DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I made a reservation on Airbnb final yr for a three-month journey to France this winter. My host canceled on the final minute, and Airbnb agreed to refund me $728.
I’ve not acquired the cash but. The explanation: I closed the checking account to which my Airbnb account was connected. Airbnb received’t ship the cash to my new account.
I forwarded a letter from Chase Financial institution, exhibiting that the previous account had been closed months in the past and, subsequently, couldn’t have a cost processed to it. I’ve referred to as and emailed them a number of occasions, and I’ve even contacted the Higher Enterprise Bureau, to no avail.
Airbnb is sitting on my cash and claiming that it’s the accountability of me or Chase to place it proper, despite the fact that Chase can’t reactivate an account that has been closed for thus many months. I need Airbnb to pay me the cash nonetheless they’ll, both by test or by direct cost to my checking account. Are you able to assist me get my $728 again?
— Bart Colen, Pingree Grove, Illinois
ANSWER: Airbnb ought to have refunded you a very long time in the past. Why didn’t it?
Airbnb’s coverage is to refund your cash to your authentic cost technique. So, in case you used a bank card, it will return to that card. And the rationale for that is easy: It’s safer and simpler than making an attempt to chase down a brand new cost technique or writing a test.
However Airbnb claims it is going to accommodate you in case you swap accounts. “If your original payment method’s account was closed, the refund sent by Airbnb won’t process,” it says on its website. “If this happens, you can contact Airbnb to step in and help.” It appears to be like like Airbnb didn’t step in to assist.
That is frequent. From what I can inform, refunds will mechanically return to the unique type of cost. Usually, even staff have a tough time reversing the transaction. And who is aware of the place your cash went? Your financial institution might have it someplace, or Airbnb nonetheless may need it. It’s an actual thriller.
(As a aspect word, I’ve all the time needed to do an investigative story that traces a refund like yours. Is there some form of slush fund the corporate has the place all of the lacking refund cash goes? Now this might be a narrative!)
One of the simplest ways to keep away from this? Don’t shut your account till you’ve accounted for each refund. There’s no great way of stopping the confusion that outcomes from a refund being despatched to a closed account. I’m positive Airbnb means properly by its promise to “step in and help,” however my expertise tells me that even firms with subtle cost programs have problem with this. And as soon as they lose monitor of the cash, you’re completely proper that it turns into your drawback, which is profoundly unfair.
The repair: You may escalate this drawback to a supervisor at Airbnb. I listing the names, numbers and electronic mail addresses of the Airbnb execs on my shopper advocacy website, Elliott.org.
I contacted Airbnb in your behalf. A number of weeks later, you got here again with excellent news. “At long last, I got my refund from Airbnb,” you mentioned. Airbnb by no means informed me what occurred to your cash or the place it went, however not less than it discovered its manner again to you.
Christopher Elliott is the founding father of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit group that helps shoppers resolve their issues. E mail him at chris@elliott.org or get assist by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/assist/.
(c) 2024 Christopher Elliott
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