Cash Back - What happens now?

bbarroso

A while ago I pre-booked a listing trough AirBnB.

When I got there I found things were quite messy, had to cleaning myself and take up with noise from neighbours upstairs. A while after, I start to see the reviews from other hosts that booked before and the issues were similar. The host delayed as much as possible to provide mutual feedback so that the reviews didn't show up on site immediately.

I managed to reduce my 40+ days to only 31 as the payment was only released in a monthly basis and with the host not having received it yet it was easier to ask the card company to block the second collection that to get a refund of something paid. Nevertheless, the first 31 days were paid and were a loss to me.

Both AirBnB and the host were just going in circles (she first said I could leave, but when I asked AirBnB for a refund she mentioned the cancellation policy and said she would do a good will refund of about £100 for a £850 stay).
Given the above, I contacted my card issuer to do a chargeback for something that
a) Was not as described
b) AirBnB failed to provide me with a reasonable solution

This was completed a few days after I left. All AirBnB did was acknowledge this and send me a form to fill with 5 options on why the chargeback (If I knew it, if the transaction was fraudulent, not as described, etc.) I'm guessing this is automated as they were aware of the issue in the first place.

So now with the refund completed, what happens next? I obviously don't want to have a collection agency at my doorstep. The issue is that their T's & C's are rather binding and I'm not sure how section 75 overcomes them. This was my first chargeback.

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

bbarroso wrote: »

The issue is that their T's & C's are rather binding and I'm not sure how section 75 overcomes them. This was my first chargeback.

Which was it? It couldn't have been both section 75 and chargeback.

bbarroso

Well their T's & C's say any booking is non refundable and any problems are mediated trough them (that is loosing a whole month on my case).

I don't understand your question, a successful section 75 is a chargeback

[Deleted User]

No. Section 75 is where the credit card company shares the responsibility with the retailer. If they have refunded you, that would put an end to it.

A chargeback is where you dispute the payment and the CC company agrees to refund you. However, the retailer can dispute it and have it reversed.

You need to establish what route you have gone down.

System

Card issuers will tend to try a chargeback initially as they don't take the hit.
Only then, will they consider the S75 claim.

The result of the chargeback is unclear - mostly it depends if it is disputed by the other side, they may simply accept it and bar you going forward.

From a personal note, you did yourself no favours by using someone with limited feedback and by cleaning the accomodation yourself. I would have simply taken pictures and walked away then disputed it. They can probably argue that you used the property and you should pay for it.

bbarroso

Indeed you are right.

This was one of those cases where I just have to take the loss, if any, and take corrective measures in the future. She had good feedback, although not from this property. I will definitively not book for any period larger that 10 days again in the future.

Thank you also for clarifying the chargeback versus section 75.

With AirBnB its a bit unclear what to do, because as you wait for the dispute to be sorted they are actually charging the days: This is what happened to me, we went in circles, on average the host took 2 days to reply to each query making it as unclear as possible (so as to require a follow up) and then AirBnB took a few more hours (or days in the weekend) to do their part.

I guess Ill just have to wait and see now...

PS: I use AirBnB frequently, I'm not sure putting a bar to my account would do them any favours, in all honesty.