air BnB taking money from my account without my authorisation

[Adam608]

I was in a disput with a host for damage that was apparently caused by me by leaving a window open one evening and rainwall coming in. 

After recieving a rediculasly high quote for what looked like minor repairs I countr offered their fee and this was accepted. The money had then been taken from my account for this. In my opinion once a counter offer has been accepted then the case is closed. 

However the host then requested Air BnB pursure me for the remaining money which i said i wasnt going to pay. 

Air BnB then continued to take the money from my bank account without my consent or authorisation. 

I have been provided with no evidence or proof any work has been done and ive never seen a formal quote for anything either, I was never contacted to discuss the disput with Air BnB. They just decided to make the decison themselves without consulting me and then took my money. 

Have other people experinced anything like this? 

I cant see in any terms where it states they are allowed to do this. 

[Emiel1]

@Adam608,

This is a strange story, but probably their was a deposit involved in the reservation ?

Then they can take the money max. to the deposit, but it should at least be communicated with you:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/352/what-happens-if-a-host-makes-a-claim-on-my-security-deposit

If a creditcard is involved, you can dispute the transaction with the creditcard company and ask for a undo.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Jeff158]

@Adam608 

As a guest making a booking you accept the airbnb terms and conditions,  you've authorised airbnb to take any amount required to settle a damage claim from any payment method on your account. 

You have to remove this authorisation to stop them taking any money from your account but then you'll probably get some nasty letters and a court case.

Its in the payments terms of service, https://www.airbnb.co.uk/terms

• Fees, costs and/or expenses associated with a Damage Claim, including any Security Deposit, as set out in the Airbnb Terms. If Airbnb Payments is unable to collect from your Payment Method used to make the booking, you agree that Airbnb Payments may charge any other Payment Method on file in your Airbnb Account at the time of the Damage Claim (unless you have previously removed the authorization to charge such Payment Method(s)). Airbnb Payments also reserves the right to otherwise collect payment from you and pursue any remedies available to Airbnb Payments in this regard in situations in which you are responsible for a Damage Claim pursuant to the Airbnb Terms, including, but not limited to, in relation to any payment requests made by Hosts under the Airbnb Host Guarantee.

[Sarah977]

@Adam608  Hosts actually have to go through quite a song and dance to get Airbnb to agree to charge a guest for damages. They have to take photos, submit documentation, estimates and receipts, all within a very brief window of time. So rest assured that if the repair costs were bogus, Airbnb would never have approved them. And as a guest, you don't get to see any of this documentation, that's Airbnb's dept.

If you cause damage to a hotel room, the hotel will just put a charge on your credit card, without even having to submit documentation to anyone for it.

[Adam608]

Hi Sarah

Thanks for your reply.

Quick question, as you say the hosts need to go through a bit of a song and dance to have anything approved. My issue with this recent charge is I know that none of the work has been completed or even started yet. 

My argument with air bnb was that only one quote had been presented which doesnt give a fair representation of the price of the work. Ive worked in construction all my life so know a bogus quote when i see one. 

Your advice would be greatfully appreciated. 

Thanks for your time nd i wish you a happy new year. 

My best, 

Adam 

[Stephanie2296]

This isn't necessarily true. I did damage to a glass top range that sits on top of a stove.  It's an electric range/stove.  There was NOTHING wrong with the stove, there is glass range replacement from the manufacturer (Home depot) and Air b n b agreed with a greedy host that I should replace the entire appliance for 800.   If you ding someone's car, you don't buy them a new car, you repair the damage.  If I damaged a shelf in a refrigerator, I don't buy an entirely new fridge, I replace the shelf (assuming it's an available part and it is).  WHY am I being charged to replace an entire appliance then when all that was damaged was the glass top on the range (again, part is available).    So, the host gets a brand new stove/range AND gets to keep the current stove/range where he can then go replace the glass range for $250 and sell it./keep it?  Like come ON.  The gouging of guests is bull**bleep**.

[Anne12046]

Hi

I am having problems with airbnb at the moment. We had a lovely weekend in Edinburgh only to be blamed for historic damages to the apartment. We had our dogs with us and on scrolling through the history it seems that we were the first and so we believe an easy target. We are supposed to believe that our dogs urinated on the bed and sofa and burst through a door so violently as to cause structural damage to a wall ! This did not happen ! One of these devil dogs was frail and died two days later. The other two are small well trained spaniels. The only evidence presented was a picture of a vague stain on the bedding and a receipt for the bedding( for less than the amount requested!). There is no evidence or receipts for the rest.

Even if I agree to pay the rather questionable amounts, the lack of receipts mean that I cannot claim this back on my pet insurance.