Airbnb unfairly holding my payment

[Amith0]

Hi All

One of my guests checked out on 3rd February and Airbnb supposed to release my payout on 4th. But so far they are holding my payout. When I call Airbnb customer service on 5th, one of their customer service representatives said payout was released via PayPal on 4th Feb. When I ask for the PayPal transaction ID, she came up with another answer and said payout wasn't released, it is under investigation. But she failed to explain what kind of investigation it is. They are unable to give me a valid reason for that. Everytime I call them, their simple answer is we have raised a ticket and you will hear from specialised department within 24 hours. But nothing hapens. When I call them last friday and inquire about it, one of their case managers (Dyan) sent below message to me;

This is beyond a joke. So far no one even bothered about listning my problem. It is really frustrating. How can I lodge a formal complaint about it? Airbnb customer service is absolutely disgraceful.

Thanks

Amith

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Amith0

try #airbnbhelp on twitter, or try facebook, if your problem isn't resolved in a day or two then go public via social media and don't forget to tag them 🙂

[Amith0]

Thanks. I will try it and give you an update in couple of days.

[Amith0]

Thanks @Branka-and-Silvia0 It worked. Just a single tweet expressing my frustration and a DM to @airbnbhelp. They released my payment this morning.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Amith0glad to hear 🙂 yes, those on twitter are the best

[Robin4]

@Amith0

That is great that your payout has come through!

Sometimes there is a holdup, Airbnb may have trouble getting payment from the guest and it may take a few different attempts to get the payment confirmed....you can't get blood out of a stone, and Airbnb do everything they can to get that payout to pass on to you.

I think you also learned a great lesson here from @Branka-and-Silvia0 and one which you will remember in future. The personnel who man the Twitter feeds appear to have a higher level of expertise than the phone pool and issues do seem to get a more professional approach with Twitter!   I don't know that that is the case but it certainly seems like it!

@Giovanna238 I am sorry this has happened to you and I know you are frustrated but, I would ask you to try and keep calm here with this damage of yours. Your claim will be assessed and many initial responses are generic templates until more information can be sifted through. I know because I have previously worked in support. The worst thing you can do with support is start bouncing them. They do have an obligation to make sure your claim is genuine and they can require lots of seemingly stupid infomation, and it may appear that all they are trying to do is stonewall your claim.....they are not!!

You have to realise Giovanna, that where claims are concerned people can be bas*ards......A host will put in a claim for $2,700 for an outdoor setting  a guest ruined a couple cushions on with a cigarette butt or carelessness! What the host didn't inform the Resolution Centre, he picked up that outdoor setting from the local op-shop for $395!!!

Airbnb don't want to screw you but, they don't want to get screwed either and claims like that make the whole claims process very difficult to arrive at that middle ground.

The one thing I would stress to you is, be calm and stay pleasant, ask for advice..... but don't demand satisfaction. CX are humans just like the rest of us and nobody likes to get their head ripped off ticket after ticket. CX is the most thankless job in the world because everyone who comes to you have a problem and most of them are angry. The vast majority of claims are setted to the satisfaction of the claimant......but the ones that are not are where the ticket is closed off because of the unpleasantness of the claimant. 

Ask for advice but don't demand answers and you will be surprised how far it will get you!

Good luck to you both @Amith0 and @Giovanna238

Cheers.....Rob

[Giovanna238]

@Robin4 Thank you so much Robin, I really appreciate your feed back. I get the thankless job mine is difficult too. The funny thing is I am only asking for the things I need to keep my place going for the next guest. I've been asking God to keep me humble and only ask for whats most important since the guest ruined so much. It's the trauma of how people can treat your stuff and not even get an appology and the fact that everything in my home down to the toilet seat covers are brand new. 

Thank you again it actually has calmed me 🙂

[Robin4]

@Giovanna238

As I said I am sorry this has happened to you, it is so stressful when it happens, you feel violated and trashed....it only happened to me once, but Giovanna, I do have a strategy to get around it!

I charge a cleaning fee of $10! Now that doesn't cover the commercial cost of cleaning but, I am retired and I don't have to pay someone to do it....it is a part of hosting, and I set my listing amount to reflect the return I want from doing this!

That $10 per guest goes into a seperate damage fund and rather than go through the hassle of trying to get some sort of speedy settlement out of Airbnb my first priority is to keep hosting with as little disruption as possible. I just yank the money out of the damage fund, put the damage right and get on with hosting. 

I have never made a claim on Airbnb Giovanna, but, if I did, I would then have the luxury of letting them sort it out in their own good time.

It is a fact that 92% of claims are resolved ammicably by the Resolution Centre and that should give you confidence that to get a resolution is not impossible, you just have to go about it the right way.

All the best.

Cheers.....Rob

[Giovanna238]

I totally agree and I am so sorry this is happening. I am dealing with something similar that includes 800.00 woth of damage to my newly remodeled condo. The support customer service is ridiculous I got the same email you did and uploaded 20 photos, receipt and repair invoices and nothing. In fact they told me I can only communicate through email. I ask for a 500.00 security deposit for a reason and I should not have to beg for it especially if the guest never responds or appologize. I am discusted.......

[Giovanna238]

@Robin4 thank you so much that totally makes sense have a blessed day

[Traci45]

Hi all,

Has anyone ever had Airbnb hold payment for a guest stay that has ended?

This never happened before last month. Airbnb has not yet paid me for a guest stay that began December 15! Today is January 6, 2020!

Yep, correct, I have not been paid for a stay where the funds should have been released TWENTY-ONE DAYS, 3 entire weeks ago, interesting since Airbnb collected the funds in full the week of the reservation, meaning Airbnb has had the money that my guest paid them for ~ 4-5 weeks, yet I have not gotten a dime!

I have contacted the illustrious customer service reps, on six different occasions, have now spent hours of time on the phone, always to be told that it will be resolved, funds will be released and I will be paid _____________ (insert some nebulous, unhelpful, non-committal reference like, "soon.") I have been told that an Airbnb rep will either call me or message me in follow-up and most have not. I have been told "It is a technical problem with our website that causes this but not very often." When I ask the problem, they decline to tell me. When I recommend the comptroller make this right be mailing paper checks or overriding said pathetic website, I get zero response. Just a gob of mealy-mouthed I am sorry's practiced and polished over time.

I guess that I will take my business elsewhere because this has to be illegal or at least a breach of ethics. I asked for the legal department's number and the rep refused to give it to me. I asked for a date when I will be paid and have met cheesy platitudes.

If anyone else is running into this, what course of action should I take? I can ask guests to leave if this ever happens in the future. If funds are not in my account on the day of payout, I will have guests leave. Crummy, crummy way to do or try to keep hosts!

Thank you!