Ripped off by MRI Macanthony Realty International.
I am in a very sorry situation at present having purchased through Macanthony Realty International, which now appears to have reappeared as DCC International Property (Despite press releases to the contrary, they have conveniently taken over the same office space in Spain and Cyprus that I am aware of, and similarly have former directors of MRI behind them, namely Wendy Macanthony, Michael J Liggan, and have also set up Solutions Overseas using another former director, Kostas Tsitsias who also conveniently owns some 300 other domain names such as mriski.com no doubt with the intent to move on again if the complaints get too much)
The story begins after visiting an Overseaspropertyexpo claiming to have independent developers, legal and currency advice for numerous countries and so on. As official complaints have later showed and been upheld by the advertising standards authority, this was not the case!
After visiting the apparently independent exhibition, my wife and I were bombarded with information about various options open to us to purchase in Bulgaria. Continual insistence to go on an inspection trip made a modicum of sense at the time, neither my wife nor I had been to the country, and we were looking to invest a substantial amount of money.
We did not book a trip at the time, but returned home to do some further research, only to find ourselves called almost nonstop by staff for dates that we could travel to Bulgaria, despite the fact we had told them several times we needed to get time off work, the insistence was relentless from them. Looking back now, that should really have set alarm bells ringing at the time.
Eventually, we organized time off and booked a trip. The booking of that was farcical itself to say the least, first being told the trip was Only 139 then to find the way it really worked was that we paid the whole cost (659) and we would be refunded the difference, in cash, whilst in Bulgaria (Although not a lawyer, surely this is tantamount to money laundering? Certainly card fraud.)
On our arrival in Bulgaria, we were met quite some time after our arrival, despite our plane landing on time. Our somewhat hung over (to say the least) rep, took us to our hotel to check in, and hurried us out for coffee. From here the incessant badgering, questioning and pressure began.in roundabout ways we were repeatedly asked if we had enough money on our cards to make a deposit, how much could we get our hands on and the like and so and so on.
Eventually we got to see some building sites. Basically holes and piles of rubble, not very impressive at all. Several of us (9 if memory serves me correctly) were herded around the sites like cattle, with very little to see as far as design or construction was concerned, this all started to raise alarm bells with me and the wife.
Aside from the relentless trawling round sites, we were subsequently parked in a dingy room where the dog and pony show began. Various quotes and figures were made about the past, current and projected growth of Bulgaria's tourism sector and economy, almost all of which we now find are vastly incorrect. The promise of easy to obtain mortgages by the time of completion was laboured heavily. (At the time, we didn't realize why, sadly now though we do!)
At the end of the very timeshare like presentation, a manger came and sat with us and the salesman. We said we would take a unit and the response was with so much contempt it was beyond belief. The sales banter was reiterated at great length, now by two high pressure staff, after a while we were joined by an independent mortgage advisor (not independent at all as we later found out) who increased the pressure even more, showing us manipulated calculations based on what we know now to be non existent rental projections that we now know could not possibly be met.
After several hours of guilt tripping pressure, and almost every type of emotion possible, we gave in. We placed deposits on 3 apartments. A decision that went against almost every gut feeling we had at the time.
That decision has cost us dearly. What initially was to be a small investment with cash that we had available, turned into a huge debt against our family home which we are about to lose, 3 additional properties that we have now lost due to being unable to get the promised mortgages, or any rental income through the MRI rental scam. It also cost us a small fortune in very low quality furniture packages that could have been bought for a fraction of the price.
Hindsight is a fantastic thing, and I regret daily ever going to that exhibition. The fact of the matter is simple, despite my mistakes. My wife and I were blatantly lied to on numerous occasions before, during and after the sales, as well as during the finance and legal processes.
When we tried to seek recourse and resolution, we were dealt with by a very unsavoury Steve Canueto. A very odd character to say the least. Research shows that he used to be a DJ and compilation producer for the Ministry of Sound, then working for MRI. During the latter part of our dealings, he appears to be working for both! I realize executives can work across different areas of work but I really don't see the transition from the heady world of night club DJ into investment property and back again, or even at the same time. One has to ask what the link is there. Why would such a high profile music entity that has produced the likes of Boy George need to get involved in the murky world of real estate? We have been threatened with legal action several times when trying to find a way out of the predicament, typically Canueto's style.
We found a similar situation to ourselves where Canueto had told a very distressed couple that any refunds where down to the developer and not MRI and under Spanish law they must pay. Staff refused to be of any assistance at all after we had parted with our money, unless they were phoning to collect more.
My wife and I are shadows of our former selves. We have lost everything and are now living in rented accommodation, and will likely be in financial difficulty for many years to come. MRI has threatened to sue us if we went public with any information about this, but the time has come where it really doesn't matter any more. There is nothing left to sue us for. All the while, Darragh Macanthony is swanning around with his football club, (Peterborough United FC) claiming Swiss residency for tax evasion purposes. The former directors are now setting up other companies to divert complaints and backlash, and no doubt start the same old scam again on an even deeper scale.
I don't really expect to get anywhere with this here, I see there are a substantial number of complaints on this site against Macanthony and his cohorts, none of which have been responded to. I doubt this one will be any different. However, given the fact that these thieves have removed a substantial amount of money from my family, with absolutely no remorse, care or understanding, I will make certain that every piece of negative press I can find about every individual and company involved is published and consolidated.
Even if it prevents 1 family making the same mistake as me by allowing themselves to be bullied into the purchase of something that could not afford at all, using extensive amounts of miss-selling and deception at every stage of the sale, the exercise will have been well worth the trouble. I have nothing to lose at all. The following people have been directly responsible for that, followed by a list of companies that have connections in some form or another directly or indirectly.
Individuals in question.
Darragh Macanthony
Steve Canueto
James Robinson
Kostas Tsitsias
Michael Liggan
Brigitte Stone
Paul Howells
Wendy Macanthony
John Gill
James Forrester
Scott Walker
Paul O'Mahony
Sarah O'Callaghan
Geoffrey Donoghue
Michael Noddings
Shaheena Malik
Rolf Christensen
Austin Macanthony
Kyra Hoogeveen
Dominic Pickering
Companies involved. Directly or Indirectly.
Macanthony Realty International
Macanthony Reality International
HIFX
Capital Financial Partners
Matinez Echiverras
DCC International Property
ML Realty SL
Solutions Overseas
MRI Construction
MRI Aftersales
Overseas Property Expo.com
MRITV
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