Paolo E.

Unreliable and disonest

On February 16 2020 I was in Arequipa, Peru'. I was in a nice hostel but, in the evening, I could not shower because there was no hot water, so I decided to try to find another place for the next morning and looked up on Airbnb.

I was pretty new in Airbnb, but I had rented a room a couple of times before and it had been ok.

It was 21.00, so I tried one place, and my request was rejected, then I tried another one and the reservation was accepted and paid. Later, at around 23.00, before going to bed, I checked my emails and found out that my reservation had been cancelled by the host and I had no place to go the following morning.

I was quite shocked because, according to Airbnb policy, hosts cannot cancel reservations within 24 hours of check-in and, if they do, there are sanctions, including having to pay 100$.

Moreover, this is a clear violation of the principle of Contract Law. What the host did, ad Airbnb allowed to happen, was a breach of contract.

In fact, Airbnb allowed the host to cancel without any sanction and without giving any explanation to me. Cancellations are only allowed for Force Majeur cases, but clearly there wasn't any (no biblical floods, no earthquake...), and the room was still open for reservation.

Airbnb refunded me, of course without paying me back my Credit Card fee (I have a UK CC), and offered me a very generous compensation of 5$.

I told this to a few Peruvian friends of mine and they explained me that corruption in Peru' is rampant and this was just one example, so I am not sure that the same would happen with an Airbnb in another country.

I had 2 big problems with Lazada in the past. First one: around 8 years ago I bought a Panasonic aircon that I did not like and Lazada did not publish my bad review, probably Panasonic did not allow it. Second: 3 years ago I bought a defective sewing machine, under warranty, and Lazada did not refund me until I reported the case to the Department of Trade and Industry, who made Lazada pay me back.
After that, Lazada has always refunded me any defective product reasonably fast. Perhaps this happens because they know that I will legally challenge them. If you have problems, please leave your contact here and I will help you to prepare a case for the DTI of the Philippines. We have to name and shame company to pressure them to behave honestly.

A Hard Disk I bought was defective. The seller, Seagate, accepted the refund and apologized. Shopee first refused, then said it would ‘manually' refund me and sent me an unusable voucher to refund the return shipping fee (I refused it). Still no refund, so I am now reporting the case to the DTI. Shopee staff is instructed to delay and try to avoid refunds. It is the dishonest and deceptive culture of the company.
Customers should report their cases to the DTI (https://www.dti.gov.ph/konsyumer/complaints/): download the complaint form, print, fill and sign it, send it online with all pics detailing your case. If you need help, email me at *******@gmail.com. Fight for your rights!