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Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

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Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#41

How does this work legally? Is it still burglary when the people were allowed in the house? Of course taking things that do not below to you is theft. But going through someones documents, is that illegal?

I'm pretty sure AirBnB is already pretty sketchy when it comes to legality, just from the fact that a lot of apartments explicitly disallow subletting. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a later follow-up saying that this lady is on the hook for any damage done to the apartment.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to clarify, since it took your second comment to get me to this understanding - Someone who was not the real owner of the apartment (presumably thief/criminal) put the place up on AirBnB. You unknowingly rented the place from this person, and during your stay, the real owner showed up and asked what you were doing in his house?

Yes that seems to be the correct understanding. The thief probably stayed at the place and made a copy of the key. Afterwards they rented it out on abnb.

Not sure if he is actually a thief. He claims to be a friend of the deadbeat tenant who actually rents here. That does sound like a likely story. I don't want to get involved more than I need to, I'm on vacation anyway. Makes for one heck of a story back home though.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#43
post #13

Worth noting that, despite recent large valuations and funding rounds, the founders of Airbnb are still driving their baby and have a massive emotional attachment to it. (As do all business owners.) This is their first significant black eye (the Craigslist stuff was far more limited in its audience reach), and has the potential to derail a company that's only 2 years old. Of course they're going to be responding emot…

I donwvoted you. I don't see how what you write is relevant. Everybody is emotionally attached to their startups, including me, so?

emotional attachment is especially relevant to this situation since empathy is the most important thing that airbnb can provide right now. The fact that empathy is FREE and they are not giving it to EJ just baffles me!

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#44

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

This is the paraphrased account from a hurt and angry person. It may accurately portray how the victim felt, but not the intended emphasis of the speaker. Beware making any 'damning' conclusions.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#45
This is bad enough but what happens when the inevitable assault, rape or murder finally occurs? Screening people is a chicken & egg problem because if you only rent to people with a ton of positive history nobody new gets in.

The only solution I can see is digging way deeper into the personal background of a prospective tenant than any hotel would dare.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#46

Acquaintances have said they'd probably not use Airbnb for fear of problems like this. After this incident and Airbnb's response, they will never even consider it. And they will tell all their acquaintances, etc, etc.. Airbnb's Achilles' heel is the deep-rooted fear of someone fucking up home. That they did not patch this with a good backup-plan should be a warning to investors.

"That they did not patch this with a good backup-plan should be a warning to investors."

Yeah this is their biggest problem here they seem to have no crisis plan at all. Nothing.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#47
This is one of those sad instances where you see a really great company forget their roots and give their soul wholeheartedly to the idea of becoming huge. This was going to happen eventually. In fact, this issue is the biggest chink in the chain of the whole collaborative consumption ideal. The idea of social sharing is amazing, but the companies working in this space should know that eventually someone would come along and exploit the system for nefarious purposes. It's great that some of these companies are getting funding to grow, but did no one think that this was a possibility? Did no one think this could happen? I love the idea of AirBnB, but they need to understand that they have a responsibility to their community that far surpasses their responsibility to any funding they receive.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#48

This is a seriously damning essay from someone who's clearly working through PTSD issues (or is an amazing liar). Part of the issue is that young fast-growth CEOs don't major on empathy, typically. It's somewhat contrary to the necessities of the job. These co-founders have absolutely no concept of how this woman feels, or if they do, they have determined that they won't let her know about it. The best thing say Paul…

>>or is an amazing liar

I know that people were doubting the veracity of the story in the first place, but I think the initial AirBnB PR statement laid that to rest. At this point, what would EJ gain by lying? Anything that's a blatant lie could just be replied with by "Nope" by AirBnB, and she could only hurt her case by lying about anything right now.

Honestly, after what appears to be a month with no help, no reply, no customer service, veiled threats, and an offer to "get a cup of coffee"...I'm honestly surprised this essay isn't more vitriolic.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#49

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

I don't know what they're smoking over there, honestly. Cut off all contact through their CS to the victim, and then have a cofounder want to "meet them for coffee"? After asking her to take down the blog or give it a positive-twist ending? I don't know what they're expecting but I'm hard-pressed to think of what they could do worse, short of joking about it on twitter. Edit: Holy god, I didn't realize the actual tim…

What you're calling a 'sudden Customer Service cutoff' is actually when (from victim's account) communication switched to being with a cofounder. That's escalation and unification, and it's not fair to portray a direct open line to the boss as a 'cutoff'.

(That the victim portrays it that way suggests they may have had better rapport with the original CS liason. Perhaps that person included more social/emotional niceties in more frequent communications. Not everyone is as good at the sort of 'inquiry into my current emotional state' that this victim might find comforting.)

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#50
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more disappointed with airbnb screwing this up than that there are bad people using the site. They should have dropped everything to fix this. I wonder what pg thinks about this.

I doubt Airbnb cares what pg thinks. I'm just guessing, but it seems likely Airbnb see themselves as "underdogs, displacing the hotel industry". The fact that they care so much how EJ phrased her post after her home was completely destroyed (look around you right now --- imagine all of that being gone and never coming back) indicates they have an ego to match. So no, pg can't help them, and no one else can either. It…

It's obvious that AirBnB only cares about attempting to spin it. I'm more curious if pg is going to work "how (not) to handle a PR crisis" into the YCombinator syllabus.
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