AirBnB denied arbitration

Jason1700
Level 2
Fresno, CA

AirBnB denied arbitration

Going over AirBnB terms (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908/terms-of-service) I tried to settle a not honored refund via the company's dispute process. It was denied. I did the "you must give us 30 days notice of your dispute", via certified mail. They ignored that.

I filed a American Arbitration Association claim.

 

Now, the AirBnB attorney said they are not willing to participate in arbitration and I need to take them to small claims court. How is this even possible?! AirBnB is the company who directs claims to arbitration!

16 Replies 16
Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Jason1700 that is fascinating. What does the AAA say?

 

FWIW, I successfully recovered funds from Airbnb via small claims.

It was just yesterday, so no response yet. But I posted to see if anyone else has gone through this. Would you mind sharing your small claims experience? Did they show up, how you were able to collect, etc. 

@Jason1700 

 

Airbnb did not respond to the claim, so I won by default. I recovered a few hundred dollars in clawed-back payments plus court costs and a winner’s judgment fee from Airbnb. They paid when I sent them a copy of the judgment and payment demand letter.

I assume they'll do the same and not show. Did you send it to the: CSC Lawyers Incorporating Service, 2710 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 150N, Sacramento, California 95833? 

@Jason1700 if you want someone to be notified that you have directed a comment or question to them here you must tag them.

 

No, I don’t remember the exact address but it was to Airbnb’s legal department in San Francisco. This was a few years ago.

Interestingly enough, I just went through the same experience. Airbnb refused to cover the damages caused by a guest and claimed that it was ordinary wear and tear. A notice to dispute was left unanswered, so I filed for the arbitration following Airbnb TOS. Some big 3rd party law firm responded and requested AAA to move the case to a small claims court. I guess this is new Airbnb strategy to brush off the hosts with the hopes they would not file a case.  The request came in today, so I have a week to reply or AAA will simply close the case. In fact, per their rules, "After a case is filed with the AAA, but before the arbitrator is formally appointed to the case by the AAA, a party can send a written notice to the opposing party and the AAA that it wants the case decided by a small claims court . After receiving this notice, the AAA will administratively close the case ." Essentially, Airbnb does not want to pay their high arbitration fees and pushed the hosts to the the small claims court. The issue with the court is that prevailing party can collect attorney fees and court costs, so it may become a very costly experience...

@Property2 I was unable to find terms that say they can cancel arbitration. Can you point me to it? AAA hasn't replied in a week, since they requested venue change. I replied I did not want the change. 

@Jason1700 Yes, Consumer AAA Rules, Rule R-9 (2). I quoted it in my original post. I am not clear if I can object to their request or I must agree. Based on the quoted rule, it appears that a request of one party is sufficient for AAA to administratively close the case...

@Property2  They made the request just prior to arbitrator bring assigned. So yes, it appears they can force us all back to small claims court. Step 3 it appears. Very poor way of them to handle this, wear us all out so we give up, they hope!

 

R-9. Small Claims Option for the Parties


If a party’s claim is within the jurisdiction of a small claims court, either party may
choose to take the claim to that court instead of arbitration as follows:

 

(a) The parties may take their claims to small claims court without first filing with
the AAA.


(b) After a case is filed with the AAA, but before the arbitrator is formally appointed
to the case by the AAA, a party can send a written notice to the opposing party
and the AAA that it wants the case decided by a small claims court. After receiving
this notice, the AAA will administratively close the case.

 

(c) After the arbitrator is appointed, if a party wants to take the case to small claims
court and notifies the opposing party and the AAA, it is up to the arbitrator to
determine if the case should be decided in arbitration or if the arbitration case
should be closed and the dispute decided in small claims court.

@Jason1700

The same here, prior to the arbitrator being assigned. I am more concerned about step 2 since once the request from Airbnb for small courts is submitted, the case can be closed by AAA. Just to make sure I understand, you sent the objection to that Airbnb request and now are waiting for their lawyer/Airbnb response?

@Property2 Correct, I objected to the "administrator" with AAA, who handles the pre-arbitration case details/filings. I also cc'd the AirBnB law firm.

@Jason1700 

 

Just curious if you hear anything from AAA...

Thanks for sharing your experience. Was your amount above or below 10,000, can I ask? Right now the small claims maximum is 10 grand

How did you recover the funds?