Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Airbnb is a Public Hazard / Retaliation after Reporting Unsafe Conditions and Discrimination

Airbnb Treats Victims Like Dirt

*Update: one more petty retaliatory action from Airbnb (added at the end of this blog post)- it says it all about this company

Airbnb had taken retaliatory actions against me after reporting dangerous host and de-facto discrimination by him. Retaliation began after I noticed lack of action by Airbnb despite them stating they "took action" and said I'd have to go public.

The summary and timeline of events:

1) I used Airbnb for a couple of years, having all positive reviews from hosts.
Next, I faced very unsafe situation in one, remotely situated, Airbnb listing - dangerously acting host, and I had to escape fearing for my life (I'm female solo traveler) - here are the details.
 Aside from personal safety issue, hazardous and substandard housing conditions existed at the dilapidated and possibly contaminated property, which alone would justify the guest leaving asap.

2) I reported the situation in great detail to Airbnb, who responded they've "taken action" against the host.



However, about 10 days later, I noticed that the host was allowed to continue operating their listing and even had left me a negative review (saying they had no idea why I left and that left the door of the listing wide open" - while I closed the door which had no way to lock it, only having of rope-pulled homemade wood latch which didn't work)



3) I contacted Airbnb pointing out that dangerous host continues to operate and even left me a negative review. Below is part of my email to Airbnb containing review text (notice the review was left by the person whom I never met/was not there and who's listed on Airbnb instead of real host who terrorized me)


In my own review earlier I briefly described the situation, being extremely upset I did not go into great detail to keep it short (I should have):


4) I have not heard back from Airbnb so I made a blog post describing what happened to me in the dangerous listing and Airbnb's lack of action against the host, on top of detrimental review; this is in addition to of clear gender discrimination I was subjected to by that male host. I mentioned my blog to Airbnb and eventually mentioned that I'd have to take legal action and create publicity if they don't remedy the situation.
I'd also asked them if they covered up known hazards in similar manner in Carla Stefaniak's case, which was deeply troubling for me.

5) Airbnb immediately retaliated against me, within 1 business day timeframe, by first,  cancelling my other reservation in-progress and demanding me to leave that listing ASAP, refusing to explain the reasons, which created great inconvenience for me. (it was part of 2 other reservations with them made before I realized Airbnb protects dangerous hosts - which I then couldn't cancel on my side without losing all money). The host initially didn't believe me that Airbnb cancelled this reservation, stated he was not contacted by them and reservation was NOT cancelled - he acted angry towards me as he thought I was the one who was trying to cancel it. Therefore, Airbnb continued to cause damages to my health by subjecting me to this additional stress.
At the same time, I was glad to leave that other property, which turned out to be a shack in dismal condition with multiple fire, smoke and gas inhalation and other hazards, not disclosed upfront on Airbnb). I made a video documenting these hazards and mentioned them to Airbnb.



6) Next step in retaliation came one more business day later, when they cancelled my next (1 month long) reservation with them and completely blocked or deleted my account, so that I wouldn't be able to gather information such as the positive reviews I had  over years on Airbnb, for example, the negative review left by dangerous host and evidence that dangerous host continues to operate. They owed me compensation for cancelled in-progress reservation but deletion of my account made it impossible to claim the money they said they'd pay to compensate hotel replacement accommodation (there're additional expenses and inconvenience they caused me as I made replacement hotel booking for the dates to connect to the next Airbnb resevation, which they cancelled only later)



There's a very clear pattern of retaliation by Airbnb when unsafe conditions and/or discrimination are reported.
This must not be left alone - Airbnb poses public danger and they must be stopped. Airbnb is a greedy, ruthless and hypocritical company with zero concern for safety.
Dangerous host appears to be continuing to operate on Airbnb. Did they know of pre-existing hazards when people got killed or hurt in their listings?

Update:
one more petty retaliatory action from Airbnb. They had promised me in-writing (screenshot below) to reimburse "$250" for hotel stay, after they forced me out one of the next reservations after the hazardous one (which was 1 week long, see above), with no advance notice. They required me to add a payout method, which lead me to open Payoneer account disclosing all my private info to this company, which I'd have never done otherwise (the only alternative was full bank requisites, which no one if the right might should give out to this fradulent company, Airbnb). The went as far as state in email that they issued $250 payment to me (email from Adeline). The payment however, never arrived. After inquiring with their phone rep, Jade, he stated that because of account being frozen he can't see anything about the payout and this is probably the reason payout that was stated to be issued  was never sent, in fact.

I think this fraud/lying company is becoming FCC matter as well at this point.


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