| The Rental Guide |
| The Rental Guide Bait & Switch Scam Artists Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 29th of Jun, 2011 by User251337 |
I had been searching for residential rental listings online, and as a result of having called about a particular listing that interested me, I came into contact with an agent of Rental Guide, who immediately began to pressure sell me on their "relocation services" meant to help me find the apartment I wanted as quickly and painlessly as possible. He cited all the problems that tend to go with searching for residential listings all on one's own without professional guidance and assistance by a company like Rental Guide. I was told that all my efforts to search listings online via Craigslist or newspaper classifieds etc.. would not produce the same results as I would get if I used their service, since all their listings would be filtered and customized to suit my personal requirements and preferences AND that they were able to acquire listings that were exclusive and not available from any other source! Both my husband and I were told that we would get our money back should we find the service unsatisfactory. This was stated to us, very clearly, by one of their agents at the front desk because of our hesitation to sign on and pay the fee right then and there. They practically bent themselves into pretzels trying to convince us to pay the fee... and to hurry the process. We finally agreed that with a money back guarantee, there was absolutely no reason why we shouldn't at least try their service. Afterall, we have been desperate to find a suitable apartment or suite as soon as possible. So we signed on and paid the fee of $100 plus tax. We were given a sheet of listings for that day along with an online user name & password to log on to their daily listings site. I was eager to start using their online listings page and began doing so immediately. I spent a solid 6-8 hours, each and every day searching for listings using this Rental Guide service as well as some other sources especially Craigslist, Kijiji, etc.
I began to notice that ALL of the listings on our Rental Guide [paid] site were the very same one's I was finding on these other [free] sites. And there was nothing whatsoever "customized & exclusive" about the listings they were sending me. To make things worse, there were MANY listings that were designated as "new" but were in fact, grossly outdated and many of these had already been rented, sometimes up to 2 months prior! Other problems included wrong contact information on listings. When trying to use the contact info on these listings, I discovered that phone numbers did not match the the right listings, emails were misprinted and there were many typos and errors in these listings. But things got even worse, I was actually met with hostility by landlords that I was able to contact because [as they related to me]... they were sick and tired of receiving continued numerous calls about rentals that either no longer existed, or NEVER HAD EXISTED in the first place. These people expressed anger at this Rental Guide service for apparently using their listings without their knowledge and permission. A few of them asked me for the company's phone number and then called them up to complain. Meanwhile I tried for over 10 days to make any kind of progress at finding a decent lead for an apartment or suite using Rental Guide's search list and was completely unsuccessful. Listings that are not current, listings with errors and listings that lead to hostile contactees has consumed valuable time and energy, has caused us undue distress and deep discouragement with Rental Guide. I had called their office many times to complain, and I got someone to speak to on only 3 occasions. The first two conversations ended in a promise to resolve these issues. But the last conversation which took place today, Wednesday June 29, 2011, is what finally caused me to write up this report. You see, after all the run around, the excuses, the fast dancing and the assurances that I got by their manipulative and fast talking agents...... I had yet another bad listing that I wasted time trying to follow up on because again.... the contact info was incorrect. So I called their office and asked for that *refund* that was originally promised to us, because we had determined that we were NOT satisfied with their service afterall. After 10 consecutive days of searching their lists I was unable to find one decent lead for a rental..!! Their response was to make more excuses including their ongoing computer problems..etc..etc.. and then they resorted to personal insults and blaming ie calling my online search practices and skills into question. They were not willing to take any responsibility whatsoever for these issues but instead became condescending and rude. They flatly refused to close out our account and give us a refund and then hissed something about reading the "fine print". The fact of their verbal assurances [right to our faces] that we would recieve a money back guarantee, went completely unacknowleged, was denied and buried while they called my husband and I liars. We are senior citizens I believe that we have been manipulated, deceived and ultimately robbed by this company. $100 may not be much to some but for others, it can be a lot of money to lose for nothing. |
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I have recently signed onto Rental Guide as well and found their service absolutely useless. At first the listings that they provide seem good because there are so many that I hadn't seen on other sites. However, after calling a bunch of these places I realized that most of the ads were old which is why I didn't recognize them. Basically their employees scan all the free websites and then re-post the ads on their own website. So of course when these apartments get rented out the lanlords remove their ads from the original site, but the information for that ad remains on the Rental Guide website. So really, all you are getting is a bunch of old listings. Almost every person I called had rented out their suite weeks earlier and were surprised to be receiving a call from me. Many were confused at how I had even gotten their numbers. I had a feeling that this was a scam for I found the agent on the phone pushy and their website amateur at best, however, I live in Victoria and I figured $100 spent might save me a ferry trip ($120) so I thought I'd take a risk. I signed up 4 days ago and I may as well have thrown my money out the window. In fact, I have now wasted hours upon hours calling out dated listings. DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!
Rob
July 14th, 2011 |
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| I fully agree with this review. Rental Guide Vancouver is a scam and should be shut down. This summer I had to relocate to Vancouver for work, and was desperate to find affordable housing on short notice. I fell for the sales pitch, sadly. So I paid the $100 fee, got some listings, and ended up spending most of my time calling around for apartments that had been rented out ages ago already. Like the commenter above, I found many landlords were not only confused about where I had gotten the rental listing from, but once I told them about Rental Guide, they were ANGRY that a company had taken their free listings and were reselling them! I can certainly understand the frustration these landlords felt -- they had done all the hard work to write, prepare and post their rental listings on various websites, only for Rental Guide to steal them and resell for a profit. None of the landlords had been contacted by Rental Guide to ask permission to use and resell their listings, either. Clearly this is NOT an ethical company. I have seen Rental Guide advertise on various sites and boast about their high Better Business Bureau rating -- but anyone who's dealt extensively with the BBB or worked with them can tell you that BBB ratings mean nothing anymore, as the BBB itself is a sham -- high ratings are simply purchased through business "memberships" and "subscriptions" to the BBB. So don't fall for Rental Guide's sales pitch like I did. Save your money and do your own rental searching... you'll find the exact same listings on free sites anyway. |
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| I also figured that they might have at least a few listings that were unique to their business, but they totally jsut ripped them off craigslist. However, I did bitch at them a couple times and ended up getting my money back. |
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| Another website that advertises on craigslist is "rentalsinvancouver.com". The website offers absolutely no info whatsoever in regards to listings you may be interested in. It just shows pointless articles and links to other websites, probally fee for service. However, the listings on CL are repeats and according to the comments above, probally very old (rented). When you see such listings on CL, flag 'em, flag 'em relentlessly. drive them off CL. I have been looking for a reasonable suite since mid Aug, and to find out these assholes, using a free service such as CL to line their pockets is infuriating to say the least. If anyone feels they have been defrauded by them, contact your local police and pursue criminal charges. Good Luck |
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| I`m having such a hard time finding a place due to the fact the 3 out of 5 plases take u to the rental guide page i don`t wish to use these people i have used them many moons ago and they were useless PLEASE STOP THE SPAMMING FOR ALL |
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| They're posting fake rental ads on craigslist to get renters contact information in order to solicit them. I replied to a CL post with my phone number and all of a sudden started getting sketchy phone calls from therentalguide, who subsequently couldn't tell me what ad I had inquired about or how they got my number. When I threatened to file BBB complaint they requested I supply them with my phone number (the one they just call me on!) to put me on a 'do not contact list'... I can't imagine giving them your money is a good idea. |
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| Thanks for sharing. I was seriously considering using the Rental Guide to find a new place but after reading these reviews I will steer clear. Thanks for saving me $120 (their rates have gone up)! |
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