Host never booked me and kept my money, Airbnb did nothing

[Lee-Andre0]

If you are ever in Boston first and foremost do not stay at 235 Chelsea Street.

I went to his place three times and waited for an hour each for him to book me. He kept saying he would do it electronically and it never worked and then told me to come back and he would let me in.

by that point it was too late to cancel and I ended up never getting booked but still getting charged. I asked him for a refund and his excuse was “sorry I’m being a stickler for COVID”.

I called Airbnb and they refused to give me a refund because it’s at the hosts discretion.

Any advice? Should I try to call Airbnb again or am I just **bleep**ed?

[Sarah977]

@Lee-Andre0  The customer service rep you talked to was probably going by the script that if you didn't cancel, it still looks like an active reservation for which you wouldn't be eligible for a refund.

You say it was too late to cancel, I'm not sure why you thought that, but when you talk to them again, tell them that- you would have cancelled it right away, but you didn't understand how.

If a booking doesn't get cancelled, Airbnb doesn't have any way of knowing if a guest really checked in or not. But in this case you have messages with the host to prove what happened, so they need to look at those.

Hopefully you get a more helpful rep when you contact them again. 

[Nick]

Sorry to see you had this experience @Lee-Andre0. I've communicated with Customer Support. They asked me to tell you to check your messages as your Support Ambassador has come back to you on this. Thank you

Thanks for the tag @Branka-and-Silvia0, Please note Lizzie is on maternity leave.  

[Anonymous]

@Nick   All the mods keep having babies, what is going ON in that office??

[Dale711]

@Nick @Stephanie ,

Yes ,it is absolutely rude to ask a person a question as personal and private as ,when are you planning a kid. Such direct questions can hurt a persons ego ,and he can retort very sharply. 
It’s  that a compliment ?

[Nick]

Gosh @Anonymous, how did you know I was about to announce my pregnancy?

Credit: Universal Pictures

[Ute42]

.

@Nick 

Congratulations!

When will You be going on maternity leave? Make sure not all the mods are on maternity leave and out of the office at the same time. If that happens a woman from ireland may sneak herself in and write terrible things about airbnb. You always have to keep an eye on us!

[Nick]

Thanks, @Ute42! I'll announce in due course, regardless of Andrew trying to steal my thunder earlier. 

And don't worry; you know what they say about trying the same thing but expecting different results 😉

[Michelle53]

@Anonymous  A pandemic with lock downs and folks unable to go out, possibly ?