Accidental booking

[Patrick3680]

I unintentionally booked a property whilst swiping on the screen to see all the information. It was only the second screen. I had unfortunetly got into the habit of clicking reserve on the first screen to see the cost breakdown and extra charges (i.e

 Cleaning etc) on the next screen. This was for a 3 week stay so quite a lot of money. The host had a cancellation policy of 50% refund up until a few days before and then no refund. Despite contacting the host and AirBnB explaining that I booked by accident, 11 months prior to the stay, they would not offer a full refund. AirBnB simply refer to the hosts cancellation policy and the host simply said no. My argument was that if i booked by accident I wasn't informed about the policy and it was an honest mistake quite easily made. I tried going through a section 75 with my credit card but this was no successful.

I think that a bit of human error when using these apps on touch screens is bound to happen, especially when it only takes two screens before completing a transaction, and harsh cancellation policies like these seem really unfair. It has really deterred me from using applications like AirBnB in the future. I would love to hear other peoples thoughts, experiences and advise?

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

You can cancel penalty free within the first 48 hours if the booking is more than two weeks out . @Patrick3680  so you can can cancel penalty free .

Also you have to click three separate times including on a payment screen so difficult to 'accidentally ' book.

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Patrick3680  you did not cancel right away?  I made a mistake as well before but I cancelled right away and got refunded.