Why I will never ever use AirBNB again. Ever.

[Mick481]

Why I will never use AirBNB again.

So, today I booked a room for the wrong nights on AirBNB. I discovered this little faux pas immediately and went in to change my reservation to the correct date. However, for the correct date, they were only taking 4 consecutive nights. I only wanted 2.

Okay. Unfortunate because it looked like a nice place. I'll cancel it and book something else. Easy Peasy, right?

Wrong. Really Wrong. Super Wrong.

There was a 50% cancellation fee, for booking error that I contacted them within a couple of minutes of making the mistake.

So I decided to "Contact Host", which rang through to some call center. I explained my error, and told her what the issue was with not being able to change my reservation. Thankfully she was able to override the system and allow me to change my dates. *phew*

That is until I discovered that that the rate had more than doubled and that they wanted an additional $444 dollars.

I told the woman who was trying to help me that I would have never booked it at that rate in the first place, so please cancel my reservation and give me a 100% refund.

"Sorry", I was told that "where was a 50% refund on the room and no refund on the Service Fee." At this point I lost it and frankly a bit ashamed of the foul language I threw at this person before I hung up.

Needless to say, I then called AirBnB to which I got a call center halfway across the planet. They basically disavowed any responsibility for the Host's "Cancellation Policy". I asked them if they were collecting the "Service Fee", or was that going to the host as well. They told me "It was against company policy to discuss their fee structures." I looked it up online and AirBnB collects it.

Anyway, I've called AMEX and will dispute this charge. I will also call the Boston's Office of Short Term Rentals on Monday and file a complaint against the “host”.

In the mean time, I'm out some money for an honest mistake and a greedy host who apparently has the ability to offer me a full refund but won't.

Caveat Emptor. AirBNB has done absolutely nothing to protect me as a consumer. There is zero policy to protect consumers who probably make very common errors.

So, I will never use them again. And since I live in California, and they are based in San Francisco, I will also see what the state consumer protection laws are especially for collecting a service fee, when no services have been rendered. 

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

*grumble*

[Helen3]

I'm sorry you felt it appropriate to become abusive at some poor, low paid customer service person who was doing their best to help you @Mick481 

I wonder why you didn't contact the host rather than Airbnb to explain your mistake and ask it they might agree to a mutual cancellation because it was only a few minutes since you booked.

As a consumer it's your responsibility to check a cancellation policy for any accommodation, flights or events you may book. When you book on Airbnb it tells you twice before you make the booking to check the cancellation policy you are booking under before you confirm the booking.

Sadly it seems you didn't do so.

All you can do is apologise to the host for your error and ask if they can rebook the dates, would they consider a proportional refund for any days rebooked.

[Mick481]

I did contact the host. 

“So I decided to "Contact Host", which rang through to some call center. I explained my error, and told her what the issue was with not being able to change my reservation. Thankfully she was able to override the system and allow me to change my dates. *phew*”

no need to troll me….

[Daniel13378]

That is such a crock of s…, extremely poor customer service.  AirBNB will go away eventually if it keeps these policies.

[Enri1804]

@Mick481 As a host, I just wanted to let you know that based on what I've experienced and read on this community center, the majority of us also do not like that Airbnb doesn't refund their service fee. We also dislike the superior lack of customer service from Airbnb in general. It's as if Airbnb purposely outsources to a call center in another country just so they can avoid training people and avoid responsibility. I don't know. I'm glad you wrote you post and hope more guests read it, because guests need to understand to always message the host first (like you did) in any issue. Unfortunately hosts have no say in Airbnb fees or much else, but we own the properties. 

[Mick481]

Thanks for your response. 

One thing I learned in this process is that there are a lot of hosts, who really really really dislike (hate) AirBNB policies. There are also a lot of hosts who really, really, really dislike guests.  

In the end AirBNB has said they will refund me 100% after repeated calls. The key to this was I finally connected to a person who ultimately listened to my dilemma and then advocated for me. He was in India, and seemed to care about my satisfaction.

As a consumer the process was way to painful, and took way to long to resolve. I can understand last minute cancellation and agree that hosts should not be on the hook for losing revenue because of fickle guests late decisions. However, I made a stupid booking error based on the wrong date. The host tried to help, but the terms for the “right” dates were way more expensive. So much so that  I would have never booked it in the first place. So, I asked for a full refund which was refused.

That started a whole process….

Will I use AirBNB again?

Maybe, but I’m on (business) day 14 and the refund still hasn’t hit my credit card.

[Daniel13378]

Great that you found an incredible customer service person in India.  My goodness, AirBNB luckily found a logical person to help you.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Enri1804 In my experience Airbnb will refund the service fee if the host refunds the stay.

Interestingly @Mick481 says no services were rendered for the service fee. This is not true as the biggest 'service' Airbnb renders is the creation of a booking based on the extensive advertising of their website and then collection of the money for the rental. In his case Airbnb did both of these things.

[Elaine701]

While it's true that Airbnb support leaves much to be desired, Airbnb isn't the only business which, in terms of customer support, is often obtuse and at times, clueless about the situation of the customer on the other end of the conversation. 

I have this same problem with telecoms, technical service companies, and even sellers on Amazon. 

I find that only occasionally do I receive support that one would consider "exemplary". But that makes those who deliver exemplary service stand out. And outfits like Airbnb, who set the expectation that they're "with you all the way" appear to fail more miserably than those who don't set that expectation. It's a huge management problem for any company that has to field thousands or even millions of requests or complaints daily. 

I'm not defending Airbnb, in fact, I'm fearful of them. I'm much too dependent on them, and they can randomly make my life a living hell for no identifiable reason.

Others in this business don't seem to have any better support (often nonexistent), but at least they don't mindlessly intervene in damaging ways. 

Sometimes I think Airbnb would be better off to be more like the others, loosen the grip, and simply admit to its customers that "you're on your own". But then, that pretty, earthy marketing perception would likely suffer. 

[Judith902]

The initial poster got upcharged and screwed.  I just had a bad experience with them, they cancelled a confirmed booking.  Something in my gut told me to bewared.  I thought it was b/c I never used them before.  No.  I have gone away many times before and have done vacation rentals w/ owners, etc. Never trust a place/business that refuses to put a phone number for the host/person renting.  Very squirrelly.  They got my data and card info. and no.  No FB for me.  I am a careful and cagey person but went w/ this based on what others had shared w/ me.  Do your own research first.  It pays to know before jumping in

[Zheng49]

Please check the cancellation policy.

For listings with flexible cancellation policy, you can get 100% refund if you cancel 24 hours before the check-in date.

For listings with more strict cancellation policy, you can get 50% refund in certain cases, seems like it might have been the firm or strict cancellation policy in this case. In this case, getting a 100% refund is really not guaranteed. You may have lucked out in this case (although 14 days is awfully long, and maybe the decision to 100% have been overturned), but it's good to pay attention to the cancellation policy next time, and go with flexible cancellation policy if you think there is a chance you will make the wrong booking by mistake or need to cancel in the future. 

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Ontopic: personally I don't think the customer should be penalized when they make an honest mistake like this, which is why we use the flexible cancellation policy which automatically issues a 100% refund in cases like this.