Is anyone else receiving awful customer service? ( this poor service is new)

Kathryn75
Level 10
Colorado, United States

Is anyone else receiving awful customer service? ( this poor service is new)

Hi all,

 

Unfortunately, as a host,  I have had to reach out to customer service 4 different times in the last three months, and each time I have had horrible support via email and phone calls.

Emails bounce back. Claims are closed without review. Support is not immediate, I had to wait for two months for assistance with one claim.

 

I have been a full time host and occasional guest with AirBnB since 2009. Over this time span, when something comes up, I receive immediate, top notch support and resolution. Now, perhaps in the last 6 months, I am experiencing a serious decline in service.

 

Are other people experiencing this? 

To me, if I don't have great customer service, or reimbursement support for claims ( mine was a proven theft with police report) then why pay fees to AirBnB? Why stay with AirBnB?  I am quite perplexed, as this has been a nice business for me, and I feel it may be time to leave AirBnB. Are others feeling this way too?

 

 

273 Replies 273

I know how you feel. I went through a similar ordeal. AirBnb cancelled a 1 month rental of mine and never informed me. They could have cared less when I inquired. Then they wrote and said I didn't qualify to retain my long standing Super host. No reason other than I didn't have enough activity in the last quarter. Gee-I wonder why??? I have 100% response time on inquires, Have never canceled a guest, all reviews over 7 years have been great, but I'm no longer a Super Host. Considering hanging it up. Life's too short to be treated poorly. Good luck and above all, value yourself.

I know how you feel. I went through a similar ordeal. AirBnb cancelled a 1 month rental of mine and never informed me. They could have cared less when I inquired. Then they wrote and said I didn't qualify to retain my long standing Super host. No reason other than I didn't have enough activity in the last quarter. Gee-I wonder why??? I have 100% response time on inquires, Have never canceled a guest, all reviews over 7 years have been great, but I'm no longer a Super Host. Considering hanging it up. Life's too short to be treated poorly. Good luck .@Emi1  and above all, value yourself.

I know how you feel Emi1. I went through a similar ordeal. AirBnb cancelled a 1 month rental of mine and never informed me. They could have cared less when I inquired. Then they wrote and said I didn't qualify to retain my long standing Super host. No reason other than I didn't have enough activity in the last quarter. Gee-I wonder why??? I have 100% response time on inquires, Have never canceled a guest, all reviews over 7 years have been great, but I'm no longer a Super Host. Considering hanging it up. Life's too short to be treated poorly. Good luck .@Emi1  and above all, value yourself.

Lily11
Level 2
Chicago, IL

 You basically just described my exact same experience with them, so I 110% agree with you,  and believe everything you wrote. I submitted my experience a while back in this thread. Perhaps you can locate it? I even copied and pasted “conversation “ via chat I had with all different “support reps” who were, supposedly, working on my case. Yeah, right. The part you wrote about their condescending attitudes and impossibility to reach CEO...! EXACTLY. Actually, EVERYthing you experienced, as described in your complaint, happened to me. And it was also due to a host’s dishonesty on their post! Unbelievable. And what’s worse is that, despite how many of us complain and report on this platform, we are STILL being ignored. My situation like yours happened nearly a year ago! And yet, here you are, several months later, describing the same. We make them money!!! 

I have only read random posts within this thread, however I can relate and agree with each and everyone I did read.  Airbnb customer "service" sucks.  I don't interact with Customer service unless it's a last resort, but every time I do it has been incredibly negative.  My latest instance was just this morning - a call with an obsequious woman in the Philippines who had a canned answer for everything, but no resolution to my concerns other than to thank me for my feedback.  I am a grown man who is probably a lot older than she is and I've been an Airbnb host for certainly much longer than her call center has been acting on Airbnb's behalf.  It is unacceptable and inappropriate to spoken to as if I were an fussy child.  

 

While it might make us feel better to vent - what are we as hosts going to do about this unacceptable treatment?

@Kevin2018 I had to read yours more thoroughly to see if it was not something I had written! Especially that you put the word service in quotation marks - something I’ve done many times. Your last question, good point… And I think it’s pretty telling that we don’t have an answer to that.

Jon3046
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

Not allowing me to join the conversation

Jon3046
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

Horrible customer service.  AirBnB International now and the people handling any claims are not professional in the least.  Long bouts of Customer Service Reps going on long breaks and not handling important matters.  The number of network "glitches" with messaging being deleted is too strange!

Awful customer service. I’ve opened a ticket almost a month ago; sent messages and also called a few times; they were unable to give me any updates. This is very frustrating 

Yes...I entered the wrong dates, my fault. After reserving I did get a confirmation email that I glossed over. I never received check-in information, reminder emails or anything to trigger knowledge that the dates were wrong.

 

The owner refuse any credit or reschedule. Accused me of possibly lying about not being there. I offered proof of where I was during those dates. He would not accept it.  He also said Airbnb is supposed to send check-in info and reminders. 

 

I turned to Airbnb who said they would work on getting a resolution. Day or so later an email that said basically not refund, partial or full, no reschedule etc.  When I finally got a call from them I asked whose responsibility it was to send check-in info etc. and she they said the owner does that.  

 

basically after after two calls, and two days of emails asking for this to be escalated it is still unresolved. The only thing I got was a message saying they hoped I was happy with the outcome and wanted to close out the issue.  

 

They suck. Would never use them and would not recommend owner Powell Pittman's to anyone.

I asked repeatedly how they could allow a customer to not be notified of check-in procedures etc and they and the owner just pointed fingers back and forth. Then they closed the complaint without returning my calls. 

@Bonnie416 I'm sorry, but why do you think the host should be responsible for a guest entering the wrong dates and then not even bothering to check your reservation confirmation? How would the host or Airbnb know you entered dates you didn't want? 

 

Meantime, your mistake meant the host's calendar was blocked to other bookings for those dates. So you think the host should bear the loss of income because you made a mistake?

 

As far as check-in info, of course hosts need to send that. But some hosts only send that a day before check-in, and if a guest hasn't received it in time, tge guest needs to message and ask for it. 

 

So you only noticed the wrong dates when and how if you got no communication from the host?

And it isn't incumbennt on the host to send you "reminder" messages that you have a booking.

Seems like you are taking this personally, hmm wonder why? So I took responsibility for my error. I noticed the wrong dates when I got a email from Airbnb asking me to review my stay. I travel a lot since I retired and every place I have stayed always sends reminders and arrival/check-in instructions prior to the arrival date. None of this was done.  Appealing to the human side, I asked the owner for a full/partial or off schedule date.  Airbnb said the info should have been sent by the owner, the owner blamed Airbnb and says he NEVER send the check-in info.  So while I own my error they do not. Repeat business and word of mouth helps build, or tear down, the brand. I have always thought Airbnb a good business to work with, at least until now. But if you search Google, which I have, Airbnb  has been sued several times, even by host, and their customer service is ranked very poorly. 

 

 

@Bonnie416  Taking it personally? No. Not sure what gave you that impression.

 

Two wrongs don't make a right, do they? 

 

Of course the host should have sent check-in info, but as most hosts don't send that info until a day or two before check-in anyway, how would that have changed the fact that you booked the wrong dates and were not eligible for a refund? Even if he had sent it the day before, you still wouldn't have been eligible for a refund.

 

If the host said he never sends check-in info, that info must have been included on your reservation, no? Or in a message when you first booked? Or in the listing info? How else would any of his guests be able to access the place? Sounds strange. Is he a new, clueless host, maybe? 

 

I'm not sure how you consider that asking for a refund, or to apply your payment to a rescheduled booking, after your booking dates had come and gone, is "owning the mistake". Had the host refunded you, that would have meant he was deprived of his income for dates that weren't open to anyone else  to book. 

 

Owning one's mistake means accepting the consequences, not trying to blame someone else because they weren't as responsible as you expected. 

 

You getting your dates wrong and not realizing until the dates were over is a separate issue from the host's lack of communication.

Yea, you sound very invested. Almost like you work for Airbnb or know the owner. 

 

Had he or Airbnb sent check-in info  I would have been triggered and called in advance. As it was, after the fact the owner pretty much called me a liar and rejected proof I offered that I had not stayed there. Airbnb was very willing to help and thought the owner should accommodate until the owner refused then they sided with him. 

 

So there. This is done now. Trust karma.

No reimbursement for in unit washer/dryer. we had a guest break a part of our Fagor washer/dryer - and they don't make these parts anymore or even the brand -- we had our appliance pro submit a professional estimate and invoice - $1,800 and our AIR support was laughable -- really bad service and complete lack of knowledge about what our Resolution Tag was stating --- so basically AIR did NOTHING so support our SUPERHOST status and that we have been with them for over 9  years now.....very disappointing -- not a dime in appliance reimbursement and just a lot of shuffling the "RESOLUTION" order from one rep to another....