111–120 of 377 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.
So you use another email address next time if you must
But yes, these companies will lie and break the law when it suits them, no reason to feel bad about giving them a taste of their own medicine.
Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Getting yourself banned off of Airbnb for $950 doesn't sound optimal unless you are swearing off short term lodging around the world (outside of hotels) for the foreseeable future. That's one of the negative externalities of capture-the-market VC investing - getting banned on one of these platforms cuts you off from almost the entirety of supply because of how marketplace dynamics work.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty funny that the 5-star system compresses the actual useful signal into less than 10% of the range.
It’s ridiculous - and Airbnb perpetuate it. If you get a 4.8* or below review, you get a cranky email from Airbnb saying that you suck and red warnings all over the “improvements” section of the admin. It works, just barely, as long as you only book places with like 50 stays and a score in the range I mentioned - which isn’t something you expect your average Joe to realise.
>If you get a 4.8* or below review, you get a cranky email from Airbnb saying that you suck and red warnings all over the “improvements” section of the admin.
The one stay I've had at AirBnb--a lovely place in Maui (mostly because the hotels were so expensive and it was nice)--there were at least a couple pleas in the various information about talking to them before leaving anything other than a 5 rating because they might lose their super-host status.
Airbnb is built on evading taxes, skirting the law and exploiting the real estate market to the detriment of the local population AND the traveler. Don't support them.
Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Getting yourself banned off of Airbnb for $950 doesn't sound optimal unless you are swearing off short term lodging around the world (outside of hotels) for the foreseeable future. That's one of the negative externalities of capture-the-market VC investing - getting banned on one of these platforms cuts you off from almost the entirety of supply because of how marketplace dynamics work.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.
Imagine being banned from Best Western, for example, because you disputed a charge! Having a dispute, especially one which is so reasonable like this, being grounds for banning is insane to me. Companies as large as Airbnb cannot be just banning whoever they want. This whole notion of, we don't agree with you, so we'll just ban you thing has got to stop.
Every story I've heard, as well as my personal experience, is that people outside the USA are very customer service oriented, want you to have a good time exploring the place they live, and are generally very attentive and accommodating.
Inside the USA people are just in it as a side hustle. Usually it works out fine, sometimes not so much.
I've never had a bad experience personally, but I've had some pretty amazing experiences outside the USA, but never within it.
(Stuff like hosts buying us groceries ahead of time because they knew we were arriving late, personally showing us around town upon arrival, paying for my offsite parking when my rental car wouldn't fit in the provided garage, etc).
It certainly doesn’t make me want to use them more often. Hosts always have insane rules like I basically have to be a full time cleaner and also the only parking is three miles away and I can only eat in exactly one place.
And I always have to live in fear that something will come and I’ll have to cancel and lose 100% of my money. Why is it that hosts can have misleading listings and cancel days in advance while I have no power at all?
Really tells you who Airbnb’s customer is.
Charge it back via your bank and explain the situation. Worst case scenario, it gets denied, you don't lose anything either way. The initial misunderstanding was cleared up just one hour after the booking - it should be very reasonable for the host to offer a full refund, it's not like it was a last-minute cancellation where the host would struggle to get it rebooked in time and lose out. The host is clearly being ma…
Just because the credit card company claws the money back doesn't mean that a merchant can't come after you in court/debt collection.
It's not common, but for a big enough transaction, there's nothing stopping a business from coming after you.