It’s definitely just not outside the U.S. I am in U.S. florborne and have had exactly the same experience.
@dcmooney - yeah, not sure about the different experiences, but it probably has a lot to do with what kind of issue the host has. I do remember the time you said you had to go up the chain - when the first rep. wouldn’t open your calendar, after the guest said she would cancel when she got home. Thankfully that is the odd ball for you, but that kind of incompetence is the norm every time I call.
Every single time there is a new announcement of a policy change, etc. - when I call NONE of the reps. have ever heard about it. Every single time. Not a single one…ever. I am not sure if the new change has not been communicated to them, which is just plain incompetence within management - or if they reps. are trained to play dumb.
florborne - I also think some experiences may vary depending on how persistent the host is. For example, in my recent issue, I was only showing in certain searches, and should have been showing in basic searches. The first rep. “pretended” to be helpful and said he would search in incognito mode - and Voila! - there I was, no issue at all. He said that Airbnb recognizes my computer’s IP address, and that is why sometimes I do not see my own property.
I am already familiar with Homeaway’s game of manipuating the searches and telling owners to clear their cookies, as if there is no issue. So I learned that searching in incognito does not hide my IP address, so I threw that theory out the window; and that’s when I kept calling and emailing and was being told outright lies. BUT the averge person may have just accepted the first response and truly thought that only the host cannot see the their own property, and felt that their issue was really resolved.
Another time I went round and round with Air regarding collecting taxes in my state. Three different reps. misinformed me of when that would begin, and I would no longer need to collect separately. The email they sent was ambiguous as to whether it would now begin to be added to reservations after let’s say September 1st, or if would begin on September 1st for any reservations being created on that date and forward. All the reps. gave me misinformation, and luckily one of my guests was able to show me on their end all of the charges so I was able to put it together.
Another time I went round and round regarding chargebacks because there was a change in their terms and conditions, and I wanted verification. It was the typical canned responses that completely avoided answering the question. I think about after 5 rounds the guy finally answered the question. But instead of finding out the answer, they will tell you to bring it to an attorney and have him tell you what he thinks.
And another time…OK - I will stop for now
I used to tell people that Air’s customer service was great, but that has all changed (at least for me). They are now right up there with Directv, Homeaway, Flipkey, Booking.com, AT&T, etc.