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How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

chriskiehl.com

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Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#211

Post by 123pie123 »

plantain wrote: post #153
123pie123 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never ever use airbnb again In munich I had booked 3 night stay, 2 HOURS!! before i was to turn up the host made an excuse of their dad had died and cancelled the reservation - this was obv nothing to do with the fact they had just realised there was an exhibition on in the area (where rates sky rocket x4) I spoke to the person and they was extremly unconvicing of the real reason of cancelling - luckly I manag…

There's something in the water in Munich - I had the same experience, probably because it was just coming into Oktoberfest...

Oktoberfest... the memeries make up for all the bad experiances from airbnb

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#212

Post by ape4 »

whiplash451 wrote: post #52

Note that the cancellation policy for Hosts is quite generous: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990 This lets a host dump you three days before your booking and get away with "only" 25% in fees. AirBnB definitely invests in their inventory (the hosts).

Easily found in article 900 ;(

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#213

Post by dan-robertson »

onphonenow wrote: post #200

Uhh - I came ready to blame Airbnb as I no longer use them. However - you obviously can’t do third party bookings and if a host has had third party booking issues (Airbnb will not cover these at all) I think hosts will have a very negative reaction to a third party booking. Maybe blame Airbnb for not being clearer, but the profile photo / ID verification stuff is designed for the guest. Do people do third party datin…

Well people do blind dates or get set up by friends or both, so maybe that counts? And the OP managed to make a third-party hotel reservation fine.

I think the actual issue was not the Airbnb rule but that it makes little sense that the OP was unable to cancel at no charge for a reasonable reason an hour after making the booking (and plenty of time before the stay).

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#214

Post by aledalgrande »

You can lose money in another way too, which wouldn't happen with hotels: you book a property for an expensive location at high season, the booking gets cancelled for any reason (host changed idea, host got banned etc.) and now you are stuck with much shittier and more expensive choices and a lot less time to go through them. This happened to me recently.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#216

Post by makeitdouble »

DangitBobby wrote: post #172
olliej wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t do this. Not in America, and not in places with “consumer protection”. Chargebacks are for fraudulent or erroneous charges, not for “you changed your mind about a purchase” (1) first up in this case, I’m fairly sure that every other party to the transaction would have grounds to say that the chargeback is fraudulent. The author is not saying that they didn’t make the reservation, they’re saying they realized af…

This is fraud.

Sadly parent's point is correct. Chargebacks are not to protect from jerks and bad customer service.

If there was a contract you first agreed to, but you find out afterwards that one of the clause is problematic in your case, and the other party is a jerk about it, chances are your card issuer won't even accept the chargeback. Most of the time you need proof that the merchant is the one breaching the contract.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#217

Post by WheatMillington »

londons_explore wrote: post #51
fruit2020 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homes are sometimes nicer than hotels, better suited for families with children.

An airbnb feels like 'mine'. Whereas a hotel I have no confidence that some overzealous room service won't barge in and try to change the towels while I'm using them!

Have you ever stayed at a hotel? Because that's not how it works.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#218

Post by olliej »

DangitBobby wrote: post #172
olliej wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t do this. Not in America, and not in places with “consumer protection”. Chargebacks are for fraudulent or erroneous charges, not for “you changed your mind about a purchase” (1) first up in this case, I’m fairly sure that every other party to the transaction would have grounds to say that the chargeback is fraudulent. The author is not saying that they didn’t make the reservation, they’re saying they realized af…

This is fraud.

Where? Because recall that if it is fraud they can file a criminal complaint, but my reading of this article is that they agreed to a cheaper booking for a stricter cancellation policy, they agreed that they were booking for themselves (afaik a standard condition for airbnbs, if not airbnb the company), and when told that they were required to adhere to the terms of the contract they chose to cancel, under terms they had explicitly chosen.

I’m not saying that I think the host was operating legally, I’m saying I don’t see a fraudulent transaction, I don’t see the host not providing the agreed upon service, nor agreed upon restrictions.

It’s an Airbnb so 50/50 the host is violating a bunch of laws (claiming simultaneously to not be a hotel, motel, or rental unit, etc), but the transaction for the purpose of a chargeback does not appear to be fraudulent on its face.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#219

Post by ghaff »

olliej wrote: post #160
Nextgrid wrote: post #6

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…

Don’t do this. Not in America, and not in places with “consumer protection”. Chargebacks are for fraudulent or erroneous charges, not for “you changed your mind about a purchase” (1) first up in this case, I’m fairly sure that every other party to the transaction would have grounds to say that the chargeback is fraudulent. The author is not saying that they didn’t make the reservation, they’re saying they realized af…

I have definitely had cases though where I've run into "Where did this subscription come from?" and there was no apparent way to cancel. Last was something Yahoo-related a number of years back. Ended up doing a chargeback and canceling the charge.

I would absolutely chargeback in this case. Some non-standard clause WHICH THIS ABSOLUTELY IS RELATIVE TO HOTELS (OR EVEN REGULAR B&Bs) buried in T&Cs somewhere should not be acceptable.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#220

Post by jackson1442 »

reverend_gonzo wrote: post #63

I am a host and an often traveler. AirBnb doesn’t necessarily side with one side or the other, but rather, there, customer service is outsourced to the Philippines and they just don’t care. The side you wins is the side you can say the magic words that specific agent wants to hear. I’ve had guests stay at our place and get a refund at the end by lying, and even admitted to me, he knows how Airbnb support works so kne…

I’ve had a few interactions with AirBNB support and agree for the most part- they’re relatively impartial and I haven’t had any more issues with them than I generally have with support agents.

The problem is that the policies can be _brutal_. I went in expecting it to be similar to hotel/airline policies since that’s how they position themselves but that’s not the case. For example cancel charges are very high while hotels are much more permissive and airlines are required to give no questions asked refunds in the first 24hrs.

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