Complaint / Review
Southern California Rentals - So Cal Rentals - Cal Rentals - Southern California Rental Properties
Ripoff fraudalent, never refund money, dishonest, unethical sales tactics, went out of business, disconnected phone lines

I recently moved into a studio apartment. But during the process of apartment hunting, I was becoming restless
and frustrated with trying to find the "perfect" place. I then saw an ad on SanDiegoCraigslist.org for a 1 bedroom cottage in Hillcrest.

So I immediately called in and spoke to a representative named Dan. I thought I was talking to the landlord or owner, but it turns out that I was calling a rental properties agency (Southern California Rental Properties).

I explained to him that I was interested in the cottage and wanted to schedule an appointment to see it. He kind of laughed and said that I had to sign some papers in their office located on 8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite O. Dan told me that he had about a dozen of cottages in Hillcrest starting at $675/ month. All I had to do was pay his company $95 and that money included the background checks / credit checks, and if the company could not find me a property, they would simply refund me my money. So I thought, "it can't hurt to try."

So when I got to SoCal Rental Properties on 6/3/05, I realized that I was a little misled. I thought they could give me the codes to get into the properties, but that was not the case. The customer service rep. Ronnie was very persuasive and coached me to signing up with their services. I felt very suspicious, but I was desperate to find an apartment.

It turns out that majority of their listings are expired, they manipulate their customers, and I checked on the bbb.org website and many customers have complained about their services. On top of that, I demanded a refund on 6/6/05 and they pointed out that they would only refund me $45 of my initial $95 payment. Only three days, and they were going to walk away with $50 of my hard-earned money.

I called back on 6/30/05, because the company still has not refunded me my money into my account. I spoke to a representative named Kisha. Kisha told me that the company is going through a re-shuffle and that
she doesn't know when I will get refunded. I explained to her that it sounds very suspicious that the company is misleading their customers.

So now I am stuck. I don't know what to do at this point. I would like to put out a Consumer Alert for others to stay away from Southern California Rental Properties, because they seem to be engaging in fradulent activities.