Thanks Fruity.

God do I wish we paid by credit card; big mistake on my part!

Its difficult to decide on the best course of action as, even if we do take them to court and win, they could have gone bust by then and we have incurred significant legal costs which aren’t warranted considering the claim is for ?1500…

In addition, we had a full inventory checkout done by the agent who have confirmed in writing that there was no damage.

Hinsight would be a wonderful thing wouldn’t it - we have all been down that road, don’t beat yourself up over it, without learning the lesson this time means you wouldn’t have done it the second time either, at least now you will never pay cash again to an estate agent, or anyone else for that matter 😉

You can crawl bank transfers also - sometimes upto 2 years as well

I would start my blog now and just detail everything that happened - this way you won’t forget any small details and should you decide to take it further you have everything documented on your blog 😊

Don’t let them get away with this, it makes me so angry that people do this - if I were you though I would go to their offices with some burly blokes and demand my money and not leave until I get it - don’t be bullied.

Have you thought about the local press in Duquesa, they would probably love a story like this one - go for it - make them feel uncomfortable and you might find them calling you offering the money back!

All the best and Good Luck and don’t forget about that lawyer, should you need

Yep, have now kicked off the site. Very basic at the moment but plan to add more content over the coming weeks.

http://www.greatestatesinspain.co.uk

I bought the above url as its the same their own site which is .com

Hopefully it will serve as warning to other potential victims who get financially mugged by this outfit.

Thanks again for all your kind words..

Cool, I would have done the same - a blog would be a good idea too - create more interest - I would also place those bolded items into links to their website, engines will pick this up eventually and you may even come up in the SERPs and then you will be hurting them 😊

All the best and kick some real estate behinds!

Thanks again for your advice - i’ll def make those changes!

I intend to cost them in sales what they have basically stolen from me…

I have heard so many stories of unreturned deposits in Spain.
I have been here for 6 years now and when i leave my rented houses i do not give the keys back or leave without my deposit.
So far i have had no probs.

Hi ChippyB.. Hope you get this sorted (even if it is just a kick back with the domain site)...
If you were here - I would definatly recommend demanding the ‘Hoja de Reclamaciones’ - complaint book as above. 1) you can call guardia for back up if they refuse and b) you take the filled in copy to the local Consumer office and it becomes a serious matter - Usually 9/10 times they will go half way with you?  (Unless they are stupid - or so thick headed they don’t see what they have done wrong!). 
Thanks for the tips all - we are renting - and there was no walk thru/photos at all!  We do have a good relationship with the landlady - and she has just renewed with us for another year.. But ya never know! (My last landlord has never given me back my deposit - but for Eu300 I was glad to see the back of him!). 

Understand CB you may not want to come over for all of this aggro.. but if you are correct - Expose em for all you can!
SJ

Thanks for your comments SJ.

I’m going to make some updates to the site in the next week and will put up your advice. Since i started this thread ive been contacted by so many people who have been stitched up by these criminals. The very sad thing is that there losses are much greater than mine.

Allegedly, they are taking reservations deposits from people with no intention of completing a sale….!

CB..
Re your last message that they are taking deposits with no sale… (I am presuming they are holding onto these deposits?)...
I heard the same about Viva… A friend paid her deposit by Credit Card (luckily)... but… when the property she was chasing was suddenly not available… they held back her deposit for an age! (Saying something like - ‘We are just making it convenient/speeding things up for you should you want to put an offer in on another property’).  She finally got her deposit credited back.. but only because she is persistent!  (None of us knew about the reclamaciones thing then)..

Re the rental thing about Viva too… It really doesn’t surprize me… Most businesses with their backs to the wall (or just plain unscrupulous ones) will do anything to keep cash that is not theirs…
~What a sad world we live in…
sj

Ive since found out these people have not paid the landlord of the property we stayed in money he is owed. In their are forums elsewhere where people are saying they have lost money by putting down deposits on properties that have no chance of completing and they just hold onto the money.

If its true then I call that theft.

I beleive a whole bunch of the affected people are contacting watchdog, british consulate etc. The aim is to instigate criminal proceedings I think…

CB - Did you say at sometime they were Germans?  If so, I would definatly contact the German Consulate too… (More bases covered, more chance of xxx).
I am not 100% sure about this bit.. but perhaps someone here can advise -
I know if you wish to walk into the local judicial court (Is there one in Estepona?)  about a Civil Matter - (and do so within a year of the said event) - you can make a denuncia direct to the court - and the matter will then be heard in the local court - All parties are told to attend (they are breaking the law and can face a fine and jail if they ommit to turn up).  You need good Spanish of course (or take an interpretuer).. I was just about to do this as a car ran us off the road (causing damage to our car).  But you can do it for any matter where a criminal* or civil matter has occurred.  I think you said you had made a denuncia to the local police at the time>? - (If not - perhaps do this - as it all add weight to your case - If you can - get the ex-land lord to go and either make his own denuncia that they are holding back his money - or get him named as a witness in your denuncia. Although if he is not declaring this as legal income then he might be relucant).

I know this means a visit here again.. but just trying to put another spin on things. 

*In the case of a definate criminal matter- (in fact the driver of the other vehicle in our case turned his car over, left it in the middle of the road then ran away??!!)... the denuncia to the court has to be in within 6 months of the incident.  But I think you should be OK with a civil matter in your case.

Good luck!
sj

I am also the victim of Great
Estates no return of deposit policy I am now in the process of begining legal action against them here’s hoping other potential renters find this forum before they contribute to this real estates cofers.

Rumour is they have shut up shop and setting up another company to stitch a whole bunch of new people….

just returned from duquesa on a mission to retrieve our rental deposit office closed definitely gone bankrupt. spoke to a spanish lawyer who said all of us should get together to sort situation and stop him doing it again.

some of this people will re open under some outher name again and do the same and con people out there money ..... so any pree about them yet ? time off the news area any one what to pm me about then and i do pice on them need full facts about them please