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I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

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Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#561

Post by RaiseProfits »

blueadept111 wrote: post #122
RaiseProfits wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

....what kind of behavior were you expecting? AirBnb has always had atrocious customer service.

I disagree. I've been both a host and customer for many years, and in general I've found the customer service to be good or even very good for resolving issues either as a host or as a customer. In fact, many 'scare' articles about airbnb puzzle me, because it seem seems that the problems could have been avoided if the guest had read the reviews and/or booked with a superhost (or other host with a history of good rev…

> I've found the customer service to be good

Yea? Do explain your confidence.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#562

Post by RaiseProfits »

blueadept111 wrote: post #308
JadoJodo wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or other host with a history of good reviews But how can I trust that the reviews are good if, as this article talks about, people are hesitant to post anything but good reviews for fear of receiving a retaliatory review?

Neither review is visible until both are done, so that's nonsense.

You act like people’s real names and contact information are not exchanged. AirBnb has no quality enforcement mechanism to protect your privacy, the quality of your stay, or the resulting fallout from a conflict.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#563

Post by dreamcompiler »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #408
jschwartzi wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When my fiance and I stayed at a place in Paia on Maui, the place looked immaculate from the pictures. But when we got there it was full of cockroaches. We had literally just gotten in at like 4 pm, put groceries down on the counter, and the little buggers were on them almost immediately. We were exhausted and didn't have the energy to really do anything after our 6 hour plane flight. The hosts came in and tried to r…

At least cockroaches don't bite. We got an Airbnb once in Belize that was effectively open air (it was too hot otherwise and there was no A/C) and the bed had mosquito netting around it which didn't go all the way to the ceiling . The host said "Oh just use the fan. Mosquitos hate fans." Of course the fan didn't work. We vacated that place quick. I still don't know whether this was a scam or simply a case of the loca…

I should clarify: The fan was broken.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#564

Post by labawi »

xmprt wrote: post #554
tomp wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still better than Uber where if the driver cancels more than 5 minutes after accepting the ride, the rider gets charged (as if the rider had cancelled). They're very fast to issue refunds, but only if requested... I wonder how many people just never notice the fraudulent charge! One reason I minimally trust Uber and keep checking all their charges...

That only happens if the driver arrives at your location and waits. You can't just expect to call an Uber and have them wait forever. Regardless of what you think of uber, it's just common courtesy to be ready when it arrives.

So, is this after driver accepting but cancelling before arriving, or after arriving and a rider no-show.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#565

Post by trentnix »

root_axis wrote: post #539
trentnix wrote: post #534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Obviously immoral” - the ChiComs disagree. https://www.foxnews.com/world/organ-harvesting-china-survivo...

They don't disagree, otherwise they would openly embrace the practice instead of shrouding it in secrecy.

So the whims and popular beliefs of the masses decide what’s moral and immoral? If tomorrow society embraces organ harvesting from loving children, is it suddenly ok? Or is it always wrong irrespective of public opinion? If law doesn’t tell us what’s moral and immoral, what does?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#566

Post by 52-6F-62 »

aptwebapps wrote: post #550
52-6F-62 wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that’s messy. I have trip this coming month through Expedia and the last leg of our bargain basement flight got cancelled. The rep told me there were no flights for days surrounding our original flight date. I had to sit on hold for a long time but I have to say they were great. United swept our transportation out from under our feet but the rep was able to wrangle a flight with fewer stops that arrives earlier w…

Expedia did that? That's great. I've always avoided them and their competitors and bought directly from the airlines because I was afraid if something went wrong I would get better service that way.

Yeah I thought I was in for a battle. I’m not sure if it’s their larger policy or just a good rep. Can’t claim it’s a pattern as it’s only happened to me once.

She explained to me pretty thoroughly that the ticket change required higher approval to switch ticket classes and she seemed to do a bunch of back and forth with United. In all I was probably on the phone for 2 hours but on hold for 110 minutes of that while I was working.

I had no idea what would happen. I expected Expedia to punt me off to United to sort it out. But no, almost totally painless to my and my partner’s great relief.

Mind you I wonder if the order made a difference as we booked the flight, a vacation rental, and a car all at once through them and paid up front so the onus was sort of on them to make sure we could even check into our rental on time. And we’re heading to Kona so there’s not really an alternative mode of transportation available...

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#567

Post by couchand »

aptwebapps wrote: post #550
52-6F-62 wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that’s messy. I have trip this coming month through Expedia and the last leg of our bargain basement flight got cancelled. The rep told me there were no flights for days surrounding our original flight date. I had to sit on hold for a long time but I have to say they were great. United swept our transportation out from under our feet but the rep was able to wrangle a flight with fewer stops that arrives earlier w…

Expedia did that? That's great. I've always avoided them and their competitors and bought directly from the airlines because I was afraid if something went wrong I would get better service that way.

I recently made a rental car reservation through Expedia and hadn't noticed it was nonrefundable. When my plans had to change, I called them up and they took care of dealing with the rental car company and getting me a refund anyway. Pleasantly surprised how easy they made it for me.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#568

Post by Amygaz »

My account on Airbnb has also most likely been hacked. Twice over the summer someone tried to book using my Airbnb account and my expired CC. I hadn't used Airbnb in 3 years.

Airbnb support was completely useless both times. So I cancelled my account everything, and the CC support will deny any Airbnb transaction.

Anyway, it is so annoying to search anything on Airbnb that I am not compelled to use it. The "host" will advertise a one night price that can easily double with all the other fees, and double again for each additional nights.

I'll revisit when accountability standards are raised from the maker to the user.

(edit: added "my account")

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#569

Post by root_axis »

trentnix wrote: post #565
root_axis wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't disagree, otherwise they would openly embrace the practice instead of shrouding it in secrecy.

So the whims and popular beliefs of the masses decide what’s moral and immoral? If tomorrow society embraces organ harvesting from loving children, is it suddenly ok? Or is it always wrong irrespective of public opinion? If law doesn’t tell us what’s moral and immoral, what does?

What are you talking about? I did not imply in any way that popularity determines morality. I stated that organ harvesting is obviously immoral, you made the suggestion that committing an immoral act means that the perpetrator believes the act is moral, I am simply refuting that fallacious argument with the point that China concealing the act shows us that they are aware it is immoral.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#570

Post by Amygaz »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #558
koyote wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure I completely understand: Is the host able to unilaterally change the dates of your booking on AirBnb? Did your agreement to the text (asking for $20 extra) allow him to make the changes?

Yes they usually are. There's a raft of AirBnB horror stories[1] about hosts pulling a confirmed booking at the last moment and AirBnb's "awesome" customer support leaving the guest high and dry if they were approachable at all. AirBnb may have been a great idea in 2010. Nowadays what you get is very oten a cheaply outfitted cooky cutter appartment managed by some faceless management company. You may also be asked to…

Nice I didn't know this one. I did a quick search and found a lot of stories like mine where people tried to used my now defunct account, and they got zero support from AirBS
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