Appeal to Airbnb's final decision

[Teresa3]

We had an ABB guest who is supposed to stay with us for 7 days and wanted to cancel her reservation for the last 3 days after she moved in for four days.  We could not refund her for the remainder 3 days  according to the cancellation policy we published on ABB.  In order to get her refund, the guest made a false claim to ABB saying our internet did not work, and she needed to move out.  ABB refunded her for the 3 days based on what the guest's story.  When we found it out 2 days after, and told ABB that the guest's claim was false, and we have proof for it.  ABB case manager said it was too late, and she already made a final decision to refund the guest based on what the guest said, and we can not change or appeal her decision, and we can not talk to her supervisor either.  She sounded like she has the absolute power to make decisions for me with or without my agreement.  Does anyone know if there is way to appeal for the case manager's wrongful decisions?  

[Tristan-and-Angela0]

@Luke166  I found Fairbnbclaim.com based in Dublin. they deal with international Claims against Airbnb. I am trying to see if anynone has used them.

[Cheryl337]

OK but what about from the guest's point of view.  My wife and I arrived in the mid-afternoon having booked the apartment in Frankfurt en Main, and paid in full 6 months prior.  We inspected the apartment only to find there were no sheets for the bed, only one towel, one bowl , one spoon (although there was other crockery and cutlery) and no instructions for the wi-fi.  We immediately sent a text to the host asking for her to rectify the situation.  No response.  We phoned her and due to language barriers the conversation was difficult but we understood that her friend would phone.  At 6:20pm we sent the host and AirBnb a message through the website saying if the host can't provide these basic items we would have to find alternative accommodation.  No response so we moved to other accommodation.  We finally got a text from the host about 18 hours later only saying did her friend contact us.  AirBnb staff seemed supportive.  We later sent photos and copies of our text.  I am not sure of what part of the refund policy we didn't satify.  The facilities were not as promised or at least what we would expect in a full apartment (whole house), I contacted the host upon arrival and then the host and Airbnb within a further 3 hours of arrival, and provided documentation of our claim.  AirBnb response was sorry we have already paid the host in full and she has a strict refund policy.  I think AirBnb is fraudulent and the host is in breach of contract.  We finally after much arguing we did get some refund from AirBnb.  It amounted to approximately 33% of our cost and it took about a month of emails.  This host, Dragana of Stilvolle Penthouse-Wohnung in zentraler Citylage; 40-50 Adickesallee, Frankfurt en Main can't be trusted; and nor can AirBnb be trusted to administer their own refund policy fairly.  We have recently stayed in about 8 AirBnb's in Europe and have had trouble with 2 hosts (the other double booked so when we arrived there was no accommodation but somehow it was our fault according to the host).  To all those hosts that provide such wonderful accommodation thank you but I doubt if I will ever use AirBnb again.

[Jennifer316]

I believe that Aibnb has some serious inconsistency in in thier decision making on both the host and the guest side.  I have had guests given refunds in situation wherein I was not likewise refunded as a guest.  In my most recent experience as a guestI had my property stolen, unjustified charges ($150 for transportation to and from the airport where no cost was listed in the listing and no charge was eery mentioned to me through emails with the host) , no tv and no washing machine (both of which were advertised with the listing).  

I had complete proof of all of this with receipts.  The host who has 25 properties listed with Airbnb was provided with undoubted preferential treatment against my claim.  I was eventually awarded a $200 refund when my damages far exceeded this.  In the past Airbnb has awarded a guest a 20% discount for a repair man having to attend at the cabin for an two hours where the guest did not need to be in attendance.  

I believe Airbnb needs to have a consistent policy for refunds which is applied evenly for each claim. 

[Susan1028]

@Jennifer0 

See my post below.  I think ABB is enlisting free help amongst the ranks that isn’t trained to deal with these matters.

Id appeal that and pursue a supervisor to address it.

[Alice595]

I would not expect somebody to pick me up from Airport for free unless it is explicitly mentioned in their listing. Better to ask clearly about certain things.

[Susan1028]

Hi,

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@Teresa3 wrote:

We had an ABB guest who is supposed to stay with us for 7 days and wanted to cancel her reservation for the last 3 days after she moved in for four days.  We could not refund her for the remainder 3 days  according to the cancellation policy we published on ABB.  In order to get her refund, the guest made a false claim to ABB saying our internet did not work, and she needed to move out.  ABB refunded her for the 3 days based on what the guest's story.  When we found it out 2 days after, and told ABB that the guest's claim was false, and we have proof for it.  ABB case manager said it was too late, and she already made a final decision to refund the guest based on what the guest said, and we can not change or appeal her decision, and we can not talk to her supervisor either.  She sounded like she has the absolute power to make decisions for me with or without my agreement.  Does anyone know if there is way to appeal for the case manager's wrongful decisions?  

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Ive discovered something about ABB support:

Some are hired with a dedicated job description.  Some are host who’ve been enlisted to respond, and I have no idea how or why.

I learned this after I wrote to inquire about a mathematically incorrect percentage in my “performance” area (I have 100% 5-star reviews, so there’s no way I could have scored a 4.8, which is very close to losing superhost status and one step away from delisting ...that threat accompanied the notification from ABB.  I was flabbergasted and checked—still 100% 5-stars!

I reached out to support to find out why/how because my positioning in searches had fallen at the same time.  I received a terse, almost hostile reply to the effect that “there’s no way that can happen you must’ve done something wrong to get the lower rating” because it’s all automated so theres no possibility of error.

I replied with a screen shot showing my perfect score supporting my claim, politely repeating the question.

Received another terse response indicating that I was wasting thier time. I replied asking for a supervisor.  No response.

When I looked closely, the signature indicated it was another “Level 10” host !

Maybe this happened to you?  It wasn’t a name I recognized from this community, and I’m a “level 10” contributor in this forum.  Is that the same thing?I’m wondering if ABB chose some one here to fill in to field queries from other hosts?

Ive been in customer service for decades and knew I’d been “slimed.”  

I don’t feel qualified to respond to technical questions, but I would refer them to someone who could...so that’s still not an excuse for the poor treatment.

I waited a couple of days and tried resubmitting my question hoping for another rep would respond.  Nothing.

The following week, the rating was correct again.  Go figure...

That was the last time I reached out to support.  Ive received much better information here.

Your case is more damaging.  I’d definitely call back and pursue supervisor involvement, and not mention you’re a host till you get one —just say you have a problem about a rating until you get someone who will actually listen look at your evidence, and correct the review and the refund.

[Susan1028]

@Elena638 and everyone...

We’re living in times of transparency and exposure.  At the risk of revealing my generation lol...I see patterns over time.

ABB is becoming about as responsive to hosts as Amazon is to sellers.

I used to have a niche Amazon bookstore with some hard to find titles. I closed it because too many scammers got refunds without question or evidence of any wrongdoing on my part...at my expense. They got to keep the product (saving return shipping) AND got a refund, so they doubled thier money...were rewarded for thier lies, and I got the bad review that didn’t go away because you can’t argue with a computer and no one cared.  They were seduced by the profit potential of the wholesalers.

Sound familiar?

When an original gets too big, loses sight of what made them special, and takes for granted those of us who helped them attain thier standing it’s a “tipping point.”

This is happening with thier red carpet treatment of notoriously awful property management companies (a biggie beginning with “V”) and investors with multiple properties who invest nothing in the communities they buy up...but have so many properties, ABB cozies up and gobbles up booking fees like an addict does their drug.

Any multiple property owner gets preference  including “super hosts” who get away with listing the same property 3 times in addition to listing parts of that same property separately as “entire place” complete with bribes for good reviews with free food from thier restaurant chain, and when a guest leaves an honest review noting any of this, they get abusive public replies from that super host.  Reporting that super host’s transgression to ABB has no effect...likely because of the multiple booking fee streams they provide to ABB.  It’s more profitable to look the other way.

Its a lot like an addiction because nothing else seems to matter except more more more...and competition from clones created by previous wholesalers ABB sought to outshine in personal community touches...seems to be adding more pressure, creating more competitive chaos...regardless of the long term damage to the relationships and reputation for fresh, honest, community of humble genuine hospitality that built this platform.

It teaches a point where it self-sabotages and cant sustain itself, and we’re experiencing the first wave.

Any service business survives on feedback. Reputation matters. Guests and indie hosts are complaining, and alternatives are wooing them/us away.

Ebay learned the hard way and made balanced corrections in support of buyer and sellers.  Others such as Etsy, posh mark, etc scooped up those disenchanted by the megalomonopolies which are destined to peak and become obsolete when the next wave comes.

BTW, Whatever happened to My Space, Netscape, and Lycos...?

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

 I don't mean to contradict you. But in the interest of experience, my interraction with CS has improved 100 percent.

I wait till I am calm enough to script it out. 

I tell them up front what I want. 

Here's why ( bullet points). Just the fact s, no emotions. 

I accept that the outcome will be what is right, and pray (yes, pray) that the solution is just. But I also accept that I may be wrong. 

I remember that the CS people are human beings. I respect them. If it needs escalating, so be it. 

[Susan1028]

@Mandi20I worked andd trained others in CS for 30 years and this business is all about CS.

I understand we are all human beings, and I've never been offensive to ABB CS or anyone else's.  Wish I could say the same about reciprocity.

I'vr experienced various levels of support in ABB CS and have taken the time to write positive feedback to ABB about those who were excellent.

Escalation?  Yes, at times, and at times front line CS has attempted to block that with blatantly thin lies, which have been proven to be just that when I've circumvented and connected to a supervisor.

This is a huge corporation, so there will be all kinds of expereinces.

I'm pleased you're seeing 100% improvement across the board in your realm.  It's not that way for everyone, regardless of how tactful and organized we are.

[Susan17]

@Susan0 Excellent post. Spot on. 

[Alice595]

@Susan1028 Customer service does have areas to improve. But Airbnb top management sets up the rules and policies. When the top management does not enforce the rules and policies seriously, it could cause the a lot of issues for CS to handle. And CS does not even know what the right ways are when they handle them.

According to my experience, Airbnb has issues in the following areas

(1) Lack of screening of guests and hiding guests profile before a booking is confirmed. Anybody can register and make a reservation. This has great potential risk to hosts because hosts have the property listed publicly and most of time they live on the property as well.

(2) Rigid review system which favors the guests. Airbnb allows the retaliatory reviews. But with the poor screening system, hosts have more chances for getting retaliatory reviews from unreasonable guests.

(3) Airbnb does not enforce house rules and sometimes even encourage or help guests to break house rules. Just give one incidence occurred recently to me. I have strict cancellation policy. One guest canceled a booking two weeks after. She called Airbnb and requested full refund. Airbnb strict cancellation policy is only refund 50% in this case. But Airbnb customer service called me and asked me if I could give full refund. A rule is a rule. It is very simple for an Airbnb customer service rep to say NO because it breaks the rule if a full refund is given.

(4) There are no penalty for guests who break the house rules. Many guests ignore the house rules. Most common ones being broken (i) Extra guests more than booked; (ii) No party; (iii) No smoking

[Thomas1603]

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@Alice595 wrote:

Airbnb strict cancellation policy is only refund 50% in this case. But Airbnb customer service called me and asked me if I could give full refund.

I will refund to the cancelling guest whatever rent I get from a replacement guest. I had one legitimate cancellation. The guest gave me enough advance notice to get back something like 80% of the booking.  The cancelling guest and I agreed to offer a last minute deal to get the replacement guest.

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[Tristan-and-Angela0]

Superhosts, 66 reviews and going strong. One nightmare guest and ABB decision to boot.

Last November guests check in for 6 nights. After the second night, they said they wanted to checkout because of bedbugs.

The guest sent pictures of bugs that were clearly photographed in another property.

We proved this to ABB showing how the countertops, bed linen and furniture in their photos were not our property.

We inspected the property and found no bugs. We forwarded the pictures to ABB that same day. Our listing photos alone would be sufficient to determine this was not our property.

December, ABB messaged us that the guest claimed they had been evicted. We pointed this out to be another False claim and referred the case manager to read the Host/Guest communications messages.

January ABB contact us saying they want us to provide a Professional inspection certificate stating the property is bedbug free. We cooperated and obtained the requested certificate.

Today, our case manager messages stating   “Thank you so much for providing us the Certificate that your property is free of Bedbugs. At this point, we have placed the situation as just Vermin and not Bed bugs with a Hosting Violation due to Cleanliness”, with full refund to the guest! Case Closed. 

…Dumbfounded, I have messaged back asking how they come to this decision and how they can ignore proof  the guest made false claims.Having read this thread, I see there is not much hope of recourse without expending hours of effort on the phone or social media.

ABB decision process seems completely Arbitrary and baseless.

[Luke166]

I have experienced exactly the same issue more than once. Reading this thread and others like it it seems to be something that is becoming a 'known loophole' that undermines the agreement and Airbnb seem to be supporting it by not aknowledging that it occurs, and refusing to investigate something which is essentially fraud. I'm quite sure fraud is a criminal offence and is something that not even Airbnb can hide behind in their 'you cannot sue us' BS ToC. 

I look forward to the day when a credible competitor shakes Airbnb off it's perch.

[Mandi-S-Just-Business-Ro0]

This is the part where you contact the media.