Innovative Apartments

Pretty much the same story as everyone here. These guys took me for a ride/​stole my money…
Here’s a press release.
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO BRINGS CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST NYC APARTMENT BROKER FOR BAIT & SWITCH SCHEMES ON
THAT BILKED 4,000 NEW YORKERS OUT OF NEARLY $ 1 MILLION DOLLARS :
Contact: Assistant Attorney General Lesley Brovner

Victory of Justice! The guys behind this scam operation were arrested recently:
Quote:
Four enterprising 20– somethings bilked 4,000 apartment-​seekers out of nearly $ 1 million through a bogus «No Fee Apartments» scam, officials charged yesterday.“
Arrested yesterday were Innovative Apartments co-​owners Nader Jaber, 24, of Manhattan, and Igor «Bobby» Portnov, 27, of Teaneck, NJ. Also busted were Portnov’s brother, Boris «Brian,» 22, also of Teaneck and Brooke Corio, 24, of Staten Island.

There is a lot of information about these guys online and not surprisingly, it’s all negative.
My experience was similar to the other reviewers. After seeing a bait and switch ad on Craigslist, I paid $ 225 — about $ 125 – 150 was supposed to be refundable based on how quickly you canceled their service.
The listings they provided me were either out of date, inaccurate or just false. Here’s a sample of a phone call with one of the apts they said was available: I called one number and the super said no apt was available, the apt had not been available for quite some time and asked me where I got the number from.
I tried to cancel the first day after I signed up (via fax because the cancellation has to be in writing). I called the next day and they said they did not get it. No problem — I hand delivered a copy to the manager in charge. He told me that the refund check for $ 75 would be sent in about 4 weeks. After 2 – 3 months, I called and wanted to know where the check was. The guy said that I hadn’t canceled and wasn’t entitled to a refund. I asked why I hadn’t been getting any emails — he had no answer for me. Basically, I’ve written off the $ 75 as a learning experience.
DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE

As the others have said, this is pretty close to a scam. They do have no-​fee apartment listings, but they are no different from what you’ll find on craig’s list or other free listings. The customer service is terrible too – sometimes their phone lines are down and you can get stuck for ages on their automated phone trees going around in circles and not reaching anyone. If you do leave a message it will be forever ignored and no one will follow up with you. I had already found an apartment but wanted to check with their service before I signed, just to be sure there was nothing else out there already. I explained to the broker that I was only interested in units that were available for viewing that day and he assured me that there were six units that met my specifications that were immediatley available for viewing. This was important because their contract clearly states that you can only get half of your money back once you get access to their listings. I explained that I would want a full refund if those six apartments were not there. I paid my money on this understanding and there were no apartments available for immediate viewing. When I called to complain I was told that I should wait a week or two. In other words they never listened to a word I said.

I totally agree with you Joyce!!! Same thing happened to me too. Over the past 3 years I’ve lived here it’s still hard to fathom some of the shadiness NY has to offer.
A year ago I went through Empire Apartments, paid the $ 200 fee and found nothing through their crappy listings. Half of the time the landlords never showed up to view the apts. I ended up going through a broker and found a great apartment in the city 2 days before I had to move out.
Back in July’07 I got the same $ 85 taken out of my account. I called and got no response. They did respond back to my email with this:
«Hello,
We have noticed the error and working on it as we speak. Empire Apartments is under new payment system
and we have processed your payment as an error. Under our terms of service, our intentions was to credit your
account to the full ammount which was charged due to the change in mangement and was processed as payment.
We are working on it and the $ 85 will be reversed plus the $ 195 which was originally intended to be refunded.
The reversal will be processed on monday and will take about 2 to 3 days for processing.
Our intention is to pay out all due refunds.
We appologize for the inconvenience.»
I have NOT seen a penny back into my account yet after 2 months of emailing and calling regarding my missing funds. My bank reimbursed me the money upfront, but through their investigation they couldn’t get a hold of Empire Apartments, so they took back the funds.
DO NOT go through Empire Apartments. They are shady scam artists who steal your money. Avoid this place at all costs!!!

The BIGGEST scam:

If I could give these guys 0 stars, I would — THESE GUYS ARE EVIL!!!
I paid a one-​time fee to get access to no-​fee apartment listings about 4 months ago. The fee was about $ 200, which I was fine with. I got to their listings, and they weren’t great, and I ended up finding a fantastic apartment elsewhere.
Forward 3 – 4 months later, and I’m seeing an $ 85 charge on my credit card. I don’t know WHY they’re charging me, so I decide to give them a call — except when I press 1, 2, etc. to get through to the different departments, ALL OF THEM lead to a message that says, «Sorry, our voice mail inbox is full,» and the thing hangs up on me. Not only that, but when I try to email them, I get my emails bounced back.
How convenient that ON THE DAY they charge my credit card $ 85, all their services are completely dead and gone. THESE GUYS ARE SCAMMERS — DON’T USE THEM!
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Update: Since this original post, I’ve been charged $ 40 on two separate occasions, and I was charged $ 60 just last month. Because Citibank can’t blacklist them from my credit card, I“ve had to close my account and open up a new one. Bastards.