Verify! - or be delisted!

[Helen350]

Just had a 'ping' to my (non-smart) phone. - I must verify my i.d. by 6 December, or be de-listed! Checked lap top, same message on dashboard. - PANIC!

Tried to calm down, & went into 'Account', then 'Personal Info' - Relief! - It told me to photograph my passport, or driver's licence, (or I.D. card, which we don't have in the U.K.) To my amazement, this slightly tech phobic 58 year year old managed to photograph my passport, AND upload the result on to my laptop, AND post it on the Airbnb site in the designated box. Minutes later, my profile is registering that I'm verified, & have provided Government I.D. Phew! - Simple really!

(Thank goodness my passport is still valid, it expires next September.  Especially as  my driver's licence is an old style one without a photo, and also in my maiden name. 😞 -

(There are many Brits who have NO photo I.D. - it's not compulsory, not everyone has a passport or a driving licence with a photo...)

[Sharon493]

Bravo Lynne, my sentiments entirely. I am honouring tomorrow's booking but after that, not sure whether I can be arsed with all this gameplay. What information do Airbnb  need from my passport, that I haven't already willingly given? My id photos are pretty much identical (give or take 4 years' wear) so why do they keep rejecting my uploads? All very Big Brother. 

[Helen350]

@Lynne57 @Sharon493 

@Susan17 has a theory about why this is happening... - Do read! https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Does-any-host-do-double-completed-identity-verification/...

[Sharon493]

Curiouser and curiouser! Maybe the dastardly plan after all is to remove all us old-timers who struggle with the required technology. I'll be among the first to surrender.

[Lynne57]

@Helen350 

Many thanks for this information, interesting reading indeed. I’ve decided to beat AirBnB to it and have now frozen my listing while I decide whether to just give up on AirBnB.

Fortunately I’ve been travelling so don’t have any forthcoming bookings to worry about. If they want to delete me it’s fine by me, I’ve been losing the will to work with them for a while now. Makes no sense at all to me to put the onus on established hosts but not new guests.

[Helen350]

@Lynne57 If @Susan17  is right - note BOTH her comments in the link I posted, (& she has done some amazingly deep research over the years!) - then a small random number of us are being asked to 'Verify'. -So that Airbnb are being seen to be doing..... in which case maybe non-compliers won't be de-listed?? -I'll have to check if you & Sharon remain active after  the deadline!

[Robin4]

@Helen350  @Sarah977  @Lynne57 

I had exactly the same email about 2 months ago Helen, long before Orinda, and I had to re-verify myself by uploading a photo of my current drivers licence, both front and back.

As you say the verification process and the up-loading is easy, you upload your licence photos into the on-screen locations designated then, when you click 'next' a screen appears with an outline of a human head which activates your webcam. Using the focusing of your webcam you align the image of your face (Heaven forbid for me)  so that it fits into the facial outline on the screen, click next and your current facial photo is incorporated into the screenshot which is then automatically forwarded to verify that the image you have just taken is the same as the one on your drivers licence or passport! 

I found the whole thing took me less than 5 minutes and, within another couple of minutes I received an email telling me my verification was complete and had been accepted. Quick and easy!

Cheers......Rob

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

Hey Rob, old buddy (and occasional sparring partner!😉) How are you darling? Great to see you around again, was wondering where you'd got to! Hope Ade and your girls are keeping well, and life is treating you all kindly ❤

I did see your comment to me on Sarah's thread last week, but when I tried to access the forum to respond to you the following day, we were all locked out due to a glitch. I've just been popping in and out of the CC with random posts here and there this week as I'm up to my eyes with my project at the moment, but I have that thread saved so I can sit down when I have some spare time over the weekend, and give your comment the proper, considered response it deserves 🙂 

[Helen350]

@Robin4 I don't understand that at all! Don't know if my 15 year old laptop even has a webcam..... The only way I could comply with verification was to upload a photo of my passport... No bots will have compared it with any other photo, unless it can be compared with my airbnb profile pic..... It's worrying that folk had to re-verify.... when my passport runs out in Sept next year, I wasn't planning to renew, & my old drivers licence has no photo & my maiden name. Some Brits have commented on other threads , they have no photo id...... 

[Robin4]

@Helen350 

Here in Australia if you don't have a drivers licence you don't exist.

Six years ago Ade had to surrender her drivers licence because her legs were not good enough to drive a car any longer. That was a super teary day. For a man, we don't realise how small things like 'browsing' are such an important part of a woman's life. Just the ability to walk around the shops when you feel like it! That loss of personal freedom....having to depend on others, is one of the worst things that can happen to a woman. 

Anyway along with her driving went her drivers licence! You can't board a plane without a drivers licence ID, you can't open an account, buy a new phone, request a copy of some official document.....In short, you cease to exist.

To combat this problem our state a year or two ago  introduced official Identity cards, which look exactly like drivers licences complete with official photo, except, they don't actually allow you to do anything, they just officially identify you on behalf of the state! They are digitally encrypted and carry the same identification value as a licence or a passport!

This is her card which makes her a living person again!

All I can suggest is Helen, find out if a similar identity card operates in the UK

As far as the verification thing went Helen, I was interstate when the email came to re-verify my account so, I got on CX and asked for an extension in order to get back to my computer, which was granted. When I got back home I contacted CX and he asked how I wished to verify myself, computer, phone or tablet. I told him computer and he asked if I had a webcam on my computer. I told him I did, and he sent me the link for verification via computer. 

When I accessed the link it all happened as I described above. I thought is was very well thought out, easy to use and got results quickly.

Cheers......Rob 

[Helen350]

I've go og led @Robin4  & we DO have such a card - £15 or £30 urgent processing. But would Airbnb accept it? I've read posts from other older Brits on other recent 'Verify' discussions... - lamenting the fact that because ID is not compulsary here, they don't have any......

[Helen350]

@Robin4  Sharon493, an English lady hosting in France, said Airbnb would not accept her French 'Carte Vitale'......

[Robin4]

@Helen350 

Yes Helen Airbnb do accept it.....it is positive tamper-proof ID, just the same as a drivers licence or a passport, and the image date on the card  is verification that the image is current!

Now having said that, what @Susan17  has had to say regarding Airbnb's outsourcing of verifications has me worried and a bit perplexed. But I don't think what Susan had to say was applicable with specific Airbnb verification requests. My feeling is that was just for general user verifications as part of setting up an account. If CX were using a third party, it was completely seamless, verification links were sent to me as I talked with CX , not via a third party! As one link didn't work, another was sent! We were each working at our screens in real time. But I now understand enough about Airbnb's outsourcing to consider that what Susan has said is reliable!

Cheers......Rob

[Helen350]

I ONLY uploaded a crude photo of my 9 year old passport, no webcam selfie... & I was pronounced 'verified' minutes later!

[Helen350]

@Helen427 Do @Robin4's instructions above help? (Thankfully I wasn't asked for a webcam image, unless it somehow activated without me knowing - an even bigger 'God forbid!')

[Helen427]

@Helen350I don't do webcam nor I am about to start to.

I find such things creepy.

Like many others out there we all have our reasons for not sharing personal data and in my situation I'd rather not go into detail online.

Our images in fact do belong to ourselves and in accordance with Human Rights Courts of Laws and Governance it's questionable if such requests for information have crossed boundaries.