I lucked out on renting a shared apt in Berlin because the renter was too cheap to confirm over the phone.
I answered the ad on Craigslist for a nice-looking room priced at 12euros/night. This is equal to or less than the rates of hostel dorms...but private! The first text msg from him informed that he was using another phone since his had no credit. No biggie. I figured he quickly borrowed a friend's cell phone. Then I kept getting replies from a different number -- each time. Hmmm.
On Friday I caught the early bus from Stuttgart to Berlin and sent an SMS of my approximate arrival time. Eight and a half hours on the road and I heard nothing back. Hmmm. My suspicion and doubts mounted. My means to peace of mind was to 'cut my losses' and settle on a Plan B. So that's what I did. By the time we pulled into Berlin I had already decided to book a bed in a hostel for the weekend. Still, I spent an hour at the bus station fiddling around with my luggage and checking room rates online.
And still there came no confirmation.
this smack of the trappings of a scam
My friend convinced me to check it out all the same...especially since we were nearby the listed address. Long story, short: homeboy was using an online service to send SMS's for free - sort of like a Tor for phone calls - and each time resulted in a very different number on my caller ID. But fuck that. Just pick up the damn phone and call. It was a huge miscommunication, yes, but one fostered by his strange behavior. Had I spoken to the man over the phone it wouldn't have made much difference since his follow-up text msg would show up differently on my caller ID. Does this not smack of the trappings of a scam?
My imagination thought so.
My means to peace of mind was to 'cut my losses' and settle on a Plan B
0 comments:
Post a Comment