| I had a very similar frustrating experience with AirBnB. Essentially, my rental turned out to be an illegal sublet that hosted a large party the weekend before. There was still trash strewn about. The real owner contacted the neighbors and they (kindly) informed me of the situation. I immediately contacted AirBnB, here's a quick summary of what happened: - On hold for 30 min
- Offered a $50 coupon for another booking (I was traveling with 5 other people)
- We had a full day of activities so I booked a rental with instant confirmation.
- The customer service rep scolded me because I was supposed wait for the coupon code (which was sent 30 minutes after I booked).
- The coupon could not be retroactively applied to my new booking.
- Only after tweeting their customer service did someone else reach out.
- Every new customer rep had a different answer for me.
- In the end took 2 months and a credit card chargeback to sort everything out. My whole experience left me with a whole bunch of questions. - If your $20B valuation comes from connecting rentors and rentees, shouldn't your customer service be stellar? - If something goes wrong (at the fault of the rentor), why is the onus on me to solve it (imagine if this happened at a hotel)? - There's a lot more time and emotion invested in making an AirBnB rental over a car share (Uber, Lyft). So when things go wrong, why does it feel like AirBnB treats it as the same (e.g. "just book another AirBnB")? - To cut down on illegal rentals, AirBnB could choose to ask for a copy of the lease agreement. It's an obvious answer, but why not? When everything goes right, I'm sure AirBnb is fine. But if you have an experience when something goes wrong, you'll understand why I no longer use AirBnb. |
If you book something like this, and your expectations are not met and you call the company and they do not provide adequate compensation, do not bullshit with calling them back or tweeting their customer service or whatever. Tell them you are going to call your credit card company and dispute the charge. Period. Normally this is a magic keyword to immediately remedy the situation, and if the situation is still not fixed, then your credit card company will deal with it for you. This is particularly true if you have a high-end credit card like the Amex platinum or CSR. No need for you to screw around with bullshit customer service.
Example: GF and I booked a tour. Tour bus didn't show up. Called, emailed, no response. Called credit card company. Transaction reversed within 24 hours after the credit card company called and took care of the situation (CSR in this case).