Comments on: Landlord Did a Bait and Switch – Kept Full Rent Paid

By: Titus Androgynous

Titus Androgynous — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 23:54:02 +0000

I dunno, Bedford Sty is pretty notorious for crime across the east coast. I find it hard to believe that you found a “tame” description of the neighborhood. I googled Bedford Sty crime rates and there’s plenty of information.

I’m sure you didn’t mean for your remarks to appear belittling when you chided someone from another country about the size of the US but it sure sounds that way.

By: beatricestcyr

beatricestcyr — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 17:16:00 +0000

P.S.: I’m sure you did not intend for your remarks to appear belittling but I’m sure you know the United States is 17 x the size of France. Our home is nearly the same distance as Paris is from Cologne. As hard as we try, we cannot conveniently be everywhere and truly understand the subtle nuances of every neighborhood in every city in our country. The best we can do is to educate ourselves about new places in advance of a trip. In our case, we did. What we initially found was a very tame description of a neighborhood that in reality has a higher-than-normal share of shootings and robberies. As I was traveling (without my husband) with non-English speaking visitors (with two small children under the age of 10), I took the unusual step of asking the landlord if she would be wiling to cancel our reservation and grant us a refund, despite her strict cancellation policy. When she initially said no, we told her, fine. We said we could not afford to lose the money we set aside for our vacation lodging and would stay at her home anyway.

To be clear, at that point it was the landlord who then suggested we look for alternative accommodations. We told her we would act on her suggestion and that we expected a full refund, something she did not dispute at all. This is a case of deception – and not a naive “native American” who should have known better.

By: beatricestcyr

beatricestcyr — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:13:33 +0000

Oh, I agree with you. Unfortunately, that’s not the point of my post. Again, we told the landlord we would stay ANYWAY despite the dangers — because we could not afford to lose our deposit. It’s not the fact that we did or didn’t know about the crime in the area – my issue is that the landlord encouraged us to leave after we expressed our concerns to her, and never disputed our request for a refund (something we openly asked for BEFORE we cancelled). An honest businessperson would say, “look if you’re that worried, you should look for alternative accommodations — but your request for a refund will not be granted and you will not get your money back.” THAT did not happen, even though we said (in writing) that it was our expectation to receive a refund in acting on her request. It was very deceptive.

By: Mademoiselle Papillon

Mademoiselle Papillon — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 09:42:13 +0000

Hello !
I am sorry to tell you that, but as a native american aware of the dangers of some areas, you should have checked the reputation of the district before booking, as the owner of this property didn’t lie on its location.
Then, you write that the flat only have good reviews, as people who spent time there aren’t americans and don’t know the crime’s rate of this district. That only shows that sometimes, even a bad district can also provide a good accommodation, and that reputation doesn’t make everything. It also shows that this district has potential to to get better, as guests who have been there for a few days let a 5 stars notation.
Might be that in Manhattan the price wouldn’t have been the same.
My personnal opinion : this flat is proposed for short term reental, not for sell. I don’t understand why the criminallity rate woould change something for someone who just want to stay for a few days. In that case, I warn everybody that the crime’s rate in the US is bigger than in France, my country, so better come to my place if you want to feel safe.
Fortunatelly for attorneys, people who exagerate exists !
Sorry for being frank.