Through craiglist I came upon a rental property in Miami Beach on July 30th (#3159284472, which is still listed). The contact information for the person listing the property was [email protected] with a Miami address of (Personal Info Removed).
The person quoted me an estimate of the rental between Dec 22 and Jan 5 (two week rental agreement) and sent me the rental agreement, which I filled and sent back on July 31. The person then sent me their bank information (addressed to someone named Anjelica Polk) to secure the rental property and asked for 50% of the total rent ($1,100) security deposit of $500 for a total of $1600 to reserve the property. The transfer was made on August 1 and received by them on August 2.
Everything seemed fine until I received an email from them on August 6 asking if I was still interested in the property because they were receiving lots of interest and people were looking for long term rentals, the person when on to ask me for full payment upfront if I really wanted the property. I reminded the person that I was committed 100% with the rental as per the agreement that we signed and I only needed to pay 50% upfront and 50% at the time of occupancy. The person of course was very speedy in responding/sending emails through the day (all this happen on August 6). All communication starting from him stopped that day after I told him I would not send him 100% of the rental.
On August 8th, I sent the person an email asking for clarification and confirmation of the rental. No response from him for two days. I sent the person another email on August 10 with a more fulsome summary of events and telling him that if did not like the conditions of his own agreement, I would then be willing to receive a refund and cancel the contract. He then responded later that day (August 10) with a one liner email saying that he would like for me to pay 100% of the rental for me to get confirmation. At this point it is obvious that this person is playing games and wants more money out of me. However, I was not sure how to proceed from here on out and I've been trying to play his game to see if I can get more information out. After the person's last email on August 10, I emphatically told him that I was not transferring any more money to him and to please send me my money back to bank information (which I sent to him on the email) asap. The person responded the same day (August 10) with a one word email “ok”. I thought he was going to transfer the money at this point and felt a bit relieved.
On August 13 I sent the person another email asking when I would receive the money back. The person responded the same day with a one line email “I’m holding the place for you”. As it became obvious to the person that I would not send him any more money he decided to stop asking me to pay the remainder of the rental agreement. After this email, I asked him to give me a call or for him to send me his phone number so I could call him to discuss how to proceed. On August 14 I sent the person another email asking him again to speak to him and that I would like someone to look at the property as well and to confirm that indeed he was a person with power to rent the house, and I told him that I gave him 24hrs to respond. On August 15 I sent him an another email confirming my immediate cancellation of the rental contract (as per the agreement I can cancel 15 days prior to the booking in writing) and to send the deposit back to me (I gave him the bank information again).
At this point there was nothing I could do but wait. I had a personal travel arrangement for the next week so I did not send him anymore emails until August 27. At that point, I told him that the money had not yet been received at my end and I would give him until August 31 to do so, if not I would report to the authorities. The person responded later the same day with another one line email “I have already booked the property for you, you have nothing to worry about”. I immediately responded to him again the same day (August 27), telling him that I had already cancelled the agreement and there was nothing else to do, reminding him that I would notify the authorities by August 31 if I didn’t receive the money back. The person then responded later on August 27 with yet another one line email “Do you really want to involve the authority? ”. I responded yet again on the same day stating that all I wanted was to get my money back, no response from him after this. I’m not sure how to take his last email, could it be threat when the person says if I really want to involve the authorities? I’m not sure, but he does have all of my personal information (address, phone, ect..) so he can surely get a hold of me if he wanted to.
On August 30 I sent him another reminder email telling him I have not received the money, and no response from. I don’t expect him to respond again so I’m writing in hopes to get some type of justice or resolution. I currently have all of the documentation and correspondence between me and the person at Champions Rental, including:
• all email correspondence between both parties
• rental agreement the person sent signed
• bank information from the person and address
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