fyi...
just a friendly mid day reminder never to rent from this man, allan gerovitz. rudest. broker. ever. we've taken our search to fifth ave in park slope and left this chump behind. chump!
ed note: i took his picture down because it makes me want to puke every time i scroll down. puke i say, puke.
posted by design*sponge @ 25.5.05
26 Comments:
I'm just an occasional visitor to this site, but still, what's with the hate? Everyone has a one-up story on rude brokers. I don't know... posting the guy's name and photo in the manner you did seems a a little uncalled for.
Seems more like a public service to me.
the hate is fully deserved.
see other stories further down for explanation.
being called immature by someone i'm paying for a service is uncalled for.
i'm trying to spare someone else the pain i felt working with him.
d*s
Wonderful. You go design*sponge! More people should do this. He can probably afford not to have you as a client but that is no excuse to treat people badly. I hope your press takes a toll on his business. Best Wishes, Detroit
He made a friend of mine cry, needless to say she didn't rent from him. My husband and I saw one apartment with him (before we heard the friend's story) I couldn't keep a straight face while he went into his song and dance, my husband had to do all the interacting. I guess he has a different effect on everyone. After some venting, I came to the conclusion that he might have a mild personality disorder, some sort of inability to read social clues and he compensates by being really, really condescending? I feel a little sorry for him now.
lol. a personality disorder! i think you've got it!
too funny.
thanks for sharing your allan story.
;) d*s
I agree that posting the guy's name is a little over the top. True, your anger may be valid, but just because he was rude to you doesn't mean he's like that all the time. Potentially hurting his reputation and business by posting his name and pic on a board well-read by NYers is a bit drastic and even slanderous if someone alerted him to this. You seem like a great person but just be careful with stuff like this.
if you went through what i did, you'd do the same.
i've gotten over 12 emails from people who've worked with him who were equally disgusted.
i'll remove my comments about him when i get a written apology from someone at prudential.
to be treated that way is disgusting.
warning people about someone who is rude, inappropriate and unprofessional isn't mean and doesn't mean i'm not nice. it's a service. i wish someone had warned me about him.
also, it seems like i can't win. first i get emails that are like, you're too nice, it's annoying, no one's really that happy, stop being so sappy and happy. then i get emails telling me i'm mean.
i give up. take it or leave it, i was treated entirely inappropriately by this man and so were many, many others, so i say he's earned his call out.
i told him i was unhappy and that it may not be the best idea to be rude and piss off someone who writes for several local and national publications and he was like "oh well, you get what you get with me."
fair warning in my book.
d*s
I totally agree that he was rude to you (same person commenting here btw). I also think whoever says you are too nice is crazy; you can never be too nice. I'm just saying that saying stuff like he's "unprofessional" that can negatively impact his business and could wind you up in legal trouble if for some reason he or prudential gets wind of this. If someone emails you privately and asks for his name then I'd chat with them, but I'd take down his name and pic. His business will suffer on its own as a result of his behavior. I know that I recently had a horrible experience with an interview for a wedding photographer but I did not post a rant on theknot.com specifically because I was not going to be the one to broadcast my ill-will in a large public forum. I know you're angry but karma will get this guy. Anger from you sounds so unlike what I read every day!
Rock on Spongey! I think this IS Karma and this guy will get what he deserves.
I'm personally glad you gave us a warning. I've dealt with too many crap brokers in my lifetime to have to deal with another.
Neil
you're so right! i had my own terrible experience with him, only luckily it was only over the phone and not in person. he called me after work one night to set up an appointment and proceeded to grill me for 45 minutes, despite my pleas to go (i was trying to leave work, and it was already past 7 pm when he called). he yammered on in a really rude way, then abruptly hung up when his appointment showed up at his office. a total freak!
I'd be curious to see the IP of the poster who says your comments are potentially "slanderous." Other than the gentle ribbing that the truth is an affirmitive defense in um, well libel, since this is a printed medium; the context, it being a blog, entrenches it firmly in the domain of opinion, which is neither slander nor libel.
All that terse language and punctuation abuse aside, go you. I am an ardent proponent of consumer rights. The consumer voice is a crucial community tool.
I click through the link to his practice every time I see it, in the hopes that someone is monitoring the refferrer logs, and sees just how many people read the blog.
-PHiZ
Former poster here. No need to worry about my IP. I have nothing to do with that broker or prudential at all. I'm just a casual reader who happens to have family members in real estate and I would be upset if someone tried to hurt their business in a public forum. Barring my incorrect use of slander (Phiz was right) a blogger CAN be sued for libel if they are an originator of the libel, not simply reprinting it. Granted it is not always successful, but it can happen. Saying someone is rude is an opinion, but saying things like unprofessional read more uncertain ground. That's my two cents, and I won't comment more on the subject.
I have a funny Allan story.
About ten years ago, I was trying to rent an apartment in Cobble Hill with a ferret, a pet illegal in the five boroughs. The ferret had cancer and I had been told she would only live for another six months or so. For some reason, I decided that I could thus probably get away with calling the ferret a "cat" for the sake of renting, since unfortunately, she would not be much of an issue much longer and it seemed easier to claim to have a cat than to have no pets at all.
When I walked in to Allan's office, he was on the phone. He covered the mouthpiece and asked what I wanted. I told him I needed an apartment in the neighborhood and he said, "O my GOD! You are the luckiest person on earth! SIT DOWN! DO NOT GO ANYWHERE UNTIL I GET OFF THE PHONE."
A bit stunned, I obeyed. Allen explained that a potential renter -- "a fool, an IDIOT" -- had just pulled out a deal to rent an apartment on a prime block: the apartment would be PERFECT for me, it was the apartment of a LIFETIME. He would take me over to see the apartment, he said, but only if I got all of my paperwork in order, because I would need to rent the apartment IMMEDIATELY, or he would not waste his time with me, since if I did not understand the value of what he was offering me I was not worth bothering with.
So -- ok, this is ten years ago, I was a bit younger -- I got all my paperwork in order, and head over to the apartment with Allan. About a block away from the office, Allan said, "you don't have any pets, of course."
"I --have a cat" I said.
"WHAT?" said Allen, "you didn't TELL ME this?"
"I hardly had time," I said.
"Well," said Allan, "do you have a friend who can take this cat for you? Because you cannot have a cat in this apartment."
I was taken aback: a broker was suggesing I get rid of my pet? At a loss for what to say next, I dug myself a little deeper. "My cat's sick," I blurted. "She's got cancer. I think -- I think she might be dying."
Allan stopped for a moment and considered this. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "But you know, if an animal is suffering, maybe it's better to put it it out of its misery?"
I felt like I was about to cry, both because he'd suggested that he kill my pet, and because the pet he'd suggested that I kill -- the cancerous cat -- did not even exist, and I didn't know how to come clean about this. By this point we were heading in to the apartment. Inside, I was both underwhelmed by the apartment and truly skeezed out by my conversation with Allan. But he didn't notice this, as he was too busy spinning the apartment, and getting excited about closing the dea. In the few minutes we had been inside, he had decided that he would call the owners and tell them that my cat is dying and that I am for all intents and purposes a pet-free tenant.
So he got on the phone to the owners in Conneticut, telling them he has found of tenant of distinction, a caring and shining and responsible young professional woman. So caring and responsible, in fact, that she is committed to spending the final days with her terminally ill cat with cancer, said final days unfortunately coinciding with the first few days of her new lease. He suggestd the cat was immobilized, comatose really. He claimed I have sworn not to get another cat after the present cat "passed". He and the owners went back and forth while I looked around the dusty and underlit apartment. Finally he motioned me over and held the phone out to me.
"It's done!" he said. "They are willing to make this sacrifice for you, that you should have your cat here for the final days. They only ask one thing: they want to arrange a time to come and meet the cat."
Looking back, I can see that the owners probably just suspected that the cat wasn't sick, and wanted to check out my story. In that apartment with Allan blocking the door, I immediately assumed that they had guessed the whole story, and that they were sitting there in Conneticut saying, "A cat with cancer? Hah! I bet she has a ferret!"
So I took the phone from Allan, and said, a bit testily, that my cat was MUCH too sick to have a visitor. Allan's mouth dropped open: he snatched the phone back from me and tried to fix the damage, but it was too late: the owners from Conneticut were tired of the whole exchange and they got off the phone. Allan turned to me, his face purple.
"What the HELL did you do that for?" he said. "I was ready! They were ready. You IDIOT!" He stepped away from the door and made a grand gesture. "OUT!" he said, "YOU ARE NOT WORTH MY TIME!"
I left. I walked around for a few blocks, pulled myself together, wiped away a few tears, and headed into Brooklyn Bridge Realty. "Hey," I said, to the broker at the first desk, "I need an apartment, but I have a ferret. Do you think you can help me out?"
Ok, if that Lisa post is true and along the lines with how you were treated, then I (previous poster for disapproved of you putting his name up) withdraw my protests. I thought maybe you were over reacting but if this is true then I was WRONG. So sorry, who would suggest someone kill a pet for a place? Wow. Sorry sponge.
i don't know whether to laugh or cry.
i'm so sorry he suggested that, but this is really a testament to allan's full asshole-itude.
this man is a serious lunatic.
i'm sorry, but it's too funny that he called you an idiot and yelled at you.
he seriously needs to be on some sort of medication. lol.
i'm so sorry for your allan nightmare, it's actually worse than mine. you totally take the allan-victim cake.
hope you had better luck with the gang at brooklyn bridge.
man is he a lunatic! hahahaha. lunatic!
d*s
I blogged your quest to tell the world how you feel about this man: http://www.brutalhugs.com/?p=23
I'm not sure how many links it would take to put this entry at the top of Google's results for Allan Gerovitz, but there are already a few out there.
Good luck in fighting the good fight.
ps: Love your blog. I mainly look at the pictures, but love it nonetheless.
I have an Allan Gerowitz story as well, but it would take pages. The man is as nuts as anyone I've ever met. He definitely has a personality disorder, there's no question. For some reason we stuck with him because people we knew had success finding great places with him, but my god the crazy. He'd call me in the middle of the night (like, at 2 a.m.) with potential apartments. Once when we were walking around Carroll Gardens with him, he kept hawking phlegm-loogies into the gutter. He also called us idiots for choosing to find another realtor. That was 10 years ago. Why is this person still working with the public?
I agree that alan is a bit "touched." but I have to say he worked tirelessly to find my wife and I an apartment - even calling the landlord at 9pm new years eve (making an emergency breakthrough since the line was busy!)
now this *is* a bit crazy, but he did come through for us, and got the landlord to lower the rent because we had just moved back to NYC and couldn't quite afford it.
Basically I would advise reading all these posts and preparing yourself for the worst with him. You may be pleasantly surprised as we were, but you also may want to vomit, in which case you can always just leave his office...
matt@ipcardesign.com
We just met Allan today, and he was so awful and rude to us that I had to google search him.
He told us that he would love to help us find a place, but he won't do it right now because it's not good timing, and didn't even offer us a business card. He was insane in other ways, but he clearly didn't want or need our business, and we're glad not to give it to him.
Allan is truly an odd bird, and he left us feeling a little exasperated and crazy at times, he did find us a great apartment; however, we did have to go through a week of mental anguish to get to that point.
Some of my "favorite" oddities of his:
1. He doesn't like to speak to women apparently. I'm not sure why, but whenever my girlfriend would ask questions, he wouldn't look at her and would answer me.
2. When we walked to look at an apartment, he made us walk exactly 10 paces behind him because he claimed he was a neighborhood celebrity and doesn't like to draw attention to himself.
3. He told me he likes to wear wrap-around sunglasses so that he can stare at people and they can't see him.
4. He told me that window listings were for "suckers who could overpay". I thought that was a great business tactic - scare away potential customers.
He sent us to view one apartment that just wasn't right for us (the landlords were a little over-bearing, and I could tell it would be a bad situation), and when I told Allan it wasn't right, he told me I had "blown it" and that there were "no more apartments available for someone like [me]". He then called the next day and said he was going to take another chance on us, but we couldn't let him down this time or he was finished with us. Fortunately, the apartment was great, and his commission was significantly lower than Corcoran, etc., so it worked out for us.
But, I could definitely see that it could have gone the other way for us. Allan can work magic for some people, but he's not for everyone, especially if you are easily put off.
I have to agree with this posting. Allan is quirky and strange and sometimes even mean, but he got us an apartment in Brooklyn, while brokers in Queens were flat out telling us 'forget it, we can't do anything for you'.
Allan helped convince our landlord to take us with less than perfect credit, he would meet us in his office after 8pm-the only time we could get there, he got our rent lowered, got us keys to the apt a week early (rent free) to paint it ourselves AND he gave us a reduced broker's fee.
Allan was pretty nutty. He spoke rudely to me sometimes at our meetings (although i mostly just laughed about it later. makes for a great story). He did buy us a gift after we had moved in AND sent us a holiday card. He also gave the same attention to a friend of our's who used him as well.
I'm not saying Allan is for everyone. We were VERY laid-back about his abrasiveness and didn't snap back probably because no other brokers were helping us.
SO if you've got the money and the good credit, then yeah---maybe go somewhere else. BUT he really is a decent person who is concerned that the the neighborhood is getting completely overpriced and pushing out all the characters and old-timers and lower-paid-people, so all the millionaires can buy a brownstone.
Those of you who are considering a formal complaint, I would direct comments to Marilyn Donahue..she's his boss
i've been meaning to post to this for ages, since we immediately googled allan after our experience with him and found this thread. we were so relieved to see other folks went through the same drama with this crazy little man. i fear that i'll never really depict precisely how bizarre he is. let me stress that my boyfriend and i are not shrinking violets -- we both have jobs that require us to be very aggressive. this also isn't our first time renting in new york. still, we were stunned at how rude and forceful he was. he would only speak to my boyfriend for the first half of our time with him. "what does *she* want in a kitchen?" etc. and he was ethically questionable -- after interrogating us, he told us that he had the "perfect" spot for us, then proceeded to call five or six disconnected phone numbers for the alleged "landlord." i really felt like we were being swindled. then a woman happened to call and had yet another perfect spot for us. he made us leave his office while he spoke with her privately. then, before he would show this perfect spot to us, he took us by an apartment that was under construction and clearly not going to be ready when we needed it. i think this was to create a sense of panic in us. (he then proceeded to tell us about the swank birthday party he was throwing for himself and how if we rented from him, maybe he'd invite us.) so then we saw the perfect apartment. and it was great -- but out of our price range and available two weeks after we needed it. he told us that we could store our belongings in his apartment (!!), that we were worthless unless we could convince our landlords to let us stay longer, that we had to be willing to suffer for the perfect place. mind you, we didn't have to move for a month and a half. we have perfect credit and had no need to panic. then, when he was completely desperate, he said, "don't you want me to get the fastest apartment turnaround and win prudential salesman of the month?" um, no allan, not really. there are plenty of great, competent realtors around here -- give one of them your business instead of this nut.
Thanks for the heads up! I plan to move to Park Slope in a few months, so I need all the tips I can get.
You go girl! I think your comments are well deserved. And if I had been so ill-treated...I might do the same thing. Public service indeed!
Post a Comment
<< Home