Guest Refund policy

[Glorie0]

We booked a place the day before my hen's (host was aware that the booking was for an event).  We turned up to the property and found several issues:

- 2 additional sleepouts in front of the house in the frontyard that were not mentioned

- pool was dirty and unusable despite being listed in property amenities

- there was big furniture stacked outside the front door

- lawns and weeds were overgrown

- pantry, fridge and freezer were full of their food and drinks

I called the host and she refused to acknowledge any of these issues except the lawns.  She said she may try to find someone to do the lawns the next day, but this would be too late.  She did not address or offer to remedy any of the other issues.

I advised her by voicemail and text about 20mins later that we could not host my event in her property at its current state as it was not what was listed.  We told her we would cancel for a refund.

I am appalled by the host and Airbnb.  Given the issues, we provided airbnb with photos, call logs and texts and outlined the points in their policy the host had violated.  In addition due to the host's non-response, Airbnb gave her a 48 hour deadline to respond.  The host replied 96 hours later and airbnb continued despite it being past the deadline that they had set.

Our refund was denied with the reason given that we did not give the host ample time to remedy the issues.  There was obviously more than one issue and the host failed to even acknowledge them so why would she fix it?? We did not have the luxury of time with our event the next day and the host was uncooperative.

Airbnb gave no further explanation and repeatedly ignore my requests for a call or explanation as to what the grounds are in their policy that warranted the refusal to refund our money.  All they say is that the case is closed, its like they do not care and are biased towards the host.

Can someone shed some light on what we may have done wrong in this situation? I felt that we had handled an unfortunate situation fairly, but according to airbnb we did not and I struggle to understand their empty justifications for siding with the host.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Glorie0

I was actually only just expressing my surprise that you didn't get a refund when your reasons seem valid.... whereas we've seen plenty of examples where people get refunds for the most outrageous and ridiculous reasons. 

Maybe calm down a bit before you bite someone's head off 🙂 

Did you miss my comment from my first post "I am genuinely surprised that you were refused a refund." 

[Glorie0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0Oh, got it!
Sorry, about that! As you can imagine, it's been extremely frustrating dealing with Airbnb and I literally get stonewalled by email, twitter, facebook and over the phone.  

If they explained their reasoning or even alluded to the clause in their policy that justifies it, then I would understand.  But they do nothing except ignore my requests and their only answer is that the "case is closed" 😕

Again, I'm really sorry about that!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Glorie0

We hosts are USUALLY the ones one the receiving end of that type of treatment....... abb has been known to bend over backwards for guests so while I understand your frustration don't give up and continue to go at them. 

Also, next time you choose to book thru abb, you should be more selective. The host you booked with has a lot of cancellations which is always a red flag.

[Glorie0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0
Thanks, I'm not sure what else I can do.  They're just not responding at all, or if they do, it's just the automatic canned responses.  I've even tried appealing to the host's better nature, which is a roadblock as well.
Will definitely keep that in mind next time I come across any issues with airbnb in the future and will go through them next time.  I thought given the photos, texts and calls that there was no way we could be refused a refund, but I guess I was wrong. 
I've never really taken notice of cancellations, have just looked at reviews in the past, but will definitely keep that in mind, thanks for the head's up 🙂 Just a bummer that this has happened, every other place we have stayed in has exceeded our expectations, guess there's a first time for everything.