june 3rd
So yesterday I went into Barcelona to meet up with a friend, only to realise when I got home that the last three digits of his mobile number are ‘332’, not ‘322’. Arse. No wonder I couldn’t get hold of him.
So while I was at a bit of a loose end, I decided to do a bit of flat hunting (rental). I bought a newspaper called ‘Primerama’ which contains huge lists of flats in its property section. I had a beer and went through the magazine. Saw a couple of nice places and as I had time to spare I thought I’d ring about one particularly nice sounding place in the area called Gracia. I spoke to a very nice lady on the phone who directed me to their office on Passeig de Sant Joan, only a 10 minute walk from where I was. So off I trotted.
I arrived at their office and the girl asked me which flat I was looking for. I showed her the ad in the paper and explained to her that I was looking to rent somewhere reasonably soon, and gave her the specifications of the ideal place (m2, location, bedrooms, max price) etc.
So she then says, “Ok, you just need to sign this contract before we go to look at the flat.”
“Ok,” I say. “This is to stop me going direct to the owner and renting from him, I take it?”
“Correct,” she says. “Now, there’s just the small matter of the €250 this contract requires. Would you like to pay by cash or with credit card?”
“hahahahahahaha,” says I. “Hasta luego!” (except with an upside down exclamation mark too).
Pay this person €250 just to see the flats they have on their books? I don’t think so. I know too many people who have been burned by places like this. I’m sure there are legitimate rental agencies that don’t charge you money before they’ve actually done any work for you. Not even the boiler man had the balls to do that. It’s like going to a car showroom and saying you’re interested in the new Renault and the salesman asking you for money before he even shows you the car. Anyway, I’m not falling for any of that hornswoggling or flim-flammery.
Arsenal news? You’re having a laugh, right?
