Couchsurfing Reviews 

Below is their communication with me.
Hello,
 
Thank you for reaching out to us with this request. Per our Terms of Use, we do not provide refunds for financial contributions to Couchsurfing or Verification payments. 
 
Please remember that your financial contributions help ensure Couchsurfing member safety and enable people from around the world to experience the joy of travel & authentic human connection. We are grateful and humbled by your support of Couchsurfing. 
 
If you would like to cancel any future contributions to Couchsurfing, please go to the Payments section of your Account and Settings to cancel them. Once your subscriptions are canceled, you will still be able to use your account until the end of the subscription period. 
 
Please let us know if you have any issues and we will be happy to help! Thank you for being a valued member of the Couchsurfing community.
 
Worst than our criminal president doesn’t allow you to do anything besides he tricks to succeed and you fail. Any how if I was able to look at the outdated members of Couchsurfing I would not have a membership and pay for it. But don’t fall for it if you are not permitted to look at the members don’t buy anything from them. I was not able to move forward and they call it contribution. As far as I know contributions is when I make it my self to support someone. You are forcing me to move forward and you are calling contributions that’s unethical you know. Give the opportunity and the choice to select and then if I want to contribute or become a member it’s up to me and on my free will but when I am been forced don’t call it that. Just be honest and people would like your service and you they would donate on their own.

This website is a scam. No one in my area has used the site since 2022. But I couldn't see that until I paid. Don't waste your money, there is nothing to see.

I strongly advise caution when using this company. The verification process (in my case via PayPal) comes with a hidden cost of 58 EUR — which is not clearly communicated upfront.
You only find out about this charge at a late stage in the process, when it feels difficult to back out. In my view, the way this fee is hidden appears intentional, as it is not transparently stated in the initial information provided. Clear and honest communication about fees should be a basic standard for trustworthy companies— here it is clearly not. For this reason, I cannot recommend this service.

Couchsurfing charged me a €56 “verification” fee without any clear prior disclosure. At no point during the process was the fee transparently communicated or itemized. The interface is deliberately misleading, making it appear as though verification is a standard, free part of setting up an account. By the time you realize what’s happening, the fee is already charged. This kind of non-transparent, manipulative design is unacceptable. Users must be clearly informed of all charges before payment is processed.

To all with unauthorized payments, you have the right for refund in 14 days under EU directive 2011/83. So if you are an EU citizen, ask for a refund in 14 and they deny it, that is illegal. This is called 14 days "cooling-off" rule. It's also protection for scams like couchsurfings lifetime card vertification scam. I think there are similar rules to protect customers in other continents as well, and not only the EU area.

I got charged 56 euros aswell. F#€k this company. They should be taken down already. Just do chargebacks and everything you can and eventually these thieves will be facing big problems financially for their criminal activities.

This company is a scam. They charged me $120 for nothing. They literally steel your money. Don't even download the app.
They charged me $100 for verification and accidently paid it via my Apple Pay. They didn't do the refund although I explained this money is a lot and I'm struggling financially. When they take your money there's no return. They are SCAM.

Scam scam scam. For the first time in 7 years I logged in to use it once. It required me to verify my info including my virtual bank accounr. They have also charged me $60 and when contacting they said according to the regulations they were not able to refund any money from 2020, as mentioned in the T&C. I have asked my bank for a refund and awaiting their response, I hope I can get this back.

They charged for a subscription i thought i had cancelled. Will not refund. Said they support travellers but this traveller doesn't feel very supported. Shame.

Site uses a dark pattern to get you to sign up. When you arrive on the landing page you see touts for upcoming visitors, hosts, and another item I can't recall, and some information underneath that.

Seems legit enough, so you create an account. Once your account is created you are presented with a membership page and can't go anywhere else on the site.

I immediately deactivated my account. Avoid.

This company automatically charges a subscription fee without prior notice.

This app did me wrong ,I hosted and showed around ,showed love and respect to 100+ ppl visiting my city ,I had around 30 references all good one and well explained , and they deactivated my account only for silly reason that u give contacts to reach faster with travelers (ig or watssup) wich in most of the cases I recieved from them first as a way to be in touch faster ,and when I was traveling and I needed the app for meeting new people or finding host they decided after almost 3 years of using it to deactivate it and let me down when I also was being a traveler myself… very disspointed I didnt deserve it ,I didnt do wrong to anyone !!!

They steal 56 Euros for verification. Don't forget to report them to the customer rights service organisation.

I got tricked to verify my profile by this seedy company. They charged me 70USD(!) without the proper autorization to do so. Very questionable way of doing business. They do not abide by eu laws regarding refunds either. This company has changed a lot.
Stay away from these THUGS, do not support them at all. Do not even think of leaving your credit card information/details to them. I had to cancel my card after this incident.

Legal action will definitely be taken against you if I dont have my money refunded to my card by this week. Like I wrote to you in my email that you now refuse to answer...I have also reported them to a consumer protection organisation.

I received an email saying my renewal was coming up, even though I didn’t have an active subscription. I contacted them immediately to ensure I wouldn’t be billed and provided proof of the transaction via a screenshot. Instead of resolving the issue, they delayed responding until the money had already been taken from my account.

To make matters worse, I had no option to check my account settings or cancel anything on my end. The way they handled the situation was incredibly unhelpful, and their behavior makes it clear this site has been taken over by scammers.

Thankfully, I contacted my bank and managed to get a refund. Their customer service never got back to me—just as other reviews have mentioned. Do not trust this site! These reviews say it all.

Question: Can someone who wrote an inappropriate comment as my host in 2019 and now regrets and realizes his mistake delete that comment?

The concept is amazing! I've been using it for so many years and have had so many great experiences with amazing people from all over the world: Europe, USA + Hawaii, New Zealand, Asia.

A lot of people complain about the price to be verified... but seriously! Nothing in this world is free, and running a huge online network for sure isn't!
Personally I think the "entrance fee" keeps out some of the not-wanted scammers and such.

But since Airbnb grow big, a lot of CS-hosts have left, so make sure to write a PERSONAL MESSAGE to a few active hosts if you want to up your chances of getting a good place to crash and hopefully some unique experiences with a local :)

Once awesome company cannot be trusted anymore, they basically take your money and delete your account for no reason at all now. I asked them why they, they said I violated terms of use, I have religiously gone through every letter of the terms of use and could not imagine what possible section I could have violated, and guess what, They won't tell you... They just say you did. It has become nothing but an scam fraudulent website if you ask me. Reading the recent reviews I am guessing the genuine owners sold the company during covid and now it is used by a small small group of men use it to meet young women and they just block all other genuine male accounts for absolutely no real reason. And they won't even give you a refund for the subscription or verification.

They are just plain ignoring my emails asking for a refund and questions about which terms or conditions they imagine I violated. CRIMINALS!

Very sad what happened to them. I have been using it for maybe 6 years until Corona happened. Then they refused access to the account without payment. I’ve hosted over 50 people.

Tried to install an app now. It’s ridiculous they still use corona for money begging. How exactly you got affected? Users were the ones doing the hosting and surfing. It’s been four full years since Corona and you still dare to ask for money from users who were offering their apartments to stay for free 😂

This once super nice company became a scam tool. I highly recommend migrate to BeWelcome. See you in some place in the world.

Scam, be aware of this company, they charge you more than 50 EUR for a verification and they will not refund even though you want to cancel your subscription the minutes that follow. I can't believe how this fraud company is not sued yet, and operating normally. I'll definitely take legal action against them.