How to contact a US support channel

[Sara-And-Rob0]

I am having a very difficult time reaching an American support channel from Europe.  The third party support centers in south Asia are absolutely useless bots that have been given strict orders to not actually support anyone.  I get pre-formed answers to all requests usually ending with 'We're sorry this wasn't the result you were looking for.'

I've heard there are better results in finding solutions, especially with review removals, with US support agents.

I have already tried +1-844-234-2500 and just get routed to India or other points in Asia every single time.  The oddest part is that if you ask them to tell you if they are in the US, because there are people from India in the US so I don't assume they are not, they claim they cannot say yes or no based on policy, but I cannot find that in the TOS anywhere.  

Each day, my frustrations grow with Airbnb's support, which used to be so great, and now always leaves me frustrated and often feeling like my business partner doesn't give a flying heck about anything I need.

Feeling defeated.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sara-And-Rob0 You won't find the location of support in any external policy but they will have internal policies to abide by.

I think rather than concentrate on race/country you should concentrate on the issue you have. It is highly likely that they are giving you the official Airbnb position and it has nothing to do with their race or where they are based.

What issue are you having?

[Sara-And-Rob0 · Accepted solution]

I am clearly not concerned with race, there is only one race, the human race.  

The issue is geographic location.  A third party call centre located in Asia and South Asia, where I am mainly routed, has non-Airbnb employees working there.  In order to control the system, they are given limited abilities to make any changes. 

However, in the US, all support agents work directly for Airbnb and can do more.  Since everything was outsourced for European hosts, all requests for review removal have been refused, specifically.  I cannot succeed, even when there are gross breaches of the TOS by guests.  Of course this is nothing new but the extreme refusal state in place since outsourcing began is unacceptable.  The rule is, remove no reviews, period.

Regarding policies, as we have a contract with Airbnb, we require transparency otherwise, there are no rules to bind us fairly.

[Sara-And-Rob0]

If you scan forward to 7:03 you will see what I am talking about.

https://youtu.be/9tauPokD4Hc?si=YKSKIcoYdCukryR8

[Chitra21]

Hello 

Was this resolved? I am having similar issues, the India team and supervisors are doing illegal things and they keep closing all my support threads without any resolution, it looks like someone is  closing all the support threads to cover up something! and I can’t reach legal team or anyone, they’re not processing my refund and my bank account is closed I sent all the information they asked for in multiple threads and they closed everything!

The bank says they can’t accept a payment to a closed account, Now there’s no way to contact legal (I don’t even know which country’s legal team it falls under) basically I am losing thousands of dollars with no one to reach out to!! 
is there a way to contact anyone in the US? At least the legal team? I want to find the right channel at least to take legal action. 

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

The last Host and guests that posted here with the same problem were able to resolve by adding a PayPal account to their payouts and then direct Airbnb to send funds to the paypal account. You might try that. 

[Chitra21]

Hi Joan, 

thanks so much for the response, I am a guest by the way and not host. 

I am in Airbnb hell and nightmare right now, it is literally 3 am where I am and I am sleepless because of the horrendous experience with Airbnb all night and the fact they’re asking me to lose thousands of dollars, although not literally but by saying they can’t do anything else! 

None of them are helping as they keep sending every time to the same closed account harassing me that “no one in Airbnb can help with that” “we can only send it to original form of payment”. I called the bank numerous times and they said it’s illegal for US banks to accept payment to or route from closed accounts. It will just go back to sender and they don’t even see it.

It may be possible in their country but they don’t understand US regulations! They keep asking me to contact the bank and keep doing the same over and over again and keep closing message threads! 

one rep had asked me to enter my new bank debit card (as it didn’t let me enter a new bank account number) but a “supervisor” from the India team said literally “no one can in Airbnb can help” nothing can be done and closed all the message threads. They repeatedly keep saying the same no matter how much I explain giving me no other option. They keep closing the threads. I tried calling different times but they all seem to go to India call center who’s already said they can’t do anything! 

I don’t have a PayPal account but can get one and enter but they won’t route payment anywhere, not even to the debit card someone made me enter, I they keep closing the threads and open a new thread and close those too, and they said whoever said that they can send to other forms of payment were lying, and keep closing that! And I can’t contact the same rep ever again! 

is there a legal team I can contact or even a security affairs team because what they say sounds illegal. I literally haven’t slept all night because of worries about money and likely having to start a lawsuit while traveling and I can’t reach anywhere where I can get legit answers!

how can I reach a call center that can actually do something about it? Which call center was able to do that resolution?

this has been a total nightmare during my travels even the bank rep said the same!

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

Is this a refund for a cancelled stay? Is that why they are sending a payment to you?  Normally, guests don't receive funds from Airbnb unless they are canceling a stay or receiving a refund.

I would go ahead and add a PayPal account to your Airbnb payouts. You'll never be able to get it resolved by having them try to send to a closed bank account. Once the PayPal account is setup, contact them again. I would try the chat feature if that is available to you, not calling.

Perhaps one of the moderators can forward this to the correct Team at Airbnb to help this guest:

@Elisa , @Emilie , @Rebecca , @Alex 

[Chitra21]

hi Joan, 

Thanks again! 

i found the other relevant thread and contacted there as well, yes it is for a canceled stay. 

no rep has given me any option. One rep asked me to a new bank account debit card (I do have a new bank account too) and i have entered that but now they keep saying they can’t do anything. And keep sending it to the closed account no matter how many times i explain. 

the worst thing is they’re closing all the relevant ‘support” threads! 

I really need to get in touch with the call center or team who can actually re route it, that’s my main issue right now.

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

Did you try the Chat feature? Did you setup a PayPal account?

Other thread

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Support-with-your-bookings/AirBNB-Refund-Failed-Who-to-Contact/m...

[Chitra21]

Hi Joan, 

I have been on the phone with actually people (Who keep doing robotic things) not sure if the Airbnb message threads are what you refer as chat, the thing and I don’t seem to have or find chat support. I just want to contact the people who can actually provide this resolution that’s been mentioned in the other thread.

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

I strongly suggest you open a PayPal account FIRST before trying to contact with customer service again. 

I have found that the chat feature works better than calling. To get to the chat feature you have to bypass alot of the automated messages first. They will ask you to read Help articles that don't answer your question.  Ultimately they will ask how do you want to contact us.

Click your profile photo

Choose Help Center from the dropdown menu

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen

Click contact us

Choose Live Chat as your Contact Method

Say you cannot receive the refund to your original payment method as the account is closed. Tell them to redirect the refund to your PayPal account that is on your Airbnb account.

[Chitra21]

Hi Joan, 

I tried everything but basically they refuse to reroute the payment especially the supervisors totally dismiss the case. I was literally up all night and gotten teribly sick from this and I am abroad traveling with no help! 😰

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

Can you take a screen shot of last live chat you had with customer support and post it here so we can see what they are saying? 

[Chitra21]

Hi Joan, 

basically there are multiple threads but every thread says the same thing that they can not send it to the new form of payment and they escalate to “special team” and then its the same loop again. and they’re responding anything other than that and over phone they keep saying they cannot do anything. 

I am not getting an option to share a screenshot here may be because it’s a response. I think the other thread you shared is more relevant so can I please try to response there?