They charged me 127 euros for 'free of toll call'.

[Andraž0]

I booked an Airbnb stay in San Diego, September 28-29. Our host canceled on us 2 hours before the check-in, so we already arrived in San Diego (we drove from Los Angeles). So we decided to call the Airbnb support immediately since the host didn't respond. We find a free of toll number since I am from Slovenia and I don't have an American number since I am only visiting the States. My boyfriend had an American number so we called just in case from his phone. They insisted that I should call them on my phone since my Slovenian number is linked to my Airbnb profile. I understand that request, because of the safety of Airbnb guests. My boyfriend also told the lady at the Airbnb support that I have a Slovenian number but she said that I can call from Free of toll number.  So I called from my Slovenian number. After she answered I specifically asked her again if this is free of charge call, since I don't have an American number, and she AGAIN said that it is free of charge call (all the conversations supposed to be recorded so they also have it on black and white and I am confident in telling my story). We were going back and forth for about 3 hours, and on at least 3 different occasions I asked again a lady if this is free of charge phone call.

Ok, so we were handling our situation with canceled stay, she was trying to find us another Airbnb, but all the 7 listings we have received were in Tijuana, Mexico (haha). So we alerted her, that all the listing were in Mexico and not in San Diego, USA. She then provided us with 3 different hotels, which were booked for those dates (September 28-29). Fast forward to sleeping in the car until 2 am, where we decided to give it another try finding an available hotel room in San Diego (we were unsuccessful prior to that). So at 3 am we finally got a hotel room for 190$, Airbnb later reimbursed me 92$.

Today, October 3,  I received a monthly phone bill for the month of September. And on my bill was a phone charge total of 127,90 euros (140$) - Outgoing and received calls from non-EU (USA). The dates were September 28 (the first call was 2:04 pm and the last call that day was at 9:07 pm) and September 29 (First call: 11:22 am, the last call was at 12:04 pm). 

I contacted my Airbnb support (the conversation I had with Erica and Rose, my Airbnb support help), and I stated all the above and I attached my phone bill in PDF, and I haven't got a response. 

I was so disappointed when I saw a phone charge of 127,90 euros because that is a typical case of misleading costumers and guests of Airbnb. I would not beat myself about it, but since I asked them a few times over the course of our conversation if this is free of charge call since I have a Slovenian number, it is just not fair... We already got canceled our weekend getaway, and we overpaid our stay at the hotel and now this additional unnecessary cost, for HELPING A GUEST in this situation.

What should I do now? I am going to wait for the Airbnb response, and then I am also going to contact my mobile operator back home in Slovenia, and explained the situation to them as well.

Thanks for any help!

Maja Trost

[Sarah977]

@Andraž0  It is a toll-free number, but Airbnb doesn't know that some phone providers in different countries charge for international calls to toll-free numbers. I can't call the toll free number of Airbnb from my home in Mexico- the Mexican phone provider doesn't support toll-free numbers out-of-country. It's not just Airbnb, either- I can't call toll-free numbers in the US or Canada for airlines or anything else. It would have been better to contact your phone provider to make sure you wouldn't be charged, rather than asking Airbnb.

But certainly the Airbnb rep who assured you that it wouldn't cost you anything is an idiot and should never have told you that. I doubt you'll be successful in having this refunded, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. That's a huge amount of money to be out-of-pocket.

[Andraž0]

Thank you for the answer, Sarah! Big companies like Airbnb usually have multiple toll-free numbers, i.e. separate for North America and Europe and I was expecting Airbnb has the same. My girlfriend's account is Slovenian so I thought the app itself automatically shows the number that should be toll-free for her area/account.
 
Anyway, I want to tell you that she contacted the Airbnb support through messages and they were really happy to assist her and refunded the whole amount! Yes!
This was a very positive experience in the end even though it took many tries and hours on the phone/messages, so I am really glad this sorted out.

Hopefully, Airbnb can set multiple toll-free phone numbers so other people won't experience the same issue and unexpected fees. Others are probably not as persistent as we were so if anyone reading this is having the same issue I just wanted to let you know that it will take some energy to succeed 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Andraž0  Thanks for getting back here with the good news. I'm so glad you were successful. The CS rep who originally told you that it would be toll-free probably never thought past the fact that you were in the US and calling a toll-free US number. Explaining that your phone provider was in Slovenia went right over her head in terms of realizing you'd be paying roaming charges and international long-distance.

Yes, persistence is often necessary with this company- they try so hard to make you give up and go away. Although if you paid yourself for all the hours it took to sort out, it probably turned out that you really didn't get anything by having that call reimbursed 🙂