We had a strange situation with Airbnb when money got lost in transaction and while it is still being looked at, I wanted to tell you about the less than ideal way that Airbnb support handled our communications.
Our reservation got cancelled by the host and when we got our refund it was 22 dollar short. On their bill it said that they sent back the exact amount they took out, however on my bank statement it's 22 dollar less. I contacted my bank and they said that there were no extra charges added to that transaction from their side and the currency fluctuation wasn't that big. So I wrote to the AirBnb support and explained the situation trying to figure out why the refund was smaller.
The customer service representative advised me that Airbnb refunded the exact amount, which I didn't question because I have the receipt. What I wanted to know was what could possibly be the reason we got 22 dollars less in our account. I tried to convey to him that I believe it is unfair that we lost 22 dollars and didn't receive any service and he took it as a personal attack and responded in a rather unprofessional manner. I mentioned to him that if we won't be able to find our why this money is missing I will want to file a complaint and asked how I would go about it. His response was:
"...if you put all the blame to Airbnb I do not think we will be able to resolve this issue".
Then I tried to explain, once again, that I am trying to get to the bottom of it because it doesn't seem fair and I am just exploring my options on how to go about it, so he insisted that "we do not rip our customers off". In no way had I implied that they were lying. I was asking about the procedures which lead to us getting refunded less than we paid.
When he took this defensive stand I again asked about the procedure for making a complaint and his response was "if you wish to file a complaint about this it would be best to go directly to your bank". Then I clarified that I wanted to complain about the way this situation was handled by him and his response was " Please contact your bank about these charges".
When I asked again what the complaint procedure with Airbnb was he sent me a link to the Airbnb feedback page and that was the end of our conversation.
Has anyone else had a bad experience with Airbnb's Support team? Have you ever managed to get to the bottom of the issue? Are there any other ways to communicate with them about a problem and is it possible to complain about the unprofessional service I received?
