Wife stayed in London recently via airbnb. Got to the apartment -
* "There's the TV - it doesn't work".
* Booked room for 10 day stay - 2 hangers in closet.
* Stained bed sheets and pillow case ("Well, no one else has complained before").
* Stained pillow cases.
* No mattress comforter thingy.
* Broken shower hose (water leaking in 5 spots - no water making it to shower head.
* Curtains didn't close - people across street could see in to bedroom.
Complaints were lodged with airbnb website - 'host' eventually fixes some issues during first few days, but... wife's alone and airbnb recommends to attempt to fix things with host. And... they've got your money already - we have no idea how to get an immediate refund (the screens all seem to prompt you to resolve things with host first).
Filed for partial refund on getting back. Host immediately rejects that - doesn't offer anything at all - claims that wife "doesn't understand how airbnb is supposed to work - it's like staying at a friend's place". My friends don't charge me $2k then give me stained sheets and complain that I want a working shower. Picture and video evidence for all of this is in hand and send to airbnb. Response 20 minutes later is "well, you did stay there, so it couldn't have been all that bad. Here's a $200 coupon to use us again in 2015". Host then posts personal attacks against my wife, suggesting no host ever rent to her (despite other host reviews indicating she was a fine guest).
Had they even refunded $100, that would have turned this around - instead we were told "nope, you are stupid, use us again at a slight discount". Horrible experience (which was not the first experience - wife has used it before with "not great but certainly not horrible" experiences.
If they only allowed people to share out rooms/flats they actually lived in, this would reduce these sorts of issues, I'd think.
EDIT: to keep it more on topic, they might have better call centers but if policies aren't changed, it won't make for a much better experience for customers.