Case manager gave refund without my approval

David59
Level 2
Cashmere, WA

Case manager gave refund without my approval

I have a case manager Acel who refunded my potential guest their full amount for an issue that was not my fault. They claimed they came to a road gate with two locks and could not get past it to get to my guest room. There is no gate. There are no locks on this fictitious gate. The problem I have is that I am a Superhost with over 100 guest reviews and probably 150 guest stays. My communication rating is 4.9 out of 5. And Airbnb stats state that my last 29 ratings for communication is 5 stars. 

 

I have emailed Airbnb case manager Acel telling her there is no gate. I told her there is no review private/public that complains about or mentions a gate. My directions have not been modified and no where does it say..."hey...by the way, pass the GATE on your way to get here". 

 

Now since the case manager Acel apparently wants to believe the potential guest over me, I said ok, fine, ask any random past guest of mine if they had to pass any sort of gate to get their guest room here. Choose any one you'd like. I said even choose the current guest who has stayed here for 3 nights in a row. 

 

The frustrating thing is these case managers apparently do not have a supervisor to speak to. Because any one with any experience who looks at my status as a superhost, my communication ratings, and my overall ratings...the number of them and what I have been rated, would come to the conclusion that I as a superhost am not lying to Airbnb.

 

Also, what would be my motive? I want the revenue from these guests. That's the whole point of airbnb!

 

They need someone with more experience above the case managers to appeal these decisions. 

23 Replies 23
Lilian20
Level 10
Argelès-sur-Mer, France

Hello @David59 don't you get it ? There are gates and they are closed. You just never noticed them before. That's all.

 

 - Only kidding -

LOL! Oh yeah! I totally forgot!

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

@David59You do make total sense. How in heaven's name could they possibly have encountered a locked gate, if the other 100 people have not, or could attest to that fact. This particular guest went to the wrong place, that much is obvious, since there is no gate! The matter at hand is now to ~circumvent~ the limited mind (or lack of) of the particular illogical (or lazy) case manager that you were unlucky enough to be assinged to. Many here already have suggested the best ways to go about this.

 Let me say this while here and feeling like a 'Don Quihote' today. Airbnb appears to have developed a certain 'business' mentality of late that an angry host is less 'costly' than an angry guest. Perhaps this unfortunate trend is due to the many platforms available to individuals in today's 'social media' phenomenon, which gives the stupid or scamming types as much power (or 'benefit of the doubt') than to the 'proven'.  I would fight this tooth and nails with them, if anything to be treated fairly, and also to make your own individual 'contribution' towards pushing Airbnb to treat 'proven' hosts more fair and to be taken more seriously.

Don Quixote*

@David59 @Fred13 this is really ridiculous - I too would push it to the end - of YOUR MONEY back! I would go out side take pictures of entrance, yard into your place and show them how crazy this all is....,,,,, whatever, and keep after it. I wish I had been one of your 100 guest - I'd go to bat for you. Keep us posted about when you get it all straight............from another host (superhost, too) Good luck, and happy hosting, Clara

Gemma5
Level 2
Mona Vale, Australia

As a host this is scary and unbelievable in equal measures. Airbnb should have consulted with you begore any decision was made. Also photographic proof could maybe rectify the issue??

Anna470
Level 1
Norwalk, CT

I'm a superhost who just had a similar experience.  I was also shocked that Airbnb would just believe the guest and refund the money without contacting me.  I'm now just begging support to open a case, because my existing case manager says it's closed.  From talking to people, the word is that Airbnb will usually just side with the guest: there are more guests than hosts, the guest is the one with the cash, and the customer is always right.

Lisa1165
Level 2
Chelsea, MA

My experience with some case managers is unprofessional, lack of experience and very irresponsible. I had a group of guests checked in from 5/17- 5/20. The name of the guest s Audrey House.  At the beginning I can say those guests did not follow my policy. I sent them check in information 3 times but they did not care and did not read it but kept asking me information again. The story did not stop here. When they checked out they did not return the key. As the policy on my listing guest has to pay $300 for key lost (They are programmed elevator and garage fobs which are not available in the markets to make). When I called Audrey for key refund she started swearing and complaint about the place and requested me to refund as a way to exchange for the key loss. Case manager Alexis automatically decided to refund guests $477.

After a few hours discussion with Megan, the supervisor of Alexis, she REDUCED the refund to $277 just because the microwave hand was broken on one side but the microwave still functioned very well. My concern here is that based on what policy the amount came up to $277 while the microwave still functioned properly? Did the microwave hand issue impacted guests mentally and physically? Did the microwave hand cause guest trouble to use it?

At the same time, I requested $277 refund to compensate for my time consuming, risk of my business loss (my current guests might not able to check in due to the key loss), the safety of my current guests but none of these case manager answered my questions.

My WORST experience is with The Specialist Cintia from Trust and Security team. She requested me to submit official invoices for key loss and lock change. After I spent a lot of time to acquire the invoices to submit her I was said that the invoice was unable to verify or the price was over the market. Those invoices were provided by the building management where I signed the contract with. Cintia did not explain me why she could not validate the invoice and what the price of the market fob is? ( In reality, these fobs are not available in market to sell or able to identify the price. It belongs to individual building for security purpose). After asking me tons of questions, Cintia requested me to submit her POLICE REPORT FOR key loss. I spent a whole day at police station to get POLICE REPORT and Cintia informed me that TIME IS OVER. She could not refund me for the key loss. OMG, I spent 3 weeks to collect and submit Cintia all the documents and she did not dare to answer my email after TWO DAYS until when I called Airbnb and this is her answer? “ TIME IS OVER”. Where is her professional and responsible skills as a SENIOR specialist? Cintia was supposed to request me all the documents at the beginning and noticed me her expected deadline but she did not. What she did is kept asking me with different questions and requested more different evidences day by day even POLICE REPORT for key loss. Cintia even did not care about the rule and policy that is stated on my listing “ $300 charge for key loss”.  Now Cintia cannot say that POLICE REPORT is unable “ to verify”  so she came with other excuse “ TIME IS OVER TO SOLVE THE CASE”.  Earlier, I was promised by Megan, the supervisor of Alexis that if guests were not able to refund me for the key loss, Airbnb will refund me.

My experience with the case manger like Alexis, Shannon and Specialist Cintia is unprofessional, lack of experience and irresponsible. I doubt that there is a relationship between one of them with the guest Audrey from the way they solved the case.

Unprofessional: Alexis forced host to respond her email in 24 hours and automatically took $277 away from host account in $24 hour without any real investigation.

Shannon: Instead of listening, Shannon kept talking at the same time with host on the phone. She spoke too fast and I barely not understand what she was talking about

Lack of experience and irresponsible:

CIntia is the WORST experience that I ever have with any Airbnb case manager as well as specialist. I just see CIntia like a BABY with a title of SENIOR Specialist.

Here is my experience: If you are UNLUCKY to deal with those worse case managers like Alexis, Shannon or specialist like Cintia, do not your waste time.  Airbnb system gives them too much advantage. Since your next payment is hold by Airbnb so they can withdraw your money easily without your agreement. You are better to move to other websites as VRBO, booking.com, tripadvisor where host has more power and not deal with these headaches. If you are lucky to meet with experiential and responsible case managers, everything is good to go otherwise it is not deserved to waste your time with. Cintia just made me exhausted with all of her questions day by day. After I submitted Cintia all the documents  what I heard from CIntia  was “ TIME IS OVER TO SOLVE THE CASE”. Here are what you always heard from them when you make the complaints “I am sorry the outcome is not as your expectation” or “Don’t worry your case is still open, the supervisor will contact you shortly”. Reality is that no one contacts you and you will be exhausted and leave the case. By the end no one judges their work. They still sit there and get paid from your contribution and behave as LIVE SAINTS

 

Hi there, I am having the same problem. A case manger Romie Ace refunded guests out of a blue and without my approval. Making many calls and emails, no one is helping. What hosts could do with this? Thank you