Flatbush Realty

Review: This company has been advertising an apartment on craigslist with a new kitchen and full renovation located at [redacted] in Brooklyn. We went to view the apartment and it is not the apartment that is in the photos being advertised. I called the company back and they told me "they take a thousand photos so they can not guarantee that the photos in the Ad will be of the apartment.

This makes absolutely no sense at all. They are wasting peoples time by having them come view an apartment that they weren't originally interested in. Something needs to be done.

Below is the link of the advertised apartment. The apartment viewed looks nothing like this. [redacted]Desired Settlement: This company needs to post only photos representing the actual apartment for rent. They are misrepresenting and advertising false data.

Review: I went to Flatbush Realty because they advertised an apartment that I was interested in. Upon viewing the apartment I went back to business to find out what I needed to do to secure the apartment. I also wanted to confirm that the apartment would be ready by the time that I needed to move because construction work was being performed in the apartment. The business owner stated that the apartment would be ready by my July [redacted] move-in date, and that I needed to leave a deposit to take the apartment off of the market, fill out an application, and that they would let me know if I was approved in 3 days. I left a $400 deposit and waited the 3 days. When I didn't hear back from the business, I called to inquire about the status of my application and was told that they would contact me the next day. When the majority of the day had passed and I didn't hear from them, I called again and was told that the landlord was in court all day and that they would contact me the next day. My move-in date was less than 5 days away so I made a trip to the business. During that trip I was informed that the apartment that I put my application in for wasn't going to be available by my move-in date. When I asked for my deposit back, I was told that I had to wait 24 hours for it's return. Since it was Friday, I went back to the business on Monday for my deposit. When I initially asked for my money back another business owner attempted to offer me a different apartment to view that he swore would be ready by my move-in date, which was only 2 days away, instead of giving me back my deposit when I asked. When he eventually decided to give me back the deposit I was informed that I was charged $80 (2 people on the application) for a credit check. I explained that I didn't understand how they did a credit check when the apartment that I applied for wasn't going to be available by the time that I needed to move in and that it took me 2 phone calls and an additional trip to their office to get this information out of them. They had no intentions of submitting my application for the apartment that I applied for because the apartment wasn't going to be available and hence a credit check wasn't needed. I believe that they did the check to take my money in hopes that I would continue looking at apartments that they have listed.Desired Settlement: I would like for my $80 to be returned to me because the business had no reason to perform a credit check. It is not my fault, as the consumer, that the apartment wasn't going to be ready. Also, if the apartment wasn't going to be ready, they couldn't submit my application for it. If the business had informed me beforehand that the apartment wasn't going to be ready we could have worked out whether or not I wanted to see additional apartments with them and put in any applications for those apartments. Instead, the business took my money in hopes that I would continue to look at apartments through them.

Business

Response:

our company is known to give service to all through out the community for the past 30 years in renting apartments. EVERYONE THAT COMES TO OUR OFFICE KNOWS THERE IS $40.00 NON REFUNDABLE CHARGE FOR EACH CREDIT CHECK WHICH ARE SIGNS ALL OVER OUR OFFICE. THIS CHARGE IS WHETHER AN APPLICATION IS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED FOR AN APARTMENT.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Flatbush Realty regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Sincerely,