hers now as to whether you gave her money- how are they supposed to know who's telling the truth?

As for all the things about the listing that were bad- you can't just stay at a place, then say there were things wrong and expect to get a refund. That's not how it works at all. If you arrive at a place to find that it's unacceptable in some way, you are supposed to first notify the host, to give them an opportunity to fix it, then if they can't, or won't, you can either call Airbnb to cancel the rest of the stay and leave, or decide it's not so bad and continue your booking. Issues like the TV not working, no light in the hallway to see what you are doing with the door lock, are things to mention in the review if you choose to stay anyway. You can also ask the host, during a stay, to give you a partial refund if there are things that are not working that were advertised as part of what is provided (Good hosts will offer, a guest doesn't even have to ask- if the fridge stops working for a day, the host may offer to refund $30 or something like that) . Although this host doesn't sound like someone who would do that.

You can't just complete a stay and then think you should get refunded because there were things you didn't like about the place. 

When you look for a listing to book, make sure you read through the reviews and read thoroughly through the listing description. Also exchange a message or two with the host before committing to a booking, to see if you are comfortable with the way they respond. The guests who seem to have the most problems with encountering crummy places and bad hosts are those who just book whatever is cheapest without really doing much research.

[Ian27202]

Thanks for your replies.

1. There was only 1 ommebt lett by a previous gjesta. It just said the place was ok.
2. The host was a single mother with a young child. They were poor and needed the money. That's why I stayed, even though there were problems in the apartment. I even comsidered offering to pay to fix their toilet and the wall sockets, to help them.
3. I had no intention of complaining about the conditions. I did not ask AirBNB for a refund for that. I did not want to close her down. I just mention the conditions to explain that the host and the apartment were bad.
4. It was then host who TOLD me, convincingly, that I had not paid for the last night. I guessed I had calculated wrongly and just paid her cash, as she requested.
5. AirBNB could see from all my conversation messages with the host, that I had need asking the host for my money back, and that the hosts responses showed that she would send me the money soon...

[Helen3]

Please make sure you leave an honest review to forewarn other guests about the property and the fact she has taken money and being paid twice  @Ian27202 

You can open a claim in the resolution centre for the return of the money but as others have said as you made the arrangement outside of Airbnb they have no powers to force the host to repay.

It's irrelevant whether you think the host didn't have money. it's about whether the property is as described in the listing if not you have the right to ask for things to be corrected and if they can't/won't to be refunded and have Airbnb help you find an alternative.

[Sarah977]

@Ian27202  Thanks for explaining further. I mistakenly thought you were wanting a refund for the whole stay, rather than just getting your double payment for the one night back. Sorry.

You really should be honest in your review about the conditions, otherwise other guests will just have to face the same bad conditions. I can see you felt kind of sorry for her, you sound like a kind person, but hosting is a job, like other jobs- if you don't attend to important parts of your job, you won't have a job anymore. That's how the world works. When bad hosts are just allowed to continue to not repair things and give guests a bad experience, it gives Airbnb and other hosts, by extension, a bad name. A review which mentions what wasn't working won't get her delisted, but it might make her realize that she needs to be more responsible. And really, in my opinion, a host who cheats a guest like this should  be delisted. She'll just have to find another way to make money.

I was a poor single mom, too, many years ago, with 3 kids. But that's not an excuse to rent out something that's not decent. If she can't afford to fix things which are essential, like a toilet, then she shouldn't be hosting, and if she can't afford to fix things that aren't essential, she shouldn't tell guests she has those things. It sounds more like she just doesn't care. 

You don't have to be mean about it, but you should state in the review the things that needed dealing with. There's nothing wrong with not providing a TV for guests, for instance - I don't have a TV in my house at all, but then she needs to remove the TV from her list of amenities. Hosts shouldn't tell guests they'll have this or that if those things don't work properly.

 If there are messages from the host saying she'll pay you back, then I agree that Airbnb should deduct what she wrongly took from you from her next payouts, and refund you that, but they don't like hearing that cash was exchanged- it's against their policies, so they are just washing their hands of it all. You could try being persistent, but I think it will be a waste of your time. I don't know know how much money you're talking about here- you have to decide if it's worth hours of your time to pursue it. It's terrible of her to have cheated you like this, but I think it's just one of those things you're going to have to let go. Consider it an involuntary donation to a poor, dishonest, single mom, if that makes it any easier to stomach.

And if a place only had one review that only said it was "okay", I'd take that as a "not okay". If a place is good (doesn't have to be fancy,  just clean and everything in working order), and the host behaves responsibly, a guest usually has more to say about it than that. That guest maybe felt like you- thought the place was pretty bad, but didn't want to hurt her with complaints or cancelling and leaving.

[Ian27202]

I think you're right...   the previous guest probably felt the same as me and did not want to wreck the hosts chances of making money by writing a negative review.  Even now, I could not write anything negative because I know any future money she makes will be going help her and her daughter.  But I thought AirBNB would at least have compensated me for my loss, since it was their host who had cheated me our of the money, and that's why I wanted to take this further with whichever body monitors AirBNB.

[Sarah977]

@Ian27202  That's the problem- no one monitors Airbnb. They just motor along, shafting hosts and guests alike and getting away with it. Occasionally someone takes them to court and that usually results in them giving in or losing the case, but who wants to go to all that time and expense? Not most people.

Spend some time reading through a few pages of the hosting section of this forum to see all the outrageous things that happen to hosts that Airbnb won't do anything about. Several long time hosts have posted just this week, saying they are leaving the platform because of how they've been dealt with by Airbnb. Guests think Airbnb always takes the hosts' side and hosts think they always take the guests' side, but in reality, they just have terrible customer service in general and they don't seem to care at all. Occasionally you'll get lucky and get a good, knowledgeable rep dealing with your case, but that doesn't seem to be the norm- most of them are clueless and incompetent and just close the case when there hasn't been an acceptable resolution, or say they'll get back to you, but never do.

It's really a shame, because if there aren't any issues between hosts and guests and no reason to involve Airbnb customer service, the whole Airbnb concept can be great. I've had wonderful guests who've all been pleased with the accommodation and it's been a good experience for me and them and I've met some awesome people.  But anytime I've had some issue with a tech glitch on their site, for instance, and had to deal with them, their responses are super frustrating and maddening. I can't imagine how aggravated I'd be if I really had some serious issue.

[Huma0]

@Ian27202 

You are being kind, but it would be fairer to future guests if you wrote an honest review so that they don't have the same problems as you. You don't need to be personal about it, just factual about what did and didn't work in the apartment.

If you feel really uncomfortable about that, at least be honest in your star ratings and send the host some private feedback RE the areas that need improving. Perhaps she already knows all that but maybe she thinks it's no big deal, when actually it is. I mean, the toilet needs to work at least!