Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned • Hacker News Board

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#11

Post by rdl » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:32 AM UTC

I am non-representatively paranoid, and have always been afraid of this kind of thing when having guests not personally known to me, visitors to "open house" office events, etc. I think there is little actual risk with almost anyone as a guest (most people ARE good, or at least non-malicious, or at least lazy), but this is why the AirBnB reputation system is so key to their value (and why they'll have a strong network effect).

Maybe the effect of this will be to make people want personal connections (via fb graph or whatever) to their AirBnB guests, or at least requiring minimum numbers of positive reviews from known sources (to prevent the sockpuppet/shill issue).

I wonder if your renter's or homeowners insurance might cover this kind of thing. If it doesn't generally, it'd be awesome if AirBnB could work with a third party insurer (per jurisdiction) to offer optional insurance to hosts (and guests) against this kind of thing.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#12

Post by cookiecaper » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:34 AM UTC

I hate that the author broke out the short skirt rape thing. I don't think someone that leaves their house to strangers while they go out of town for a week is quite as innocent as a rape victim that was targeted for lack of modesty.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#13

Post by Luyt » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:34 AM UTC

How is this:

"... emphasize that the customer service team at airbnb.com has been wonderful..."

reconcilable with this:

"...My next call was to airbnb.com - I tried their "urgent" line, their email address, their general customer support line. I heard nothing - no response whatsoever - until the following day, 14 sleepless hours later, and only after a desperate call to an airbnb.com freelancer I happen to know helped my case get some attention..."

Does that mean you'd have to know someone who works at AirBnB before you can get customer service? I've heard similar stories about Google, too.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#14

Post by stevejalim » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:36 AM UTC

tonystubblebine wrote: post #3

jackwagon wrote: post #2

"They found my coupons for Bed Bath & Beyond and used the discount, along with my Mastercard, to shop online." Are you kidding me? Seriously.

My home was burglarized once and among all the serious stuff that they took they also took: tortillas, salsa, ground beef, and cheddar cheese. I still can't believe that.

Yep, when I was burgled, alongside a MacBook, watch and my freakin' backups, which were on a separate drive on a nearby bookcase, they also took some bath soap and a bottle of dessert wine that my gf and I brought back from France specially. I hope they choked on the wine.

That said, I also had they keys to brand new Audi on the kitchen counter (I used to be a car journalist and it was a press test car) and they completely missed them. So, I got off lightly, in some respects, even if the loss of backups is still something that pisses me off today.

I've learned my mistake about backup drives now and do it over wifi to a drive in secret location witheld.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#15

Post by mrinterweb » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:37 AM UTC

It is unfortunate that stories like that could really harm AirBnB's reputation. I am sure that there are plenty of vacation rental stories of people trashing and burglarizing properties, but the difference is that this was not a vacation rental. I hope that thieves do not make a trend of preying on AirBnB hosts to gain access to their private residences.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#16

Post by badclient » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:38 AM UTC

With a name like Dj Paterson I'm not sure you could even sign up on google+ or fb.

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#17

Post by wakeup » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:39 AM UTC

jackwagon wrote: post #7

tonystubblebine wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My home was burglarized once and among all the serious stuff that they took they also took: tortillas, salsa, ground beef, and cheddar cheese. I still can't believe that.

No seriously. Excellent stunt for getting out of a crazy credit card bill from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Didn't we see this movie before? What was it.. Fight Club?

haha no shit

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#18

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:41 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#19

Post by timsally » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:42 AM UTC

After someone has copies of your passport, birth certificate, social security card, etc, what do you even do? Isn't your identity compromised forever?

Re: Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

#20

Post by joshfraser » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:42 AM UTC

This is not the first story like this I have heard about AirBnB. They have just done a good job keeping them hush hush and talking people out of going to the cops. Obviously stories like this are horrible for their reputation and AirBnB have a big incentive to try and take care of issues on their own.