I just found this thread and I am glad to hear it has happened to other people in that I am not the only one. That said, here is my experience. I do NOT and NEVER have had a house listed with Airbnb. Because of my current experience, I will not use Airbnb because their business protocol for this is non-existent, and clearly it is not a protected service and would thus be unwise to use them for renting a home or otherwise.
1- Began receiving info that people were arriving at my (imaginary) house and alerted Airbnb.
2- Airbnb did NOT contact the first group of people that rented the (imaginary) house, rather suggested that I text them back to tell them I did not have a house to arrive to. (Incidentally, I did talk to the renter and he told me that Airbnb was not going to immediately refund his money because there was an investigation underway!!!) I felt extremely bad for that guy as he was coming from another country to America!
3- They told me they would take care of it immeditately, but many, many, many texts from future renters later, primarily texts written in some asian script, I was still getting renter messages.
4- I have called repeatedly about each event as it has happened, and each time I have been told that I needed a case manager because my situation had been escalated to a higher branch of their company.
5- I am now in week 6, no apologies, no contact except when I call in, and no alarm by anyone except me and MOST inexcusable, NO case manager?!?!?
6- The issue remains, and even when I explained that at the VERY LEAST, as a matter of simple common sense, a company should follow up with a person in this spot to help them understand how said business is responding to the problem and anything else they should be made aware of as the investigation is ongoing, I quote..."Alright then, is there anything else that I can help you with?" THAT'S WHAT YOU SAY? REALLY, that is ALL you have to say to someone who has clearly not been helped whatsoever?
This whole situation is unacceptable... and I hope to share my experience with many people before they get themselves in an even worse spot than myself. Unsafe, unhelpful, unreal.