It’s bedbug vs bedbug out there in apartment rental service reviews.
Most of the rental services (bedbugs) limit themselves to back-of-the-hand slurs of their rivals, but one directly attacks Chicago Apartment Finders (CAF) in this post on Google:
It’s flattering that CAF is threatened by our boutique firm enough that they would would maliciously attack us and then give themselves a 5 star review from the same account … It appears Chicago Apartment Finders has been fabricating their feedback for at least one year. Review it. It’s quite obvious…
I created this company based on an experience I had in 2006 when I used Chicago Apartment Finders, along with a number of other Chicago companies, and was very dissatisfied with the service. The fabricated review, which I can only assume Chicago Apartment Finders left, is a complete demonstration of how they run their company, and what ethical boundaries they adhere by. Review their negative reviews on Yelp, you will hear the same horror stories over and over again.
The poster goes on to tout his company’s ethical standards (don’t they all?) and cite its positive reviews. As seems to be the case with nearly everyone who reviews rental services – except for the people who earn extra money posting positive reviews – a positive review of his company is the only one the reviewer ever felt motivated to post.
If you’re searching Craigslist for apartments and don’t want to risk dealing with a rental service, consult our do-not-call list.
The Orkin Man strikes again!
Hi Joe,
Just wanted to weigh-in on the above post in an attempt to set the record straight. Chicago Apartment Finders does not populate its own Yelp pages with false reviews.
During the time of this post (December 2010), our staff of over 150 did not include anyone named Peter. While the name “Peter” could very well be a made-up name, a bit of investigation has led me to the conclusion that the rift included in the link above might have a more personal back-story.
Anyone who reads your site is aware of your oftentimes-legitimate qualms with the industry, and we have talked personally about the unfortunate aspects of the apartment finding process. Perhaps this is presumptuous, but I am beginning to think that your disdain with apartment finding services might also have a more personal back-story.
If nothing else, your diligence is commendable. Keep in mind, even Oprah once kept cockroaches as pets – give the “bedbugs” a break.
Fondly,
Julie
Media Relations – Chicago Apartment Finders
Julie,
Love your ambiguity. Does CAF outsource its phony reviews or do rogue agents plant their own?
The crazily laudatory reviews are patently fictional – humans just don’t speak that way. They’re written in the language of marketing interns and, sad to say, “media relations” youngsters.
When I ran a weekly real estate newspaper I allowed several of the bedbugs to advertise in it. I quickly concluded that I was part of perpetrating a fraud on the public and canceled their ads.
Several bedbugs are friends of mine. I dropped in on one yesterday, someone I hadn’t seen in years and who wasn’t aware of my current bedbug campaign. He was unconcerned, and felt I’d have no impact on his business because, he contended, “the kids today are too f*ing lazy to find apartments on their own.”
The kids aren’t that lazy. Bedbugs like your client continue to trash Craigslist to make it more difficult for the kids and create demand for their costly “service.”
As I’ve made clear repeatedly, a number of Chicago’s top-tier brokerage firms are my clients. I hate to see the industry’s image tarnished by the likes of your client and the other bedbugs.
If you want to accomplish something positive for your client in the way of “media relations,” work with them to clean up their act.
Start by cutting the number of repetitive ads on Craigslist. Then cut out all the “keyword stuffing” in the ads that’s designed to frustrate people searching for specific neighborhoods. Along the way, talk to a competent attorney and ask whether that keyword stuffing violates state licensing law.
Moving right along, ask your clients whether they have the requisite written authorization to advertise all the MLS-listed condos that they advertise.
Ask your client whether MRED, the MLS to which it belongs, explicitly bars its members from using the phrase “search the entire Multiple Listing Service (MLS)” – a deceptive phrase found in many of its Craigslist ads.
Ask your client to change the business practices that have led to its being repeatedly trashed at Yelp.
I could go on and on in this vein, Julie. If you want to come here and pretend that CAF is something other than what it is, I will.
This comment thread is epic. I kind of love it.