AirBNB Refund Failed - Who to Contact?

[Joseph2160]

Going to keep things short and simple

Nov 1st : I cancelled a 100% refundable reservation (Paid via bank ACH). Refund e-mail was sent from AirBNB. The refund never hit my account.

Nov 30th: Contacted Airbnb about this. They said the first refund attempt failed and they'll try again They blamed it on my bank. The rep says that they guarantee it will go through. Nothing hits my account. Contacted my bank (Chase) several times, they said nothing was even attempted from Airbnb. Nothing wrong with my Chase account. It's in perfect standing.

Dec 11th: Contacted Airbnb again. They said the Nov 30th attempt failed. I tried to explain that them clicking 'refund' isn't working. They insist on attempting to refund again and end up doing so after my pushback. Afterward, Airbnb's system tells them 'failed' within 24 hours of attempting the refund again. They state that they're forwarding to the appropriate team. No response afterwards.

Who am I to contact about this? I've constantly read horror stories regarding a similiar issue where it takes months for somebody to receive a refund from a 'cancelled' bank account. However, AirBnB's attempts aren't working to my completely valid bank account. Everything is 100% fine on my end and Chase has confirmed this. Chase has suggested that I file a complaint with the BBB. However, this won't get my refund back to my account. What's the issue? What should I do and who should I contact?

I did remember deleting my Chase ACH as a payment method a few months ago as a security precaution. Would that have something to do with it? However, the refund receipt states that it's sent to my bank account with the correct last 4 digits with the ACH payment method not on my account, but AirBnB's system continues to tell the reps that it failed and that I need to contact Chase... and Chase tells me that a refund wasn't even attempted. Completely lost on what to do.

[Joan2709]

@Joseph2160 

Difficult to diagnose since we don't have access to the details of the transaction. Per the help article below, you should be able to contact Airbnb for the reference number of the attempted refund. If that doesn't work, you could try deleting the bank information and re-entering it, but not sure if that will do anything or not? You could also try re-establishing ACH with Chase until this is resolved; then close it afterwards.

How You'll Get Your Refund

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/987#section-heading-0

"If your original payment method’s account was closed, the refund sent by Airbnb won’t process. If this happens, you can contact your bank or financial institution to locate it. If you currently have an account with them, they may be able to transfer the refund to your new card or account. In some cases, they may send you a check for the refunded amount instead. If you need the refund details to provide them, you can contact Airbnb—we can provide you with the details, including a reference number that your bank or financial institution can use."

I personally only use a credit card for payment on Airbnb; the less places that have my bank account information the better. Sometimes this isn't always possible though. You can also use PayPal I believe, but that is not available in all countries.

[Joseph2160]

Thanks for this Joan. I've tried the things from this article already

-ACH is not able to re-added as it seems like AirBNB removed this as a viable payment method. I was initially forced to pay this way when reserving the Airbnb in June. 

-My bank account isn't closed. My original payment method is still valid.

-I've asked AirBNB several times for the ARN number. AirBNB was never able to provide this.

[Joan2709]

@Joseph2160 

I would contact Airbnb again and provide the link to the help article that says they will provide this number to you. Ask them to please provide the information to you that is described in the article (reference number). You'll just have to keep escalating this until you get it sent to the proper department at Airbnb. The frontline customer service has no idea how this works. Thats why you need to send them the link and/or a screen shot that says they will provide the details and reference number.

I have never used ACH (but I know Airbnb does offer pymt with a bank account if that's what you mean). As far as I know, payments directly from a bank account are still available?

When you go to your profile/account under payments and payouts, do you see your original payment? It should show the name of the bank (Chase) and the last few digits of the account number?

[Joseph2160]

I've escalated to a senior case manager, but it seems they're unsure. They have provided me a payment code (which is the same exact number as all other refund attempts), but seems to not be useful as their system tells them 'failed' within 24 hours of submitting the refund. However, an ARN number is what seems to be needed and they aren't able to provide this.

That is correct, ACH is the same as paying with a bank account.

Under my profile, the original payment isn't there as I deleted it for security reasons. 

[Joan2709]

@Joseph2160 

So if you deleted the original payment information, is that possibly the issue?  Unfortunately, only Airbnb is the only ones who can correct this I'm afraid. 

[Joseph2160]

Possibly, as to why I speculate that could possibly be a reason why. However, it seems that their refunding software is recognizing my previous payment method and attempting to make a refund against it. 

Praying something works out 🙏🏾

[Joseph2160]

Still in the loop. One rep says "REFUND CONFIRMED", then it fails shortly after a few days. Then a new 'senior case manager' comes in and goes through the whole loop of how they see what's going on and how they're going to investigate. They click refund, it fails, then another senior case manager comes and repeats the cycle. Currently, on the 4th iteration of these guys doing this 

[Joseph2160]

They continue to repeat the same things as the previous message. The reps see a successful refund on their screen, however, it fails after a day or so. I continue to try to explain this to them and they refuse to escalate. Again, nothing is wrong with my bank. Chase is in perfect standing. I'm receiving cash from everybody else and even from my Airbnb Hosting account... except for this refund.

[Joseph2160]

Below are the messages from the 3rd refund attempt. Very frustrating. 

[Joseph2160]

Still no luck as of today, December 18th. My issue was being worked on my a senior case manager, but reassigned once again. No response, will keep updating this thread incase others are going through the same issue. Currently on the 4th refund attempt

 

[Joan2709]

@Joseph2160 

This is a guess on my part, but I fear Airbnb's system must look for the original pymt method to actually be in your Airbnb profile under payouts. I don't think it matters if you still have a valid bank account with Chase, if the bank account is not actually entered under your payment methods in your profile.

You can try adding you bank account info back to your Airbnb profile just so this refund can go through. Confirm receipt in your bank account (not just showing pending when you look at your Chase bank account activity detail, but actually showing in your account) this can take a few days. After that, you can delete the bank information in your Airbnb profile.

I would try this before the next attempt is made by Airbnb and see what happens. Otherwise I fear this problem will continue.

[Joseph2160]

Readded it a few days ago. Haven't heard from anything yet. I guess waiting and following up everyday is the only solution

[Joan2709]

@Joseph2160 

Hopefully there is not some "hidden" coding for your original payment that will still be missing even though you added the account back to your profile....

I believe Airbnb verifies bank accounts by sending a small deposit to your account and that can take a few days...

[Joseph2160]

They verify through Stripe which only requires you to log in to your banking account. 

https://www.paymentsjournal.com/airbnb-and-stripe-announce-partnership-to-facilitate-bank-payments/

Even if is this the case, I really hope nobody else falls into the same issue.