How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb • Hacker News Board

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#61

Post by lotsofpulp » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:08 PM UTC

nixpulvis wrote: post #40

avalys wrote: post #19

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.

Best Western hotels are individually owned and operated, and Best Western itself does not lose any money from chargebacks, the motel owner does. Best Western gets paid their 10% to 15% of gross revenue royalty either way from the hotel owner.

Hotel owners, however, can and do ban individuals for chargebacks.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#62

Post by che_shirecat » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #46

che_shirecat wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If this is how the service is going to work - why would I want to be part of it? I'm not interested in playing some VC's network effects game. The era of free money is over for now, they're going to want business soon.

You assume you have a choice in playing. Most of the supply will never consider listing on multiple marketplaces, because its a massive hassle. $ABNB is up 48% YTD bucking the rest of the market, they have strong financials and are massively profitable. The growth-at-all-costs play DID work, and now you have no choice but to bend the knee. Edge cases like this will never materially affect their business.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#63

Post by reverend_gonzo » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

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 knew what to say to them.

I’ve been able to get damage claims paid by Airbnb when guests refused.

Looking at this host though and reading the reviews, this looks like a complete scam. Claire, for one, is definitely not real. Also anything under 4.7 on Airbnb is generally not good. I generally only rent 4.8 and up. The first review (I hough it may not have been up when he booked) mentions being hit up for money, bad checking, etc, lol of which point to a scam.

Had it been me, I wouldn’t have cancelled and would have just said I’ll stay there and been done with it.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#64

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

avalys wrote: post #19

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…

I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.

> have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account

Reporting this back to your bank, better yet, with your state financial regulator and maybe a federal copied, usually gets this swiftly reversed.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#65

Post by Nextgrid » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #43

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…

Are you actually likely to win this chargeback? I'm sure that airbnb made the terms very clear in their million page T&C's document...

It will depends on the local laws/regulations that apply to distance-selling and the card network rules. Considering there is clearly no bad faith involved from the buyer (he's not even trying to weasel out of the booking - he was looking forward to use the service he paid for), I'd say he has a good chance.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#66

Post by bboygravity » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

avalys wrote: post #19

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…

I have heard of companies reacting to a chargeback in situations like this by banning your account.

I'm confused by the banning comments. Can't you just create a new account with a new payment method and different email address?

Maybe I still have too much of that 90's internet mentality, dunno.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#67

Post by bsuvc » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

Unfortunately, I found that the best way to resolve these situations is to post publicly on Twitter about what happened making sure to @ the relevant company and # the relevant things.

If the support group won't help you, then maybe the PR group can.

Basically your attitude has to be "either you give me my $900 back, or I'll make sure this problem costs you more than $900 in bad publicity."

The math becomes better for them to give you your $900 back, if they can publicly look responsive to complaints or maybe even get you to take down your post.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#68

Post by eli » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

nixpulvis wrote: post #40

avalys wrote: post #19

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.

Uh yeah that absolutely can happen. Car rental companies are known to ban people who do chargebacks. If you refuse to pay a business what they think you owe then there’s a decent chance they won’t want future business from you.

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#69

Post by the_af » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:10 PM UTC

goshakkk wrote: post #35

grandpoobah wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nicky (from the movie Casino): Where the f** do you get off talking to people about me behind my back going over my head? I'm guessing if he does a chargeback he gets banned from AirBnB.

This is correct. I had an issue with an Airbnb at some point that Airbnb was struggling to resolve. When I said "whatever, I'll just dispute the charge", the rep said that it is their policy to permanently suspend an account when a user initiates a chargeback. Not "may" but "definitely will". The issue did end up getting resolved after countless phone calls and escalating the issue to supervisors of supervisors but

It doesn't seem like the author intends to use AirBNB ever again, so a chargeback seems like the right solution...

Re: How to lose $950 quickly on Airbnb

#70

Post by steveBK123 » Sun, Mar 05, 2023, 10:10 PM UTC

avalys wrote: post #19

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…

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