The title is fairly self-explanatory and I'm looking for some advice on how I should handle this situation as I'm a long time Airbnb member with great references, these are some serious allegations that could get me kicked off the site so any advice or feed back from you guys would be appreciated.
Back story: I'm in Bogota, Colombia with RVF member Atlantic and we decided to book an Airbnb rental, we found a good one in a great location so I went ahead and booked it. This was at about 8pm last night and shortly after I received an approval and my credit card was billed for almost $600. I contacted the host via Airbnb to ask if I could check in at noon the following day, she said it would be okay and asked if I had a cell number and used Whatsapp, to which I replied yes and I left my number with her. So Atlantic and I went out for supper and then called it a night, we went back to our hotel and went to bed.
The drama : I woke up this morning and saw that I had an Airbnb message, I checked it and it was the host who asked "did you send me pictures last night?", I replied "no, not that I recall. So can I check in at noon?" Within an hour I received a message from Airbnb informing me that my reservation was cancelled and I would be reimbursed, less $80, it was sent from the Airbnb Trust and Security Team. I was surprised and pissed off as we were getting ready to move to the apartment, I figured it had to be something to do with her asking if I sent pics, I spoke to Atlantic about it, how odd it seemed, so I decided to call her and see what this was all about.
The call: I introduced myself in Spanish then the host switched to English, Atlantic was in the room and heard the entire conversation, I asked her what this was all about, that I basically had no idea why she would cancel my reservation and what were these pictures she spoke of. She was very upset and basically told me off, accusing me of being a perverted weirdo, that I"m not welcome in her country and if I dare to go to her apartment, I will be met by an armed security guard!
My rebuttal: Obviously, arguing with an irate woman, especially a Colombian one, isn't going to go too far but she let me get a few words in. I explained to her that I was shocked by these allegations and fully denied them but she wasn't hearing any of it. My Airbnb account is linked to my Face Book and she said that my hands in the dick pics matched my hands on my profile pic???? I told her that I checked my Whatsapp and have no record of any such messages, then she said "well you were probably on drugs or something!". I realized that this conversation wasn't going anywhere so I continued to deny this and told her that she must have my number confused with someone else.
I also wrote an e-mail to the Airbnb security team, this is it verbatim:
my reservation was cancelled and the host has accused me of some very serious things, mainly of sending her nude and sexually explicit photos and messages via Whatsapp. I didn't know of these allegations until my reservation was cancelled, so I called her and we had a conversation about this, understandably the host was very upset and although I denied the allegations she is quite convinced that I sent her these messages. I am also quite upset over these allegations as I have never been accused of such controversial behavior and I have several good references on Airbnb and would like to maintain this status. I will not contact the host again and will leave this up to you to resolve, honestly I have no idea what this is all about, maybe someone else has her cell number and did this, but I was sober as a judge last night and looked through my phone and Whatsapp messages and absolutely did not send any messages to her from my phone. I hope that this issue will be resolved and my good status in the Airbnb community will be upheld. Thank you for your time.
This whole story has me shaking my fucking head, I"m out $80 and I may be banned from the site which I have used in several countries and have accumulated great references. I may have jumped the gun by calling her and e-mailing Airbnb but I just wanted to get my name cleared and continue being a respected member of the site, as I'm planning on becoming a host this year as well. Of course, there's probably no way of really clearing my name, its likely a "he-said-she-said" scenario and we can imagine who the USA based Trust and Security Team will believe in this drama. It doesn't make sense anyway, why the fuck would I send this chick $600 and then freak her out with dick pics and ruin my online rep with Airbnb?
Back story: I'm in Bogota, Colombia with RVF member Atlantic and we decided to book an Airbnb rental, we found a good one in a great location so I went ahead and booked it. This was at about 8pm last night and shortly after I received an approval and my credit card was billed for almost $600. I contacted the host via Airbnb to ask if I could check in at noon the following day, she said it would be okay and asked if I had a cell number and used Whatsapp, to which I replied yes and I left my number with her. So Atlantic and I went out for supper and then called it a night, we went back to our hotel and went to bed.
The drama : I woke up this morning and saw that I had an Airbnb message, I checked it and it was the host who asked "did you send me pictures last night?", I replied "no, not that I recall. So can I check in at noon?" Within an hour I received a message from Airbnb informing me that my reservation was cancelled and I would be reimbursed, less $80, it was sent from the Airbnb Trust and Security Team. I was surprised and pissed off as we were getting ready to move to the apartment, I figured it had to be something to do with her asking if I sent pics, I spoke to Atlantic about it, how odd it seemed, so I decided to call her and see what this was all about.
The call: I introduced myself in Spanish then the host switched to English, Atlantic was in the room and heard the entire conversation, I asked her what this was all about, that I basically had no idea why she would cancel my reservation and what were these pictures she spoke of. She was very upset and basically told me off, accusing me of being a perverted weirdo, that I"m not welcome in her country and if I dare to go to her apartment, I will be met by an armed security guard!
My rebuttal: Obviously, arguing with an irate woman, especially a Colombian one, isn't going to go too far but she let me get a few words in. I explained to her that I was shocked by these allegations and fully denied them but she wasn't hearing any of it. My Airbnb account is linked to my Face Book and she said that my hands in the dick pics matched my hands on my profile pic???? I told her that I checked my Whatsapp and have no record of any such messages, then she said "well you were probably on drugs or something!". I realized that this conversation wasn't going anywhere so I continued to deny this and told her that she must have my number confused with someone else.
I also wrote an e-mail to the Airbnb security team, this is it verbatim:
my reservation was cancelled and the host has accused me of some very serious things, mainly of sending her nude and sexually explicit photos and messages via Whatsapp. I didn't know of these allegations until my reservation was cancelled, so I called her and we had a conversation about this, understandably the host was very upset and although I denied the allegations she is quite convinced that I sent her these messages. I am also quite upset over these allegations as I have never been accused of such controversial behavior and I have several good references on Airbnb and would like to maintain this status. I will not contact the host again and will leave this up to you to resolve, honestly I have no idea what this is all about, maybe someone else has her cell number and did this, but I was sober as a judge last night and looked through my phone and Whatsapp messages and absolutely did not send any messages to her from my phone. I hope that this issue will be resolved and my good status in the Airbnb community will be upheld. Thank you for your time.
This whole story has me shaking my fucking head, I"m out $80 and I may be banned from the site which I have used in several countries and have accumulated great references. I may have jumped the gun by calling her and e-mailing Airbnb but I just wanted to get my name cleared and continue being a respected member of the site, as I'm planning on becoming a host this year as well. Of course, there's probably no way of really clearing my name, its likely a "he-said-she-said" scenario and we can imagine who the USA based Trust and Security Team will believe in this drama. It doesn't make sense anyway, why the fuck would I send this chick $600 and then freak her out with dick pics and ruin my online rep with Airbnb?