On or about January 20th I was selling my condo in Long Beach. I started looking in local newspapers to find a rental since I would be moving out of my condo after escrow would be closing. I found a 3 Bedroom 2 bath house in Orange county for $1300 dollars. I immediately called the number listed on the ad to inquire about the property. I found that the number I was calling was actually an agency that was listing the house for the owner. The gentleman on the phone said for a $95 dollar fee he could tell us about that property and at least 12 to 13 others in the same price range and in the same general area.
My wife and I drove from Long Beach to Huntington Beach to an office called CA4Rent. We filled out the necessary paper work and paid our $95 dollars.in our contract we had stated that we were looking for a 3Bedroom house with 1-2Bathrooms in the Orange county Area for around $1300. Immediately after paying the $95 dollars they gave us a print out of available properties.
On this list were several properties that did not meet our search criteria. They were either not in our price range or they were Town homes or Condo's. When they knew that we were in search of a 3 bedroom house. We asked them if we could have a new list that had Houses for rent instead of these Townhomes and Condo's. They again gave us another list of properties and it turned out to be the same list they had just previously handed us.
I told the receptionist that I had just got off the phone before coming up there with a gentleman who told us that there were at least 12 to 13 homes in our search criteria that we were looking for. She went in the back room to talk to someone and came back with an address and a phone number to a listing that was in Anaheim. She told us to go by and look at the property to see if we liked it and then try and call the number to see if we could meet with the owners to view the house in question. We drove 23 miles out of our way to an address on W. Orange to see a very nice home. We liked the home in question. But, we noticed that there was a car parked in the driveway and several toys around the front yard. It didn't look to be for rent at all as Ca4Rent had stated. We then called the number of the owner that they had given us. The number was disconnected.
Frustrated we immediately called CA4Rent back and told them the number they gave us were disconnected and the property seemed to have people live in it. They then proceeded to tell us that the property had been rented out for the last 2 months already. We were to say the least upset that we had drove all the way out there to find this out when they could have saved us a trip and told us this from the beginning.
We drove all the way back to Long Beach and called CA4REnt and told them that the list of properties they gave us did not match our criteria and could they please give us a new one. We were told on the phone to stand by and they would email us an updated list right away so we could continue our search. Six hours had past and we received nothing. I called back again and they apologized and said it would be a couple of days before they could get that list to us. But, in the mean time they gave us another property to go and look at. They assured us that this property was indeed for rent and available for immediate move-in. The property was located in the City of Orange. We then drove another 20 miles to orange to arrive at the address and to find that the property was a Townhouse. Again not what we wanted on our search criteria and CA4Rent already knew this.
By this time we were pretty mad and when we called back CA4REnt was already closed for the day.
The next day we woke up early to call some of the numbers of the list of properties the agency had given us. We then discovered that the majority of the numbers on the list were either disconnected, wrong numbers or were no longer for rent and had not been available for rent for quite some time.
We drove back to Huntington Beach to talk to CA4Rent in person. Told them that the list they gave us was full of bogus rentals and that most of the numbers were disconnected or wrong numbers or properties that had not been available for rent for some time. We told them that we felt we had been taken for a ride and that we wanted our money back as stated in the contract. Our contract stated that if within 5 days after signing the contract that CA4Rent did not provide you with at least 3 rentals that met your search criteria that we were entitled to a full refund. We signed a document stating that we no longer wanted their services and wanted a full refund. We were informed that our refund would be sent within 10 days.
We waited 15 days and called CA4Rent. They did not give us a straight answer on when our refund would be in the mail. I then wrote a letter requesting my refund again. I sent this letter on February 20th. I sent it certified and they signed for it. I received a letter from CA4Rent shortly after my letter I had sent to them stating that We were approving us for our refund but we were only approved for half of the refund because they claim they did find us rentals that met our search criteria and that we had to wait until after April 20 when our contract expires.
We just bit our tongue and waited until April 20th came. We called CA4Rent and they said to fax them the letter they sent us back in February saying we were approved for the refund and they would get the check in the mail. We did as they requested. Waited 2 weeks and nothing came. We faxed them several more times with the same paper they asked for previously and still nothing came. I would call them almost everyday for a whole week and they would put me on hold for 15 to 20 minutes at a time and never picking the phone back up to talk to me.
So, that leaves me at today.
It is May 24th and still no refund. I even went to their office today and asked them in person about my refund. They gave me the run around again. Saying that the check was already mailed. When asked when the check was mailed they said, Let's see, your contract expired on April 20th, so your check was mailed on the 21st of April. I told her that we never got a check in the mail. She then said she knows nothing about it and that I would have to come back later to talk to the people who deal with refunds. As my wife and I were leaving a lady who was standing behind me asked me if I was there trying to get a refund as well. I told her yes and she said she too was trying to get a refund and informed us about how she would call numbers and they were disconnected or already rented as well. This obviously has been an on going thing for this company to take your money and hand you a bogus piece of paper that means nothing.
Please help us expose this company for the frauds that they are. Please get these people on TV so that we can let everyone know that these people will take your money and not give you any help in finding a home for you and your children. We hired them to help us find a home and we are lucky that we didn't end up living on the streets.
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