Airbnb customer service mistake: urgent.

[Abigail0]

On March 2nd I had a rogue guest in my family home who held a party for 30 people, spilled beer on our brand new oiled white oak floors, stole an expensive portable speaker, smoked cigarettes, cigars and joints on my deck, vomited on an expensive antique quilt and brought in huge, rented speakers which they used to blast the house until neighbours threatened to call the police. My trusty cleaning lady had to shut down the party at 1.00 am because I was out of town enjoying a night away with my husband and 9 year old. 

My house rules state: no evening guests beyond a maximum of 10, no smoking and no excessive noise after 11. I have ample documentation that these rules were broken.

I initiated a conversation with Mark, my guest, and he admitted in writing to having 20 guests (there were more), blowing the rented speakers he'd brought to my house and borrowing mine, and to letting things get generally out of control, with uninvited guests being allowed in. I started a case with the Resolution Centre that same day. (March 3rd).

Things went wrong with Airbnb from Day 1 of this process. Weeks went by with endless calls and messages, and this was just to try to 'Involve Airbnb' because the interface wasn't working properly and I was unable to hit the correct button. Eventually I was assigned two case managers: Mark, for Trust and Safety, and Jack for my property claim. Jack asked for: 

 - a police report

 - a receipt for the replacement speaker

 - a quote for repairing my floor

 - a photo of the stolen speaker in my house as proof of ownership.

I provided all these in a timely fashion. The quote for the floor stated $1600 to fix it. Jack said Airbnb would only pay $300. He mistakenly though the flooring company had said it was $600. I responded numerous times to his messages - he'd started to just repeat himself, in a curt and insulting tone, with a cut and paste email that he sent repeatedly, without reading or understanding my message to him. He ignored my messages and started to threaten to close my case without resolving it, if I didn't agree to his offer within 72 hours. This was on April 11th. I responded straight away, saying that I could not click that link and accept his offer, because I didn't agree to the offer and wanted him to read my messages and address my concern, before I agreed to anything. 

I was being bullied and coerced into signing a resolution agreement I had excellent reason not to agree with.

The next I heard, this Airbnb employee had closed my case. I was not reimbursed for my stolen speaker, or the beer-damaged floor. Other employees - including the Trust and Safety employee, (also called Mark), assured me the case was still open and they were trying to work with Jack to encourage him to keep the conversation with me open. Things became very bizarre, and very untrustworthy; it was implied that this employee was allowed to simply take matters into his own hands, flout Airbnb's resolution process by arbitrarily closing a claim that was open and had all the paperwork submitted and accepted, and essentially take up about 15 hours of my time on numerous phone calls, emails and messages (including literally 3-4 hours on hold, on several phone calls) and then shut the door in my face. I was told that there was simply nothing to be done; Jack could do as he pleased, and I was the victim. Airbnb thought it was OK to simply close off my case, give me nothing for my stolen and damaged goods, and 'disengage' (i.e. break its promises and refuse to discuss further). 

Note: I had replied to Jack's message and complied with everything required by Airbnb. Essentially, at this point the company has 'gone rogue' on me and broken its Terms of Service and its customer service committment to me. 

I run 6 Airbnb properties and frankly, this is not going to stop here. I will do all it takes, to ensure that these unethical and illegal practices - and supporting the activities of unprofessional rogue employees who try to cut off contact in the middle of a Resolution proceedure - are publicized and stopped. My family and I have suffered a lot of anxiety and stress as our efforts at resolution are met with such incredible rudeness lack of cooperation. Simplye human values such as respect and honesty are lacking here: it is not OK. It's also not legal to ask a customer to click a link to an offer they don't agree with, then remove the entire offer.

If, as Airbnb users, you have any advice for me on how to proceed, I would find that very useful. 

[Abigail0]

Today there's been a resolution. Thanks for your supportive and helpful reply to me Kelly.

[Matthias117]

Airbnb customer service simply stinks!  It took them over a year to resolve an issue I had with a guest review.  They censored what I wrote and took down my review of a guest, but left their negative review on my listing.  A year later they finally resolved the issue, apologized and reinstated my review.  THis is what happens to a company that can not keep up with the growth.  They hire robots who have no brains and all they do is copy and paste blah blah blah from their rules book, without even knowing the content. 

[Rebecca181]

@Abigail0 This is absolutely maddening to read. This is happening to SO MANY hosts, it boggles the mind. The fact that ABB still advertises the Host Protection Guarantee as a means of experiencing 'Peace of Mind' when a host lists their property with them is very misleading, if not tragically and blatantly untrue, as hosts are rarely fairly compensated - if they are compensated at all.

I got my own commercial/residential combination insurance because of everything I have read here over the past year since I first listed and I am resigned to the fact that smaller claims will need to be paid to me by..., well, me. Which is one of the reasons I find the 'Price Tips' ludicrous - We hosts need to charge enough to make hosting worth it, including in regard to having to replace speakers and beautiful wood floors, etc.

I wish I had something helpful to say, but I don't. I just feel terrible for you. It is bad enough to be victimized by these sorts of guests who violate the integrity of our personal homes, but to be victimized a 2nd time by this Airbnb employee (supposedly one who has gone ' rogue', but maybe is just playing the 'bad cop' part while Mark plays 'good cop') is not only wrong, but should be unacceptable to Airbnb itself. 

In any event, from what I've read and heard here, going to the media and/or Airbnb Twitter or Facebook to share what is going on sometimes will get hosts better results, as @David126 mentions above. Best of luck.

[Pete28]

It starts to feel like Airbnb should provide real insurance and add that fee on to the guests booking.

Even then I think most insurance companies are going to depreciate anything you claim for.

The reality is that I don't provide anything that would cost a lot to replace. Craigslist and goodwill are excellent sources...

[Abigail0]

Rebecca: thank you for your support. 

By making a giant fuss - and I mean, going way beyond my comfort zone and really making a stink - I was contacted today by an agent named River who offered me $2029 to resolve my claim. I have accepted it. I'm happy it's over but bruised and disillusioned.

[Rebecca181]

@Abigail0 Well, I'm glad to hear you finally got compensated in some fashion, but you were put needlessly through the mill. I bet many of us would like to hear what kind of 'stink' you made, as obviously it was largely effective. Are you able to share? If not, no problem!

[Abigail0]

I told my story on the Airbnb's corporate Facebook wall, using more or less in the same words as my post here. I also messaged Brian Chesky (Airbnb CEO) on Facebook; I suspect staff members monitor his private messages on his behalf, and I didn't hear back from him, nor did I expect to). I also shared with the Airbnb Toronto group - it's a group of hosts, run by a host. They supported me in a similar way to the support here. I also contacted an Airbnb employee, based locally, whose name I and contacts I happened to have, from last Fall when Airbnb was fighting Toronto to prevent bylaws restricting rentals of 30 days. I don't think that latter move was what moved the situation forward for me; I believe that posting here and also on Facebook was the game-changer. The staff member promised to help me by escalating my case and finding another case manager; perhaps she did - I don't know - I didn't hear anything back from her, and yesterday after 24 hours of not hearing, I decided to go the social media route. 

Exhausting, depressing.

[Hitomi3]

Cannot agree with you more, @Rebecca181, that their advertisement of the Host Protection Guarantee is totally misleading and absurd.

Also, talking to the Twitter account *in public timeline* worked wonder to me. I had a very similar situation to @Abigail0 where my CS decided he would not refund me anything for my guest bailing out, copying and pasting the same response over and over, and closed the case while I had not agreed to anything. I talked to the Twitter account back and forth and the CS finally decided to give me a refund.

I'm happy your case got resolved, @Abigail0.

[Susan634]

I don't have anything to offer to  in the line of experience since I am new to this and thankfully have not had a bad experience yet. I do know though that they have an office in the MaRS building downtown TO.  Maybe a face to face is in order. Good luck.

[Abigail0]

That was to have been my next step. Things resolved today: thank you very much for your reply Susan. Best of luck with your new Airbnb project.

[Abigail0]

Thank you all. 

As if by magic, I was approached by an employee named River, who without quibble or conversation, offered me the compensation that I've been trying to lay claim to since early March. The hours on the phone, multiple agents and 'good cop, bad cop' approach, as well as no sign of accountability for Jack's behaviour towards me, leave me wondering about my future working with this company. I'm happy it's resolved but none of this should have happened. Honest hosts like myself who assume massive amounts of personal risk to offer guests a lovely experience, should not be forced to scream and yell in public to receive an insurance payout that - lets face it - we have paid for in our host fees already. Feral capitalism: look it up. It's on the rise, and Airbnb is in danger of being its chief proponent.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

All of this could be prevented simply by allowing hosts to take a real security deposit from Airbnb guests. The same as VRBO or booking.com does.

[Abigail0]

 Not so sure about that: my guest had paid $1000 in security deposit and I was being blocked from claiming even $600.

[Sarah977]

@Abigail0    Your guest had not "paid" $1000 security deposit. That's the problem with the platform that @Branka-and-Silvia0  were referencing.  Airbnb does not collect or hold the security deposit from the guest when they book- there is only the threat that they could be charged this if a host makes a claim. Then if a guest disputes that they caused any damage, airbnb will normally side with the guest, unless the host makes a stink about it and doesn't give up until it is resolved (and even then, hosts are often unsuccessful, as evidenced by the many posts to that effect on this forum), as was your experience.

[Abigail0]

But the guest has agreed that the money earmarked can be used at Airbnb’s discretion to cover damage. The system seems rational to me and the problem was in (non) implementation.