Imagine an apartment hunt that starts on Craigslist, directs you to a phone number in the U. The whole thing was fantastically farcical, if not depressing, and serves as a cautionary tale for would-be renters swimming in a seemingly shark-infested pool, all looking for the same elusive meal. In this case, the meal is an impossibly sweet deal on a brand new apartment in Olympic Village on False Creek in Vancouver. The building is being renovated en masse and renovictions have already happened to at least six tenants.
In case repairs are need in the apartment, the building management will help you and I will cover the costs. Pets are allowed. Holy jumping Jehoshaphat! Things smelled fishy right away. No banking or financial information was exchanged. All they knew about me personally was that I moved to Vancouver in and my place of employment. By this time three days later , the ad had been flagged and removed from Craigslist. I asked why and it was at this point that things completely went off the rails.
Uh huh. Not only that, all transactions would be handled through the vacation website TripAdvisor. Smelling the bullshit piling up, I decided to play along and asked the following questions: why would you give me your place without meeting me, why is a travel site in charge of transactions and why is the damage deposit far less than half of the rent? I can access the funds just after TripAdvisor have [sic] your final answer about the transaction.
If u refuse to keep the apt you will receive a full refund from them My final bit of correspondence happened on Oct. I received no response. Jason Doucette told me. Ditto for Jeanette Jackson with the BBB, who noticed eight different red flags within 10 minutes of looking over the correspondence. The same scenarios and queries have been posed since , and the same answer is offered each time: this is a scam. TripAdvisor spokesperson Molly Burke emphasized the fact that the company never sells or advertises rental homes on classified sites.
Jackson said the BBB is alerted to these types of scam all the time, though they peak when student housing fluctuates in the spring and fall.
