Daniel was extremely unprofessional! As someone who has applied to well over 80 apartments, he couldn’t even do the bare minimum and let me know what address he was referring to. For someone who works in a commission based environment, your sales skills suck! Attaching a photo for reference :)
UPDATE: I’ve stumbled across a new listing, unfortunately also hosted by Devoted (I didn’t notice when inquiring), and rather than apologizing for the service I originally received, they doubled down and ask me to remove the review in order to proceed with viewing a listing. What about providing satisfactory service first?
Reportar esta reseña
MT
Maria TsororosLocal Guide
21 Jan 2024
I used this real estate agency as a landlord to fill some vacancies I had. Over the course of 2-3 years I started having issues with all 4 tenants they brought me. Different issues all at different times. They brought me two tenants who should have never passed a background check. One tenant had multiple recent criminal charges in a different state and the other had stopped paying after moving in. She was a mentally unstable resident who requested we come into the apartment to fix a leak and then became physically aggressive. Stay far away from them. They are not thorough and just care about making money and now I have to not only worry about my safety, but also the tenants living around her.
Reportar esta reseña
KC
Kristina Castellano
11 Sep 2022
I inquired about an apartment in Bay Ridge online. I was contacted by a Peter from devoted real estate to schedule a viewing. Come time of the appointment, I met with Johnny O'keefe to view on Saturday at 11am. Johnny was a few minutes late but I did not find this to be a big deal as things happen. Fell in love with the apartment and wanted to move forward with applying. Johnny informed me that to apply I would have to schedule an appointment at the office to fill out an application and would need to also provide the security deposit in full when applying. This deposit would be refundable if my partner and I were not approved. Shortly after the viewing, I texted Johnny to schedule our appointment to apply. I received no answer, so I called him. He did answer this time and confirmed an appointment with me at the office for the next day, Sunday at noon. Fast forward to Sunday morning, I texted Johnny that my partner and I were on the way and would see him soon. Once again, I received no answer. Upon arriving at the office, cash in hand, ready to put a hefty deposit down, and apply my partner and I were surprised to see it completely closed, gates down and all. I immediately called Johnny and said I was there for my 12pm but the place was closed. He proceeded to tell me he completely forgot to let me know someone else put in an application and was approved the previous day (same day I saw it). I was mind blown because when we met to view the apartment Johnny convinced me he would get my partner and I approved had we moved forward and never mentioned another application being put in. After our initial meeting I was very pleased with Johnny and excited to work with him going forward. However, he did not live up to this first impression. I am SO disappointed in the unprofessionalism. Please be cautious using this company as a resource for your real estate needs!
Respuesta de Devoted Real Estate empresa4 Oct 2022
Hi Kristina,<br><br>Thank you for taking the time to view the apartment with John from Devoted Real Eatate. John too, was also excited and optimistic with working with you and your partner on finding your next home. As you may know, the rental market at the moment is very volatile and apartment availability is scarce. John did indeed make an appointment for you to apply for the apartment for the next day. Another associate of Devoted Real Estate was contacted by the landlord later in the day and was told the apartment was no longer available and to take it off of the market, as it had been rented that morning by another agency. After an apartment is taken off the market, we typically delete the listing from our schedule operating system, and in turn any upcoming appointments - for viewings, applications, and otherwise - were also deleted, unbeknownst to John. Although it was out of his control, John does take accountability for this, and will make changes in our scheduling system to assure this does not happen again. If you have any other questions, feel free to give John a call, because as you noted from your past experience with John, he always picks up the phone on first call, oftentimes John is driving and cannot answer text right away. We regret, that your experience did not turn out with you moving into your new home, but we would be happy to work with you again the future and aim to deliver better results. We wish you luck on your apartment search.
Reportar esta reseña
JY
Jeff YangLocal Guide
17 Jun 2022
This company may be named Devoted, but their agents are anything but. During my conversations with Peter, he misrepresented an apartment's terms and only divulged accurate information when I was well into the process of renting it. I had an appointment with Peter that he competely blew off, and his attitude about it was so unprofessional. Steer clear if you want to keep your sanity, life is already frustrating enough.
Respuesta de Devoted Real Estate empresa4 Oct 2022
Here at Devoted we value everyone's time because as business we know that its scarce. After some conversation this person stated his move in date was close to September. He essentially made his own appointment and after numerous times of telling this person this apartment is for a July 1 move in date as it is already move in ready. he still took it upon himself to still go to the apartment and was persistent on seeing it even though we told him countless times that his move in date wont work for the apartment. Told us his time was wasted and wanted to part ways as confirming another time wouldn't work for his schedule however writing a review fit perfectly fine. Good Luck with your search!
Reportar esta reseña
DB
Dipti BharajLocal Guide
10 May 2018
Buyer, know your Rights!
They will charge you a huge 'Non-refundable Broker's Deposit' if you decide to apply. No application fee will be charged (which is normally 55$ to 100$ per person which is non-refundable as per market standards). I later found out this isn't even legit.....We paid a 1550$ deposit for an apt whose rent was 1550$. At the time, we didn't notice the non-refundable clause in their receipt (which was error on our part, but house hunts in NYC are tough & people get desperate). But this, by no means, is a legitimate deposit amount that any broker should charge you... all other brokers we worked with dissuaded us from putting down anything more than $300-500 as a good-faith deposit, which seems reasonable.
We decided not to go for the apartment and after much negotiation & debate; they agreed to return half of the deposit after we asserted our intention to complain to the NY State housing department. It was an avoidable situation that the brokers could have prevented from happening.
Respuesta de Devoted Real Estate empresa4 Oct 2018
As a Business, Devoted Real Estate’s #1 goal is client satisfaction. People contact and reach out to us to save the time and hassle of looking for quality apartments on their own. A 1 month deposit to secure an apartment while an application is pending is definitely a standard practice. All of our clients up to this point understand this policy and have had no problem acting accordingly. Once a receipt is given, a client is always informed that as long as you have not been denied or the apartment applied for wasn’t given to anyone else, one cannot simply back out of an application process. In most if not all cases building managements require deposits before even looking at an application to ensure a prospective tenant isn’t wasting anyone’s time. After getting the above client approved for an apartment they decided it wasn’t for them; offered our office a fraction of our standard broker fee which is 1 month and fought us for the full amount all the meanwhile the funds were in the possession of the building management who gave us a challenging time giving the money back because a lease was produced. Unfortunately, as an intermediary between client and building management it falls on us. Different buildings/landlords call for different application/deposit practices; it is not the same for all and one cannot just assume one process is superior to the other. We are transparent with clients 100% of the time and keep them updated from start to finish. Apartment hunting can be a stressful time for a client; we are hired to reduce stress not add more of a burden, a transaction is as easy/smooth as a client makes it.
