@Airbnb - this is why we're complaining about your customer service

Daniel-Rusteen0
Level 10
California, United States

@Airbnb - this is why we're complaining about your customer service

I called in with two questions about an issue that's been happening for 5 months, neither got answered, and I was not followed up with. Instead, I felt like I was talking to a robot because he/it was ignoring my question. Have you really automated customer service email messages???

 

See screenshots and you will understand.

 

Screen Shot 2018-12-06 at 2.54.56 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-12-06 at 2.55.13 PM.png

12 Replies 12
Michelle-Huie0
Level 1
Missoula, MT

agreed!

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Daniel-Rusteen0 @Michelle-Huie0

The responses you are getting are generic Daniel. Support works from a series of pre-prepared answers to general questions in an endeavour to shorten response time. When someone grabs that sms/email you sent they are obligated to post a reply within 5 minutes. This to reassure  the customer that someone is on the case and they have not been forgotten. The question and generic response will then be expanded on once that initial contact has been established.

 

I of course can't speak of your specific situation, there are a number of factors that will govern how the response will go from there! I am sorry, I am not trying to be evasive but Daniel, you do need to keep the pot boiling! So often an agent will post an answer and not hear anything further for maybe 2-3 or 4 hours and their time will become devoted to other inquiries. But each inquiry has a ticket attached to it and that ticket is not closed until both support and customer agree that a conclusion has been reached!

 

Someone here will no doubt dissagree with me Daniel, but I have worked there so I know what happens!

 

Cheers......Rob

Daniel-Rusteen0
Level 10
California, United States

I, too, have worked there and so I know what happens 😄 But, you'll notice the times on the email, they took much longer than 5 minutes or hours when they responded, which they did not 50% of the time.

 

Just trying to challenge Airbnb to improve.

@Daniel-Rusteen0

Yeah, as I said I can't speak for specific circumstances Daniel, but if you worked there too you know the procedure, . My customer satisfaction rate sat between 94-97% which was about the company average. But I was not and never could be on screen 24 hours a day. Some nights I would turn it in at 1.35 am and when I logged on again at 8.30 am there would be these angry posts.....'what do I have to do to get some help around here'!!

We live in a global community but many do not appreciate, while some play, others sleep!

 

Mate, I want Airbnb to improve too. I love this company, it has been so good to me and opened up a world of new experiences, but after the recent Australia payouts saga, CS showed that there are many weaknesses in the company structure that do need to be addressed.

 

CS is never going to be all things to all people.....some users are going to shoot themselves in the foot while at other times CS will not have the information they require to make proper educated calls.

Daniel it's the system we have to live with......

 

Cheers.....Rob

 

Cheers......Rob

John1080
Level 10
Westcliffe, CO

@Daniel-Rusteen0, it's very frustrating to continue receiving the same canned response over and over without any real answers or solutions to the question at hand. Perhaps the system works as others have described, but it needs to change, as the answers we often receive do not solve the question at hand and instead, we feel as if we're getting the runaround. 

 

In the handful of cases where I have contacted help for some issue, I have really felt as if the person on the other end didn't quite understand the question and/or wasn't fully fluent in English. My questions were never fully answered and I came away from the experience feeling somewhat unsatisfied and as if there was still something hanging in the air. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I always call rather than email as I can then make sure the rep understands my question and I find I get a much quicker resolution that way, often on the spot. If not during the phone call, the CS rep usually sorts it out within an hour, 24 hours or however long they told me it would take when I spoke to them. I have dealt with many knowledgeable, helpful reps who have dealt swiftly and satisfactorily with my answer/problem. 

 

However, I am finding that more recently, I'm just as likely to encounter reps such as @John1080 describes. You try to explain the issue again in some way that would get them listen to what you are actually saying rather than repeating the same stock response back as if they are reading from a call sheet.

 

As for CS not closing a case until both they and the customer have agreed it's resolved, that has not always been my experience. I spent months trying to get some help for a problem with my stats.

 

I spoke to about four or five different reps, who all told me they would get back to me and never did. Finally, I managed to speak to one who was willing to actually look into it. He identified a couple of problems which he needed the tech team to fix. After a few days of not receiving a response from them, he messaged me to say that he was going away for the weekend, but would try again the following week.

 

I never heard from him again. I had no way of responding to him because the case was just automatically closed even though the problem wasn't solved. So, I had to call again, but rather than put me back in touch with the guy who had been dealing with it, the lady said she would "look into it". Guess what? I never heard back from her or anyone else about it again.

@Daniel-Rusteen0   

The only response I have received recently is a maddening loop:

  1. Visit help center, write question
  2. No response
  3. Thread is closed down, told to visit help center
  4. Repeat 1-3  ad nauseum.

    closed.png

     

Even when I have called and spoken to someone they have often said they will get back me.  But what happens is that they start a new thread with the same question and then they close it down again and I am back to the message above.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Daniel-Rusteen0,

 

I hope life is going well, it's nice to see you back in the Community Center.

 

As I hope you and others know, recently the team have been working hard and continue to,  put new resources and generally help to improve our Support area as the companies grows. So hearing feedback from you here is really helpful and I will be sure to pass it on to them. 

 

Just looking at the messages you have received, to me it does sound like the difficulty with your payment method has been addressed here and an alternative solution has been given, I know it can be frustrating when you are receiving conflicting advice from two different companies – especially when you just want it to be resolved by any way.  In situations like this, is there something specifically that you think would help to provide more information to you? (Although, I imagine your answer might be – for it just to work! 🙂 )

 

Also, in regards to the error message, it might be that this need a little more investigating with our product team and so it is a little harder for the person replying to you to give you an answer right away, although this sounds like it's being going on for a while now. 

Out of interest, can you provide more information on the error you are getting? 

 

Thanks,

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Daniel-Rusteen0
Level 10
California, United States

Hi @Lizzie, thanks for the reply. I'm understand, but there's only so many years in a row Airbnb can say this (same thing was said when I was working there up until 2016 lol) But, Neither issue has been resolved.

 

For issue #1, credit card authorization issue I simply used a different credit card. After speaking with my credit card company many times, this is 100% an Airbnb related issue (it is not a credit card company issue).

 

For issue #2, getting an alert that my account is being reviewed for no reason just as I'm about to book a listing and only on desktop not on mobile, has not been resolved and has been ignored.

 

I'm not trying to be a brat, but I can't think of any additional info to provide. I've sent everything I can think of. If there's a question from you/airbnb end, please send.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks for your reply @Daniel-Rusteen0

 

Aw, I started in the Community Center in 2015 and I think within the past three years there has certainly been quite a lot of growth in our Support Team. From my observation here in the CC, How to contact our Support Team use to be one of the most asked questions here in the CC, but we don't get many questions on this now. 

 

Well, I'm glad you have manage to get a card payment sorted for this, I know it wasn't the ideal situation, but it must be nice to have a solution to this now. 

 

In terms of your second issue, in terms of the error, is this stopping you from going ahead and placing a booking or are you able to disgard the error and carry on? Also, are you perhaps getting any more prompts to complete anything else which could be causing this, such as verification? 

 

Thanks again, 

 

Lizzie

 

 


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Daniel-Rusteen0
Level 10
California, United States

@Lizzie the first issue really is not solved. I "solved" it on my end by using a different credit card, but I want to use my business credit card, not my personal one.

 

For issue #2, it prevents me from booking on my computer, yes. I can go to my phone and do it that way, but this also isn't a solution. It's been happening since early July.

 

It's very frustrating because I spend quite a bit of time finding the perfect Airbnb then when I try to book I get a host of issues, it's crazy. If this is happening to me (which I assume is a lower risk account/credit card/etc) I imagine this is happening to many more folks who simply give up and use booking or any of the million other equivalent services.

I encountered same situation! One guest stole my decorations and painting embroidery, I called Airbnb. A person named Jayden from Trust and Safety department, sent me same email with little or without any modification, asked me police report again and again, even I stated that I didn’t call police in my host guarantee payment request form and first, second email reply. Finally after presented tremendous documentation, Jayden said police report was required. I really suspect Jayden was robot. I posted my  comments on Twitter and other social media. One agent called Yani assigned to handle my case! She was very respectful and diligent, worked hard to help me. Even I didn’t get much compensation, but was satisfied with Yani’s attitude and professionalism. 

周蘭