How Do You Rate AirBnB for Customer Service?

[John1574]

Perhaps AirBnB should set up a ratings system for themselves so their clients can see, for the sake of transparency,  how effective their policies and their how effective they are in customer service as rated by their clients.

1. Communication
2. a) did they listen well?  did they understand your complaint?
3. b) did they respond in a timely fashion?
4. c) did they communicate their decision accurately in the context of their policies?

1. Resolution
2. a) did they resolve your problem satisfactorily?
3. b) if they did not did resolve your problem satisfactorily did they explain it adequately?

1. Policies
2. a) do AirBnB policies adequately support their customers?
3. b) is AirBnB doing their best to protect both guests and hosts?

I’m sure better minds than mine can come up with supporting ideas and suggestions.

What I’m not looking for here are long dissertations about specific incidents:  but rather to hear from people who have dealt with AirBnB customer service and can relate their experience to the rest of us.

The Good, the Bad, and the  . . . (Ugly)

[Ann10]

@David126 @John1574 Yes, AAA American Arbitration Association. Maybe I got it wrong by saying AAA, maybe it's something else. I filed a claim w them and that's how I got my money. 1st I complained on pissedconsumer.com and got some of it, and then got more by filing w AAA. I can give more info tomorrow to the other person who asked. I want to advise on what pitfalls to avoid. At least in my opinion. I feel the ABB lawyer is very manipulative. It's late for me right now, but I want to help in anyway I can. The TOS also mention Small Claims Court as an option in some instances. I guess they don't want to pay the $1700 for being greedy arses. I think that is new.

[Ann10]

They paid me part of what they owed me because of this-https://airbnb.pissedconsumer.com/arbitrator-does-not-know-what-guest-refund-policy-says-especially-...

They called me and said this was an aberration or words to that affect. Ha! I had already had a bad review by an extortionist that they implored me not to give money to and they told me that they had my back! Ha! I guess they had to let her review stand because she told them she was going to give me a bad review if I didn't give her money and they said go ahead as long as you don't break the rules. I also got that removed after filing w AAA. More cases piled up after I filed my case about the guest w anxiety. An abberration my ass. I have more complaints on pissed consumer but ABB stopped responding. BBB.org might be better.

[Kathryn75]

Love this! Thank you Ann! YOU ROCK!

[John1574]

@Ann10

Thank you ,Ann, great info for everyone.

I'm putting it in the vault!

[Ann10]

Here is more-https://airbnb.pissedconsumer.com/follow-up-to-review-about-incompetent-arbitrator-kevin-t-201602207...

[Kathryn75]

Me too! Thank you Ann!

[Ann10]

I just added a whole thing about my experience filing a claim against ABB w the American Arbitration Association to the last post. When I hit reply it said to late to edit and the long post disappeared. Oh no! Please ask me anything you want. I need to take a nap now. If you look on pissedconsumer.com you can see more posts by me. I think my handle there is art. 
Anyway, I will write what I can little by little. Ugh! I wanted to let you guys know what I did right and what mistakes to avoid.  One thing be very polite in all communications w airbnb, after they say final say give up(they are so arrogant they think it's true) and make it a stipulation that you don't get kicked off airbnb.  Don't let the airbnb lawyer talk you into going direct without the arbitrator. He will say it's for confidentiality reasons.  Balony! Say, I'm sure the arbitrator can keep a secret! My agreement doesn't say confidential.  Don't talk to their lawyer on the phone. He is extremely manipulative.  Ask me anything you want! Ok! I'm exhausted now after writing that whole long thing and it disappearing! Sorry!

[John1574]

@Ann10@David126@Tony134@Annette190@Lisa723

Great work, Ann.  I'm sorry you lost the post.  It's happened to me.  I, now, actually have to force myself to write any longer piece in Word though I prefer the immediacy of writing in the submittal box:  it's just too glitchy and no spellcheck though they have spell check for the inbox/email.  Half-a$$ed!

I looked at:

https://airbnb.pissedconsumer.com/follow-up-to-review-about-incompetent-arbitrator-kevin-t-201602207... 

and thanks so much for sharing that -- it's an eyeopener for me.  Only by challenging them can we move forward using this site and arbitration:  if enough users make use of these resources it will have to become cost-effective for AirBnB to change their MO.  Or maybe that's a case of wishful thinking. One can dream, can't one.

I pulled a quote from there to pique peoples interest:

"Then I was contacted by a "supervisor" named Freddy who was so nice and he said he was going to resolve everything so I spilled my guts about some of the cruel actions and injustices perpetrated on me by the staff at Airbnb. I did not have time to go into it all, and I did not mention having been lied to for years about there not being any supervisors. Then next, I was contacted by Sam who put the kibosh on the idea of Airbnb doing the right thing saying it was too late.

In my mind, it is never to late to do the right thing.

Honestly and transparency does not apply to Airbnb just it's users I guess. Anyway, I have taken down all of my listings but one which is a place I am managing for my dad. I just can't deal with this nonsense anymore. Why they would treat a trusted, loyal host like me this way is beyond my comprehension, but I guess they do not need my business.

They must be too big to fail.

Good for them. I guess they can walk on the little guys and get away with it.

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You are making good contributions, Ann.  I love how many threads there are now addressing the Customer Service issue.

If every host or guest who is treated poorly and basically cheated went to that site and took them to arbitration, oh what a wonderful world it would be.

Ps. Sorry aboutthe typos and mispspellings -  I be in a rush today.

Thumbs up if you like a post.

[Ann10]

It amazes me that there is only one other person besides me who thinks we should have a union. My dad told me not to use the word union or collective bargaining, but I forgot what he said to use instead. Famous actors are in unions. Why not us. They wouldn't be able to push us around. That's for sure.

[Ann10]

Wow! I've really become grumpy compared to back then. I said things in a nicer way I guess.  Someone called me and said that Kevin T. had been addressed and that wasn't the way they did business. Wow! That was the debacle drop on my head by ABB. I've had so many since then. The last one and most costly(almost $7K) that  was perpetrated on me by them was by an extremely arrogant lady, and I don't even think she speak English well at all.  She kept making me feel threatened. Even after I cut and pasted that threatening people was against ABB policy she kept doing it. Finally, she threaten that if I brought it up again(meaning called in to complain about what she did) she would deactivate my account. This is in writing. That's hardly a threat to the safety of Airbnb as she said. I wish I could post her emails. Clearly she doesn't know what is a threat to the Airbnb community and what isn't. Someone w the same name "Jay" was also threatening other host w losing SH status. People were posting her messages on FB. I know my T&S Specialist was a female because someone told me her real name. I have it written down somewhere. If they cared about the hosts they would hire people who understand not only the language but the culture of the people they are "policing". That's what she was doing w me, but she got it all wrong, so she made up a new excuse when she realized she cancelled a reservation for nothing. I think you might get all your money complaining on BBB.org because BBB.org rates the business on how they resolve matters. pissedconsumer.com is there for people to vent but there is no grade on how well the issue was resolved. ABB tried to mark my issue as resolved, but I said not so fast.

[Ann10]

https://airbnb.pissedconsumer.com/another-airbnb-debacle-mediator-rafael-does-not-know-the-meaning-o...

[John1574]

@Ann@David@Tony@Annette@Lisa

Another Link Of Infamy relating to Customer Service:  this one began a year or more ago I think, so the movement is building momentum.  Lol

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Is-anyone-else-receiving-awful-customer-service-this-poor/m...

Ann, have you seen this site? 

https://www.airbnbhell.com/airbnb-host-stories/

I like the idea of organizing, it's just that the logistics could be hell too.  Power increases with numbers so an organization of hosts could work to pressure AirBnB to up their CS game and policies if someone steps up to administer a website for members to sign up on and a legal team to deal with legal isues and stratedgy.

[Ann10]

Hi David,

Yes, I've complained on Airbnbhell.com too!  I forgot I have posts there as well. I think I'm wabisabi or art, not sure. They asked me if I wanted to speak to a journalist about the atrocities(ok, maybe this word is an exaggeration) committed against me by the Airbnb staff. However, I declined because I would have had to have my 1st and last name in the newspaper and I live in NYC. I don't know if you guys know the situation in NYC, but I like to keep a low profile. I wish I could have participated in that. The last thing ABB wants is bad press. On a FB ABB group on lady that worked for a lawyer in Belgium said there were a lot of cases against ABB and ABB didn't want people to go to the press so they settled them right away. 

[Kathryn75]

Ann, 

Interesting approach! Now that I have mostly left AirBnB and because I don't need to keep as low as a profile renting in rural Colorado, perhaps I should take the time to speak with journalists via www.airbnbhell.com 

I definately have stories about the horrors of AirBnB's customer service worthy of the news. I suppose I should take the time to share them?
RIght now, to save my business, the majority of my time has been spent moving over to VRBO. So far, I'm doing well with them. If that changes, I'll post my concerns here....

[Ann10]

I love VRBO, not as much as I did when I started but they are a million times better than airbnb. For one thing, they don't meddle in the listing. You have a contract w the guest, and that's it. They don't automatically side w the guest. I've never had a bad experience w customer service there. I've only had one bad guest w them and they were supportive.