scam

Sue104
Level 1
Boulder, CO

scam

I recently stayed in an AirBnB flat in Chelsea. The host was very nice, as his reviews report. I had booked for four nights. Upon my arrival he informed me that the pilot light on the stove would blow out frequently and I should check in and relight when necessary. By the next day I decided that a faulty pilot was more danger than I was comfortable with and texted him requesting a cancellation and refund for the following three nights. He kindly agreed and told me to make the request for the refund on the AirBnB site. I tried this several times and each time he told me I had done so incorrectly and needed to try again, but that he would gladly make the refund then. These emails appeared with the host's name by which he had introduced himself and appeared in on the airbnb message site with that host name attached to them. He wrote me that he was on vacation but would help me figure out how to use the site to request a refund when he got home. 

 

Two days later I returned home still not having figured out how to initiate a request for a refund. I went on the AirBnB site and could only find a refund system that begins with the host, not guests. I went to the listing and receipt for the place I had stayed in Chelsea and filed a dispute with the resolution site. However, the host's name had changed and there was no record of our prevous communications. Nevertheless, I assumed he would quickly issue the refund that he had promised as this seemed to be the only other way to ask for a refund on my end. I listed problems with the place, including the faulty pilot light. (There was also the issue that his neighbors treated me suspiciosly.) Instead, under this new name, the host made false accusations about my stay - that I had left his place unlocked, which I had not, spoken inappropriately with his neighbors, and cost him business, all of this justifying his refusal of my refund. 

 

Sorry for the longwinded explanation but there is a good deal of money at stake for me. If he told me iniitally that he would not make a refund, I would have toughed it out in his place, faulty pilot light and all. But he did not start playing hard ball for several days. I am writing because I am suspicuous of his name change. On his reviews, he gets reviews for both names. In my case, it seems to be related to his shift from promising me a refund to refusing it. 

 

Can anyone offer any insight? 

4 Replies 4
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

Well you have done the right thing in solving it via the resolution centre, not sure if there is anything else you can do? I hope you hear from them soon.

Prue0
Level 6
Bristol, United Kingdom

call air bnb...I found it much better to call them than try to get an answeronline

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Were messages through the ABB system?

 

Did you cancel your stay?

David

@Sue104, you should contact AirBnB and explain the situation.

 

You can reach them via the Help link at bottom of this page.

 

Or via Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/?fref=ts

 

Or – if you have a Twitter account - try twitter@airbnbhelp. It’s said there’s a quick response.

 

Contains a link with several international phone numbers (‘How to contact AirBnB’).

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

 

Regarding Contact numbers in the above link, I've twice recently had quick responses via the Netherlands phone number.

(Though oddly enough, the person to whom I spoke was actually in the US.)

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