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.

[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?

[Joan2709]

@Chitra21 

Click the camera icon to insert your screen shot. 

As I mentioned in the other thread, this is just a forum for discussion for Airbnb Hosts and Guests. We are not Airbnb Customer Service. We can only offer suggestions.

From your comments it sounds like they are telling you they have escalated the case. Unfortunately, you will have to wait for them to respond. I would ask for the case number to refer to when you contact them for an update on the issue. 

[Rebecca]

Thank you so much for the tag to bring this to our attention and for your support to @Chitra21,  @Joan2709. 

I'm really sorry to hear about your recent experience @Chitra21 and that you're having some difficulty getting in touch with Airbnb Support to get this resolved. I've popped you a message to give you some more information. I hope this helps. 

Rebecca 

[Sara-And-Rob0]

No resolution. No support from Airbnb at all.  There is a lot of thanking me for being a superhost, etc...but nothing is ever resolved.  Every call ends with no resolution.  Many support threads are just closed after it gets passed through one or two different people who can't seem to read back in the thread.  I repeat myself endlessly.

I mostly feel like I am running into a wall, bumping backwards, repeat until I just can't stand it anymore.

Airbnb support used to be the absolute best.  Now it is an ineffective outsourced, necessary action but with no results or supports.

[Lorina14]

@Sara-And-Rob0 

It appears that perhaps customer service reps get points to “close” their open cases. I know I begged someone I was working with to please not close this case as it was not resolved. They said they would keep it open for 24 hours and it should be solved by then. A different time I actually had a rep who said they would follow up on my case when they returned to work the next day as their shift ended. And they did, and they messaged me too. It is rare but can happen. More recently though I think there is a program that closes out chats or cases if there is no activity as you will see some chat threads with customer service get closed. I know they have a prompt do you need more help and if you don’t answer in a certain amount of time they close the thread. Sometimes I have said no I still need help and they closed it hours later. I don’t know what the new policy is or what the new programs are that close chat threads but it is frustrating.

@Rebecca @Elisa @Bhumika - can you send this to the right team so they are aware that threads are being closed for customer service for cases that were NOT resolved? And is there something they can do about it? It is really frustrating guests and hosts.

[Joan2709]

@Lorina14 

I agree...this happens alot when they try to contact you at 3am and don't get a response (Host is sleeping). Since there was no response at 3am, they close the case. 

I have requested a case number so I can refer to it if I need to open a new case...that seems to work so I'm not having to repeat myself.

[Lorina14]

@Joan2709 

I keep all case numbers but it seems redundant to open a new case if the old one wasn’t completely addressed. They should be able to open the old case and continue so all the notes are there. 

[Joan2709]

@Lorina14 

Agree...that's why I ask for the case number on the original case and then if they close it, I start a new one referring to the original case number...it seems to help. It usually automatically gets escalated that way (not always though 😊)

[Lj28]

I am having similar problems. The customer service on AirB&B in remote call centers is limited and dismal. The agents have no authority to help, but they are experts in reciting policy. They are gate keepers to shut out people with legitimate concerns about their stay. They are polite enough, but they offer no real solutions or help. How do I contact a customer service representative in the United States? 

[Sara-And-Rob0]

I have yet to be able to do this.  I think I will have to turn on a VPN which places my phone in the US and try the 1-844 number again.

It is also possible to send DM via X or Facebook but I haven't experimented with it yet.  Next.

[Lj28]

I tried the US number they gave me, but I continued to talk with agents who had heavily accented English. It was difficult to understand one agent who sounded weary and bored, who lacked any enthusiasm for her job, and who ead what sounded like a canned script to me at a speed that made her meaning hard to decipher. After repeated calls, I have found it impossible to find a US agent. 

[Isa20951]

I'm in the US just north of California and I'm having the same terrible experience with airbnb customer service and unable to reach a manager. I get replies between 11pm and 3 in the morning! There is no longer USA based support no matter when I call. 

[Chitra21]

Unfortunately there aren’t any. I’ve worked in the Silicon Valley and all “customer service” has moved off-shore, predominantly to India from my knowledge (but these days a few other off-shore call centers actually seem to help to some extent, from what I’ve come across in another SV based company). Honestly it’s not really politeness, but more of annoyance and it’s unbelievable how they can robotically repeat the same phrase like a machine no matter how many times or ways you explain your situation, and their only goal seems to be to not provide any resolution to the case even when serious aspects (health and high financial damage) are at risk! 

Very rarely I’ve gotten some help (or at least awareness of other possible options) from local resources and I’ve tried to call at different times to the point of exhaustion but it was almost impossible to reach them again to follow up. “Escalation” only means the same copy / paste answer comes again and again and again…. later.

Also, in my experience, in India call center (erm, “global”, as they put it) asking for a “supervisor”, (thinking they might have more options) only gets you nastier and ruder responses. I ended up getting a ton of that in my case, including, literally, “no one in Airbnb can help you with this”!! When I actually did see several resolutions to similar situations in the forums here. And another, (again a “senior case manager” in the “global” call center) was talking so nasty, and he kept yelling even when I was literally sick from all this stress, “I will not escalate your case” etc. etc. Another one lied to me saying they’re from “legal”!!

I hope I am at least saving you a lot of time and stress to avoid trying at different times or asking for a “supervisor” thinking it might help as I found out the hard way, (at least in the “global” call center) but with any limited resources in the USA, that does help quite often. It seems my host in Europe, is able to reach some helpful local resources (within Europe), try that route if possible. Those won’t be toll-free for US based phone numbers, so it would cost you quite a bit unless the resolution is quick. 

[Isa20951]

Did you find an answer to receiving USA based customer support? The representative told me she can only call me back 6pm-3am PST. I requested my call be escalated to someone working in my time zone. I will see if someone calls tomorrow.