Retaliatory, offensive review removal denied

[Ludo431]

Dear community,

Can somebody please explain how is this review allowed?

All 1 star, naturally, even though the guest never set foot into the apartment and got the full refund for the cancellation.

Listing:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1061951580003885431?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=d608c78a-acb...

Your replies are much appreciated.

Ludo

[Ania-and-Greg0]

also send these screenshots to your "guest" and tell him his comments in the review violate the criminal laws in Slovakia and you kindly ask that he remove the criminal content, tell him he can call the service number and request removal by phone, send him the number so he doesn't have to look for it.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT say anything about taking legal action or try to make a deal. Airbnb may flag this as threats and circumvention of the review process, or quid pro quo, which is not allowed.

simply state it is illegal in your country to use vulgar profanity ridden language in public and also illegal to accuse someone of theft knowing theft didn't take place. If he is referring to a refund, tell him that Airbnb processes payments and refunds and they are the ones withholding his money, not you.

[Joelle43]

Hello @Ania-and-Greg0 @Ludo431 

You can just send the guest the help link #3582 that I included in my post further down - they can do it without even contacting CS so even easier!

Let us know thought if the guest does remove it!

[Ania-and-Greg0]

FYI, i filed an complained with FTC today over retaliatory reviews, abuses and and Airbnb's host protection policy "scam" (aircover), here is the case # and text if you anyone else would like to follow with a complaint of their own:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help-with-your-business/There-should-be-a-class-action-lawsuit-o...

[Ludo431 · Accepted solution]

Update:

I just received an email from Airbnb's "specialized department" informing me that the review was removed after all, as it "breaches Airbnb's content policies" (duh!).

I'm not sure what prompted the change, as I haven't contacted Airbnb support since.

Thank you all from the community for you kind and useful replies and the person / team from Airbnb support responsible for finally removing the review.

I hope this is a sign that the review policy will get enforced, although I'm still confused about the whole ordeal and how much I can count on Airbnb removing offensive and retaliatory reviews in the future.

Best,

Ludo

[Jay1724]

I also received a review where the guest called me a “scumbag” and “lab rat”… Their AI is garbage. I’m considering the arbitration process.

[Jay1724]

 

[Ania-and-Greg0]

Keep calling them on the phone and tell him scumbag is a vulgar word and violates their content policy. Such words don't belong on the platform and must be immediately removed. Don't even start with the lower level employee escalate directly to a senior case manager. 

If you get a denial, hang up and try again. 

[Ania-and-Greg0]

If I were in your shoes, as soon as someone on Airbnb customer support phone line picks up, I would say, " good morning scumbag" and if they are immediately offended, confirm that scumbag is an offensive word. When they agree point them to the review and tell him that the offensive words have no place on their platform and reviews containing such must be removed. Also requested they send you a message confirming that you specifically discussed the word scumbag and they agreed that it was offensive. Don't forget to ask for the case number to be included in that written message so that you have one for future reference. After they agree then ask for the senior case manager and start the conversation the same way.

[Eunicia1]

We have recently been in the same situation. While we are still waiting to be compensated for the damages to our property, we were shocked to receive an automatic response within only 8 minutes stating that the guest’s retaliatory, outrageous and dishonest review was in line with Airbnb's rules and standards. When we asked Airbnb to contact us directly to clarify the matter—and despite providing them with all the recordings and supporting information—Airbnb never addressed the issue.

One week later when I called Airbnb, an Airbnb support person just asked us to fill the application again and adapt our request to their AI generated program in order to potentially get removed this guest's review which is retaliatory, outrageous , dishonest, and totally biased against us, the host. Seriously????

The only message that Airbnb sends to us, the hosts (because I found out from the Airbnb community that there are so many Airbnb hosts in this situation) is that they do not protect the victims, just doing shockingly the opposite. Moreover, allowing unlawful content to remain publicly visible on their platform,  Airbnb purposely denies valid review removal request. Finally, Airbnb agrees that these retaliatory, defamation, and biased reviews are in line with their rules and standards.

[David9694]

Same thing here, GREAT HOSTS are being DESTROYED by this terrible AI review-bot! 

Air BnB's automated AI reviewer has refused to remove a review which is in clear violation of their own review policy. A new guest (we are super host with 1,300 guest over 3 years) made creepy requests and event tried to get our phone number prior to booking all on the Air BnB message app. We cancelled her reservation after her offensive comments were viewed by staff who refused to work if she arrived and we even fully refunded her although we did not have to. She even knew here remarks were offensive and deleted hem so now her message thread says "message unsent". Air bnb CS agreed her comments were offensive and did an administrative cancellation of the reservation and opened the same date for someone else to book with no penalty for us. The guest NEVER STAYED OR EVEN SET FOOT ON THE PROPERTY AS THE RESERVATION WAS CANCELLED BEFORE ARRIVAL TIME and yet, Air Bnb allowed her to leave a one star review packed with lies. Then AIR BnB REFUSED TO REMOVE it.  The own policy states that reviews may not be left by a guest who NEVER STAYED AT YOUR PROPERTY! We were just featured in a statewide magazine as one of the top 3 most unique and best Air Bnb's in the entire state of Florida ! What is going on at Air BnB to allow this violation of their own policy and the destruction of Superhosts who provide a fantastic experience for the brand ?

[Ludo431]

I'm so sorry that you and seemingly many others have to deal with such reviews. It's really discouraging to hear, that despite the manual intervention of the support in my case, the overall problem hasn't seemed to be fixed. 😢

[Atilla7]

They are using AI to do the review dispute process, I have gotten responses in 5 or 6 minutes that is not possible to go through in that time. Also reviews that the guest is clearly lying if you read the messages. I had a review where the guest complained the suite was too small for 4 people but I don't take four people in the listing, they broke the rules by bringing too many people and complained publicly. Brutal. They are using AI or some telemarketing team in a distant country is just automatically declining them all automatically. I'm pretty certain it is AI based on the questions they ask you.