I Closed My Bank Account. Now Airbnb Won't Send Me My Refund

Bart Colen's host cancels his rental at the last minute, and Airbnb promises to send him a refund. But months later, the money is still missing. The reason? Colen closed his bank account.

Q: I made a reservation on Airbnb last year for a three-month trip to France this winter. My host canceled at the last minute, and Airbnb agreed to refund me $728.

I have not received the money yet. The reason: I closed the bank account to which my Airbnb account was attached. Airbnb won't send the money to my new account.

I forwarded a letter from Chase Bank, showing that the old account had been closed months ago and, therefore, could not have a payment processed to it. I have called and emailed them several times, and I've even contacted the Better Business Bureau, to no avail.

Airbnb is sitting on my money and claiming that it is the responsibility of me or Chase to put it right, even though Chase cannot reactivate an account that has been closed for so many months. I want Airbnb to pay me the money however they can, either by check or by direct payment to my bank account. Can you help me get my $728 back? -- Bart Colen, Pingree Grove, Illinois

A: Airbnb should have refunded you a long time ago. Why didn't it?

Airbnb's policy is to refund your money to your original payment method. So, if you used a credit card, it would go back to that card. And the reason for this is simple: It's safer and easier than trying to chase down a new payment method or writing a check.

But Airbnb claims it will accommodate you if you switch accounts. "If your original payment method's account was closed, the refund sent by Airbnb won't process," it says on its site. "If this happens, you can contact Airbnb to step in and help." It looks like Airbnb didn't step in to help.

This is common. From what I can tell, refunds will automatically go back to the original form of payment. Often, even employees have a hard time reversing the transaction. And who knows where your money went? Your bank may have it somewhere, or Airbnb still might have it. It's a real mystery.

(As a side note, I've always wanted to do an investigative story that traces a refund like yours. Is there some kind of slush fund the company has where all the missing refund money goes? Now this would be a story!)

The best way to avoid this? Don't close your account until you've accounted for every refund. There's no good way of preventing the confusion that results from a refund being sent to a closed account. I'm sure Airbnb means well by its promise to "step in and help," but my experience tells me that even companies with sophisticated payment systems have difficulty with this. And once they lose track of the money, you're absolutely right that it becomes your problem, which is profoundly unfair.

The fix: You can escalate this problem to a manager at Airbnb. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Airbnb execs on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

I contacted Airbnb on your behalf. A few weeks later, you came back with good news. "At long last, I got my refund from Airbnb," you said. Airbnb never told me what happened to your money or where it went, but at least it found its way back to you.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

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