Still No Payment

Christina99
Level 3
Columbia Heights, MN

Still No Payment

I discovered last Tuesday that I had not been paid by the ABB for the guest who was staying. I promptly contacted ABB and was told that this would be resolved promptly. It is now Sunday and I have yet to receive any communication from ABB beyond a "you'll get paid when we get paid". I'm out $175 for the three-night stay plus an extra $100 in cleaning fees because they completely trashed the place. I've called ABB seven times and no resolution. I am beyond frustrated, anyone else had this happen where ABB failed to do their part and penalized the host?Also I happen to know that the first night was a credit from ABB so that should be paid regardless because they were covering it. It's amazing to me how little they have our back, but expect us to bend over backwards. I've created an account with a competitor and will be transitioning over to that platform. I will also be watching for my payment notifications and will be kicking guests out instead of waiting for ABB to do their job, since that is apparently what I should've done in the first place. I'm also going to be filing a complaint with the attorney general and will be drafting a letter to ABB. 

12 Replies 12
Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Christina99  Hey, I'm sure it is frustrating that you haven't been paid. You should be paid within the first 24 hrs./ or at least receive.. notification that monies on the way. Seems to me you might want to work just alittle more on your hosting skills and it will help you avoid such unpleasant things from occurring. I am not calling you out - its just a suggestion and it could help you avoid much. I read your guests Livinus's reviews and they were ALL terrible from other Hosts. Why in the world would you rent your place to him? He is trouble and the other hosts told it straight out each of them. Obviously you didn't read his reviews before booking. And also your responses are pretty sharp edged and so sometimes how we do things in different situations will surely determine the response. Just re read your reviews of others that were a challenge. It might help in the future. I would continue to contact Airbnb and very calmly, sweetly tell them you are waiting for your money and its very overdue. If you are less than nice to the CS folks they will and can delay as long as they like. The Honey and vinegar thing is true with customer service folks. Good luck. 

@Clara116 Thanks for your feedback. I read his previous reviews the evening before he checked in. I've changed my instant book so guests have to have a recommendation from another host to book. I should've followed my gut and canceled the reservation, however I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. He was incredibly demanding and my frustration is obvious with him in my response to his crappy review. 

 

He is not the issue guest for which I didn't get paid (I received notification from ABB that payment has finally been issued), it is the next guest who didn't have any rental history and ABB called me directly and asked me to host him. I shouldn't have to ask to get paid for hosting a guest, ABB did not do their part and make sure he had a valid CC# on file. I only discovered that I hadn't been paid when I checked status on the third day of the reservation. I never received the notification email. ABB's response was "you haven't been paid because we haven't been paid". He then proceeded to trash the place and I'm out additional cleaning fees, because I will pay my cleaning person even if I don't get paid. 

 

And I disagree you don't always get more with honey, if I hadn't been insistent, it's likely I would still be waiting for payment. Unfortunately, being too nice can also be taken advantage of as well.

I had a similar situation.  It was a kind of busy time of year and I actually didn't notice that I had not been paid off on one of my guests, until I noticed the 'Pending Transaction' section.  (Now I watch that puppy closely).  So I called about it.  I remember the guest clearly.  He wasn't a problem.  He was an Instant Booking (2 days), who wanted to extend a third day, which we did via the AirBnb app.  The original 2 day booking went through on his cc just fine, it was the third day (on a Sunday) that was declined, but none of us knew it until after he checked out.  We gave each other great reviews and all was well.  Guest was still traveling all over the place and getting similar reviews after he stayed with me, while I was calling trying to get my $$.  My argument was - Why was AirBnb allowing the guest to continue to book when he had an outstanding debt owed?  Also, where was my other two days that he already had paid?  Customer Service passed the buck a few weeks, telling me over and over someone would get back to me in 24 hours.  No one did, finally I was able to get through to someone by asking them how they would feel if $380 of their weekly paycheck was deducted and no one would explain why they were not being paid, even though the guy that writes the checks is still bouncing them all over the place?  I had my deposit a few days later.

 

I'm not certain this will help.  But it did help me.

@Teresa102  Thank you! I think this is super helpful because I thought mine was an outlier, but it sounds like this is an ongoing issue that needs to be corrected on ABB's end. I had drafted a letter to the CEO that I was going to send delivery confirmation required today if I didn't have payment. I think I will update the letter and still send it as they need to fix their system to send a second ping making sure it can pull the additional amount of money from the guests CC.  Everytime I open the Lyft app it pings my CC as I get a notice so this isn't hard to do.

 

Knowing this makes me hesitate to agree to extensions of existing reservations without calling ABB and asking them to confirm the guest CC will cover the additional amount. I agree with your analogy on the paycheck, I did point out that I was still going to pay my cleaning person as I can't still my peeps just because they aren't doing the right thing.

Right you are.  We MUST keep our turnover assistants happy so that they keep us somewhat sane (or what passes for sane in some circles).   The thing that really foxed me was the guest was still traveling and getting reviews, and I’m waiting for my payday.   That just wasn’t right.  The powers that be saw no problem allowing a guest to stiff a host, and let him just go on his merry way.  Not cool.  I told them so.  Told them he should be black balled from the app until he brought his accounts current.  I’m not certain if he paid or if they paid.  I just know they finally paid me.   

 

Best wishes with being the squeaky wheel.   I think calling a couple of times a day is your best option.  Ask for supervisors.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Christina99 ,

 

Sorry to hear about the trouble with your payout. I've reached out the Customer Support team to update your case - I hope we can get some positive movement for you ASAP.

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Oh @Christina99 , I've just heard back from them and they let me know the payment was released yesterday, can you please confirm?

 

Thanks

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@Stephanie Hi! In my response to the first two responses I note that I did receive notice that payment had been issued, this occurred Monday morning. Unfortunately I can't update the original post. I do appreciate your follow up though, thank you!

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Ah, great thanks for that. Let me know I can help any further @Christina99 !

 

Thanks,

 

Stephanie

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Alice595
Level 10
Concord, CA

@Christina99 @Teresa102 @Clara116 @John2940 

 

Just a note to you that I had at least two occurrences before, I did not receive payment notification after a guest checked in for a couple of days. I checked Transaction page and did not see them in the transaction lists either.

 

Then I called Airbnb support. Financially they sorted it out and put the payment through.

 

Payment issues I have encountered include the following cases

 

(1) Airbnb could not collect payment from guests. In this case, it could be Airbnb's issue, and it could be guests' payment provided issues

 

(2) Airbnb system glitches. In this case, payment would be totally disappear in their payment system. Subsequently there is no email notification of the payment and no transaction records in your account

 

(3) Issues in the multiple payments. You may get first payment fine while the second payment failed. A few days ago, I received a cancellation of reservation notice. And I messaged guest and asked the reason why he canceled his reservation. He told me that he did not do it. It turned out that Airbnb system could not collect his second payment and automatically canceled his booking.

 

Put your eyes on your payments!

@Alice595 Thank you for sharing. I'm always tense now at guest check-in wondering if I'm going to get paid. I wonder why there seem to be so many issues with payment? Every time I open the Lyft or Uber apps they ping my credit card. Shouldn't ABB have the same process if you extend a reservation? Or one day before the second payment is due to come out ping the card to confirm it works and then alert the guest if it doesn't? Afterall, I'm paying ABB a fee for each reservation, isn't that what I am paying for? Peace of mind that I'm going to get paid. Also I'm assuming that ABB is investing all of these prepayments and earning interest on them, so they're losing money as well.

 

More what I object to was the very lackadaisical response of customer service. "We haven't been paid so you haven't been paid." response with an implied "oh well"  I've incurred expenses for hosting the guest: electric, gas, water, sewer, garbage, laundry and cleaning and not to mention the wear and tear. So when I get a very non committal answer to when I'm going to be paid for costs already incurred it doesn't sit well.

@Christina99 @Alice595 @Stephanie @Teresa102 @Clara116 

 

Beware !

 

Airbnb delays payments for many months with the only lame excuse being 'technical glitch'.

 

Airbnb owes me thousands of dollars for a 28 night stay that was completed successfully in March 2022 and I still didn't get paid for it despite that I have a verified and default payout method.

 

Flee this fraudulent company like the plague !!