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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

#261

Post by [deleted] »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #133
Nextgrid wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's less about forcing them to do business and more about the regulator/consumer protection agency getting wind of what is obviously malicious and potentially illegal behavior from the company - a lot of companies will fold when a case gets anywhere near litigation/consumer protection/arbitration just to not attract attention. In this case, the chargeback was just the last resort solution for the customer be…

Sure, but refusing to do business with someone is legal in most cases.

[deleted]

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#262

Post by soul_grafitti »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #120
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…

An important thing to remember is that the chargeback doesn't necessarily absolve you of the legal need to pay. 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.

I'm not a lawyer but for an amount that small the only suing anyone would be doing is in small claims court. And for that amount the 'host' would have to do it themself as the settlement isn't even attorney's fees. Small claims are usually Plus OP has an excellent story to post as a review since as a 'paying' customer clearly has standing in the matter.

AirBnB has gotten so much bad press over their nit-picky extra charges, fees and required cleaning by guests I would not be surprised if they encourage the 'host' to reconsider their position.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#263

Post by jpambrun »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #120
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…

An important thing to remember is that the chargeback doesn't necessarily absolve you of the legal need to pay. 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.

It reverse the burden of legal action. If you do nothing you have 100% chance of paying, if you successfully charge back you have 0.01% chance of being brought to court and end up paying the same amount.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#264

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#265

Post by aledalgrande »

world2vec wrote: post #229
dan-robertson wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some cities have aparthotels which can be a reasonable compromise. They can have similarly poorly kitted out kitchens to many Airbnbs, but you don’t have to do your own housekeeping and you are dealing with an experienced business.

This. Aparthotels (like Sonder) are imo much better than Airbnbs for medium to long stays.

Woa thanks for the name (Sonder), I wanted to investigate aparthotels more since I've found one on Airbnb in Montreal. For me hotels are fine if I'm staying on my own and for a few days only, but I like to have a whole property otherwise. Much more private too.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#266

Post by ClumsyPilot »

che_shirecat wrote: post #45
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…

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.

I will take $950 to never deal with AirBnB, thank you.

They've stold me up twice, I was left in a foreign city with nowhere to sleep. Host simply didn't show up, didn't pick up, just vanished.

Never again.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#267

Post by JumpCrisscross »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #133
Nextgrid wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's less about forcing them to do business and more about the regulator/consumer protection agency getting wind of what is obviously malicious and potentially illegal behavior from the company - a lot of companies will fold when a case gets anywhere near litigation/consumer protection/arbitration just to not attract attention. In this case, the chargeback was just the last resort solution for the customer be…

Sure, but refusing to do business with someone is legal in most cases.

> refusing to do business with someone is legal in most cases

Consumer protection law has limited anti-retaliation protection. Banks also want to know if unsavoury behaviour is being suppressed.

Nobody must do business with anyone else. But banning after someone exercises a consumer right in respect of potential fraud you facilitated (and profited off) is not something one wants scrutinised.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#269

Post by toomanyrichies »

yakireev wrote: post #181
toomanyrichies wrote: post #151

I recently stayed in Panama City, Panama for a week, and booked an Airbnb for my stay. When I checked in, I was so tired from the flight that I just wanted to take a hot shower and crash. I turned on the shower and waited for the hot water. And waited. And waited. Finally I messaged the host to ask if I was doing something wrong with the shower controls. The host’s response: “We don’t offer hot water at this rental.”…

Never been in Panama, but my experience in Colombia was similar: in warmer areas hot water just was not a thing - homes, hostels, hotels just did not have it, without special notice. "Yeah, the temperature outside is above 30C all year round, why would you need more heat?". To be fair, the "cold" water was not really cold either, 25-30C or so, so showering with that was not unpleasant. Not sure whether things are sim…

Even assuming that’s the cause, Airbnb doesn’t let you filter out properties which don’t have this “amenity”.

I can specify that I only want to see listings with BBQ grill, an indoor fireplace, or an EV charger. But I have to manually check each listing to see if it offers hot water? Really?

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#270

Post by charles_f »

crazygringo wrote: post #245
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).

I don't like AirBNB at all, but that doesn't sound "generous" to me. The host isn't reducing their income. They're paying a fine outright , and it jumps to 50% 2 days before. Since things out of your control can happen (the toilet breaks, the place floods) a 50% fine seems reasonable without being unnessarily punitive. And 25% seems OK too since more than 48 hours should be enough time to find an alternative? I would…

If the place can't be rented because of an emergency, they don't keep any fine. The 25% or 50% fine is for shitty hosts who decide they want to use the place for something else after all
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