How a Realtor Almost Scammed Us Out of $1,000

This is a brutal story and I had to use every negotiation skill I had to get our money back

It all started a month and a half ago

My wife and I came to Turkey for the winter, because Russia is freezing cold this time of year

When we arrived in Turkey, we checked into a hotel for a few days so we could explore the city and find an apartment to live in for the next 3 months

On day 3 we found a great option that we immediately loved - yes, it was a bit further from the center, but for that price we got: a comfortable apartment with new furniture and kitchenware, top floor with a mountain view, a huge pool, sauna and a large gym with brand new equipment

And all of this for just $2,500 for 85 days (111,000 TL) + 15,000 TL deposit. 100% prepayment

The deal was excellent, because for the same money the closer-to-center options were: a smoke-stained apartment, a dirty apartment, a gym with two machines and an empty pool 🤮

In short, it was a no-brainer and we moved into the first option

So there we are, living and hitting the gym, loving the apartment - and then we get a message from the agent who rented it to us:

"You need to move to a different apartment, because the owner is coming back in 14 days" 🥴⁉️

We were absolutely shocked. I don't know, maybe this is normal where you're from, but where we're from - if you pay and agree on a specific apartment for 85 days, you're supposed to live in it for all 85 days

Of course we said we wouldn't leave, because it wasn't fair - after which they told us they'd rather not break the contract with us and added that there are 2 options that are EVEN BETTER in the same building

Alright, if they're better - we agreed to take a look.

The first option was on the 3rd floor, the finishes were more or less the same, but the sofa was worse. The worst part was that the windows faced the pool and we felt like we were in a fishbowl with everyone staring at us

We couldn't see the second option because people were still living there for another week

We were furious, because we felt deceived - and once again we refused to leave, because it's not fair when you pay for a Mercedes S-Class, you're driving it, and then a week later they take it away and hand you a Mercedes A-Class

But their response was the same: "The other apartment will be available soon, it's BETTER, and it even has a pool view" 😁

So, after talking it over with my wife and weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to cut our stay in Turkey from 3 months down to 2 and fly back to Russia

There was just one BUT - we had already paid them for all 3 months and somehow needed to get the money back. Actually there were 2 BUTs - a week after viewing the pool-view apartment, they messaged us saying we could stay in the original apartment after all, because they'd managed to work something out with the owner 🤷🏻‍♂️

But by that point we'd already changed our plans, so we started negotiating to get our money back

And that's where it got really interesting: first they said they don't normally give refunds, then they agreed to 20%, then 40%, then 50%. 50% is the max, we can't do more.

Their argument was simple - "This isn't our fault, we didn't start the conflict, you can't just leave, and if you do - you won't get all your money back!"

But we knew the truth was on our side and that we didn't start this conflict.

Should we really have to live in stress, sit around waiting, be completely dependent on them - and then move into an option we didn't even like?

So I asked the manager to connect us with her supervisor, because we couldn't reach an agreement with her. We also asked her to send us the office address.

She said OK - we waited a couple of days, followed up again, but instead of an address and a supervisor contact, we were told to keep waiting 😡

But we don't like waiting - so we found the office address on their website and drove over to talk in person