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	<title>Betabeat &#187; Rumors &#38; Acquisitions: Customer Service Edition</title>
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		<title>Betabeat &#187; Rumors &#38; Acquisitions: Customer Service Edition</title>
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		<title>Rumors &amp; Acquisitions: Customer Service Edition</title>

		<comments>http://betabeat.com/2011/07/rumors-acquisitions-airbnb-public-relations-crisis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:10:10 -0400</pubDate>
					<link>http://betabeat.com/2011/07/rumors-acquisitions-airbnb-public-relations-crisis/</link>
			<dc:creator>Adrianne Jeffries</dc:creator>
				
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.betabeat.com/?p=13272</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-13273" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" title="rumormonger" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/rumormonger2.jpg" alt="" width="241" height="155" />CHRIST, AIRBNB, GET IT TOGETHER. <strong>Airbnb</strong>, a company heretofore known mostly for a beautiful website, innovative business and the charm and grit of its founders, as well as their notorious <a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/25/airbnb-still-spamming-craigslist-not-returning-the-favor/">Craigslist spamming</a>, has <strong><a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/29/airbnb-competitor-roomorama-we-dont-want-to-trade-security-for-volume/">potentially smashed its reputation</a> to pieces as one user's horror story came to light.</strong> CEO <strong>Brian Chesky</strong> responded publicly yesterday with a rather mild apology, and then the victim, a travel blogger named Emily <strong>whose existence and story have not been independently confirmed</strong>, wrote an <a href="http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/airbnb-nightmare-no-end-in-sight.html">update</a> on her blog claiming that:<!--more--></p>
<ul>
<li>some of Mr. Chesky's statements, such as the claim that a suspect was in police custody with Airbnb's help, <strong>were false</strong>; and</li>
<li>an Airbnb co-founder had been <strong>harassing her about taking her blog post down</strong> because it would endanger the company's future growth and imperil the round of funding they were trying to close.</li>
</ul>
<p>Pretty damning stuff. But even though the story reached as far as the <em>Financial Times</em> and the <em>Washington Post </em>online, no one in the press has published an interview with the actual victim. <strong>Emily blogs anonymously</strong>, so we left her a comment--two, actually--asking for a chat. No response yet. We tried the phone number and email address she posted as belonging to her home's attacker. The number, a <a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/07/brooklandia-the-portlandification-of-the-better-borough/?show=all">Portland</a> area code was a Google Voice number. No one picked up. Unsurprisingly, we haven't received an email back either. Airbnb is also ignoring us. WTF, everyone?</p>
<p>Airbnb's investors and friends have remained silent on their interblogs since the late developments today. But we bet Airbnb-fanboy <strong>Fred Wilson</strong> is <strong>beating his head into a table</strong> over the founders' ineptitude.</p>
<p>RUMORS WITH DISCLOSURES. We hear "major merchant integration" for Bitcoin is coming later this year. <strong>"Can't comment yet on the details,"</strong> a Bitcoin developer told Betabeat. Disclosure: Betabeat is currently <a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/27/restaurant-that-accepts-bitcoin-will-now-also-sell-you-bitcoin/">in possession of six Bitcoins</a>, although we're not sure where they are. The <a href="http://mybitcoin.com">site where we were keeping them</a> was down today. LOL Bitcoin!</p>
<p>DEPT. OF GETTING GROOVES BACK. The company <strong>formerly known as SeamlessWeb</strong> is going for a full make-over! After securing at long last the <a href="http://seamless.com">seamless.com</a> domain name from what claimed to be the "first commercial legal website" established in 1994, the food delivery company teased that <a href="http://www.seamless.com/coming-soon.html?utm_source=seamless&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20110624SeamlessIntro">"big changes"</a> were coming. New York's Seamless <strong>outsourced at least some of its redesign</strong> to UX developers in the city, Betabeat has learned, and a refresh is coming soon. As long as we get our munchies, <strong>we're happy cats</strong>.</p>
<p>CALL TECH SUPPORT! <strong><a href="http://News.me">News.me</a></strong> is hiring, but it's experiencing technical difficulties! Or maybe just one hapless Rochester developer is. "They have a job opening that I'm a good fit for and none of their emails (jobs@news.me or feedback@news.me) work," he <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/bionecron/status/96981692295806977">tweeted</a> at Betabeat after receiving the <strong>"Delivery to the recipient failed permanently"</strong> error. "Strange, it's working for us," News.me replied, directing the fellow to newsdotme care of Gmail. Don't you love having that conversation? <strong>We love having that conversation.</strong></p>
<p>But when Betabeat test-emailed the Betaworkers, we had no trouble getting the autoreply that puts <strong>butterflies in any applicant's belly</strong>: "Thanks for your interest in joining the News.me team. We will get back to you as quickly as possible if there is a relevant fit." Yay! How many tech bloggers do you need?<strong> Damn, we're all nervous now.</strong></p>
]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-13273" style="margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" title="rumormonger" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/rumormonger2.jpg" alt="" width="241" height="155" />CHRIST, AIRBNB, GET IT TOGETHER. <strong>Airbnb</strong>, a company heretofore known mostly for a beautiful website, innovative business and the charm and grit of its founders, as well as their notorious <a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/25/airbnb-still-spamming-craigslist-not-returning-the-favor/">Craigslist spamming</a>, has <strong><a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/29/airbnb-competitor-roomorama-we-dont-want-to-trade-security-for-volume/">potentially smashed its reputation</a> to pieces as one user's horror story came to light.</strong> CEO <strong>Brian Chesky</strong> responded publicly yesterday with a rather mild apology, and then the victim, a travel blogger named Emily <strong>whose existence and story have not been independently confirmed</strong>, wrote an <a href="http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/airbnb-nightmare-no-end-in-sight.html">update</a> on her blog claiming that:<!--more--></p>
<ul>
<li>some of Mr. Chesky's statements, such as the claim that a suspect was in police custody with Airbnb's help, <strong>were false</strong>; and</li>
<li>an Airbnb co-founder had been <strong>harassing her about taking her blog post down</strong> because it would endanger the company's future growth and imperil the round of funding they were trying to close.</li>
</ul>
<p>Pretty damning stuff. But even though the story reached as far as the <em>Financial Times</em> and the <em>Washington Post </em>online, no one in the press has published an interview with the actual victim. <strong>Emily blogs anonymously</strong>, so we left her a comment--two, actually--asking for a chat. No response yet. We tried the phone number and email address she posted as belonging to her home's attacker. The number, a <a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/07/brooklandia-the-portlandification-of-the-better-borough/?show=all">Portland</a> area code was a Google Voice number. No one picked up. Unsurprisingly, we haven't received an email back either. Airbnb is also ignoring us. WTF, everyone?</p>
<p>Airbnb's investors and friends have remained silent on their interblogs since the late developments today. But we bet Airbnb-fanboy <strong>Fred Wilson</strong> is <strong>beating his head into a table</strong> over the founders' ineptitude.</p>
<p>RUMORS WITH DISCLOSURES. We hear "major merchant integration" for Bitcoin is coming later this year. <strong>"Can't comment yet on the details,"</strong> a Bitcoin developer told Betabeat. Disclosure: Betabeat is currently <a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2011/07/27/restaurant-that-accepts-bitcoin-will-now-also-sell-you-bitcoin/">in possession of six Bitcoins</a>, although we're not sure where they are. The <a href="http://mybitcoin.com">site where we were keeping them</a> was down today. LOL Bitcoin!</p>
<p>DEPT. OF GETTING GROOVES BACK. The company <strong>formerly known as SeamlessWeb</strong> is going for a full make-over! After securing at long last the <a href="http://seamless.com">seamless.com</a> domain name from what claimed to be the "first commercial legal website" established in 1994, the food delivery company teased that <a href="http://www.seamless.com/coming-soon.html?utm_source=seamless&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20110624SeamlessIntro">"big changes"</a> were coming. New York's Seamless <strong>outsourced at least some of its redesign</strong> to UX developers in the city, Betabeat has learned, and a refresh is coming soon. As long as we get our munchies, <strong>we're happy cats</strong>.</p>
<p>CALL TECH SUPPORT! <strong><a href="http://News.me">News.me</a></strong> is hiring, but it's experiencing technical difficulties! Or maybe just one hapless Rochester developer is. "They have a job opening that I'm a good fit for and none of their emails (jobs@news.me or feedback@news.me) work," he <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/bionecron/status/96981692295806977">tweeted</a> at Betabeat after receiving the <strong>"Delivery to the recipient failed permanently"</strong> error. "Strange, it's working for us," News.me replied, directing the fellow to newsdotme care of Gmail. Don't you love having that conversation? <strong>We love having that conversation.</strong></p>
<p>But when Betabeat test-emailed the Betaworkers, we had no trouble getting the autoreply that puts <strong>butterflies in any applicant's belly</strong>: "Thanks for your interest in joining the News.me team. We will get back to you as quickly as possible if there is a relevant fit." Yay! How many tech bloggers do you need?<strong> Damn, we're all nervous now.</strong></p>
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