kira r.

Hello,
I'm replying to this forum Airbnb experience. I went to this site based on previous recommendations from friends to book a rental home in Italy. This was my first and only time booking on this service. I emailed several hosts to find out further information on variety of properties before I booked. I wanted to be sure of the location information and misc details that they listed on their homes. I received responses from everyone I contacted within 24 -48 hrs. I chose the property that I was planning to book, which looked amazing on the pictures, and a great price. Once I contacted the host, he replied back to me stating he was out of the country, and that I should contact his listing agent/consultant to find further details. He provided me with the email address which was "someones *******@consultant-airbnb.com). I didn't think anything of it, and contacted this person to ask further details on the property and to confirm the dates I needed. I received a response very quickly with the airbnb logo in the email from that email, stating it was "team airbnb". He confirmed the dates availability and told me to go ahead book the reservation on the site, provide my cc info, and then he will send me a separate invoice for the confirmation with further details and instructions. I followed this email and booked on airbnb with my credit card. After the booking was complete, I received another email from airbnb stating the confirmation of the reservation, and that they would follow up with the host to confirm availability. I then received the email from "*******@airbnb" also with response and instructions, providing me with an invoice of the reservation. The email stated that they canceled my reservation, but not to worry, the property is still reserved for me, but since the owner doesn't take a cc, I need to pay in cash by wiring them the money to the agent that represents the property. The agent will hold on to the money until 24 hrs prior to us checking in. The instructions on the invoice gave all the bank information, along with a UK phone number to contact for any questions on how to wire the money. I also had to pay an additional $500 deposit on top of my rental. Total cost of the property rental including deposit was for $2729 (US $). I didn't wire the money right away, since I was traveling on business. I received an update email from "airbnb" stating that I needed to reserve the property within 24 hrs, and if didn't proceed with the wire, my reservation would be canceled. Being unfamiliar with this site, and the typical procedures, I got nervous, and didn't want to lose the property, so I proceeded to follow the instructions, even called the phone number provided to verify I was speaking with an airbnb agent in UK. He told me on the phone that he is an agent of Airbnb, and he works out of the UK office, even provided me with their location in CA. He reassured me that all will be ok, once they receive my wire, they will further confirm the reservation and I will also get the $500 deposit back once we check out.
Once the wire transfer was complete, I continued to correspond with the "agent" and gave him confirmation of the transfer. He said it usually takes 3-4 days, but he did email me back and was happy to see that it took less time then that.
Within a day of the completed wire funds, the listing "disappeared" from airbnb site, and I was no longer able to access the listing, nor the photos of the property. Also all my communication emails were not on the airbnb site with the host or his "agent" The only email that showed was the initial one that I was told to contact another email address. Also it did show the airbnb reservation as being "canceled".
This is where I started to get suspicious, and emailed the agent again, asking about why the reservation showed canceled? They responded with "not to worry" they are having issues w/their servers, and it will be fixed in the next few days but for me to be assured that they have my info and have my reservation booked.
At this point I started to get further leary, and researched further properties in Positano, and found the same exact photos of the property I booked on other sites. I of course got concerned, thinking that the home we rented was really not the home, and that the pics were being randomly copied and posted. At this point, I still thought that I had the home reserved, but was just thinking it was a different home than the photos posted. I contacted the "agent" as well as the host/owner on airbnb asking for the physical address of the property and asked them to email me pictures again. I received a response 2-3 days later with the property address, as well as additional photos of the property, again with their apologies for delay in replying as well as stating my reservation is still valid.
At this time, I started researching reviews online on airbnb in general and came onto tons of scam alerts, as well as exactly the same situations and previous scams that I went thru.
I did contact airbnb in CA immediately once I realized what was happening. I spoke two different times to 2 different official Airbnb customer service agents, who were very nice, apologetic and assured me that they will investigate further into the matter. Since this all transpired during a holiday weekend, it may take an extra day to get back to me. I filed a case/claim with airbnb on Saturday as an urgent claim. I received an automated email response giving me their anti trust/policies and scam alerts. This was not clearly stated on their site when I initially signed up for an account though.
In the meantime, I also contacted my US bank to do a wire recall to attempt to get my money back. I'm waiting now for further updates from my bank if they will be able to retrieve any of the funds from the UK banks. I'm also still waiting back from airbnb on my claim.

The long winded review, is hopefully a warning to all reading this, and first time users of airbnb, to not do what I did, and do not wire any funds. The emails are very deceptive, and they look very legit! They all have some form of airbnb in the emails, also copied all their logos, and really are professional. This to me looks like a sophisticated scam operation. I am extremely distraught that I fell for it.

If any one of you who is reading this, got your money back and was able to pursue this in legal matter, please please contact me. I would love to hear any feedback or advice on this.

Thank you for reading!
Kira