In a TikTok that has drawn over 301,000 views as of Sunday, finance content creator Seth Godwin (@seth.godwin) says he and his friends were exposed to mold, leaving one of them sick enough to seek treatment in a hospital.
Godwin says that when he and his friends arrived to stay in a beach house, they experienced some sore throats and foggy heads after the first day which they attributed to the weather. However, later in the day when an upstairs water heater broke, Godwin says a repairman called by the property owners discovered that the heater had been leaking for an extended period of time, and the immediate area around it was covered in mold.
@seth.godwin Why You Should NEVER Use Airbnb!
♬ original sound – Seth “The Godfather” Godwin
“I immediately contacted Airbnb support who asked for all kinds of documentation, which I provided, and that they’d contact me within an hour,” he says in the video. “I had to call them every day to get any update. When I asked them why I hadn’t been contacted within an hour like they told me they’d do, every single time I called them, they said, ‘sorry, we’re dealing with a lot of complaints right now.’”
He also says that as his party had already checked out of the Airbnb, the company’s customer service department was unable to do anything for him, and closed the case. However, because he paid with a credit card, he says he took all of the same information to his credit card company which led them to conduct an investigation. They ended up issuing a full refund after they found that Airbnb was in violation of its own policies, he says.
The Daily Dot has reached out to both Airbnb and Godwin regarding the allegations made in the video via email.
Many viewers echoed Godwin’s preference for credit cards over debit cards when it comes to purchase protection, as he said he called his bank and was told that if he had used a debit card in the situation, he would have essentially no protections.
“The debit card issue alone is why I only use credit cards for every purchase and just pay off the bill in full at the end of the month,” one commenter wrote.
“Yep, this is why I use a credit card for essentially everything,” another commenter wrote.
“Do people seriously not know debit cards aren’t protected like a credit card?” a commenter wrote. “Only use debit at ATM for cash and CC for everything else.”
