Victim of FRAUD on Airbnb **HELP**

Henry85
Level 1
Upland, CA

Victim of FRAUD on Airbnb **HELP**

*****If anyone with any kind of authority in this company reads this, please reach out to me because I will be taking legal action to pursue this if nothing is done on their part.

 

Hello community, this is my first post and it is an interesting one. READ CAREFULLY

 

I booked a place to stay in lake arrowhead with my family Dec 24th-Dec 29th 2017 this past August 8th,2017. 1 month later (On September 18th) the host CANCELS WITHOUT WARNING. The only notification I received was that a refund was being given back to my original payment method. All of this with no prior indication and WITHOUT MY CONSENT. I called customer service and was told that "the host is no longer going to use Airbnb as a platform to list the property." They stated a case manager will be assigned and “help” me find a new booking. HERE IS WHERE THE STORY GOES BEYOND SOUTH! First of all, all the prices during that time have gone up. ALOT! I specifically booked in advance to avoid a a potential price surge and am now put into a horrible situation. I booked a car that costs me $500 for the week in anticipation of this trip and all the while already charged my card for the full amount (I only get half the price of the reservation). Every listing that can accommodate the same specifications as the place that I intially booked is now an extra $150 a night minimum (That’s atleast an extra $650 ontop of my original reservation because the host cancelled my reservation). The case manager assured me that they will do everything in their power to "help" in this situation. Its been 5 days so far and NOTHING has been done. The case manager straight up said that he cant do anything to offset the cost of a new reservation to honor my original booking price. I have tried to keep open communication with the case manager and now they are just straight up ignoring me. THE FRAUD BEGINS HERE: While looking for any potential listings ----> I find the EXACT SAME CABIN WITH A DIFFERENT HOST AT A HIGHER PRICE LISTED ON AIRBNB! THE EXACT SAME CABIN! That's right everyone. I have pointed this out to Airbnb supervisors and case managers and NO ONE CARES. They don’t care about helping me, they don’t care about the fraudulent activity that is happening on their website. THEY JUST DONT CARE. I received an email today essentially indicating my case was closed because there was nothing they could do. I have attached screen shots to show you all:

 

1. What my original booking looked like

First Reservation - note the hosts

 

2. What the new property was listed as under the new host names

SAME DAY! Relisted property after they cancelled my reservation with new hosts

 

3. That the original host is still listing his own property on other websites under his name because he found an illegal loophole to make more money. NOTE THE NAME IS THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL HOSTER ON AIRBNB! FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD ALL THE WAY

 

Same original host - different website indicating he still owner of the property at this time

 

If anyone with any kind of authority in this company reads this, please reach out to me because I will be taking legal action to pursue this if nothing is done on their part.

6 Replies 6
Cormac0
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

@Henry85

 

Talk to your local TV news network they usually love stories like this, and hold Airbnb's bottom close to the brazier. 

 

 

REgards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow III

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Henry85

When renting from a private owner, there is always a chance that things can go wrong and that host cancellations can happen.  airbnb takes measures to prevent this by penalizing the hosts, but in some cases even this cannot prevent a host from cancelling.

So, it is not a fraud, it is a host cancellation. The motive behind we can only speculate about, but it looks like the property has changed ownership.

Has happened to me in Paris years ago and I had to fork out the double for a new apartment.  

You have been refunded the full amount - that is all you can hope for.

Thanks for the reply. I don't believe this is a change of ownership because the other platforms like flipkey and so forth still have this exact property listed under the original owners. Not the new ones. I believe the speculation would be that it changed ownership.

You are on a hiding for nothing as they say, this is one you are not going to win.

 

Breach of Contract is where you have a chance of taking the Host to a small claims court and if this gets there it will cost you a bundle in time and effort for at best is going to be the difference in costs plus legals.

 

Some Lawyers would argue that you could take Airbnb to Court as they had an obligation due to taking a profit of the Contract, but there lawyers would just swamp your's, so again it is not going to happen.

 

Bottom line here is, yes, you can make reservations for next to know money way in advance, but unless it is with a reputable business they will all want to fight and riggle there way out of it, should they find that prices have gone through the roof.

 

I recently had 3 of our Apartments all rent out for less than $100 a night for an event that I could have got $500 a night for easily, what did I do, well I gulped and swallowed hard and bit the bullet, some you win and some you lose - reputable business (:

ApartmentsWales.com

 

wow.  I went the entire summer without renting out a bedroom because of my leg injuries but I put up a different listing two months later and didn't hike up the price for awhile.   I hope the past guests don't think that I ripped them off. 

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Henry85

Then I believe they had forgotten to update their prices and decided to cancel and try their luck on other platforms. 

It is very unfortunate and unprofessional, but as long as you have been refunded in full, it is not a fraud.  

It is possible that airbnb has taken down the first listing and they have succeeded in listing again under a different name/profile.  

You should consider yourself lucky not having to rent from such unprofessional hosts.