Has this happened to anyone else?

[Hells Bells]

Gloria,
we did say that anyone who wanted to know ask Crystal or I by private message. Also as MOuse was happy with the repsonse of the site involved in the fake listing, she didn'y think it necessary to mention it's name.ZIt is a well known site I believe. So if you want to know about any of them, PM Crystal, or myself for the address problem, and Mouse for the faked listing.

Helen

[Gloria - Casina di Rosa]

well I suppose this is a cultural specific attitude of mine.. I would have never even thought of not putting the name of the portal, both to let other people go check and to let them know that they are reliable in how they handled the situation. As an Italian, "secrecy" and "privacy" are not in my DNA. They look like a waste of time, but I understand it's me and my background.

Anyway, I have figured it out, so thank you anyway.

I will stick around, Joanna. Thanks!

This is a cool community full of useful information, even though I don't see many people managing properties in Italy around here. Wrong impression?

Ciao!

[Mouse]

Gloria - not a cultural thing with me or trying to create a mystery......just the simple fact that the website this happened on was not the issue (it could have been any site)

I started the thread about the 'possible' scam to see if anyone had experienced anything like this before.

Mouse
x

[CostaBlanca]

While I can understand that might be a cause of concern in a big city area where household breakins are a big problem, even so, a good security system ought to take care of that. So what other reasons are there for not giving out the address?

I am not so worried about security or scams really but like debk stated, I don´t want people just dropping in without notice to "take a look"... this has happened in the past. We have a high % of expats living here on the Costa Blanca who often have the task to select properties to rent on behalf of family and friends and I do not want my guests to be bothered during their holiday.

On the otherhand, I received this enquiry yesterday.

Clients Enquiry: could you please email above address regarding property to rent
Thankyou

.
There was no indication of when they wanted to travel. I was rather surprised with the question but maybe as you say, they wanted the exact location before proceeding any further.

Cheers,
Maria

[Guest3]

Paolo said

2. A fraud which I fear will become commonplace: a scammer is advertising a home which is not his, and going through the booking process up to taking the payments. How do renters know they are really dealing with an owner, or a property that exists? Without agencies or regulatory bodies between renter and owner, everything can be faked.

And the most important bit of information to complete this type of fraud would be the exact postal address!

We have been renting for over three years now and have only given out our full postal address once the booking deposit has been cleared...until then nada!!

We were once requested to fax a copy of a utility bill and a copy of the latest IBI (local council tax bill) of the property, (which details the name of the owner, and /or passport/residencia number) when the deposit cleared...which we were quite happy to do!

[A-two]

I am not so worried about security or scams really but like debk stated, I don´t want people just dropping in without notice to "take a look"...

Hmmm..you and debk may well be right about this. On a recent changeover, someone drove half way down the driveway, then backed up. Early arrival we thought, but that proved not to be so. It left us feeling a little uncomfortable. So I think I am going to change my website to indicate the town name only, but wouldn't want to go so far as to refuse to tell folks where it is if they ask. At the moment, when someone tells me that they or a local friend are going to do a "drive-by" before deciding whether to book or not, I ask them not to set foot on the property as we don't like to disturb guests in situ and that we will do the same for them. The house can't be seen from the street address anyway because it's set at the back of the property by the water at the end of a long driveway, and the driveway itself is concealed. Even so, anyone with enough determination to find it could go for a "looky-see" without even contacting me. Yep, that's a definite policy shift for me.

Thank you!

[debk]

could you please email above address regarding property to rent

Mouse, those are the kinds of inquiries I get, too. I explain that, for security and privacy reasons, we only provide the street address with confirmed reservations... but I also email a map with a big red "X" over our local knot of lanes and point them to an independent blog item that a guest wrote extolling the virtues of our neighborhood. And I ask them if they have any specific questions that I might help with.

It may be silly, but those kinds of inquiries make me a little nervous.
debk

[debk]

Yep, that's a definite policy shift for me.

Uh-oh. Getting crowded here in Paranoia Paradise... but welcome, welcome.
debk

[Normandy Cow]

Joanna, Deb,
Paranoia is my middle name!

I too NEVER give out my address until people have sent the final payment. I don't even give out the name of our village, I just say we are "near" Forges-les-Eaux, which is the local town, 10kms away.

Our house is isolated, and although we have a good burglar alarm that calls my mobile as well as sounding an exterior siren, I know that any burglars would have ample time to be in and out before we could react to either of those (not that anyone would hear the siren as our nearest neighbours are 10 minutes walk away).

Actually, I am not too scared of some opportunist burglar making away with the TV/DVD etc; my biggest fear is that of those who drive up with a large van and completely clean you out of everything - surprisingly commonplace nowadays, even in sleepy rural France.

[A-two]

Catherine,
Getting into the spirit of Paranoia Paradise, you might want to post-edit-delete that middle paragraph. No need to publish instructions!

[Big Sis..]

Can anyone let me have the details for Paranoi Paradise[just because Im paranoid doesnt mean its not true!!]
it sounds like a home from home Have you availability the end of August!!!

Seriously thogh even though I think most of what has been said is common sense.

You cant worry about every little thing or youd never get out of bed in the morning[sounds good to me]
And you could never contemplate renting your villa/house out to STRANGERS.

Surprisingly though the ones I think I will have trouble with are the ones that are great. Its the ones that you dont expect that do[something like that.]

Weve only had 2 lots of hassle/damage and that was from 2 lots of "Friends" That went. Paying next to nothing.
Of course I hadnt taken a damage deposit either.
Of course they denied all knowledge of damage but if there was the cleaners/cat/previous guests must have done it.

Regards