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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

#241

Post by Julien_r2 »

Few days ago I stumbled upon an article from Paul Graham from 2008 that fits well in the current topic imo - Be good (http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html) He describes how startup sometime follows the pattern "You grow big by being nice, but you can stay big by being mean."

And it's the feeling I have today about Airbnb.. I use to love them, not only because of the concept, but also as a startup pushing innovation, sharing tech and design learnings, etc. It had a sens of contributing to community, and caring its users

Today I despite them for the uncontrolled impact they have in cities, and the we-don't-care philosophy they seems to have adopted (not to mention the feeling of being betrayed by a company I use to look up to). And I can't really blame ourselves for keeping on using it. They created "something that people wants" and now are taking advantage of it.

It's probably our responsibility now to remind those companies that "something we want" is a product along with a care for its users.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#242

Post by RandomBacon »

rickyc091 wrote: post #53
jrochkind1 wrote: post #9

Well, this certainly makes me want to never book an AirBnB again. You'd think AirBnB would be more alarmed about the reputational and consequent business hit of this sort of thing. Maybe they will be after this article?

> If a guest stays even one night in a rental, for example, it is difficult to obtain a full refund, according to Airbnb’s rules. You don't even have to stay one night... I ran into this exact scenario where upon arrival, the place had no electricity, wifi, and construction for a few blocks outside. I was unable to contact them until the next day since my first instinct was to look for another place ASAP and rest fro…

I'd recommend suing AirBnB through small claims court if that was the case.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#243

Post by iblaine »

It's Oct 31st so this thread seems like a good place to post Airbnb horror stories.

The first Airbnb I rented was part of an interview at Airbnb. I was given a credit for a free Airbnb for the purpose of experiencing the product. The Airbnb I rented was in San Francisco and clearly used only as an Airbnb rental.

The second Airbnb I rented was with my family while on vacation in Italy. One afternoon we returned to find out the locks were changed. This was scheduled building maintenance and I was not notified. I chose a place with a special ~'locals badge' only to find out the owner was an American living in the US.

Given this is a tiny sample, Airbnb generally seems to have a problem with borderline fraud.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#244

Post by jobigoud »

JadoJodo wrote: post #170

I'm not sure how to fix all the issues outlined in this article, but I think that a 14-day, double-blind review period started at checkout would alleviate some of the trust issue presented here. That is to say: Once checkout has completed, both Guest and Host have 14 days (21? 30?) to write their reviews (neither party can see the others' review). At the end of that period, both reviews are visible on the site and ca…

You just described exactly the way it works right now. How did you think it worked?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#245

Post by altoidaltoid »

aembleton wrote: post #189
marcodave wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If by "verified properties" we can infer "regulations and warranties", aren't you just reinventing hotels?

But with a kitchen and other amenities.

So you mean "extended stay" hotels? Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, etc...

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#246

Post by atotic »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #46

Dear Airbnb, You have destroyed the rental apartment market in my city. You profit from taking advantage of loopholes in legislation, legislation which protects consumers from unscrupulous, dangerous, and untrustworthy properties. The sooner every city enacts laws limiting "airbnb" apartment rentals to 30 days per year per apartment, the better. Otherwise it is abused at scale.

Wow. I had my own bad AirBnB experience, and privately decided never to never use them again. I wrongly assumed it was just me.

This is sad, I thought AirBnB were one of the good guys, and had a good experience 4 years ago.

Is there something about doing things at scale that makes things go bad? It seems like so many companies are great at start, but go downhill when their assumption that "fraud is a rare exception" does not hold.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#247

Post by knodi123 »

Wow, I think I got hit by this same scam in Auckland, NZ. Saw pictures of a perfectly fine little apartment. Showed up and it was actually a furniture storage unit- the living room had two couches, three desks, and two commercial scanner/copiers.

The bed had 12 full-sized pillows and one sheet, and the sheet was so starched that I pinched the middle and lifted it to head height, and it just stayed there. You could sculpt it.

The silverware drawer had 5 knives and one chopstick. The kitchen trash was full. The shower had a drain full of hair. I had to go buy soap and paper towels at a convenience store.

I called the host (a "retired local woman") and got a man with an indian accent who offered me a "much larger and nicer property a few kilometers away", which I couldn't take because I was traveling with my family and we were just exhausted.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#248

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly »

Funny to see how internet giants treat their suppliers vs their customers.

eBay's sellers are up in arms because it's trivial for any customer to steal from them and force a chargeback on an honest seller. Sellers cannot even leave negative feedback for dishonest buyers anymore. The customer is king.

AirBnb is exactly the opposite, apparently. Screwing their customers for scamming suppliers that should be trivial to uncover.

I wonder what economics are at play, here?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#249

Post by pavel_lishin »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #121

I've run into a scam recently on AirBNB and several situations that ended up screwing me over. The scam was after booking a nice place in Orlando, Florida for a week through my wife's AirBNB account. The day after booking, the "owner" sent an email saying that they required a photograph of the front and back of her credit card, drivers license picture and full name. Not even a subtle scam, but that would probably foo…

The renter gets charged when the host cancels the reservation?
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