ID cannot be verified. Gift card money refunded to my now useless account.

[Julie6537]

Hi!

I hope someone has some advice for me, please.

This evening, I used a gift card to book a one night stay. I've never used Airbnb before, and I don't think I will ever use it again.

I was given an Every Wish card for Christmas. I used it to buy a £50 Airbnb card, having found a lovely place to stay in Norfolk. After paying partially with the gift card, and the balance by debit card, I was asked then for photo ID. Had I known beforehand that I would need it, I wouldn't have bothered using Airbnb.

This is where the hell started. I don't drive, and I no longer travel abroad because my husband is disabled and cannot travel, so my passport is expired. I don't have any other ID.  After going around in circles with the messages, I finally phoned customer services. They just went round in circles, too, constantly demanding that I get government ID. 

So, I now have a useless Airbnb account, that I cannot use unless I pay out a lot of money for ID.  I cannot find anyone else to contact for help with this. 

Is it too much to ask that Airbnb cancels that gift card and sends a new one that my husband, who has government ID, could use on his account?

Has anyone ever dealt with this, and were you successful?

Many thanks.

[Julie6537]

*Updating* to say that Customer Services phoned me at 10pm (!) to offer a solution to my problem. I'm still having trouble with this solution, because it's pure genius, and I can't understand why I didn't think of it..

So, the solution is that my husband make an account, verify it as he has ID, and then purchase a £50 gift card himself, so that we will then have that gift card to use to make a booking!!  Isn't that amazing? The solution to Airbnb keeping £50 of my money is to give them another £50, and then spend even more money with them....

The young man on the telephone was trying his best, and I appreciate that, but I could not make him understand that we would be further out of pocket than we already are if we went with this 'resolution'. The most surprising thing was that this delightful young man had discussed this with his supervisor, and they had both agreed that it was a perfect solution.