#absolutely devastated.

I reserved an Airbnb starting on March 1st. I had never tried it before, but I was planning to move to a new city and state, and I didn't want to choose an apartment sight unseen in a new town, so i thought I'd use an airbnb at first.

I reserved the airbnb for 2 months, March 1 through April 30th. A few days ago, I got a job offer for a different city. I wasn't sure whether to accept (I am a contract worker) because I already had that room reserved. So, I called Airbnb customer service on 1/13. The agent assured me that even though I was past the normal cancellation period of 48 hours, because the start date was so far in advance, I could cancel and receive a full refund (minus the booking fee) as long as I canceled 28 days before the start date. I asked several times if she was sure, and she reassured me at least 3 times. I specifically asked about the 48 hour cancellation policy and she told me that my reservation was a special case since it was so far in advance. Based on this information I accepted the other job in a different city. I go to cancel my reservation online and see that it's telling me I won't be getting any refund at all. Concerned, I call customer support and am told by 2 different agents that the first agent I spoke to was wrong, and there is no way to get any money back on long term reservations after 48 hours. I told them to review audio on the call where they can clearly hear me asking this very question multiple times, and hear the first agent assure me it's not applicable. What I was told this time is "sorry, the first agent was wrong, this is our policy and there is nothing we can do". They are unwilling to take any responsibility for the fact that their agent gave me outdated information.

I am now out of pocket $600, and have to go turn around and rent a totally different apartment. I am absolutely devastated. If anyone knows a way around this, please let me know. That's a huge amount of money for me. The worst part of all this is, when I talked to the first agent, she was so reassuring even though I asked multiple times about whether she was absolutely sure. Obviously I will never use Airbnb again. I am considering disputing the charge on my Visa card, do you think this will do any good?