Monday, February 12, 2007

Finding the boss

One of the difficulties I had during the summer I spent trying to wrench back my deposit was not knowing who I was dealing with. http://www.findmeaflat.com had an office, a phone number, and a face: Mark.

But Mark was never authorized to make decisions. Those could only be made by John. And John was never around. It helps to know who you're dealing with _ and who to hold accountable _ especially when you're trying to right a wrong. So who are these people?

It never hurts to run a DNS query on a site _ I should have done it before signing up with these fraudsters, but I didn't. In this case, I've learned nothing new. http://www.findmeaflat.com is registered in the name of "Flat, Findmea" (har, har) but the actual registrant appears to be a certain george@findmeaflat.com. The site has also been live since July of 2004, suggesting that while this may not be a fly-by-night operation, we could be looking at a whole universe of unhappy landlords, tenants, and buyers.

So who are you, Mark, John, and George? And how many people have you taken advantage of?

Find Me a Flat?

If you've stumbled upon this blog, the chances are you're either considering working with the estate agents at http://www.findmeaflat.com, or have already made the mistake of doing so.

I did not long ago, and was cheated out of a £1200 deposit. This site serves a dual purpose: 1) to chronicle my attempt to get my money back and 2) to warn off anyone else naive enough to trust in these fraudsters.

A quick story:

I arrived in London knowing little of the city and not planning to stay long. I found my first flat through an online posting. The ad was put up by http://www.findmeaflat.com, and on a crisp winter night I was ushered into the apartment by Mark, a short young man with slick hair and an even slicker car. The flat wasn't the one pictured in the ad _ in fact the picture advertised is still on their site, but I took it anyways, paying £900 or so a month for a bright, cheery, newly refurbished studio in Whitechapel. The deposit was around £1200. Mark was solicitous, if a little evasive, but I trusted him. Six months later, it came time to move. My landlord wrote me a letter saying the flat was returned in impeccable shape, and I wrote to Mark to collect my deposit.

That's when Mark disappeared.

Two months later, I finally cornered him in his Vestry street office, rapping on his window as he came back from a viewing. Flustered, he let me in, saying he had no idea why I had not received his cheque, making a million apologies for not being in touch. He finally handed me an envelope _ with a cheque for £400. I said it was unacceptable. Mark said there must have been some mistake. He promised to clarify it.

I never heard from him again.

Several weeks and dozens of phone calls later I received an e-mail from John, Mark's colleague. He said I would not see the rest of my deposit again. He threatened to sue if I ever tried to retrieve the rest of the money.

I was unimpressed, and decided to sue him in turn. Over the next few months, we'll see how just how easy it is to bring London's property fraudsters to justice.