I recently was browsing craigslist to look for apartment rentals in London, and stumbled upon some good looking choices for what seemed a much smaller sum to pay than other sites I had looked at. One of the good looking ones was vacationholidaypalacehome. Does anyone know if this is a legitimate business? How do you usually send deposits for apartments? Thanks, Mark
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
The "reception" number is a mobile phone which is a big no-no-sign for me. The address given is a genuine real estate agent which is a branch of Foxton's, a big British chain. Their phone number is +44 20 7616 7000 - might be worth ringing that and if you get somebody at that actual location and not a call centre ask them if vacationholidaypalacehome are really upstairs.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
More generally any site which is allegedly an international company and only gives contact details as a mobile phone (in the UK, any number beginning 07 in national format or 44 7 in international) and an email on a mass-service site like gmail or hotmail is dodgy.
Posted by
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
2349 posts
I will defer to Phillip's knowledge here, but would also add that craigslist might not be the best place to look. Try vrbo.com or homeaway.com. There are others as well. The sites that specialize in just vacation rentals will have more checks in place to catch the scammers. We've used homeaway.com here in the US several times with good success.