Blogocentric Formulations

I Hate Scams

I hate people that take advantage of others, especially those that prey on people's insecurities, desperation, or dreams. Today my wife and I found a beautiful house for rent in the classified section, at an amazing price, and called to inquire about the property. Turns out it's a bank-owned foreclosure, and this company rents out the properties. I know a lot of banks are doing the whole "take over the mortgage payments on this house" thing, which is definitely not for us, but this company assured us it was a rental only. We'd have the option to buy, but we could also rent the property with no loan application or any of the other really questionable practices a lot of banks employ to find someone to acquire their toxic assets.

So I talk on the phone with this representative for fifteen minutes, and he says all the right things. He's reassuring, confident, and definitely talking up the properties. Tells me that his service has hundreds of properties in the area, and we'll have access to his website where we can log in and check out the properties, then request to view them in person before we decided where we'd like to live.

Then, after getting my name and mailing and email addresses, he hits me with it.

"And how would you like to pay for this today? Visa, Mastercard, American Exp--"

I stopped him right there and said, "You know, I appreciate all the information, but as a general rule, I don't give payment information over the phone after a phone conversation. Can you send me some documentation to review? Terms and conditions of your service, things like that."

He immediately snapped at me, losing all pretenses of courtesy and politeness and says, "We're not in the business of sending out pamphlets or marketing materials. We put people in houses. So what's your credit card number?"

I explain to him again, now with warning bells going off in my head, that I will not be giving him a credit card number over the phone, at least until I can review - at my own leisure and with legal documentation in front of me - the terms of the service he is asking me to pay for. Especially when the service involves foreclosures, dealing with banks, pre-approvals, mortgage agreements, etc. I say I hope he can understand my hesitance to just give him a credit card based on what he's told me over the phone. Heck, he hasn't even told me how much he charges for his service!

Oh, but I'm missing out on such a great opportunity! I'm really going to be sorry if I pass up this chance! How can I even think of wasting all his time today if I'm not going to go through with it?

The call ended with him very abruptly saying, "When you're ready to rent a real property, you give me a call. We're not interested in sending people information (as if it were a dirty word)... we put you in a house. Period."

And then he hung up.

Sorry, Mr. "Trust me and give me a credit card number over the phone"... I don't do business that way, and I hope most other people don't either. Even if you are providing a legitimate service, you're going about it the wrong way. Asking for more information or time to consider an offer is not a crime... and treating it like it is only makes you look like you're hiding something.

I hate scams.