Help, am I being scammed?!

[amijustnaive]

I have an Airbnb booked for just over two weeks time in France. It’s a small studio, basement, air con but no windows. It cost £350 for 5 nights.

I got a message from the hosts via the app today to say that they were very sorry but the aircon has broken. They gave me two options - stay and get a partial refund, or they would transfer my booking to another of their properties. They apparently can’t get an engineer to fix it until the end of August, after my stay is done.

They explained that the studio was unbearable without the aircon and they would recommend switching. I switched.

I am now in a much nicer property and it was more than double the cost of the original one. It’s in a better location, bigger and brighter.

The booking is now all confirmed in my app, and looks legit. But now I can’t help but wonder if they’re scamming me?! They refunded me and I booked into this new apartment for the same cost as the previous one. They had the thing turned on where you basically have to ask them to book and they decide if you can or not.

Help! Am I being scammed or are they just really good Airbnb owners?!

YABU - they’re just nice people. Chill out.

YANBU - phone Airbnb support tomorrow and get them to check it out

Hahaha have u ever tried to find someone in France to do a job in the month of August you would be lucky lol 😁 honestly I would believe them they haven't scammed u they have upgraded and not charged you for the inconvenience u know some people are actually decent and honest x

Because it’s France, in August!

That is always a risk with this kind of property- scammers sometimes clone sites and the place you have paid has never heard of you- this has happened on Booking.com, I'm sure it has happened on Air BNB as well.

They're also rude to people who speak French badly so you can’t win. I say this as someone who is half French.

It's true that Parisians leave the city in August, but most of them go to other parts of France. It's a big country!

There is no mention of Paris in the OP's posts.

Are you American?

Phone them directly and confirm booking.

Because everyone is having problems with air con in this extreme weather?

Everyone is on holiday in August in France and Spain. You can’t get anyone to do anything!

I'm glad you've finally pointed this out to the multiple posters who've already assumed you were going to Paris simply because you said France.

Have a great holiday.

They haven't lost £400.

The apartment was empty or they would not have offered it to you.

They were going to lose your 350. Which they have retained because they have offered you alternative accomodation.

Athens too.

I live in France, hours from Paris so it's not just there. I can totally believe you can't find anybody to do anything in August, especially air conditioning technicians after the heat waves we have had.

I could have sworn OP has mentioned it's Airbnb several times 🤔

Most airbnbs are owned by private equity companies but they are run by local hosts. There’s no team on hand to deal with issues and repairs. The host is the person you are messaging and repairs along with all other problems are their responsibility. PP is right that France shuts down for August when everyone goes on holiday so it rings true that the repair can’t be done any time soon. So the host has done the right thing and given you an alternative accommodation. Relax and enjoy your upgrade.

It's Paris 😂 everyone takes the whole of August off.
And with the heatwave and no windows, it would be genuinely unbearable.

I'm as certain as I can be that this is genuine and I hope you have a lovely wee break in your nice accommodation.

Twice I have booked a place and due to leaking/flooding, they have moved me to somewhere vastly posher for no extra cost. So it does happen. I hope it works out ok for you x

Did the message come through Airbnb? And the link to rebook? Sounds legit if so.

We had a Booking.com place booked which was cancelled when we got there due to alleged black mould, we had a text message from some random agent cancelling it. That WAS a scam. They never refunded us (got the money back from our credit card company in the end). AVOID BOOKING.COM FOLKS! Never had a problem with Airbnb in 28 stays.

I went and checked that thread and was ready to come back here to stick up for you, but no-can-do - you were being well over the top!

It's not Paris. It's "France".

I would imagine if they put you in a non air conditioned studio without windows in the middle of a heatwave they are concerned you might die and they don’t want a manslaughter case on their hands!

This doesn’t scream to me like you are being scammed, it’s quite normal for hosts (especially if they own a few properties) to do this. We had to be moved in a hotel a few weeks ago and they gave us a room that was hundreds more a night than the one we had booked - it’s curtesy and they don’t want bad reviews!

Ahh, I've just read your nasty responses on the other thread, a couple have been deleted you were so obnoxious. You've literally posted an AIBU panicking that you might be being scammed. You've only calmed down now that people have reassured you that August is a holiday month in France, so finding an engineer to the fix air-con will be nigh on impossible.

I am confident this will be legit.

It's impossible to get anyone out in a hurry (or at all) to do anything in France in August. Trust me, I know.

My hunch is that their air con has been broken for a while, they thought they could get away with letting other guests turn up, they'd apologise, make their excuses, give them a fan and a small discount and all would be well. Ordinarily that might be fine, but with the extreme weather recently I guess they've had complaints and bad reviews and people being forced to leave halfway through their stay, so they have decided not to risk it with you and take the hit on their more expensive property.

No I am not American. I just made an error in thinking OP was visiting Paris. Probably got mixed up with another thread. I didn't mention where residents go on holiday. I know that residents of Paris go to other parts of France in August.
I hope that has addressed all your concerns.

Perfectly 👍🏻