Comment by nanidin | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nanidin | Hacker News Reader

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Did you pay with a credit card? When companies try to blow me off like this and I used a credit card, the next email usually goes as follows:

> I'm sorry that we have been unable to resolve this issue. If {demand for refunded amount} is not processed by {date one week from now} I will begin the chargeback process with my credit card issuer {bankname} as I did not receive what I paid for. Please keep me updated if anything changes.

This puts the pinch on both the vendor that processed the transaction (since they're going to be the ones getting their merchant account dinged, and since they're going to lose whatever money was charged to the card + a fee for the chargeback) and the party ultimately responsible (wanna bet that AirBnB isn't going to be happy with your host for causing them to lose several hundred dollars on a transaction they only stood to gain $54 from in the first place?) Things should get resolved pretty quickly once you step outside of the box & assert whatever rights you have under your credit card agreement.

I've had to do this with Agoda over a reservation made in Thailand. And I used to sell stuff on Ebay - no one pulled this on me, but I know firsthand how much companies like PayPal hate it when their merchants get chargebacks.

In all respect I don't think issuing a chargeback is the way to go here. This doesn't solve anything really, and in fact it could really hurt a business. Why issue a chargeback when a company offers a refund ?

As I see it, the customer didn't get what they paid for. Instead of getting back a partial refund for what they didn't receive (4 beds vs 3 beds) they were refunded the fees that AirBnB charged - which according to AirBnB was because the host had already been paid out the rest of the money. Clearly AirBnB is capable of refunding this guy, regardless (or at least I'd hope they have more than a few hundred cash on hand for incidents like this...)

Ok, so customer didn't get what they paid for. Company takes a hardline stance & refuses to work with customer beyond telling them to buy an air mattress with the refunded fees. Where else does the customer have to turn at this point? The chargeback.

The whole point of putting it on the table and giving a 1 week deadline is exactly that it will hurt the business. You know it and they know it. Now suddenly they're not the only one with bargaining power in the relationship, so they might actually offer a partial refund of the actual rental based on the difference between what was offered & what was received. Or they might stick to their guns & fight the chargeback if they think they were correct in their initial assessment.

The chargeback is really like a turbo button - it boosts you up real quick past the grunt level CS people to actual decision makers who can and will do what they can to avoid the chargeback and maintain a positive relationship with you.

Because Airbnb should be withholding the host's fee, as they misrepresented the accommodations. If Airbnb doesn't stick up for the guest, the guest's credit card company surely will.

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