My first time experience with AirBnB: finding myself in the slums with a broken lock, and not getting my money back
My first time experience with AirBnB was not a good one.
My story
I had to travel out of town for a conference, and needed a place to stay for a month. I had heard about AirBnB but never used it before. I decided to give it a try.
The way AirBnB works is, when you look at listings, the address is not listed, just the general vicinity of where the listing is. There weren't many choices in the area, but I found a listing that was about 10-15 minutes away from the conference. The pictures of the interior looked nice, comparable to a luxury apartment. The price was $1710 for the month, more than I would have liked to pay, but it would have been cheaper than staying at a Holiday Inn at the rate of $120/day, so I went ahead and booked it.
This turned out to be a very bad decision.
Our arrival
When my partner and I arrived, we were scared for our lives. We found ourselves driving through the slums. We couldn't believe where the GPS was taking us.
When we arrived at the building where our rental was, we found ourselves in an impoverished area at a decrepit building, which looked like a housing project. The lock on the door to the building had to be jiggled in order to get in. The light in our hallway was out. The ventilation in the building was awful and my partner was having trouble breathing due to the mold/dust.
Upon arriving at our room, the interior was similar to that described in the pictures. Unfortunately, the lock to the sliding door in the back of our room was broken. We could easily be broken into in the middle of the night like this.
We can't stay here
I called AirBnB and informed them that the place was unsafe for us to stay. AirBnB told us they could not give a refund due to the long term cancellation policy, that the first month is nonrefundable, and that I would have to contact the owner. The owner refused to give us a refund, insisting that it was a long-term rental and that his "cash flow" would be affected. Obviously this owner was a slumlord who has been taking out loans to buy property in depressed areas and rent them at premium prices on AirBnB after taking nice pictures of the decorated interior.
I could not jeopardize my safety by staying in such a place, or coming back from conference in my business clothes. I would have been robbed, assaulted, or worse. I could not jeopardize my partner's safety by letting her stay in the apartment while I was away when the lock was broken. After arguing with the owner, he said that he would try to rent the apartment again and refund us the money that he rented. This was better than nothing, so we turned in the keys and left.
Two weeks later he had not posted the rental back on AirBnB, so I messaged him on the platform and asked what the issue was. The next day he replied that he and his business partner had decided to keep the money and not relist the property, stating it was within their right. Probably what happened was that he and his partner decided to list it on another platform and "double dip"...
Opening a dispute
I immediately opened a complaint with AirBnB, who didn't respond to me until 4 days later. They stated again that they could not give a refund. I spent several hours writing emails to them back and forth, and tried to contact my case manager by phone, who was never available when I called. They finally said that they could not refund based on neighborhood concerns, but if I could take a picture of the lock, they would refund the money. This was quite an unreasonable thing to suggest after the fact that we had left and turned in the keys for our safety, as I had previously explained to them in multiple emails. If this was needed, AirBnB should have informed us that we needed to do this when we called them upon arriving, instead of just saying they could not give a refund and to contact the owner. Also, as we had returned the keys, we could not go back and take pictures (nor did I want to jeopardize my safety by going back there). I offered that we could provide proof that the area was unsafe and submit a notarized statement on behalf of my partner and I stating the lock to the back sliding door was broken, but AirBnB did not accept this and refused to refund our money.
Upon suggestion from a friend, I opened a dispute with my credit card company. They were FAR more willing to listen to my concerns and were very supportive, saying "I wouldn't have stayed there either" and "We want to make sure you are happy". Wow, finally customer service that I can depend upon as a consumer! They immediately offered a temporary credit while the dispute was ongoing. I will post the result of the dispute when it occurs here.
Takeaways for the reader
So that was my first-time experience with AirBnB. Honestly, I can't recommend it, and would suggest Priceline's "Name Your Own Price", that another friend of mine used to find a nice 3-star hotel in the area for about $45/day for the month.
Be aware that there are lots of slumlords posting listings on AirBnB, and a lot of people have had issues with them and hosts. The fact that addresses are not posted before you book, that the first month is nonrefundable for long-term stays, and that AirBnB will not offer a refund based on neighborhood issues makes the platform very inviting for slumlords who take out loans to purchase depressed properties, make the interiors look nice in pictures, and then relist them on AirBnB using the income to pay off their loans. It is hard to avoid this scam as if you are out of town, you probably do not know which neighborhoods are the ones to stay out of anyway even if you knew the address ahead of time before booking. This is why I would never recommend AirBnB the way it is currently designed.
Be aware of the issues with AirBnB
It seems that countless other guests have had similar issues with AirBnB/hosts/refunds. You can read just a few of many stories on the web here:
https://hackernoon.com/how-airbnb-failed-my-family-and-lost-my-trust-w-updates-295ca803ad66 -A similar story of a slumlord renting places on AirBnB
https://www.airbnbhell.com/airbnb-guest-stories/ -Other AirBnB horror experiences
In closing
Be aware of this scam tactic, use Priceline "Name Your Own Price" to find an affordable place at a professionally managed hotel, and avoid what we went through.
Sorry to hear that terrible experience, i use to think airbnb was a good choice but after reading this, no more, thanks for sharing
Thank you for your support. Yes, with customer service like this, how could you trust them ever again?
What a horror story!! THanks goodness for the credit card company. I hate credit cards BUT they make so much profit they can afford to cover these type of situations. AirBnb should immediately take such a person OFF their network.... I suggest posting a preview sentence and LINK to this article on their instagram/facebook/yelp/BBB, etc... Absolutely terrible
Thank you for your support. I have shared this article with my credit card company as further documentation, and have also sent it to my case manager at AirBnB asking for the contact information of the CEO, CFO, and COO of the company so I can share it with them as well. I will also start linking it to the websites you mention. It is great how social media like these websites and SteemIt give us a voice against this wrongdoing!
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STOPThanks for sharing this. Almost the exact same incident just happened to me and my sister this past weekend in New Orleans. The only difference is it wasn't a long term stay, just 4 nights. What a nightmare. It was false advertisement; the place was not at all how it was described. It said there was a “a porch overlooking the yard as well as street… and two sets of french doors that open up into Frenchmen Street, letting in plenty of light and allowing for prime people watching.” The french doors in the kitchen were bolted shut, likely due to safety issues, and there is no people watching. The only view from the porch was a very tall fence that separated the back of the house from the street, you cannot view it as stated. This area of Frenchman Street is not walkable to the area where there is live music as described (and it is absolutely not safe to walk there – ever, not even during the day). The side of the house was all boarded up with wood paneling. We were in a very bad, crime ridden area and all the houses were boarded up or had bars on the windows. There were people lying unconscious in the street outside, and someone a few doors down made an attempt to rob us when we were on our way back to the house within the first hour that we were there. Unfortunately Airbnb has a refund policy that protects them from just about every bad situation – including the quality of the house and neighborhood. In addition to that, the pillows on our bed were DISGUSTING. They were stained brown, very brown and spotted. The towels that were folded and placed on the bathroom counter for us were damp and smelled like mold. The toilet wasn’t completely attached to the ground and would move around when we sat on it. We didn't even spend the first night; left right away. Airbnb should be required to do site visits before someone can rent their place out. And if they are already doing that, then they should have stricter guidelines. And the kicker of it all: we read the reviews thoroughly before we booked it and there wasn't a single bad review about this place. I'm convinced that they delete negative ones. We contacted Airbnb immediately when we got home and worked with a case manager but they will not refund us. Awful, greedy company.
Very sorry to hear about your experience. It seems exactly like mine. I am still fighting with the owner and AirBnB through my credit card company. I'll post here when the dispute is finally over to update the situation, but I would recommend filing a dispute with your credit card company. Best of luck.