May 23, 2019 at 15:56AirBnb neglects its accounts
Hello readers of Habr! I want to describe the situation that happened to me and the AirBnb service a couple of days ago.
In short: I made one successful reservation from my account and tried to make 3 more without any confirmation from me, then I untied the phone number and deleted my account without any confirmation. And how without an account to contact AirBnb is completely impossible.
I have been using the AirBnb service for quite some time (since 2015). During this time I used it many times in different places: mainly Europe and a little Australia and Russia. Also during this time I have earned a good reputation based on reviews from people I lived with.
I log in to AirBnb through Google. To be honest, I don’t remember if I have login with a password, but most likely not.
On May 22, 2019, at approximately 8:18 p.m. (Moscow time), I received an email stating that I had successfully reserved apartments in Bucharest, Romania. Although I didn’t do it! Reservation code: HMAB4W8NBN. Receipt ID: RC29QSES9Q. Payment was successful (1 night, approximately 130 euros). Payment was made from one of my debit cards (I have two attached there).
the confirmation
Then I got 3 more emails that tried to pay another 3 apartments, but with a different card, to no avail (since I had no money on that card).
I did not receive any confirmation by SMS or email to confirm the purchase. No SMS from the bank (Raiffeisen). Later I called the bank and they told me that SMS confirmation of purchases is not required from everyone, that is, from the point of view of the bank this is a normal situation. Although as for me it's tin.
After another couple of minutes, I received 4 identical emails with the following contents:
I discovered the whole thing only a couple of hours after the commission, as there was no access to mail. After discovering, I tried to log in to my account (via google), but AirBnb wrote to me “No account exists for that Google login. Try signing up instead. ”. An attempt to reset the password produced the same error.
Then I got to see support information (email or phone). There is no email at AirBnb website at all! I found only one terms@airbnb.com. I wrote my situation to him, but I don’t really think that something will come to me in response.
I also found a support phone number for different countries. I called in several countries (Russia, USA). Everywhere there is an answering machine asking to enter a confirmed phone number attached to the account. I enter it, but it tells me that an account with such a phone was not found. I tried to enter the number several times, in different ways (+ 7 ..., 8 ..., without 8, etc.) - the same answer.
In general, in such a situation, I absolutely do not understand what to do. To appeal directly to the court, perhaps. In general, if someone knows how to reach AirBnb in such a situation, please help.
UPDATE:
It turns out that people like me are not a little: twitter.com/search?q=airbnbhelp&src=typd
There are also some tips here: www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/bs1r0f/violation_on_airbnb_somebody_logged_in_my_account
UPDATE UPDATE:
Described the situation on Twitter @airbnbhelp in direct. They answered after a few hours, immediately sent a link to the password change and account activation to the email. All fraudulent reservations have been canceled and are now in the process of refunding money. True, I blocked the card, but went to the bank and they promise to clear everything there. AirBnb said that the money will not even be returned from the account of the blocked card, so it is possible that there will be no problems from blocking. So there are no claims to AirBnb in this account, everything is operational.
But the fact remains, in order to understand where to write, I had to concoct an article in reddit. Why they can’t write in their help that if you write something on Twitter is not clear. It is also not clear why they do not (did not work) two-factor authentication (or do I not know about this?).
In short: I made one successful reservation from my account and tried to make 3 more without any confirmation from me, then I untied the phone number and deleted my account without any confirmation. And how without an account to contact AirBnb is completely impossible.
I have been using the AirBnb service for quite some time (since 2015). During this time I used it many times in different places: mainly Europe and a little Australia and Russia. Also during this time I have earned a good reputation based on reviews from people I lived with.
I log in to AirBnb through Google. To be honest, I don’t remember if I have login with a password, but most likely not.
On May 22, 2019, at approximately 8:18 p.m. (Moscow time), I received an email stating that I had successfully reserved apartments in Bucharest, Romania. Although I didn’t do it! Reservation code: HMAB4W8NBN. Receipt ID: RC29QSES9Q. Payment was successful (1 night, approximately 130 euros). Payment was made from one of my debit cards (I have two attached there).
the confirmation
Then I got 3 more emails that tried to pay another 3 apartments, but with a different card, to no avail (since I had no money on that card).
I did not receive any confirmation by SMS or email to confirm the purchase. No SMS from the bank (Raiffeisen). Later I called the bank and they told me that SMS confirmation of purchases is not required from everyone, that is, from the point of view of the bank this is a normal situation. Although as for me it's tin.
After another couple of minutes, I received 4 identical emails with the following contents:
Your Airbnb account was canceled
When you cancel your account, your profile and any listings will will no longer appear on the site. Any reservations you have made as a host or a guest will automatically be canceled. You can contact us anytime to reopen a canceled account.
I discovered the whole thing only a couple of hours after the commission, as there was no access to mail. After discovering, I tried to log in to my account (via google), but AirBnb wrote to me “No account exists for that Google login. Try signing up instead. ”. An attempt to reset the password produced the same error.
Then I got to see support information (email or phone). There is no email at AirBnb website at all! I found only one terms@airbnb.com. I wrote my situation to him, but I don’t really think that something will come to me in response.
I also found a support phone number for different countries. I called in several countries (Russia, USA). Everywhere there is an answering machine asking to enter a confirmed phone number attached to the account. I enter it, but it tells me that an account with such a phone was not found. I tried to enter the number several times, in different ways (+ 7 ..., 8 ..., without 8, etc.) - the same answer.
In general, in such a situation, I absolutely do not understand what to do. To appeal directly to the court, perhaps. In general, if someone knows how to reach AirBnb in such a situation, please help.
UPDATE:
It turns out that people like me are not a little: twitter.com/search?q=airbnbhelp&src=typd
There are also some tips here: www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/bs1r0f/violation_on_airbnb_somebody_logged_in_my_account
UPDATE UPDATE:
Described the situation on Twitter @airbnbhelp in direct. They answered after a few hours, immediately sent a link to the password change and account activation to the email. All fraudulent reservations have been canceled and are now in the process of refunding money. True, I blocked the card, but went to the bank and they promise to clear everything there. AirBnb said that the money will not even be returned from the account of the blocked card, so it is possible that there will be no problems from blocking. So there are no claims to AirBnb in this account, everything is operational.
But the fact remains, in order to understand where to write, I had to concoct an article in reddit. Why they can’t write in their help that if you write something on Twitter is not clear. It is also not clear why they do not (did not work) two-factor authentication (or do I not know about this?).