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

[Kathryn75]

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?

[Corey132]

I have multiple properties listed in Airbnb and have for a few years. I also have them listed on the other STR site.  I would say Airbnb customer service is some of the worst I have ever experienced.  The people who answer the phone are not knowledgeable and 10 times out of 10 they side with the guest on any issues that come up. I have had scam guests find one small problem with a house like a spot of mildew or a a dust blind, call Airbnb and get a full or partial refund. 

[Melanie723]

Yes. As a Superhost on Airbnb I was not paid for one of the stays I hosted. I have been in touch with Airbnb over 10 times, I keep getting a runaround on the phone and there is a “bug”. The payment is now over 30 days late. Very disappointing.

[Julie3287]

I am a new host on Air Bnb and have had the same awful horrible mafia like response from them.  They are happy to collect money and have come up with faux customer service. I just had a guest cause over $1,000 worth of damage and I am so upset I will never see this paid for. We need a BETTER BnB  buisness to come out as some competition. Won't take much to do a better job than the current Air BnB. 

[Donald28]

dont give up., File the claim in the correct place on airbnb, add pics and links to same items for sale currently and hound them every other day. That is the ONLY way you will get reimbursed. They expect people to get frustrated and give up. If you don't, they will eventually do the right thing... mostly.

I went through it on 2 separate occasions. It was not fun and took a lot of effort but I succeeded in at least getting SOME of the money back.

1. a $3000 neon light was broken by a 12yro kid throwing a football into it. It was $900 to have repaired. Airbnb finally stepped up and game me $700. I do know what their rationale was for not paying the entire invoice. I was still out the $200. 

2. a toddler peed on a mattress that cost me $1000 to replace. After a couple months of back and forth, airbnb finally stepped up and paid $800 of the $1000 cost. Again, I don't know wwhy they didn't pay the entire amount?

I was out $400 total and it took a lot of aggravation, time and travelling to fix both issues. Airbnb shouldn't make it so difficult. 

[Erica-and-Joe0]

I appreciate the advice.

Truth is there host guarantee is simple and defined on the website. Their customer service should be there to back it up. Their cut is more then ample to cover theses rare instances of guest abuse to host homes. They need to hire more empowered employees and protect the platform so host don't eagerly jump when a better platform with better service starts to come in to the picture.

[Andrew703]

Feeling the same 

No proper support for owners

Service very poor

[Bill264]

The "helpline" is ironically named. Yes, I have seen a marked deterioration the last year.  They deliberately avoid addressing the issues raised.

[Luka285]

Airbnb has worst support i faced in my 15+ years online life.

In March of 2020, someone booked on Airbnb from my CreditCard, it was not me, i don't know who did this, maybe someone stole my CC info somewhere, i don't know. Please keep in mind that i'm software engineer with 14+years experience and things like phishing/hijacking and etc. is impossible to do with me, so someone just took a photo fo my CC or something like this. So, i'm charged from Bank and transaction is already was done, I sent message to Airbnb and guess what they did? ) - Nothing ) 3 times i sent message and each time they are answering me - Please contact your Bank. That's all - no explanation, no detailed message, no sorry, no refund.

[Michael5132]

I have contacted them through customer support, DM'ed their twitter accounts, posted in the community forum....with absolutely NOTHING to show for it. This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life, and I've flown with Spirit airlines a few times

[Lily11]

This is the message I just sent up Airbnb, and am sharing it so as to explain the poor customer service I received (for over the past month). Since it’s been going on for so long, it would be exhausting to type every single detail, but this summarises:

“You know, money aside, I wish you’d all shown, at very least, empathy and respect to the fact that I was misled, that the host did not express an ounce of welcoming, preparation, ie. cleaning, ridding the refrigerator of smelly spoilt food (by his own admission!), cleaning out all the mass amounts of debris and leaves from the jacuzzi and pool/cleaning off patio table of all the beer cans and pot paraphernalia, providing clean patio seating, taking some sort of action to prepare space in the loo for me to place, at very least, toothpaste/brush, and flat out telling me he’d rather not do Airbnb but was only doing it for money - I wish you’d shown understanding and empathy to the fact that his photos and entire profile were misleading. Instead, you focused more on the money than even I did. Every one of your replies only addressed money. Not one of them addressed the above. Were it not for the other amazing hosts and experiences I’ve had with Airbnb, not just as a guest, but as a Super Host, I’d stop using it completely. But I’ve met some lovely people - some with whom I’m still in touch- and fortunately, Jonny is an exception. Fortunately also for Airbnb, eh? And finally, the way this case was handled as to all described above, is a surprising experience, too. Where did the loyalty and appreciation for those of us who’ve put in time and energy to keep your company in such high standing? And, of course, you think I’m referring to money. Are dollar signs and money the only language or message you understand? It appears so. And that disappoints me far more than a refund. The money was spent, so no big deal - I have too much dignity to fuss and moan over a refund. You’ve all missed the entire point of this case. I suppose you will send me another stock reply? My only comfort, at this moment, is that this situation is an exception to all the other ways I’ve been addressed.”

[Erica-and-Joe0]

Yup its a ridiculous cyclone of bull **bleep** and getting nowhere. Tonight after listening to the most drab song for 30 minus solid (so bad I wanted to put a soldering iron in my ears). Then a nice concerned person actually picked up the phone. The conversation was good/ fine we even laughed. I expressed concerns and such about my frustration. She literally faked like she couldn't hear me then hung up. It went like this "Hello Joseph,.. ?" then disconnected. My phone works 100% of the time in my home office. Uuuughh and they are thinking about going public?! That should be great for all of us.

[Misti12]

I think I might be in the wrong community, but at this point it even seems like the host are getting the worse end of the stick as well.. earlier today I tried to complete a booking, I went the process and it charged my account, then the page just kept refreshing to the same thing. I contacted the host about the reservation and they informed me they needed to pre approved my booking I said okay and he sent the email. I processed to complete the booking and accept the invite and Airbnb tried to charge me again. So I reach out to customer service and I haven’t gotten absolutely ANYWHERE ABOUT THE CHARGE. The booking isn’t complete and no one will help me out. The stupid automatic system keeps closing my tickets and not resolving anything 

[Lily11]

It’s really gone downhill. Used to be that they protected both guest and host, but I’m actually a Super Host and was recently a guest and was treated horribly! 

[Lily11]

Here’s how I can best describe my experience last July. Copy pasted below my reply to their utter disregard of my experience;

You know, money aside, I wish you’d all shown, at very least, empathy and respect to the fact that I was misled, that the host did not express an ounce of welcoming, preparation, ie. cleaning, ridding the refrigerator of smelly spoilt food (by his own admission!), cleaning out all the mass amounts of debris and leaves from the jacuzzi and pool/cleaning off patio table of all the beer cans and pot paraphernalia, providing clean patio seating, taking some sort of action to prepare space in the loo for me to place, at very least, toothpaste/brush, and flat out telling me he’d rather not do Airbnb but was only doing it for money - I wish you’d shown understanding and empathy to the fact that his photos and entire profile were misleading. Instead, you focused more on the money than even I did. Every one of your replies only addressed money. Not one of them addressed the above. Were it not for the other amazing hosts and experiences I’ve had with Airbnb, not just as a guest, but as a Super Host, I’d stop using it completely. But I’ve met some lovely people - some with whom I’m still in touch- and fortunately, Jonny is an exception. Fortunately also for Airbnb, eh? And finally, the way this case was handled as to all described above, is a surprising experience, too. Where did the loyalty and appreciation for those of us who’ve put in time and energy to keep your company in such high standing? And, of course, you think I’m referring to money. Are dollar signs and money the only language or message you understand? It appears so. And that disappoints me far more than a refund. The money was spent, so no big deal - I have too much dignity to fuss and moan over a refund. You’ve all missed the entire point of this case. I suppose you will send me another stock reply? My only comfort, at this moment, is that this situation is an exception to all the other ways I’ve been addressed.

[Emi1]

Airbnb Support has become hell on Earth. I cannot describe how bad this new Support is. Case managers close emergency tickets without resolution. They close emergency tickets even without contacting the host or the guest. My safety-related case was closed/reopened 8-9 times without resolution. The case was redirected to 9 case managers over several weeks. These ambassadors and case managers all remained silent, condescending, or neglectful. Still no resolution as of today! I called so many times, I don't see the end to this. Airbnb support is so bad nowadays that I have to consider deleting my account permanently. I contacted the CEO who does not seem to care, really. I contacted the CTO who never responded, although we are connected on Linkedin. I don't understand how a support department can become that bad. There is nothing to compare with.