Airbnb guest payment scam, how did that happen?

Discussion in 'Airbnb & Short Term Letting' started by Ouchmyknees, 27th Jun, 2018.

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  1. Ouchmyknees

    Ouchmyknees Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    30th Aug, 2016
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    348
    Location:
    VIC
    A guest (with verified ID and 6 good reviews) booked last minute on Saturday for two nights. On check-out date (Monday) around 12am he requested to extend by one day, it was approved by the co-host around 6am. About 1 hour later I got an email from Airbnb saying that the payment for the extension was unsuccessful. (See photo.) How did that happen? I though Airbnb has a very secure system and if they can’t get payment the request wouldn’t have come through. But apparently I’m wrong.

    So for the whole day on Monday the cohost and Airbnb tried to contact him, and he kept changing stories about why he was unable to pay. Airbnb has tried to call him multiple times but he refused to answer any calls and lied to us, saying that he has explained the situation to Airbnb.

    Eventually at around 4pm Monday we threatened to send the cleaners to change the lock combination and give him a bad review. He made a payment via resolution centre. Airbnb confirmed the payment was received.

    However, on Tuesday evening (the guest has left) I got another message from Airbnb saying that the payment made on Monday afternoon didn’t go through either. How did that happen? Did the guest paid with the credit card and immediately cancelled the transaction? I’m totally lost.

    Anyway, Airbnb is unable to explain why the guest played with their system twice successfully, interesting.
     

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  2. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

    Joined:
    18th Jun, 2015
    Posts:
    23,319
    Location:
    Sydney
    Probably cancelled the card payment or it was stolen..The original charge may be dishonoured yet !! . Chargebacks with Airbnb arent easy to resolve since they just pass the issue to you as owner.

    Tip : No short notice bookings ? This allows ordinary card processes to ensure payments are not dishonoured.Its a wekness is cards. They can be dishonoured after the event and unless YOU are the merchant you have no chargeback rights
     
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