Last summer, Rosemary, a reader, opted to surprise a friend with a present of a trip to a choice location, by gifting them a €200 Airbnb voucher so they could pinpoint their desired location.
What she didn’t anticipate was that this act of compassion would soon place her in a taxing predicament laced with elements of Brexit, the War of Independence, the resulting division of the Irish island, and a sprinkle of inflexible call centre operators to top it off.
She resides on one side of the border in Sligo, and her friends live on the other, prompting her to ensure that everything was in order with Airbnb since the card was going to be bought in one region and likely to be used within the same region, but by someone domiciled in a different one.
Therefore, Rosemary reached out to Airbnb via email to ensure that the card could be used within southern Ireland even though her friend lived in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and not the EU, and she would be making the purchase in Euros.
Rosemary, being a resident of Sligo and the voucher to be used specifically in the Republic of Ireland, Cork, inferred from the email correspondence that all was in order and went ahead to acquire the voucher.
However, in response, Airbnb informed her that their gift cards are strictly tied to specific countries as indicated on the purchase page, and apologised for any inconvenience caused by this. They further noted that the purchase should be done from the same country where it’s going to be used and using a credit card issued from that country.
Despite living in Sligo and intending for the voucher to be used specifically in the Republic of Ireland, Cork, Rosemary assumed from the email conversation that all would be fine and proceeded with the voucher purchase.
Regrettably, the author’s companions had to amend their itinerary in August 2023 and couldn’t avail of the gift voucher until March 2024, as she conveys. On attempting to redeem the gift card, a message was received, stating that it was only valid within a list of certain European countries, and to reach out for assistance if residing within any of them.
Owing to the mention of Ireland in the acceptable countries, one would assume the recipient, a friend of Rosemary’s attempting to use the gift card from Northern Ireland, shouldn’t face any issues.
However, the friend found it incredibly difficult to get through to Airbnb’s customer service, with lack of understanding of the issue from their side. Eventually, he asked Rosemary to liaise with Airbnb after several hours on the phone. Dozens of emails and more hours later, no progress had been made.
Increasing the confusion, Airbnb stated that the gift card recipient and buyer must be residing in the same country. This implied that international visitors touring Ireland from countries like USA, Australia etc., wouldn’t be able to use a gift card in Ireland if it was purchased by someone residing there. This policy, unexpected from a global company, seemed illogical to Rosemary. Moreover, the list of acceptable countries did not specify Northern Ireland or Ireland distinctly, leading to further confusion. Having its European headquarters in Dublin, Airbnb should understand the distinction, highlights Rosemary.
During the communication, Airbnb suggested that the friend could open a bank account in Ireland, and also acquire an Irish phone number, in addition to his current Northern Irish facilities. Ironically, Rosemary, the initial purchaser, tried to use the gift card code from the same device that made the initial purchase, receiving the same error message. This situation led her to believe that a systemic issue might be the cause.
In summary, she regards her experience as disappointing, noting the futile efforts invested in contacting customer service to resolve the problem.
In a perplexing turn of events, the identified representative at Airbnb has vanished without a trace, proposed an ineffective solution, or has completely ceased communication. This necessitates initiating the process from scratch with a cooperative employee with limited prior knowledge of the complaint’s history due to Airbnb’s apparent lack of an efficient complaint-tracking system. The new representative might similarly vanish, sparking the entire cyclical process off anew. The absence of a manager or supervisor via the customer help-line further complicates the issue, but on one occasion, Rosemary persisted and interacted with a supervisor. Despite indicating understanding and promising resolution by engaging the recipient, the supervisor reneged, stating their inability to liaise with the buyer and only the recipient, further adding to the confusion.
Airbnb has decided not to refund Rosemary or her friend, and since the gift card purchase pre-dated this by more than 120 days, the prospect of a chargeback through her credit card is no longer an option. Rosemary expresses her frustration at the situation, suspecting a deliberate strategy by Airbnb to sow discord by giving disparate information to the buyer and recipient.
To compound the issue, the gift card Rosemary procured in 2023 has proven unusable by both the recipient and herself. The conundrum persists with Airbnb declining repayment both to Rosemary and her acquaintance. With the option of credit card chargeback no longer viable due to elapsed time, the issue remains unresolved.
Entertaining the thought of gifting to a friend? Rosemary advises, half in jest, to slip loads of fifty-pence coins into money bags and post them directly through their letterbox – at least they’ll get their gift’s worth. The current situation provoked contact with Airbnb directly to explore a possible resolution.
An Airbnb spokeswoman has duly highlighted varying terms and conditions for customers within and outside the European Union. Proclaiming this distinction as due diligence in aligning with local and EU regulations, all customers could familiarise themselves with terms prior to purchase. This falls in line with standard operating procedures for many businesses offering gift cards and functioning in multiple currencies.
She went on to say, “We do acknowledge that in this specific instance, the guidance from our Community Support team could have been more explicit. They have, as a show of good faith, contacted the individual who bought the gift card to propose a complete reimbursement.”