I was helping my Mom find a new home when I found a company on craigslist advertising extremely low rent homes in our area. I called the number and they required me to pay $1 for the list. I thought that sounded fishy, but the sales person assured me it was just to weed out abusers.
I went ahead and gave him my info, drilling him about any underlying charges. He then told me that part of the deal was that I listen to some sales pitches from a couple companies. Over the phone, and that there was no obligation to buy. He also told me that they would send me gas vouchers for listening to their pitches. I agreed, got the list, answered some phone calls, and then cancelled my account with realty partner.
I got the home list and was shocked that not even the home they advertised on craigslist was on their website list of homes. There were no addresses or pictures. I called a couple of the phone numbers for some of the homes and never heard back. I figured it was a gimmick, and I was only out $1.
I watched my bank account expecting to get some bogus charges from Realty partner, but never did. Then a month later I started getting charges from other companies. One of which I had received mail, another of which I had never heard of.
Turns out realty partner charges people $1 for a bogus list of homes, and people don't get upset because it is only $1. But they turn around and sell the info to third party companies who then rip off the consumer. I flagged them on craigslist, but nothing else has come of it.
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