Fraud on Airb&b account - court action?

[Hurstlife]

Can anyone give me advice? My phone and email were hacked about two months ago. It's been a nightmare. As they managed to hack both they managed to easily steal my identity and do all sorts of damage.

However my remaining issue is with accomodations I booked for 2 families on Airb&b. It was our only holiday this year and because it was to cover two families accomodations at half term is expensive and non refundable. The hackers got into my airb&b account and cancelled it. 24 hours later I realized and got in touch with the hosts. I have proof obviously of all of this. Despite the holiday being for Feb and the hosts still having the accomodation available they refuse to either reinstate the booking or refund me. Airb&b have automatically released the payment to them and it has been merrily relisted. I am getting nowhere with Airb&b support who just say 'we have asked the host to reinstate the booking and done all we can do'. I've tried the Airb&b resolution centre and I've received a message saying Airb&b are looking into it. Six weeks later and no update despite me chasing.

AIBU? Can I take them to the small claims court?

It sounds like it probably was booked under the non refundable option? Which means that the hosts have control over the money… but not the actual money as Airbnb never pays out until the date of the booked stay. You could try a serious charm offensive to get them to reinstate your booking? There will also be Facebook groups for Airbnb in your area/ the holiday area that can be really useful for advice.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/475#section-heading-2

there is no cancellation policy that would allow them to refuse a refund 6 months in advance

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/425

payments are never released to hosts in advance

Someone at Airbnb is confused, which is a shame as I've always found help to be useful and knowledgeable.

Non refundable info here. Unfortunately they can be very strict about refunding ( the clue is in the name!)

Firstly you need to see what the cancellation terms were on your booking. If, as people here have suggested, there is no cancellation policy that would forfeit all the money 6 months ahead of the stay, it would seem most likely that 'you' have been refunded but the money has been intercepted by the hackers.

Just spotted in your op that it was a non refundable booking. Unfortunately it does not look like you have a case against the host.

There’s nothing in this for the hackers. They don’t get a refund. OP booked a non-refundable rate. So there’s nothing but inconvenience for the OP - the hosts still get paid, Airbnb get their fees, OP looses a holiday.

Most people who are hacked are hacked for a reason. To get data, or money. That’s why social network hacks so common. Hacks where somewhere cancels your Airbnb bookings… not so much. It seems a lot more personal.

The hosts don't have your money, Air BnB have it. The host doesn't get any money until 2 days after you check in.

What was the cancellation policy? Was it non refundable (rare on Air BnB) or did it allow a 50% refund, which is the strict policy.

It could be thst the hackers got the 50% refund somehow. If they hacked your account they could change the card particularly if they rang Air BnB explaing the card had been lost/ stolen.

So in all probability 50% of the cost of your booking has gone to the hackers. The hosts won't reinstate the booking because as it stands they are only going to receive 50% of the cost from you, effectively giving you a holiday for half price.

You coukd ask them to refund you the 50% if they get those dates rebooked by someone else.

There is no point taking Air BnB to court as its in their terms and conditions that you can't. Also, they are not at fault in this.

If it gets rebooted it's worth a punt on a small claim with the owners.

@NaranjaDreams- when DS was hacked lots of things were done to cause mayhem. They do it because they can.

Also, if the hosts authorise a refund ( and Air bnb hassle hosts to do this outside of their policy) then the money is taken from the hosts now, before they have received the payment from Air BnB. So it costs the hosts money to refund, which they get back from Air bnb 2 days after the booking starts.

The Air bnb model relies on keeping the money from thousands of bookings and only releasing it after the stay has started . The interest on it all is phenomenal.

Have you contacted the hosts? You can do that via their listing by making an enquiry. Or the listing will be under 'my trips' even though its been cancelled.

I had my Airbnb account hacked once and they listed a fake listing and tried to change my payout details. They were going to take money for fake bookings and take the money. I expect the hacker was planning to do the same with the refund.

Honestly. It does seem suspicious. Either the hackers diverted the money to themselves some how or this is a personal attack

Or OP is trying to game the system, which is what I'd be thinking as the host

I tried the charm offensive. I was so apologetic and explained exactly what happened, showed them the Action Fraud report. The host ignored me and all airb&b support phone calls and emails as they also tried to resolve it. Then when the support center advised I tried to go through the resolution centre but they just declined the refund. The property is in Spain so small claims court seems remote.

Looking at the airb&b t&cs it states 'if you cancel the booking' but my argument is I didn't cancel it. The IP address for the log in was Vietnam or similar so pretty obvious it wasn't me (and hence why airb&b sent me a message saying they believed there had been suspicious activity on my account). So my argument is that the booking still stands. But sounds like noone thinks that will fly in the small claims court

They also took out loads of credit cards, ordered drones and GoPros etc. Presumably the more chaos they cause the more they can steal..

Based on your updates I think it would be worth getting some actual legal advice. Your contract is at least partially with Air BnB, so the jurisdiction thing wouldn't be an issue? You can provide evidence of a hack and it wasn't "you" who cancelled - there is legal leeway for that.

I'd certainly want to know for sure, even if ultimately I had to write it off. At least you'd know!

Unless the owner is the source of the hack - which would not really be possible as owners do not see any of the guest's bank or CC details as payment is entirely through the Airbnb system - then the owner is an innocent party in all this.

The Airbnb system offered the owner a booking which they accepted, and the guest confirmed and paid, with the money going into the Airbnb "client payments" account, to be paid out once the guests actually arrive at the accommodation. Later the owner received a cancellation, again through the Airbnb system, and so has re-listed the property. The owner has no way of knowing who is genuine in this whole scenario, other than relying on the Airbnb system. Someone asking the owner for the refund could also be a scammer - the owner has no way of knowing this, even if they claim to be the OP (whose details the hackers already have). The owner has not received any payment, and as far as they are concerned they no longer have a booking agreement with the OP, so there is nothing for them to refund and no booking for them to honour.

As for the OP, as suggested they need to seek legal advice as to how to resolve the issue of the "false" cancellation and the lost payment. The OP should be recording every conversation with Airbnb - either physically recording the call or making notes of date, time, who they spoke to and what was said etc - and saving every email or chat interaction. Focus on this rather than on trying to get the booking reinstated (which is probably not going to happen whatever the result of the legal advice and actions).

The owner has not received any payment, and as far as they are concerned they no longer have a booking agreement with the OP, so there is nothing for them to refund and no booking for them to honour.

Are we sure the owner has not received payment? (AirBnB have told the OP they have). Whilst hosts don't usually get paid until after guests check in, it's feasible that in the event there is a non-refundable cancellation, the money is paid out to the hosts immediately (I don't know this - it's why I'm asking!)

No, hosts don't get paid until the day after check in even if it's a cancelled booking. Airbnb make profit by holding funds between the date of booking and the stay. However the paragraph above is also incorrect as the hosts WILL get the payment in February as things stand.

Thanks - it did seem unlikely that Airbnb would not keep holding of money for as long as possible!

So the situation is Airbnb are obliged to pay the Spanish owner the money per their contract with the owner so it's out of Airbnb hands. The owner doesn't want to refund/honour the booking as it's free money to them in February if they don't, and legally they have no obligation to.

I fear the OP might lose out, unless Airbnb, as a big corporation, decides to refund her out of their own money, as a goodwill gesture.

In case anyone is interested, I've received a refund. No communication from airb&b but a automated email saying 'we have refunded you X amount'. Phew!! Thanks for all your help!