Hi,
I am hoping for some guidance here regarding Arbnb's policy about accepting falsified documents as proof. I recently had a less-than stellar experience at a property in upstate New York, for which I gave an honest and fair review, which was taken down for a "threat of retaliation" that did not happen. The hosts (who are a property management company) provided a "screenshot" of a fake text conversation in order to get my review taken down. I believe this creates a negative environment for guests and hosts, favors big property companies over individuals, and totally damages the reputable hosts out there.
First, I should say that have I used Airbnb to rent properties all over the country, and the world, for many years and have had great experiences. I consistently give positive reviews, even if there has been an issue, as long as the host communicates and makes good faith attempts at remedying problems. I understand that some things are out of the hosts control and that reviews are important and must be honest and fair. I also have received only super-positive reviews from hosts, with lots of notes about how nice, quiet, clean and communicative etc. I am.
During the stay in question, I was on a three day vacation with friends who are Real Estate agents, so we understand even more the issues involved in vacation property management etc. Long story short: the place was not clean. It seemed clean at first, but soon we realized there were not enough clean linens for all of the guests, and then found the washer/dryer area piled with dirty sheets and towels from the previous guests. The Host responded quickly with an apology and language like "our team is looking into it," so, because of the prompt replies, we decided to stay, thinking all would be resolved. We went on to find dirty dishes, pots and pans, broken furniture, mildewy showers etc. etc. We documented and sent images to the host, mostly so that they could take care of it for the next guest. We did expect some remedy for the lack of expected basics and for dealing with previous guests dirty laundry. Like, maybe just dropping off a few new/clean towels and sheets? Those remedies never came. They just kept telling us their "team was looking into it." They also kept requesting that we send photos to an external email address, and tried to text us off the app, basically making a lot of busy work for us. (Note: the property was remote and had wifi, but no cell service, so even if we agreed to communicate outside of the Airbnb app, we couldn't get or send regular texts! This is stated in the property description...) We ended up requesting a refund of the cleaning fee, because it simply wasn't clean and we weren't offered help. After haggling, not responding and stalling for several days they finally agreed to refund the cleaning fee.
I then gave an honest and fair review on Airbnb, including the positives (nice mattresses, hot tub) and that they did refund the cleaning fee. All of this was fully documented in our Airbnb app conversation and through photos. The property management company then got the review removed by fabricating a fake, off app, text conversation where it appears that I threatened to leave them a bad review unless they refunded the cleaning deposit!! (I have now learned that there are MANY apps and websites where you can produce a screen-shot worthy fake text convo...!)
I was shocked to get the message that not only was my review removed, but it was considered "retaliatory" I could have my account suspended. The costumer service person chatting with me didn't ask if I had a response and was super vague. I had to basically force them to send me the screenshot of "proof" sent by the host. I requested they call me so that I could get more info. They then messaged claiming to have called me and I didn't pick up, but there was no missed call or voicemail. Once I finally did get ahold of them, as I was explaining that I did not, and could not have, texted with the host, I could tell they absolutely were not listening to me... (and I get it... I am sure they're not paid well and do not want to deal with investigating a fake...) I sent in my own ACTUAL screenshots of the single text I attempted to send to the host with a "not delivered" notification (because there was no cell service!) The customer service person then sent me a form message saying the issue was resolved, they were sticking to their decision and they can no longer help me. I escalated and got sent to a "resolution" center, got the same copy/paste message. I escalated again, requesting to speak to a supervisor, and was told they would call me back, but was messaged with the same copy/paste message saying they are sticking to their decision.
Of course there are a ton of inconsistencies with the fake message. They cut and pasted parts of our Airbnb messages exactly, leaving typos etc. The part where I am supposed to have "threatened" them reads totally differently than everything else... because I didn't write it. They even added a fake "Let's keep this to the Airbnb app." from them, when in our chats on the app they keep trying to get me to communicate elsewhere. I have the "receipts" too, including the whole discussion on the app and my own screenshots and phone records proving that we never texted. But Airbnb does not care.
It simply is not right that un-reputable hosts get to manipulate their ratings through total lies that go unchecked, while responsible hosts and longtime, well-regarded customers are treated this way. Any tips on how I can get this actually resolved?
