Refund after finding bedbugs?

[Tiffany456]

We recently had a stay at an airbnb ( 7/31-8/02) but after the first day we found bed bugs the next morning and immeddiately contacted the host who by the way is unrepsonsive. AFter a few hours he said we can leave and will give us a full refund.. well that HAS not happened.  We also called airbnb and created a ticke for this issue same day... curious why airbnb teams have not contacted us (how long does this usually take? ) my family waas basically left hanging, and we had to find a hotel right away but now have to worry that we are not bringing bed bugs back home!! 

Just trying to see how long does this process tkae to get a a full refund? Its been 5 days.... and host has completed ignored us after we confirmed we left the airbnb. 

[Jennifer2550]

Awful, I am sorry, this happened to you.  I hope this got resolved.  Can you give us an update on what Airbnb did to resolve the issue.  

[Tiffany456]

Sure thing! To-date we have not recieved a response from @Airbnb 's special team or a case manager has not taken the case (this has been 3 weeks ) . The host as well has not responded to our prior messages and follows ups. The host has stopped communication with us as soon as we confirmed that day we left the house. This has been such a frustrating process and first time that has ever happened to me. I honestly hope this host gets sustpending on his privlaages to post his property as I see he has quite a few. Reviews do mention he is unresponsive.  I've done all I can by documenting this processing, reporiting to airbnb via phone right away when this ordeal happened knowing this host was unresponsive and I also contacted the host via airbnb messenger and provided the pictures. When someone says  " You can leave I will give you a full refund" I tkae it that they would take responsibility but I guess not. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tiffany456 I don't want to defend the host but there is a huge risk if a host refunds a payment and often Airbnb will also refund and then the host loses twice!

Keep on at Airbnb - try a new call and I am sure you will succeed in the end. I hope you have a message from the host confirming a refund.

[Tiffany456]

Thank you for letting me know. Forunately for me all communication was through airbnb message box. Host did confirm same day I brought the bed bugs to his attention that he said we may leave and he will refund us and I even asked to confirm a "full refund" and he said yes.  I even asked how long will this take I dont see email confimration or anythign he said it typically takes 48 hours to get back to my card. Its been 3 weeks he has not responded which is why this has been frustrating and I'm glad I also contacted airbnb same day because of his unresponsiveness. 

[Nanxing0]

@Tiffany456 It's not simply like that as you might not be very familiar with how Airbnb customer service representatives handle claims and complaints. When a CS representative tries to issue you refund, he/she might go through the "side way" by directly route a payment from the host to you instead of going through a direct refund of the reservation itself. On the other hand, when a host refunds you he/she has to go through the reservation itself. So these can happen at the same time and then you end up getting 2 refunds instead of 1. It's a tricky system to work with TBH. Sometimes we as hosts get frustrated when guest initiates multiple routes of complaint/claim and we fear being double charged for such things as well since we have knowledge/experience on such cases. 

[Tiffany456]

Thanks for the insight. My only problem with this is that the host was unresponsive. Before and after the the issue. If he had just simply said please let airbnb teams handle the refund I probably wouldnt be as frustrated as there was an open communication about it. I had no idea that people can get 2 refunds, thats unfortunate but honestly just want @Airbnb  to respond and takecare of the issue but it looks like there are many who go through this type of ordeal. 

[Ann72]

@Tiffany456  Just a side note - more than one review saying the host was unresponsive is a red flag.  One metric for superhost status is responsiveness - so in future it's a good idea to seek out listings with superhosts.

[Tiffany456]

Thank you. I've  learned my lesson and to go with my gut feeling . Some of the reviews were already red flags, but my family really liked the lisiting. But never again its really a lesson learned. 

[Oshine0]

hello Tiffany I’m so sorry to hear what you’ve experienced I am recently going through something very similar where my Airbnb was infested with flies and maggots I have contacted Airbnb and showed him proof of pictures and everything of the sort it has been over a month and no one has even gotten back to me to resolve the issueAt this point I just don’t know what to do

[Tiffany456]

I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through something similary.  I honestly do not wish this on anyone, its disconcerning, its easy for someone to accept out money but its not as easy to get a refund even though you have proof and reasoning.. I honestly say be patient continue to contact airbnb via phone thats what my husband and I have been doing . They have "escalated" or case but no "case manger" has gotten to us, but I am going to continue to call till my case is taken in for considerationg. I would advise the same for you. Just again frustating we as the guest/customer have to go through this extra mile. 

[Kate1715]

@Tiffany456 I have a very small experience with Airbnb as a guest only. I also had recently an issue (it was not bedbugs, it was the advertised A/C was missing and I stayed in spite of that). I also emailed the Airbnb support within 24 hours of check-in and I messaged them again and again (despite some people here who said that I was wasting my time and why ask for a refund when I stayed...). 

Anyway, in my case it took 14 days to the Airbnb support to call me and to offer a resolution.

So I would say, keep messaging and calling the Airbnb support, they may eventually give you an answer.

[Tiffany456]

Thank you for the insight. For me its been well over 14 days, still no answer but I have been calling airbnb everyweek on this.