HostingPower.ie - legit?

Bahfiddle

Hi all,

I've been looking for a place to rent short term in Dublin (start work this week in Damastown Industrial Estate but friends I'm crashing with live in Rathmines) and I came across an agency called Hosting Power.

They've told me they have a property in Edgewood Lawns available to move into on Wednesday. It involves a weekly payment and a fee to the agency to secure the booking. They've told me they don't do viewings because the agency arranges everything for short term lettings of like a hotel. There are loads of their ads up on daft and I couldn't find anything negative written about them online.

Has anyone dealt with this crowd before? Should I be wary or does it look legit?

handlemaster

Bahfiddle wrote: »

Hi all,

I've been looking for a place to rent short term in Dublin (start work this week in Damastown Industrial Estate but friends I'm crashing with live in Rathmines) and I came across an agency called Hosting Power.

They've told me they have a property in Edgewood Lawns available to move into on Wednesday. It involves a weekly payment and a fee to the agency to secure the booking. They've told me they don't do viewings because the agency arranges everything for short term lettings of like a hotel. There are loads of their ads up on daft and I couldn't find anything negative written about them online.

Has anyone dealt with this crowd before? Should I be wary or does it look legit?

never heard of them. Word of advice if it sounds strange it probably is. Just go direct to people looking to rent out a room.

https://search.cro.ie/company/CompanyDetails.aspx?id=545052&type=C

seamus

So a few quick checks show that they're new, company was only registered in June.

The plusses are that the website seems legit - often these dodgy operators have poorly laid out and badly translated sites - and the director of the company has his profile public on LinkedIn. He is based in Ireland and has worked for respectable Irish companies before.

They seem to have a primary focus on tourism; kind of like airbnb but taking the potentially dodgy aspect out of it. Though if they're new, I guess they're trying to build up their portfolio by finding accommodation for locals too.

You should definitely be wary, but no harm to ring them up (or even call into the address on their website) and have a chat about their model. If they're genuine they'll be able to explain it simply.

MOH

I'm currently looking for a short term apartment/house share in Dublin.
I found a suitable ad on Daft (sharing with the houseowner) and answered it. Turns out it's going through an agency called HostingPower.ie

I got an email from the agency detailing the payments (about 14% fee up front directly to them for the entire period, and then pay the landlord direct each week). They asked for a reply accepting the conditions, and a scan of my passport, after which they would send me a secure link for payment. After paying, they would then send me details of the property.

When I asked about viewing the accommodation, I was referred back to their previous email. I pointed out I was hardly going to pay a booking fee until I'd seen the property, and was told that's their job as an agency.

It sounds vey fishy to me. I'm answering an ad on the internet, and they're looking for payment up front before giving me details of a property that for all I know doesn't even exist?

I can understand the owner might not want to deal with lots of viewings, and only want serious interest. Or that the agency might not want to risk losing their commission. But the T+Cs I was expected to agree to were extremely
sparse. There's nothing about what happens if the accommodation is unsuitable, if I leave early, basic stuff. I don't see what the owner gets out of it since they've done nothing to vet me beyond asking for my passport scan and my money. Not even a work reference. And for good measure I can no longer find the ad on Daft, they're usually taken down once the proprety is gone.

Has anyone actually used this agency, and are they legit?

freelancerTax

smells like a SCAM

who pays any money for a property before seeing it...
only an insane person.. thats who

if you havent seen a property with your own eyes its best to assume it doesnt exist... :P

The_Morrigan

Although their practice is a bit weird, they are a legitimate company who are registered with the CRO.

Cuddlesworth

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Although their practice is a bit weird, they are a legitimate company who are registered with the CRO.

They wouldn't get a cent off me regardless.

bjork

Avoid like the plague

The_Morrigan

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

They wouldn't get a cent off me regardless.

Maybe so....but the question was. Are they legit?...and they are.

seamus

It's come up here before and I had a look into it. Although it sounds a bit odd, from what I can tell they're simply trying to develop a new model in the market. They otherwise seem 100% legit and the nature of what they do seems pretty clear on their website.

The guys who run it have their names out there in public and they have a registered address - 32 New Bride Street - that doesn't seem to be a solicitor's office or some other shell company setup.

People who run scams typically obfuscate the names of the directors, avoid making an address available anywhere in public, and use UK numbers or freephone numbers for taking calls so that they're untraceable.

This company have done none of this, which suggests to me that they're perfectly legit and likely to be honest in what they're doing.

ted1

Seems legit to me, if you bother looking at their site you'll see that it's target market is for students looking for short term accomodation looking for meals etc to be provided.
The places that you will be staying are with just families I can understand them
not doing viewings. As their short term and in most cases the customers won't be in the country till the day they turn up at the host family

MOH

ted1 wrote: »

Seems legit to me, if you bother looking at their site you'll see that it's target market is for students looking for short term accomodation looking for meals etc to be provided.
The places that you will be staying are with just families I can understand them
not doing viewings. As their short term and in most cases the customers won't be in the country till the day they turn up at the host family

I did bother looking at their website and found very little to reassure me in the way of properly thought out terms and conditions, etc, hence my question. Also, their target market clearly isn't just students.

Plus I never contacted them via their website, I answered a perfectly normal looking house share ad on Daft, which made no mention of being expected to pay a deposit before even viewing the property. Which Daft's own safety guide advises in all caps never to do.

It may not be a scam, but the whole setup seems a bit disorganised, and I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable dealing with them.

[edit]
To be fair, I did actually find some better T+Cs when I looked at their main site, they're not visible on the mobile site. But tbh, they weren't referred to in the terms I was asked to agree to before payment.

seagull

It seems a very strange business model that they're trying to adopt. Asking people to hand over money without viewing the place definitely has the feel of a scam. Even if it isn't, who's going to pay money before you've even had a chance to view. Unless they have a corner on this section of the market, I can't see them succeeding unless they change their business practises.

Victor

Registered address appears to be a private house: https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.337158,-6.269079,3a,30y,34.82h,86.09t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s41WdyzDO_zg_eXXDSYov-A!2e0!6m1!1e1

https://search.cro.ie/company/CompanyDetails.aspx?id=545052&type=C (link might not be usable, but use www.cro.ie/search and input the details)

Details
Type
Number 545052
Name HOSTING POWER LIMITED
Address 32 NEW BRIDE STREET
DUBLIN 8

Registered 06/06/2014
Status Normal

Effective Date 06/06/2014
Last AR Date Not Available
Next AR Date 06/12/2014
Last Accounts to Date Not Available

https://www.iedr.ie/whois-result/?whois=hostingpower

You can see your whois result below:


% Rights restricted by copyright; http://iedr.ie/index.php/mnudomregs/mnudnssearch/96
% Do not remove this notice

domain: hostingpower.ie
descr: HOSTING POWER LIMITED
descr: Body Corporate (Ltd,PLC,Company)
descr: Corporate Name
admin-c: ATG985-IEDR
tech-c: WWA1-IEDR
registration: 22-July-2014
renewal: 22-July-2015
holder-type: Billable
wipo-status: N
ren-status: Active
in-zone: 1
nserver: ns1.webworld.org
nserver: ns2.webworld.org
nserver: ns3.webworld.org
source: IEDR

person: Sebastien Berlier
nic-hdl: ATG985-IEDR
source: IEDR

person: Webworld.ie Hostmaster
nic-hdl: WWA1-IEDR
source: IEDR

I'm not finding them on the Property Services Regulatory Authority register, but I'm not sure if they are obliged to register.

32 New Bride Street would appear to be a rented property, according to the PRTB register.

gucci11

Just wondering now that some time has passed since these posts.....anyone know anymore about this company? Thinking of going with them but concerned about the fact I cannot locate anyone who has used them to recommend them. They are listed on DCU and Royal College of Surgeons website as possible accommodation website... Is this enough for me to go on??

The_Conductor

If colleges are 'recommending' them- how about talking to their accommodation officer(s) to see if they have any feedback from other students about them. If there was any evidence of issues with them- surely they'd have pulled them as suggestions from their websites and accommodation offices.....?

gucci11

Thank you The_Conductor... good idea. Guess I was just wondering if original poster here went ahead with HostingPower or not

MOH

No, I found it too suspicious. No other agency or private landlord I dealt with ever asked for money before even viewing a place. Decided it wasn't worth the risk

The_Conductor

MOH wrote: »

No, I found it too suspicious. No other agency or private landlord I dealt with ever asked for money before even viewing a place. Decided it wasn't worth the risk

Its just a different business model.
They want to act as a gatekeeper between you and the 'landlord' to ensure they get their cut of the transaction.
Its the same way ebay won't give you a sellers (or a buyers) information until after you've paid for a product- to ensure you don't bypass them.
Its just a classical method of gatekeeping.

einsatu

Hi, I was also thinking about renting with them. They sent me the usual agree to terms & conditions, copy of passport etc. But I then had a specific question regarding the room and they only answered with thank you for your update, agree to terms & conditions, sent copy of passport, then pay etc. Nothing about answering the question at all. I dropped it then since I was not sure if they really would have that room then. Maybe their terms & conditions say something about only make a contact to a potential landlord for the fee and that is all.

Bahfiddle

einsatu wrote: »

Hi, I was also thinking about renting with them. They sent me the usual agree to terms & conditions, copy of passport etc. But I then had a specific question regarding the room and they only answered with thank you for your update, agree to terms & conditions, sent copy of passport, then pay etc. I dropped it then since I was not sure if they really would have that room then.

I ended up going with them after calling the contact and discussing in person. They sent on some reviews of the property and talked through location, then when I was comfortable I paid the deposit (10% of overall rent).

It really got me out of a tight spot when I moved up and I had no problems with them. Definitely worth a look if you're stuck.

gucci11

Yes Einsatu... I was just the same as you. And still have never found anyone who has successfully used them. I got as far as passport sending and agreeing to terms and conditions and my subsequent reply indicated that the property in which I had expressed interest was no longer available. Suggestions of other properties were made, described as similar, but because I know Dublin I was glad to be able to realise that while price and property were similar, the location certainly wasn't! I politely declined the offer but what has often concerned me since that time is the fact they have the scanned passport !!! What do they do with such information???.....I expect under data protection legislation they are no longer allowed to hold it, but how do I know???!!

the_syco

gucci11 wrote: »

I expect under data protection legislation they are no longer allowed to hold it, but how do I know???!!

As they're a business, I suspect you could ask what information that they have on you? Not sure if a FOI request would be what you need or not, though.

athtrasna

Einsatu please do not post duplicate posts on multiple threads. Thanks

Mod

Cat126

Hi all. Just wondering if anybody has any more feedback on this company?

davindub

You know hacking a companies email address is getting more common....

It might be a legitimate company but you are being scammed by someone else, even if you get an email from the company email, you can't trust it.