Nightmare Customer Service in Manila, Philippines.

Kathleen112
Level 3
San Rafael, CA

Nightmare Customer Service in Manila, Philippines.

I am a longtime Superhost and I host and co-host multiple listings and I just spent almost 50 minutes trying to get a simple issue resolved, and it was an absolute nightmare dealing with the Manila office of ABB. I don't want to get into the ugly details, but suffice it to say that they refused to resolve the issue once they determined what had happened. 

 

I am beyond belief at the incompetence of the woman I spoke with, and it is making me re-evaluate keeping my 9 listings on ABB. Seems that perhaps other listing companies might be a little more customer-service oriented than ABB has become. If this is how they treat Superhosts (who are supposed to get exceptional treatment when calling in, HAH), I shudder to think what a non-super host or guest must experience when calling them. 

 

I asked to speak with her manager, and then our call was cut off mid-sentence. When I called back to continue speaking with the manager, I was told that he could only be ID'd by the woman who couldn't help me, and she was on another call. The 3rd person I spoke with told me that the manager would call me back. And yep, you guessed it. CRICKETS. 

 

Kathleen 

 

 

18 Replies 18
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Kathleen112Just curious what "simple issue" they refused to resolve...

I think if they could "determine what happened", you were allready a lucky person.

Reading the posts here in this community most callers did not even reach this point.

 

It was a pending referral fee that I am due. The person I referred used a different email address than the one on the active listing. I gave them both email addresses, and they still said that I needed to have the new listing host reclick the link, and then I would be sent my payment. That link was clicked by the host on July 27 and now it is August 6th and I have been on the line with another rep for over 40 mins. They claim to have no record of the past call about this. 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Kathleen112  I know hosts who will almost right away disengage with what they can immidiately perceive is a clueless and unhelpful CS person." Okay, thank you for your time, I'll get back to you, Susie". Then they call back again, get a different CS person and don't mention having called about it before. They may have to do this several times before getting someone who knows what they're doing. It's a drag, but an approach that can work.

Thanks Sarah, nice idea, but I just tried that and ended up getting the same inexperienced person twice in a row. ARGH. I would love to know how and when the routing of calls overseas takes place, because I have never had a bad phone experience with the reps in San Francisco. I was surprised to get one on another matter last week. It is a Monday morning and I am being re-routed overseas. Sigh. I fear that this may be the new normal. These reps also do not seem to care one whit about superhost status either, so any advantage that used to come from being a Superhost is nearly non-existent now, it appears. 

@Kathleen112  Try calling at a completely different time of day, so that same person is no longer on shift. Also, you can try using the Contact Us option to communicate through messaging. It may take several back and forth messages with the support person to make them clearly understand what the issue is (and they sometimes just cut and paste something unhelpful from the Help pages that don't address your issue) but in the end, I usually get assistance ths way. And no being put on hold or hanging up on you.

Thanks Sarah. I actually did send a message through Contact Us and never heard back! 

 

Well, after insisting on speaking with a manager, who was named Jayvee, he FINALLY told me the answer to my issue (MAYBE). After 2 hours and 15 minutes talking with 4 different reps in the Manila office, I was told that a host referral fee will only be sent to me if the person I referred to ABB is listed as the PRIMARY host on the account. That's it. Absolutely insane that it took so much time to answer that. 

 

ABB tells listing admins or property owners to make their co-host the PRIMARY host if they do not expect to communicate with guests, which is what we did since the owners are out of state for 4 months and they won't be communicating with guests. 

 

What a painful process to get to an answer. I am not even sure whether or not it will bear fruit, since it took so long to find this out. We shall see.

 

Thank you for your 2 cents, much appreciated. 

Hi Kathleen, I'm happy that I found this thread but also EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED in dealing with Airbnb customer service in Manila, Phillipines. It is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE and actually hard to explain to someone who hasn't dealt with it!!! Like you, I live here in Northern California in Vacaville where we have a guest house on the property that we've been renting for a couple of years and I own a condo in Hawaii that I've been renting for 12 years! before Airbnb was even around! Like you, I am SUPERHOST, just earned it fourth time in a row! and I've NEVER had a problem speaking with Airbnb customer service via phone or chat when I am dealing with someone in San Francisco or even anywhere in the USA (or even a first world country like Europe!) but my last few calls to Airbnb customer service in the Phillipines have made me want to pull my f'n hair out. It's an absolute joke! And I know EXACTLY what you are saying that the SIMPLEST ISSUE can take the longest amount of time to resolve becuase, quite frankly, these people DO NOT UNDERTSTAND US, OUR NEEDS, OR VALUE OUR TIME. I mean, honestly, how could you, if you lived in a country where the average salary is probably $100-$200 a month and your cost of housing even less that. How can someone in one of these countries then understand someone spending $100, $200, $500 or even a $1,000 a night on accomodations! Anyway, I could go on and on. In the last 2 days, I've called Airbnb 3 times (twice for a hosting issue and once for a booking issue) and A) it was either not resolved, B) I was not undetsood and it took soooo long to explain, or C) I got hung up on because the lady didn't want to deal with me. Funny, though, I did reach someone in San Francisco today and I resolved an issue in LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!!! Isn't THAT interesting...I've always thought of Airbnb as the premier platform that others are trying to copy, thought of them as 5 star service, and easy to deal with but their decision to farm customer service to the Phillipines...BIG MISTAKE...They can now join the ranks of many other big companies like Sprint, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Synchrony Bank (Lowes credit card and Care Credit), and I'm sure countless others who want to save money (at the expense of their customers) by farming out their customer service to India and the Phillipines. It makes me sick! and seriously considering of finding another company to host and book travel with. Shoot, VRBO website may not be as nice but I still get bookings with them and at least their customer service is in the United Kingdom...

 

Scott

I feel bad but I just can’t deal with the foreign call center they are not trained well completely misunderstood my problem sent me completely unrelated links  I have seven properties listed I just don’t have the time to be hassled. In advance to that the quality of guests has gone down and they  are just unrealistic if they want the ritz Carlton they should just pay the extra 500 dollars a night for one room instead of a fully equipped apartment with two bedrooms and a fully functional kitchen. Hosting is exhausting I work easily 10 hours a  day. I am a super host I go way above what anyone in the local area does or provides for guests it takes time and attention my property is in South Beach and people tend to yolo  I am not really sure how long I can keep this up if Airbnb is not giving me support 

i had dates blocked off my calendar and guests were able to book and then another apartment was unlisted for no reason

Valerie238
Level 6
Miami Beach, FL

It’s getting frustrating hosts work so hard we don’t deserve to be abandoned by Airbnb. I don’t think the staff in the foreign call centers are trained well. Hosts don’t have time for the run around

I totally agree with you I don’t think they understand how exhausting it is to have strangers stay in ones home and to be constantly changing bed sheets and cleaning rooms! 

Paul-Christian0
Level 2
Manila, Philippines

Hi! I'm a superhost from PH.  I see now why.  Previously, airbnb from california or UK calls me.  Hope Airbnb Manila can hire or outsource local superhosts who are more experienced than ones that are new. Hope this could happen, so that local hosts can have more extra revenue.

I agree with most of you, although at times you can find fantastic customer support representatives.. And that's little to do with how they were trained, or where they are from, it's all to do with their nature. 

 

 

Before anything I need to remind you all that the pay they get in comparison with what aibnb gets is totally disgusting... Airbnb company should be sued for slave labour hiring, imagine how much they profit from these low paid people, and seriously we can't expect a high quality either. 

My issue is with any greedy and unethical company that earns billions and tries to save through customer service -the most vital factor of the companies wealth.

Today's episode was so exhausting for me, having my money in their hand but releasing it is just unbelievably too long, and I see no reason or point it to be so long, and frankly call it theft because the guests are in my place using my property and utilities but there is no money 

In a rental situation if the bond and rent is not paid in advance the tenant can't move in.. Same should apply for us  ... Aibnb has already got the guests money in their account so why take soooo long to transfer it to us?

 

This I call theft. 

 

 

 

 

 

Valerie238
Level 6
Miami Beach, FL

My big concern is the guests don’t realize the hosts don’t hold the money and that we don’t receive the full amount that they pay. I have had European guests complain about the exchange rate. What really annoys me is Guests pay half of what they would pay at a decent hotel in south beach and expect the ritz Carlton. I have a unit advertised as vintage with original tile and cabinetry and they said the apartment was not modern why stay in a historic building if you want modern. Most guests want the funky mid century feel and visit the era of Miami Beach maybe the Germans realized the post war boom was after ww2 when the allies beat the Germans. Idk what to say  but my listing is accurate and below the phots it clearly states the House was built in 1950 with original

bathrooms. I think there needs to be a realization that different areas are more expensive to own and operate in and the nightly rate varies in different areas in the country 

Angela1464
Level 1
Calgary, Canada

I’m in the same boat as you guys just started Airbnb a month ago and I recently had a hostile guest a wanna be bobsledder Tiffeny Parker stay at my home. This guest was demanding and stole a bowl from my home when I replaced my dishes with paper bowls Airbnb said I broke host rules by not providing amenities. Her friend Cynthia Appiah another bobsledder made false accusations that I did not provide a fridge or kitchen when I have video footage of her cooking and using my fridge!! A full refund was issued without even talking to me or viewing my evidence all from the same call centre... also I mentioned I feared for my safety because Tiffeny Parker was being hostile and aggressive and Airbnb still did not cancel her reservation!!! Unbelievable