Major difficulty in dealing with Airbnb.

Olof18
Level 3
Santa Fe, Philippines

Major difficulty in dealing with Airbnb.

Hello !

 

I am at total loss as to what to do.

 

Up to now our hosting experience has been great. We have 2 listings.

Both are "Rare find" and with star ratings of 4.97 (71) and 5.0 (7)

We only use Airbnb apart from walk in guests.

 

In October, on our Airbnb dash board, a message pops up requesting 

us to give EU tax information or risk delayed payments.

When trying to fill in this EU tax link the link did not work.

Then our payments stopped.

 

We have now been passed around to seven (7) different Airbnb persons.

One said it was a technical problem.

Another said we did not have to do anything but just to wait for the review

of our account to be finished.

Yet another one sent us a link to click on. When we did click it stated :

You are all done. Meaning we already have been there and done it.

The first 6 all gave their names. #7 never did.

 

We answered the only question that #7 asked us on Dec. 1 on Dec. 1.

When we now try to ask #7 when we can expect to have an answer we

receive an automatic answer saying: " Failed to send. Retry"

We have retried now for several days on numerous occasions with the same result.

 

No. 6 has closed the case so we can no longer contact her either.

 

We now have had 9 guest stays. Since we do a minimum of 3 days it all adds up

to around 30 days that we have not been paid for by Airbnb.

 

We will highly appreciate any constructive input.

 

Best regards,

                                  Olof

9 Replies 9
Bes175
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

You are stuck Olof, and there's not much

anyone can say or for you to do. 

 

This's what went on; while here & with us Aibrnb seems a non-listening, non-speaking & non-reacting monolith and at times with some areas, places, countries [when they can] when it comes to bigger guys [say EU, Courts etc] they became so nice and trying to appear at their BEST BEHAVIOUR - make more mess.

 

Italy, Belgium Ireland etc..and few countries from 27 ones of EU block have opened challenges [with regards to TAXES] since 5-10 years, how did they go and are going - is not for us now' but Airbnb trying to be correct - is harming people like you. Moment the 1st link broke [which is not your fault] the system MUST HAVE flagged you up somehow, as a REFUSENIK. 

 

See it this way [in extremis] say an EU Army brings you to a COURT and AIRBNB also, they can say: IS NOT OUR FAULT,  Olof didn't fill the form so we stopped 'dealing with him money wise' etc etc.Case closed, for them.

 

Start again, fail again, and try again; in the hope SOMEONE with logic in Aibrnb side will take his time [hope has the POWER to change few things] and get back to the origin of this problem. Then Aibrnb happy, same for EU and same for YOU.

 

Now you see what you are dealing with - YES? Even in Philippines bureaucrats of Kafkaesque levels [EU + a'BNB] are complicating your life to no end... . 

@Bes175 

 

Dont mention Logic and Airbnb in the same sentence, Please

Olof18
Level 3
Santa Fe, Philippines

Thank you very much for your thoughts, opinions and advice regarding

my situation.

 

I believe that you are right about EU putting pressure on Airbnb and

the faulty link somehow triggered this review of our account.

 

What the issue is now, from my point of view, is how can one move 

forward to reach a resolution when Airbnb seems to have cut the

line of communication.

 

It has now been more than a week since we answered their (No. 7)

only one question in a sincere way and to the best of our

knowledge. Yet their answer seems to have been to cut the line

of communication instead of going in the direction of finding a

solution. A manor that is not only rude and unproductive but even

worse surely not in the best interest of Airbnb itself.

 

Yes, I will take your advice to keep on going.

 

Thank you again for your time and effort.

 

Best regards,

                               Olof

 

 

 

 

 

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Olof18 

 

I entered this info back in 2018 as, requested. Earlier this year, Airbnb made the same threat, and I entered it again. Later in the year, I was told to do it again. 

 

With respect to taxes, I'm not opposed, however there was a time not so long ago that most of the Airbnbs here were operating completely under the radar, collecting lots of income and not paying one penny in income tax. And that's what this is all about. 

 

With respect to Airbnb, well, my experiences with Airbnb customer services leads me to suspect that it's not at all intentional, since they have tangibly precious little to gain, and only downside. 

 

Considering how Airbnb's customer services are outsourced to some somewhat dodgy firms who demand a lot and pay little, plus my personal experiences with CS, I'm led to suspect it's simply incompetence and perhaps moreso, pressure to finalise any issues as quickly as possible, leading to choosing the easiest solution instead of the fairest one. 

 

These CS people are just ordinary people, not highly trained, but are  inundated with many, many issues everyday. Some are legitimate, many are just frivolous. Yet they have to show progress or get penalised for low productivity. Or lose their jobs entirely. 

 

So, what's the easiest thing? Close the case and move on to the next one. Or pass it on to somebody else, who also has no time for it. 

 

Payment issue? I'll send that one over to payments. Aircover? Just decline it and close the case. I've got to complete 80 cases today or I miss my quota. 

 

At a management level, these outsourced providers are under pressure to deliver results. Airbnb is a big account, and they have statistics that show how many cases are completed favourably (and you can be sure that these stats include how much money it's costing Airbnb). So, when the management meets, and there's been a 32% increase in Airbnb payouts, no doubt there's going to be some contention, and pressure to keep those numbers down. It's why we hired you. 

 

Sound implausible? That's actually how many outsourced support providers work. And, also explains why it's no better with your telecom/internet provider or any other service you subscribe to. 

 

I have no reason to defend Airbnb. They know it hurts them. But how do you fix it without hiring your own support staff and management? That would cost them maybe 10x or more what they pay now. The board wouldn't like the sound of that at all. Besides, they're doing just fine without that expense. Just look at the numbers. They are, after all the world's biggest, and hardly under threat. 

 

So, you, as a host, have no choice but to just keep opening new tickets. And eventually, you'll get lucky and bump into someone who fixes it. 

 

In general, my advice is that you should consider arranging/conducting your business in such a way that you avoid using customer service wherever possible. That means taking on much of the responsibility for avoiding bad situations before they start. Is it fair? No, not really. But it's how it is. Prevention is always the best cure. 

Sudsrung0
Level 10
Rawai, Thailand

@Olof18 

 

Sorry to hear whats happening to you, I read many similar stories about host not being paid,

 

I often think what would I do in your situation,

Right now I only have one property listed on airbnb so it's easy to monitor my payments,

I have already set other plans in place to fall back on, going live this week,

So yesterday we had a guest check in as we all know later today we should get notification that payment has been sent. I will be watching, This guest booked for 10 days,

I will not wait for 10 days for my payment that the guest has already paid airbnb for, I will ask the guest to leave and tell them to contact airbnb and the reasons why,

The next guest would not get into my apartment let him scream and shout at airbnb that he has traveled 5000 km and has now got no accommodation.

Then I would tell all my future bookings to cancel with airbnb and book direct with me.

I bet you a 1000% somebody from airbnb would soon be on the phone,  

 

What do you think @Bes175 

Olof18
Level 3
Santa Fe, Philippines

Thank you very much for your thoughts regarding my situation.

My goal at this time is to come to a solution but with now I find

myself sitting between 2 chairs. No. 6 has closed the case and No. 7

is not possible to reach thus there is no way to reach a solution as

communication has ended. 

Thank you again.

Best regards Olof

Sybe
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
Terneuzen, Netherlands

Hi @Olof18 , I'm so sorry to hear about this. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to be sent in circles like that. I've sent it over to the team now, they should be in touch with you and if I get an update in the meantime I'll let you know. Hopefully we can get an update on the form and make sure you receive your payouts!

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Olof18
Level 3
Santa Fe, Philippines

Hello Santa Sybe !

 

Thank you so very much !

 

You just removed a dark cloud that's been hanging over me

for some time now.

 

I am happy to announce that today (Dec 9) I did receive 10 (ten)

overdue payments from Airbnb.

 

Salamat Kaayo as we say in The Philippines. Thank you.

 

Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season !

 

With gratitude,

                                       Olof

Sybe
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
Terneuzen, Netherlands

Hi @Olof18 , that's great to hear and just in time for the festive season! 😃

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