Getting ripped off

[Chris1334]

We rented this house for 4 days based on the description listed in airbnb. When we arrived we found it to be nothing as described. I guess there is a reason the majority of online picures are of the decorations. The house is not in a good neighborhood and that is evident when you enter the neighborhood that its run down and drug and gang infested. Which was backed up by the hotel staff where we ended up going. They said they dont even go into that neighborhood. After doing a check of the property through the national sex offender registery. I found that there are actually 50 registered sex offenders with in a 3 mile radious of this house. But that was not learned until after we left. The reasons we left with in an hour of arriving was do to dirty floors, stained and dirty carpet, a toilt that was not even bolted down to the floor which rocked when you sat on it allowing sewage smell, a mirrored closet door that was off its track and just laying in the closet, and having a flea jump on my wife as she sat on the bed in the only room with stained dirty carpet. We contacted the host about the issues and were told she would reger us to airbnb. It took several hours for someone from airbnb to even contact us and they were useless. By this time we had found a hotel with the last two rooms left in all of lawton. So we took them and left. We spent two days argueing with airbnb about a refund. They were useless and rude even hanging up on us twice. We spoke to several spokes people at airbnb and actually got one guy who cared and told us that airbnb had not followed theor own return policy. We told them we had pictures of the property to back up what we were saying. They asked to see them and we forwarded them on. Theu told us they were not good enough (because they didnt want to refund our money) we were told to return and get mpre pictures which we agreed to do only to find out the host changed the lock code even tho we still technically had the property rented. I wish id done more research on the airbnb company because i fould out later that there are alot of people having the same complaints about this company and getting ripped off. I will never do business with them again. Beware of this hous and its host. I habe already filed a complaint with BBB and speaking with a lawyer about a civil suit not only for the refund of $650 but also for the $1200.00 it cost to go somewhere else along with other legal bills.

[Jonathan6]

My experiance with ABnB in a similar situation was much different.  We also showed up at a home on a remote island in Panama to find that the host had misrepresented the property.  We immediatly contacted ABnB who tried to work it out with the host, but he was unresponsive and they arranged to move me to another property immediatly.

The fact that we documented the issue immediatly, attempted to work with the host through the ABnB system and that the host was not responsive to ABnB made a strong case for a refund/move.

I posted a scathing review for the host (well documented) and the host eventually withdrew their listing.  You should do the same

The lesson with ABnB is to do your research up front, check the location, read the reviews and do your searches before hand.  This is no differant than going to a hotel, there is some buyer beware responsibility on your part.  That it was not as represented that you should have been able to show with proper pictures is on the host.

Good Luck

[Chris1334]

I agree and we did look at the pictures provided by the host, which turned out not to be acurate at all.  Which explains why most of the pictures were of the decorations inside.  It only had 5 reviews and were all positive. I have never used this airbnb but the more research i do the more and more disatisfied ppl i come across.  We tried reaching out to the host several times over those two days and she would not return our txts or calls. Like i told airbnb when they troed to tell me about thier 5 day cancellation policy was how can you truly know what tje place is like until your there especially when the pictures and description losted are not honest.  Ive reached out to them through this twitter app. So well see what happens

[Letti0]

@Chris1334   First off if the door code was changed and you had not cancelled the host was violating the rental agreement as you were paid up for that time. Second, you should be refund in full. Don't bother with who you are dealing with currently. State the above information into a direct message on Twitter to AirbnbHelp. You can add your photo's also. Stress that they changed the code, the dirt and general uncleanliness, the flea infestation, the broken door, the neighborhood and home interior note as described. Also go the flag on both the listing and the hosts profile and report them both. You should have better results with Twitter than you have been having. In case you don't have a twitter account here's how to set one up. 

Here's how to sign up with Twitter:  https://help.twitter.com/en/create-twitter-account

Once your account is created log in to Twitter click on the little box on the top righthand side that says search twitter. Type in AirbnbHelp  and hit the enter key. Click on the righthand side the little tab that says follow and hit enter. Then on top will be a Messages click on that and start a conversation. Type in air and click on AirbnbHelp send a direct message with all the information you have put together in the message. Then hit send. It sounds complicated, but it's really not only about 5-10 minutes and once set up it's instant to contact them via message just by logging into your Twitter account. 

[Chris1334]

I what you said.  They told me the case manager had already closed the case so my understanding is its over with and im just out the money

[Chris1334]

Thank you  i set up a twitter account and contacted them.  They are looking into it so well see what happens. I would agree that you should do yoir homework which we did.  The pictures and description of property was nothing like it was posted. It only had 5 reviews and they were all good.  We tried reaching out to the host several times through txt and calls but she just ignored us after the initial complaint.  Like i told airbnb how is a person suppose to know what a place truly looks like until your there. This was after they tried to use the 5 day cancelation policy.  Like i told them id ratjer the place been nice and beem able to stay because it cist me a hell of alot more money to go stay in a hotel

[Chris1334]

I actually just heard back from them and they have basically told me to piss off and closed the account and we didnt even know it.  They will never get another dime from me as they are not a reputable company. I will reach out to the attorney that i saw on another site that was looking into a class action lawsuit against this company and tell him to sign me up!!!