We were going to rent a house from these people, agreed upon the monthly amount as well as the required security deposit. When my wife went to the office to sign the lease (I was working and was to go at a later time) she was greeted by the husband/owner who went over paperwork with her. After she signed everything, he told her that he would actually require an additional $1200 deposit (on top of what was already paid) and that the rent would be $1300 not the agreed upon $1200. My wife never agreed to this and told him that she would have to consult with me on this matter before agreeing.
Suffice it to say that after a day or so of going back and forth over the matter and doing more research into Gary and Elise Barbour of Barbour Realty, we found that there are several citations, fines, and complaints against them for various reasons. All calls in the week following were never returned. Finally we got a hold of Elise and told her that we would not be moving in and that we would like our deposit back (which was never listed as "non-refundable"). She said "no problem, pick it up between 9-2 the next day and they would cut a check." Well, my wife went there Gary was conveniently not there and Elise suddenly did not have the authority to issue the check. When she got Gary on the phone he said that they would not be issuing a refund and if she has a problem with it to get a lawyer. *Already contacted the PA Attorney General, Inspector General, 3 TV stations, and 2 major newspapers*
I left my office to then go down and "just missed Gary by a few minutes" and was told that Elise could not talk to me. Several calls to Gary went unaswered/unreturned at this time. We will be filing with the local magistrate over this matter and suing for unfair practices, deception, theft, as well as a slew of others.
Just be advised - these people are crooks and should not be allowed to deal in real estate at all!!!
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