Venice Photographer turned out to be a FRAud

[Rafael1690]

Hi all, 

I had a private photoshoot in Venice through airbnb last September. She said that the photos would take about 7-14days on the day of the photoshoot, but we never received them. 

I’m extremely disappointed for the fact that the host refused to give us any refund on her account since she never send us any email (that supposedly her preferred method to send the photos). 

She kept going back and forth about the delay:

On day 13, she said she hadn’t finish the photos.

On day 31, she gaslighted that she had send the email 15 days ago.

My partner and I checked our email everyday since the photoshoot (incl. junk mail). I knew she lied but I kept playing safe by asking her to “resend” the email.

On day 32, she said she needed to have a look on her hard disk.

On day 33, I escalated the matter to Airbnb.

She kept gaslighting us as it was our fault, but she failed to give us any evidence about sending the email at the first place.

She had ripped me off by €100 on top of the booking, not a small amount for nothing. 

She has an emotional maturity of a 12 years-old. She was upset when she found out that I escalated the matter to airbnb support and decided not sending the photos at all. 

I later found out after reading her reviews that this is not the first time she had done this disgusting behaviour.

They all shared similar patterns:

1. She made misleading information to what she claimed on her ads.

2. She gaslighted her guests, when they made honest reviews about their bad experience with the host

3.  She never admit her faults, despite that she was clearly at fault.

I was a host on aibnb for a couple years. Yet, I felt that airbnb had let down my safety, when you thought that anyone in airbnb should have clear verified background and any previous negative review should have been addressed, yet I still had to experience a scam by someone from airbnb.

Now I missed my deadline to write a review on her profile, because I was still waiting on my photos when the airbnb deadline finished and the thought that she would delete all my photos would devestate me. I lost all the photos at the end anyway.

We didn’t negotiate a penny when the host asked for more money outside the airbnb reservation. We even gave her tip money instead, thinking that she would mean well about her service as she advertised on airbnb.

It is a learning curve for me. Not just the  €159 (incl. tipping money) that I lost but also my only memory I had in Venice as I didn’t take any photos there.

Meanwhile, she doesn’t live up to any consequence, still collecting prada bags from other innocent people that she ripped off on airbnb.

If anyone has the same experience, please DM me. 

[Helen3]

Was this an Airbnb experience? @Rafael1690 

What has the host got to do with the photography you booked and why do you feel they should compensate you for a third party service you booked . 

what a shame as you say that you didn't read the photographers reviews before booking her services and that you and whoever travelled to Venice didn't take a single photo. Surely you wanted photos of your whole trip not just the session you booked with a photographer. 

[Rafael1690]

Yes airbnb experience. My partner and I wanted all our money since we got nothing back. She wasn’t hired by airbnb. She is using airbnb as her business platform. 

[Helen3]

That being the case why are you claiming the host who has nothing to do with your decision to book an experience should refund you.

airbnb provide a platform for experiences just as they do for hosting so do applications for refunds not go through them ? 

what did Airbnb say regarding any refund @Rafael1690 

[Rafael1690]

How did I manage to get to this situation?

What we know so far is that she exclusively utilises Airbnb as her sole platform for her photography services, no other websites have been found. According to the information provided by Airbnb, she operates her photography services in two locations: one in Milan, which is a recent addition with nil reviews to date, and the other in Venice that she started operating in since January 2023.

Let’s do the maths.

In our chat, she said that she sends about 15K photos a week, with an average of 70-220 photos taken per client. This translates to approximately 68 clients served each week. So, it’s perplexing that she only received 178 reviews for the last 10 months.

One might argue that this number could vary due to seasonal fluctuations. Even when considering both low and high seasons this year alone, the number she provided doesn't seem to align.

Low seasons 4 months = 16 weeks

10K/220= 45 clients/ week

45 clients x 16 weeks =720 reviews

High season for Venice: May to October (5.5 months)

High seasons 5.5 months = 22 weeks

15K/220= 68 clients/ week

68 clients x 22 weeks = 1,496 reviews

The real question is, where are the remaining 2,038 reviews if they are in line with the rate she claimed?

So back to your statement. Sure,the host has nothing to do with our decision to book an experience.  Yeah sounds so dumb, right Helen?

It’s not that we didn’t read the reviews. It was carefully curated, so that we were drawn to her favourable rating to book her. However, we didn't take into account that others facing similar circumstances as ours might have also missed the opportunity to leave reviews, out of fear that she might delete their photos, potentially leaving them in a distressing situation. Airbnb only allows you to leave a review within 2 weeks of the event, and she told us that it would take about 2 weeks to receive the photos. How many people would leave negative reviews while she’s able to hold their photos hostage?

The airbnb gave me a refund at the end as a goodwill. But nothing from her part.

[Fred13]

What a mess. Nowadays everyone has a great phone/camera, take pictures of each other or ask the nearest tourist in very-crowded Venice to take a photo of you two. We even asked a cardinal at the Vatican to do so and he was most willing.

[Rafael1690]

Well, you made a good point Fred. The cardinals are much more reliable than this host for sure. Haha. 

[Rafael1690]

[Post merged by Community Manager to keep relevant  and similar discussions from the author in one place]

Beware of Francesca ** in Venice. She falsely advertises herself as a highly talented artist, architect, and photographer, but her claims are unsubstantiated bluffs.

Francesca ** failed to deliver the services we paid for, requested additional payment outside Airbnb, and initiated communication that violated Airbnb policies. We diligently followed her up several times after the photoshoot, but have never received the photos to this date. When confronted, Francesca falsely claimed she had sent the photos but could not provide any evidence of having done so.

I requested a refund from Francesca for the Airbnb reservation and the extra expenses incurred during the photoshoot. After numerous denials, she eventually agreed to refund €70 (€35 per person). However, shortly after this agreement, she blocked me on airbnb and never fulfilled her promise.

While we are grateful for Airbnb refunded us out of goodwill on behalf of Francesca, we are extremely disappointed with Fracesca. This is the worst experience ever we had with Airbnb. Francesca is not just unprofessional but also a fraud. We will not recommend Francesca ** to anyone.

**[Last name hidden due to privacy concerns - Community Center Guidelines]

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Rafael1690 Did you leave a suitable review? It would be far more effective than posting here.

[Rafael1690]

Was left too late to leave a review bc I was still waiting on my photos at the time. 

[Helen3]

Have you raised your concerns with Airbnb @Rafael1690 

[Abby437]

i want report this Host Francesca, for my last experience in Venice Photoshoot, experience Number TAXDSNRR. She asked me to go to meeting place- St Marks square which is more 30 minutes walking time from my location, after nearly arriving to St marks square, i informed her that it's taking so much time for me walking so she suggested for me to go to Hotel Rialto instead, so i went there at Rialto. As i reached Hotel Rialto, she said she is not there anymore and ask me to go to San Marco- while we are having this conversation, she is very rude, her talking to me is like she own me, she is deciding all throughout where i suppose to go and the way she talk to me is really really disrespectful, rude, arrogant the worst way to talk to a person. Despite of her being like this, i followed her orders, and went to St. marks square as she said. After arrival to St. marks square, she said she was not there anymore- after reading this message i cried in tears. i was crying in my first time in venice because of walking back and forth for 1 hour in crowded places and in the peak of heat i was really exhausted physically since i came from long flight just to go to Venice and exhausted mentally because of her talking to me in a very very rude, arrogant, sacastic way of talking. After i received her message that she was not in St marks square anymore, i decided to just cancel the photoshoot experience because of what she did to me- the mental and physical stress plus she use 1 hour of my time. i have limited time in Venice thats why i chose to have this experience so that the journey will be organized. This 1 hour of my time is important to me, I expressed all my concerns to her yet she continued to be disrespectful rude arrogant sarcastic and shows no sympathy, no consideration, NO MERCY. She even told me the experience have less pay and so i should expect this treatment, No sorry whatsoever, and keep showing that i deserve all of this because of the low pay. As a customer, I am willing to pay more to be treated right as a human, or just no to book at all for me not to experience all of these inconvenience. I ask her to cancel but she refuse to cancel but instead move the photoshoot to a time that is convenient to her, which is 4pm, 5pm , etc. etc. and she even change the time of the experience to 23.30pm on airbnb she set it to that time without me agreeing to that. The original booking was 12.30 pm and she set it to 23.30 without my consent. This merciless careless sarcastic person is the one deciding for everything, the location, the time that is convenient to her. I disagree with her offer changing time because i don't like to have shoot anymore with this bad person and also i will go to Burano at 4pm so i cannot commit to time she said so i just wanted to cancel. But as usual, she said she can't cancel and move it to 23.30pm- as she is deciding always whithout even asking the customer, all her decisions are base on what is convenient to her, she won't admit her mistakes, and still showing that she is right-a very narcisistic self- centered person. I did a lot of photoshoot experience here im airbnnb, most of it are nice, there were some that were just satisfactory, but still the host have decent attitude and customer centered, so even though the outcome photos weren't that great before, i was treated right and respected, Until i book with Francesca. she don't deserve to be here in airbnb because she don't respect customers. I really want to file a complaint against her. I really want to report her because what she did to me- i don't wish it to happen to anyone booking here in airbnb. it was a very traumatic experience. all the Host here is Airbnb have respect to its customers except Francesca- she really gave airbnb a very bad reputation. i wanted to review her so that airbnb customers can read it but because the experience was cancelled later on through the help of airnbnb support team, i cannot rate and review the experience anymore.

[Rafael1690]

Hi Abby you can still leave a review on her tripadvisor if you searched her name - F **

**[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

Her instagram and facebook are also open to public, so you can also comment on her photos. 

[Helen3610]

We had the same experience with Francesca. Her behaviour was terrible.

[Rafael1690]

Make sure you leave a bad review! Don’t let her get away with it.