Couchsurfing International
Reviews and Complaints

Last night July 19 at approx 2:30 in the morning when I was trying to set up my couchsurfing account I thought it would be best if I became verified. So I went through the list of verification things and verified my credit card only to awake this morning with a 60 dollar charge on my account for verification when it said no such thing would occur. This is a [censored]ing outrage. At no point did it say I'd be charges for verification I thought I was just entering my credit card to prove my trustworthiness. But apparently it was so I could be stolen from

couch surfing showed me the price of sixty cents and then charged me for sixty dollars for "verification" . I took a screen shot showing the cost they showed me and they still refused to refund my money by saying, "Unfortunately, we are still unable to process your refund request. With this being a digital and immediately available good, we are unable to issue refunds."

The price shown was this B/.60 The B stands for Balboa which is the currency of Panama and equals exactly one American dollar. This happened July 17th 2022. I am attaching the screen shot. It is the price shown when I entered my debit card number.

i just lost £51 through Couchsurfing’s fraudulent and misleading verification system. My bank won’t dispute because their terms and conditions state that they don’t refund. The payment screens are misleading- i thought i was confirming my £1.79. I did not know lifetime verification was any different and the £51.00 was barely legible displayed in tiny text in light grey on white/ pale background. I spotted it last minute as the page changed at the point of no return.

I have used the Couchsurfing profile since 2012 and have been a prominent member of the community. I have also paid a sum of $17 for the annual membership. Unfortunately, on April 13th Couchsurfing decided to remove my profile and not refund the amount.

I created another account on April 15th, which was removed on April 19th. I have again paid the platform fee, which was not refunded.

I have learned about many instances where Couchsurfing takes money from the users and deletes their profiles.

I have already written more than 5 messages to them, but they have not responded.

I want to report this fake website.

I wanted to try couchsurfing and verify my account which I thought was free. Now they charged 65 euros for that verification and put it under the name of lifetime contribution.

I've never used couchsurfing and dont want to contribute. The word 'verification' is very misleading. I send an email to couchsurfing and they don't want to refund the amount. It's really a scam and easy way of earning money in such a powerful position.

Sadly Couchsurfing has turned into a scam. 13.03.2022 they asked me to verify my account. When I later checked my bank I saw that they had taken 56 EUR from my card.

During the verification process, it does not mention anywhere that it is a paid service.

When contacting customer support they say that you have purchased "lifetime vertification" do not give any refunds.

During payment verification coachsurfing does not mention they are going to charge you or what amount would that be and later on I saw my card being charged over 250 zl (approx. 56 euro) and I was not getting informed about it during the account verification. This is an utter scandal and the company should be charged legally for what they are doing.

They closed my account without giving any reason. They took my money and they didn't respond to my dozens of emails.

I had a lot of references and wasted a lot of time.

It's just a money pit. Damn you. They are thief. Be carefull for no reason the time and money you spend may be wasted. And this is a high possbility. Use airbnb at least you ll earn money..ı used since 2009 and just for no rerason they deactivated. Go to hell couchsurfing.

User's recommendation: never ever make the mistake of using couchsurfing.. It is a money trap.

Hello,
I was charged 56 euros on 9th January 2022 without my consent in the process of getting verified. I was not aware that this is going to happen neither I want or need lifetime verification.
I read online that I am not the first person with this issue and I require a refund immediately. This can not be tolerated.
My email is [protected]@gmail.com.
My couchsurfing profile is under the name Katja Sluga.

I would like to require a refund.
Best,
Katja

Return my money
I did not give my consent for you to withdraw 59 euros from my bank account.
You are scammers and swindlers.
My lawyer will sue you.
And I wrote a statement to the police that you had withdrawn 59 euros
And the police filed a request with the San Francisco police
the fact that you are scammers and swindlers
I was at the bank today and told them to make a request for the return of my money.
I don't need your [censored]ing site choke on it.
Give back my money 59 euros
Or my lawyer will write everywhere on your site that you are scammers.
My lawyer is on you and your site is going to sue.

They literally gave no prior notification about charging money. I didn't even see they are going to charge me, then when I asked for a refund because I had done it mistakenly, theu refused. This is legit a scam and I want my money back. I'm literally broke already. They could have made a point had I done it intentionally, but it was a mere accident, this is very unfair and needs to be fixed immediately. I have tweeted about this too but no answer

I need some help - I paid since October 27 and I still cannot access my account because I am stuck on the page with the request to pay.
My many emails go unresolved
This is unacceptable !

Give me my money

Hi!
I wanted to verify myself in Couchsurfing.com, and I gave them my credit card number. They didn't mention anywhere, that they will charge me! Then they charged me 56 EUR! I wrote to their support service, they responded me, but they don't want to give me a refund!
I have heard that they charged a lot of people like this, and noone got back their money! It's robbery in daylight! I am very angry now.
I have heard that they charged some people in more than one occasion too, even if they deleted themselves from the website.
So I blocked my credit card just in case, I don't want to be charged again!
My bank wil send me a new credit card for 5 EUR.
So, this all costed me 61 EUR! 61 EUR for nothing!
I want my money back!
BR,
Judit Nagy

So on the 19th of August 2021, I logged into my Couchsurfing account and They said I need to give them my credit card details to "Verify My profile". so I did and right after I saw a $60 withdrawal from my account. There was absolutely no mention of a charging fee when I did that. I contacted their Team right after and they told me "Refunds are not available for any Couchsurfing Verification purchases after May 14th, 2020."
This is robbery in daylight.

Took my money that they charge now to use couchsurfing. I paid for a year and then they suspended my account, but kept my money! Whats weirder is I've been with couchsurfing for over half a decade now with hundreds of references. 100% of my references were positive.
I'm not sure what their hustle is or whats going on but obviously its time for a replacement.

Couchsurfing scammed me through verification. I thought they were just going to confirm my identity and I was not informed I was getting charged $60 until it was too late. Now they are refusing to refund me. They ruthlessly robbed me in the middle of a pandemic! They are criminals!

Couchsurfing had suspended my account over a month. The reason they are giving is that I am sharing Facebook links in CS platform. I am not allowed to send links and post links while I can use Facebook to log in to my account, also I can click on share the couchsurfing events page to Facebook or WhatsApp.
They have blocked me with my events, I cannot update them. They have not replied to me complaint about cancelling my event without any notification.
They have also cut me off with my hundreds of friends I made in last 16 years making me really depress and I really don't know if I ever be able to contact my friends again.
Do they have a right to take my friends away from me? Do they have right to cancel my events without any reason?
I guess they are personally targeting me. I have all the messages save and I can provide all the information regarding this if required.

My experience on 2021-03-21. Decided to donate them 14, 29 Euros. Then I went to "verified my profile", what happened? I was charged 56, 0 Euros which I never agreed to pay them! When I contacted them few times, they just wrote back "Refunds are not available for any Couchsurfing contributions or Verification purchases after May 14th, 2020". Imagine! What rules make this company... I blocked my bank card after this issue. They do not refund money!

Hi sir,

I am facing an issue with my suspension of account. i am using this app just to travel the world and help people. I got a notification that I have created a duplicate account. I would like to say that I have been using only one account and all my references are in this account. I really need your help to activate my account.I am using Couchsurfing app since few years and I have really liked this app. Few months back my account got suspended saying that I have created duplicate account which I never had. I tried my best to explain that I have never created duplicate account and my all references are in my only account. Later when I saw no help from couchsurfing then I created another account but that also got suspended. You can check my references I am using this app only for travelling purpose. I am approaching you to help me activate my account because my desire is to travel whole world and till now I have visited only 12 countries. I hope you can understand my concern and help me out.
I just want to use one account and use this app to travel the world. If required I am ready to take the membership of Couchsurfing.
Please help me.

Account name: Raghuvir Kumar
Email: akshat.[protected]@gmail.com

Regards,
Raghuvir Kumar

Taiwan is not a part of China.
This issue has been talked about with a lot of Taiwanese in Dcard and other websites in Taiwan. But all the complaints are in Mandarin. As a tour guide in Taiwan. I have to state this complaint in English for Taiwan. I know something is not right.

As long as we set our nationality in couch surfing for our profiles, it shows "Taiwan, a province of China"

Taiwan is not actually part of China. I wish couch surfing can fix the system for profile setting .

I have been traveling in Europe for one year by using couch surfing. All the people who I met are amazing! But they don't really know something right about our country, Taiwan. Because of the profile of the couch surfing. Some people thought my country, Taiwan is associated with the China, communism. That's a big mistake.

We have our own military, currency, territory, and democracy.
I am proud of being Taiwanese.
Although my ancestor is from China 360 years ago, I am Taiwanese.

For example:
Austria and Germany are German speaking countries. But the both cultures, governments are not the same.The people between are totally different.

If I type my location for my profile "Taiwan", the system incorrectly automatically changes it to, "Taiwan, a province of China".

I really wish couch surfing will do something or I might complain further and work with other people.