Crazy Bad Customer Service

[Angela2687]

Hello! This is a warning that cost me a LOT of money to be able to share with you! So, here we go...

I booked 10 nights in a 3-br house. We had sold our home in Brooklyn, and our house in Connecticut wasn't ready yet to move into yet, so we needed a break from hotels and wanted to try spreading out with our 3 kids in a house near our new house.

The house STUNK. I mean, that old basement, mildewy, moldy, damp, this-house-has-had-a-leaky-roof-for-years type of gross smell. It was a house from the 1930s and they had just "renovated" it. So, in addition to the damp smell, it also smelled of strong paint and varnish. Before we go any further. I am not an irrational person. I have renovated four 100-year-old homes across Brooklyn/Long Island, and I KNOW if something is smelly or not! I mean, this air felt dangerous for my children to be inhaling.

So, we woke up, ran out to do our errands with the intent to pack up and leave when we returned. Now, mind you, their dishwasher was broken - she had texted that to us the day we arrived. And while we were packing up the power went out. Which meant we couldn't flush the toilet, because it is on well water which uses an electric pump to bring water up. So that's a huge issue. Everything about the house said, Leave. Go to a nice hotel.

I called the host. Explained all the issues: the smell, the dishwasher, and now the power. She arrived just as the power came back on. 

Here's my issue: I did not know that airbnb requires you to call airbnb within 24 hours. I thought that what I did, which was to file a cancellation with airbnb within 24 hours of checking in and explaining my complaints and request a refund from the host would serve this purpose. 

Because I did not call in 24 hours (and can you imagine getting an actual human in 24 hours?), I was told that I was stuck with my host's preferred cancellation policy. Now, I offered to pay for the 2nd night's stay before all this because I felt bad. But I fully expected to get the other 8 nights refunded to me, so that she could just relist the property. I mean, don't you want good customer service? Don't you want folks to leave happy? Or like they're treated fairly? Even the strictest hotels don't require more than 3 days notice to cancel! This host only gave me half my money back for the next EIGHT days. In which I did not stay! I consider this tantamount to theft.

I was an airbnb host for a couple of years with a crazy busy property in Brooklyn. It was filled constantly. I know what it is to be a good host.  When I had an issue with one customer (only 1 out of dozens!), I gave him 100% of his money back! No problem! I was happy to.  I'd rather be a "customer is always right" type of business owner than a greedy one. 

So, back to my complaints. Now, again, because I wanted to be nice and fair, I not only offered to pay for Night 2, but I also withheld leaving my review of her property until I got my conflict resolution handled with airbnb. I figured if she ended up refunding my 100% remaining days I would soften my review of her facilities. But GUESS WHAT?! Airbnb apparently has some "policy" that you can only leave a review within 14 days of staying. Which, they DO NOT explain in the email that they send you where you can check the amount of stars for your review. Now, it took me at least a month for anyone to even respond to my complaint at airbnb. So, finally after being escalated up, up, up the supervisor chain, I got the final "NO" that I would not get my money back, and that I would also not be able to leave a review as this is their system and it cannot be altered. Um, ok? That's complete nonsense. Any basic IT guy could authorize and overide and allow me to leave my review. 

So, here we are. I'm out 8 days worth of half a rental fee, AND I can't warn people about her smelly home. GREAAAT. So, I will happily share this warning with anyone who stumbles upon it here! **Call airbnb asap if it ain't right, and leave that nasty review asap too!*  I will go to the Better Business Bureau, I will share on social media, and warn all my friends and family. I may file a fraud complaint with my credit card. Airbnb has gotten entirely too big for its britches and cannot handle real life, common sense requests, like, "Hey, since I'm in a complaint review, I'd like to wait to leave my review until I know the outcome." 

I can't wait to try other house rental companies the next time I have a property that I want to rent out. It certainly won't be airbnb. Since airbnb makes the fine print so buried and hard to discern, this is my good deed for today. You're welcome!

Oh, and, Mara and Sharon at "Renovated Lake Cottage Near Thunder Ridge Ski" in Carmel Hamlet, NY, I hope you will take my money and invest it in a course on good customer service. Or better yet, use the money to take a class on improving your awareness of right and wrong. Keeping 8 days of my money is just flat wrong. Not even a luxury hotel will do that. I hope you learn from this experience. Who knows with any emotional growth on your part, you just might reach out with an apology and offer to mail me a check. Actually, I don't need the money - it was the principle of the thing. Smelly house = REFUND. Consider my basically stolen money to be a donation from me to you... you are my good deed in the world!  Clearly you need the money WAY more than I do (I've since moved into my nice house in CT, thank you, and that only after leaving multiple $2 million+ houses in Brooklyn). Airbnb, you can also take a page from this, since now you are neck deep in white collar crime.

Sincerely,

A former host with 32 outstanding reviews who will never stop sharing how bad is your customer service.

[M199]

@Angela2687 

Wow, 32 reviews as a host, you are so proud of yourself. 

As a "former host", you should be well aware of how the system works  both for guests and hosts.

[Angela2687]

Thanks! Their system is flawed. Common sense should win out here but, good news is I can take my business elsewhere. 🙂

[Colleen253]

@Angela2687 “A former host with 32 outstanding reviews”

Oops, not all your reviews are outstanding. You cancelled on 5 guests. I guess that’s further evidence you never bothered to inform yourself as a host or a guest on how the platform works.

[Angela2687]

"Oops," for someone digging into my profile, you should've dug a little further to see that those cancellations were literally months in advance! And were only done because we sold our home! 

[Colleen253]

@Angela2687 You are quite the expert in passing blame, either to other people or circumstances. Cancellations due to house sale doesn’t give you a pass. Don’t claim to be an outstanding host. 

[Brian2036]

@Angela2687 

I don’t think anyone will argue that CS is reliable or efficient.

It’s not really their fault. The job was contracted out to a company that apparently does not train or treat their employees well.

It’s a serious problem to the point that I am surprised when someone reports a positive experience.

[Sarah977]

@Angela2687  So, you were a host, yet seemingly weren't aware of any Airbnb policies, nor did you bother to inform yourself of them. Didn't know the review policy, didn't know the protocol to follow when a guest arrives to find a place unacceptable, planned to wait to see if you got refunded, in which case you would "soften" your review instead of leaving an honest review of your experience.

Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with arriving with a family in tow to an unacceptable property, and am well aware of Airbnb's abyssmal customer service.

And it certainly sounds like this host jumped the gun on her place being ready to rent out. 

But you are trying to lay the blame on everyone but yourself, taking zero responsibility, when had you taken a few minutes to read up on the policies pertaining to cancelling as a guest, and how long the review period is, this would all have gone quite differently.

Had you said anything in this account about realizing that you were remiss in not informing yourself of policy, you might have gotten quite different responses. Instead you seem to think that your lack of attention is no big deal, and that your "32 outstanding reviews'" somehow excuse you from the policies that everyone else is held to.

[Angela2687]

The "policies" are flawed and have zero room for common sense. So happy that I was able to warn others about these invisible, buried "policies." 

[Colleen253]

@Angela2687 The policies are neither invisible nor buried. 

[Mark116]

It's always interesting to come across hosts who have no idea of how even the most basic Airbnb rules work....reviews, cancellation policies and process for reporting issues.

[Brian2036 · Accepted solution]

@Mark116 

It IS interesting and it would be more interesting to see some statistics on how many hosts actually know the basics.

Guests also, for that matter.

I’ll admit that I was embarrassingly ignorant before I spent some time participating in this forum.

 I am still confused about a number of things.

For instance, I did not know, as the OP pointed out, that a telephone call is required in addition to cancellation through the site. WHY? So you can waste hours waiting for someone who doesn’t care to answer the phone?

If they can provide Instant Booking they can damned well provide Instant Cancellation as well.

Anyway, the rules are complicated, convoluted and contradictory, and some are so well concealed that not even CS is aware of them.

 The posted tutorials SUCK. I tried to use them and, to look at the bright side, got a nice nap out of it.

 I’m thinking that the last step in the listing process for hosts should be a short quiz to show that they know how to accept or decline bookings and the possible consequences, how to cancel, and what they will have to do about problem guests.

Fail it and you get a list of study items to look at before you try again.

Guests who want to IB should be tested as well… MWAHAHAHAHA!

[Angela2687]

It's even more interesting, how that EVERYONE commenting here, is skirting the issues to do with airbnb's ridiculous policies that have no basis in common sense, but instead just take pride in lobbing personal attacks at me. That's funny. The real issue at hand is that airbnb completely buries their policies. I cancelled in 24 hours via the website but that is not considered letting airbnb know? My stay is under review but I can't wait to write a review until their review is complete? Utter nonsense.  It's ok. One day, it'll all come and bite you guys in the rear end too. I had a year of good experience hosting about 6 years ago. This was my first time trying to be a guest. Def my last. I wish everyone well, just wanted to forewarn other newbie guests. Mission accomplished even if everyone wants to hate on me. Airbnb needs new policies and they need better transparency. Peace.

[Colleen253]

@Angela2687Here are a few of the terms and policies relevant to your post. These and many more can all be found in the Airbnb help pages. That you didn’t inform yourself of them is on you. Your post might have been received a bit differently had you demonstrated a least a tiny shred of personal responsibility for that, and had it had less of the other distasteful elements that it possessed. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2868/airbnb-guest-refund-policy

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2908/terms-of-service

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/13/reviews-for-stays

[Angela2687]

@Colleen253 ,

Thank you! You are clearly superior to me, so, congratulations! Would you like to attempt to rub my nose in it further? Perhaps another snide comment or link to a policy?

My post was written to serve as a warning to others, so that they don't make the same mistakes I did. I considered that a good thing. Those of you using my post as an opportunity to "shame" me and defend airbnb are not helping to spread knowledge.