Check out the recent reviews on Yelp. You will find that even people who have complaints are giving 4 stars! Gotta get those Community Rewards prizes!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/peter-cooper-village-stuyvesant-town-new-york
Here's what Yelp says about a company asking for reviews (click on graphic to make bigger):
Yelp on attempts to mislead the consumer:
http://officialblog.yelp.com/2014/05/attempts-to-mislead-consumers-not-on-our-watch.html
Note: "For example, some businesses try to bias reviews in their favor by incentivizing people to write positive reviews."
What to do if you think a review has been solicited:
http://www.yelp-support.com/article/Can-I-report-a-review-if-I-think-someone-paid-to-have-it-posted?l=en_US
More on flagging a review you think has been solicited:
http://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-flag-a-review?l=en_US
73 comments:
Agree with earlier commentator. These guys are hustlers and grifters.
Even if an authority takes action against this con, they will do so in the name of others being conned and not on behalf of PCV ST tenants. No one will help PCV ST tenants - Paul Weiss and Moelis will see to that. They will only help the investors. The developers. Not the tenants.
I think the Federal Trade Commission should look into the activities of CW/CR because they are practicing "Bait & Switch" tactics; they are lying to prospective tenants and they are doing a pretty lousy job all round. I wonder which politicians' pockets are getting lined by them?
8 50 poster is right. I'm an eternal optimist and even i know this is over and done. Sad really. There's no fight here.
If I were a prospective renter, I'd be extremely hesitant to sign on the dotted line after looking at those Yelp reviews. The positive ones are very brief and vague, the negative ones are long and detailed about all the misery inflicted on them by the asshats running the show these days.
I've said this before, but given all the horror stories posted there, all anyone need do is stand in front of the leasing office and hand out flyers saying "Don't believe us, just look at Yelp" if they really wanted to stick it to CW real good.
Anonymous said...
8 50 poster is right. I'm an eternal optimist and even i know this is over and done. Sad really. There's no fight here.
May 25, 2015 at 3:19 PM
Agree. Because those who are supposed to be fighting for us are actually fighting against us and they do not even care that we know they are fighting against us when they all get their photos taken with REBNY. Will Meredith Kane, REBNY lawyer for the Tenant Association be on the bus to Albany fighting with us tenants? Or will she be giving REBNY arguments to kill us off and evict us? If she will be on the bus with us I want to sit with her and have a few words with her before she throws us under the bus entirely.
Not sure you can legally stand outside of the leasing office telling people to read Yelp, wish we could.
These are such blatantly dishonest and phony reviews, obviously posted by management.
I was on line behind a bunch of students at one of the local stores tonight and they were discussing how much they feel ripped off by Stuyvesant Town. They were discussing that even though they actually like the apartment all FIVE of them are sharing, they know they could do much better elsewhere. One of them said that her mom and dad were not going to pay the outrageous rent going forward because they could get better for less elsewhere. One of the things that they were pissed off about (no pun here) is that they have only one bathroom between between all five of them as the apartment was originally a one-bedroom. One of them said that management treats tenants as though it is a privilege to live here instead of it being an overpriced dorm that management should be grateful to be able to rent out!
I didn't catch all of the conversation, but enough to know that these are not happy campers and feel like they are being abused and exploited by a really creepy company.
I think that pretty much invalidates all of Yelp's postings. Not the the place to go to in order to get a fair and unpaid for review of anything.
It sounds about as "kosher" as Craig's List. Any pervert or con artist can post on that thing.
I won't be looking at Yelp reviews about anything again.
HA the good reviews all sound the same, generic.
>>Not sure you can legally stand outside of the leasing office telling people to read Yelp, wish we could.<<
I think you can, as long as you don't block the doors. The TA did this with their limited mid-lease protests, where they handed out flyers outside the leasing office. Obviously someone (Public Safety?) would try to bully you away, but I don't think that legally they, or anyone else, can move you.
>>They were discussing that even though they actually like the apartment all FIVE of them are sharing, they know they could do much better elsewhere.<<
A converted one into two bedroom apartment. Five people. Surely not related, too. Outrageous and illegal. WHY DOES THE TA AND/OR OUR MAN DAN NOT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!?
>>I think that pretty much invalidates all of Yelp's postings.<<
Not all of them, just the recent ones that have been turning up since the Community Rewards game.
dan doesn't give a hoot. We need a new tenants association. Wrong, unfair and what do we do after the illegal overcharges on renovated flats? Filed filed filed complaint long ago === still pending. What kind of a croc is this?
"A converted one into two bedroom apartment. Five people. Surely not related, too. Outrageous and illegal. WHY DOES THE TA AND/OR OUR MAN DAN NOT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!?"
A question we all have had to ask dozens of times over as many illegal acts committed in PCVST to tenants and the property, that are followed by inaction from the TA and Dan. I gave up reporting these illegal instances to Dan and to the TA years ago because they do not do anything about it. I take that back. They sweep it under the rug as if it never happened.
So then nothing changes , nothing will change. why do we bother blogging and filing out forms.
Why? At least for me it's because I refuse to be in the position of grabbing my ankles all the time, if you know what I mean. Also, there is a hope that something will give way. Something.
Something will give way when and if this place is thoroughly and honestly audited. Preet, are you listening?
"A converted one into two bedroom apartment. Five people. Surely not related, too. Outrageous and illegal. WHY DOES THE TA AND/OR OUR MAN DAN NOT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!?"
Because 5 partying transients making their long term RS neighbors miserable drive the middle class out of their ST-PCV homes. The apartment gets churned and 5 new, ripped off transients paying MR move in.
Dan gets rewarded for giving Brookfield a renovated, transient occupied, MR unit. Brookfield will quickly dump out transients to sell expensive, full price condo units without having to wait for middle class RS tenants unable to afford expensive, tiny discount condo units, to die.
Dan is just another REBNY owned NY politician following the path clearly laid out before him by Silver, Skelos, et al. Let's hope Preet is taking a hard investigative look at ST-PCV being raped and plundered AGAIN ... AND BY THE SAME CULPRITS!!!
Still, it's hard to figure what the TA Board is getting for selling out themselves and their neighbors/constituents to Brookfield, disgracefully flushing a truly historic legacy down the toilet. WTF???
STR is right. We cannot give up. But are we doing anything/ where is the fight? Let's gather.
why aren't we, as tenants, allowed to post things in our lobbies? why are they notices constantly removed?
Why doesn't anyone want to audit - what are they afraid of ??????????
I just found out our apartment had a former tenant paying $1022.00. We moved in 3 mnths ago. Our rent is no where near this price and we ARE IN SHOCK. What is going on here . I know they put a new bath room and kitchen, but seriously? W.T. F.
5:14 pm you are so right. How could we get Preet Bharara to look into this? I absolutely despise Garodnik and have nothing but contempt for what the TA has become.
>>I just found out our apartment had a former tenant paying $1022.00. We moved in 3 mnths ago. Our rent is no where near this price and we ARE IN SHOCK. What is going on here .<<
Apartments here carry a wide range of rental prices based on how many times the unit has been turned over. It's not clear from what you wrote if the former tenant had an apartment that was renovated completely or just a new bath and kitchen (which they may have put in on their own). At this point, it's impossible to get an apartment for that price or even 2K. I'd assume the starting price, if one is lucky, would be at least 3K plus. But check that "base rent"! It could be more, in which case the landlord can, and probably will, raise the rent upon lease renewal time.
9:48 it sounds like you are being overcharged. go file with DHCR and when you are them for a Rent History. We got our rent History going back to 1980's and with the number of turnovers we are being OVERCHARGED too. Go get your rent history.
They've also been busy planting comments on Curbed.
http://m.ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/05/08/what_3000month_can_rent_you_in_new_york_city.php
7. abisset0507, 5/10/15 11:34am
These are beautiful apartments. However, you can find a apartment just as beautiful in the heart of Manhattan at Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town. PCVST is a beautiful community that offers no-fee apartments. They are also located on 80-acres of lovely and lush gardening.
@9:48 Because they say the kitchen and bathroom upgrades cost them 80k. Total Boss Tweed pricing. You can thank Dan Garodnick and the TA for this.
I am aware it would not be 2k, but we are way past that number. How does it go from 1022 to almost 4000. The prior tenant did not have it renovated and had been living in the flat for almost 30 years.
But the renovation has been done now? That ups the rent considerably, but, yes, this may be an overcharge.
How NYU is getting away with it
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/chirlane-mccray-return-italy-black-art-conference-article-1.2236289
File overcharge complaints challenging the renovation costs with DHCR and TPU. Demand invoices and line item charges.
The years of tenant abuses going unaddressed by those who are supposed to address it says one thing, they are in on it. So to whom do we report these abuses? Agree we need to get it on official record by filing with DHCR and the Tenant Protection Unit even when they ignore the complaints we file. What more can we do? I am willing to fight these creeps.
Wow. NYU is a private business that is in a battle with communities of the Mayor's constituents, the East and the West Village and PCVST. This private business has no business paying for city official's trips. Then again the board of this private business are considered by the Mayor to be best and brightest top 100.
This is not progressive. This is regressive.
Mr Mayor and Ms Co-chair Board of Directors of the Mayor's fund to Advance New York(unfortunately the other co-chair being Rob Speyer),
YOU CAN AND MUST DO BETTER THAN THIS
Accepting this paid trip gift from NYU is in conflict with your constituent's quality of life and survival of our communities.
re·gres·sive
1. becoming less advanced; returning to a former or less developed state.
2. (of a tax) taking a proportionally greater amount from those on lower incomes.
WARNING: LARGE PHOTO OF ROBBIE
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/about/funds_chairs.shtml
As a middle class community 11,000 strong in voice and votes we should have had a REAL Tenant Association making demands with oral and written words as this and making demands and feared and revered by landlords and politicians as a force to be reckoned with. That is what a real TA is and does. A force independent of politician's agendas and influence on behalf of RE and REBNY.
“It’s time for you to stand with tenants, strengthen the rent laws, and end corruption in Albany for good," the Alliance For Tenant Power wrote in a letter to Cuomo obtained by the Daily News.
"The best way to show that Glenwood is not influencing your decisions in any way is by rejecting their tainted money and saying in public that the scandal-scarred firm should never contribute to you again," the letter says. "You face a stark choice: you can be the Governor of Glenwood or the Governor of New York."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/group-call-cuomo-return-1m-real-estate-company-article-1.2236898
Don't ask.
Demand!
The People will always lose - the special interests of the Governor will always win - in a system of Big-Ugly Three Men In A Room
Does 2015 Offer Return of the Albany Big Ugly?
Pop quiz: what do the DNA of felons, casinos, teacher performance, the drawing of legislative district lines, and pension reform have to do with one another? This isn't a trick question - in Albany all of these issues were crammed together by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders in 2012 to form the traditional Albany deal that has come to be known as "The Big Ugly."
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5742-does-2015-offer-return-of-the-albany-big-ugly-cuomo
Off topic, but at 5:00 am this morning they were chucking heavy bulk waste (furniture. Etc.) into the back of a whit van on the 14th street loop. Must have woken everybody along the loop. These mongrel bastards do all they can to make sure we are living in hell.
Regarding the renovations - I"m no contractor but the person getting charged 4 x the prior tenant PER MONTH for what renovations? Hoping he or she has a pool, 3 bedrooms, a garage, golden floors for the added 3k -- 18k gold.
>>Wow. NYU is a private business that is in a battle with communities of the Mayor's constituents, the East and the West Village and PCVST. This private business has no business paying for city official's trips.<<
Is there any noise out there about this?
Hello. I'm 58 years old and how do I demand? Also where can I file for a TPU? Is that an agency and thank you. Have filed also as the poster before with dhcr but to no avail. Getting nowhere. File just shows pending pending pending.
STR 1:21 we will try to get that for you in the next week(s)
We are down a few people who are away on other business. It is off immediate topic but they sent this explaining how easily, between New York and UK, a few people are able to and are rigging the entire system against everyone else to make a few million dollars for themselves. It is a very short quick article.
http://www.expressandstar.com/business/city-news/2015/05/27/trader-tried-to-rig-key-hsbc-rate/
A "greedy" City trader tried to involve his "cheeky young graduate" stepbrother in an attempt to rig a key interest rate, a court has heard.
Prosecutor Mukul Chawla QC told the jury: "When he says 'kept it artificially high', that speaks for itself.
"If you needed a clearer example of deliberate rigging of rates, this is it.
"This is strategic, focused. Nothing to do with bank's borrowing rates, all to do with Mr Hayes's trading position."
It may be off immediate topic but it is closely related. The people who crashed our housing markets are now profiting from the crash they caused.
"since the last economic crash it's been busy buying up housing stock across the United States and Europe."
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/wall-street-is-my-landlord-110
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/a-special-relationship-0000526-v21n12
FYI from CB6
http://cbsix.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Brookdale-Site-Study-BFJP-12-15-14.pdf
They bought the U S Senate!!!!!
Article has names and dollar amounts.
"Here’s how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill"
Goldman Sachs, Procter Gamble, Pfizer, Monsanto, etc just bought the US Senate.What a joke!
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations-paid-us-senators-fast-track-tpp
“It’s a rare thing for members of Congress to go against the money these days,” said Mansur Gidfar, spokesman for the anti-corruption group Represent.Us. “They know exactly which special interests they need to keep happy if they want to fund their reelection campaigns or secure a future job as a lobbyist.
“How can we expect politicians who routinely receive campaign money, lucrative job offers, and lavish gifts from special interests to make impartial decisions that directly affect those same special interests?” Gidfar said. “As long as this kind of transparently corrupt behavior remains legal, we won’t have a government that truly represents the people.”
Even bigger joke on the People - de blasio put money-is-God worshipping Goldman Sachs in charge of Housing in NYC. That sent the strongest message that people are insignificant. A house is not a home, it is a toy for Wall Street. Money is the only thing and everything. Lost my vote.
I can't tell if it is the media or the politicians who just don't get it.
They keep saying Albany is in turmoil from the arrests of corrupt politicians but the truth in fact is Albany has been in turmoil all the years the corrupt politicians held office. Their arrest shook things up in a good way, it removed the dirty turmoil.
The arrests did not cause a turmoil. The years of corruption caused years of turmoil and now with the arrests there is a little bit of peace.
People all over the state have been upset with Albany for decades and are happy with the arrests, anxiously awaiting more. It will take more arrests to clean house, city and state.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/de-blasio-faces-atrophy-albany/
The New york Attorney General is right. We need bold reforms. The government is giving our taxpayer dollars to the corporations who are kicking it back to the Senators.
"In the big picture, corporate handouts are costing tens of billions of dollars a year. Some estimates put it over $100 billion -- which means it's costing you money that would otherwise go to better schools or roads, or lower taxes.
...obscuring where federal spending actually goes. In reality, only about 12% of federal spending goes to individuals and families, most in dire need. An increasing portion goes to corporate welfare.
The real issue isn't the government's size. It's whom government is for.
Much of government is no longer working for vast majority it's intended to serve.
If government were responding to public's interest instead of moneyed interests, it would be providing more support for communities, families, and individuals who need it most.
There's no reason any corporations should be on the dole, or that your hard-earned dollars should be going to them for no reason but their political clout.
So we have to demand an end to corporate welfare.
No more handouts to particular corporations and industries simply because they're big enough and powerful enough to get them. No more specialized tax breaks. No more exemptions or special treatment. No more crony capitalism."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/corporate-welfare-why-to-end-it_b_7442662.html
NO MORE!
We are throwing out all products by Procter Gamble and Pfizer and any corporations we learn support fast tracking TPP by bribing US Senators and refuse to buy anymore things by those companies.
This was inevitable.
Standard business policy maintained by NYC real estate developers - a blanket refusal to construct anything but luxury housing - is now quickly spreading throughout USA.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-luxury-rental-projects-add-to-rent-squeeze-1432114203
New Luxury Rental Projects Add to Rent Squeeze
"A focus by builders on high-end apartments helps explain why rents are soaring across the country
Developer Mark Randall cut his teeth over the last few decades building apartments for Atlanta’s middle-class … in contrast to one of his newer projects, a luxury project dubbed Inman Quarter … units feature quartz countertops and the complex has a rooftop club room; the ground floor is filled with retail stores and restaurants. Rents in the complex,… run as high as $4,000 a month.
Mr. Randall’s shift from moderately priced to luxury apartments is emblematic of a broader trend taking place in cities across the U.S. — and partly explains why apartment rents are climbing at a rapid pace.
Of 370,000 multifamily rental units completed from 2012 to 2014 in 54 U.S. metropolitan areas, 82% were in the luxury category, according to CoStar Group Inc., a real-estate research firm. The firm defines luxury buildings as those that command rents in the top 20% of the market. In some places, including Denver, Tampa, Baltimore and Phoenix, virtually all new apartment construction has been targeted to high-end renters. In Atlanta, about 95% of new apartments have been in the luxury category.”
Does it seem like to anyone else Cuomo is deliberately hurting NYC'ers in a political game of power, using us as little pawns to kick to the curb if anyone stands up to him for what frankly is rightfully ours in the firs place? He treats people like they are disposable when they do not suit his whims or bow down. The latest press out of Albany is scary. He pits upstate against downstate and now it seems he is trying to divide Long Island from NYC, pitting us against each other. One of these days he is going to punish the wrong guy and push all New Yorkers too far. What is Preet waiting for? Let's get the third guy in the room out of office already.
NYC needs an independent overseer of these flammable towers making sure fire departments can guarantee safety in case of fires, and that nearby buildings are safe if a tower is hit, and that the pre-fab and other materials are not toxic crap. What are they doing with all the beautiful stones in the masonry on Vanderbilt? Such a waste.
Awesome Breaking News Coverage STR!
Agree with earlier comments - we need to demand what we want and as Preet says get angry and fight back because Albany / Flanagan /Cuomo not looking good for NYC.
Warren has good words in the news today
...the people in Washington, too many of the people in Washington, do not represent the folks who elected them. They represent the rich and powerful who don't want their taxes raised, who don't want to see any change. Who are perfectly happy with things where they are, indeed they're doing great with things where they are.
And they stay in the ear of enough of the folks in Washington that it has made it impossible to get any kind of change.
The only way we get change is when enough people in this country say I'm mad as hell and I'm fed up and I'm not going to do this anymore.
You are not going to go back and represent me in Washington, DC.
Posting endless links of how corrupt our political system does NOTHING!
As per a post on the previous Rewards thread:
"This battle can only be won in the media. STR is an excellent resource but if all of this information sits here, it doesn't do anyone any good. Start Twitter accounts, spread this bullshit, use hashtags #StuyTown #Rentals #NYC #YouveBeenWarned. Get creative. Annihilating CompassCrock in the media, particularly social media where their key demo lives, is the only way to hurt their bottom line and leverage any kind of power this community has left."
Here is a useful link of all the NYU hashtags. Twitter is the game now.
https://www.nyu.edu/life/student-life/hashtagNYU/hashtag-directory.html
I think we need both types of people. Those who are posting the widespread corruption so we know what we are up against and never again hold our breath waiting for a politician to do what we need when they are not going to unless we give them money and the other people who are doing the twitter thing.
12:38 I might be interested in doing a twitter thing. Can I see yours to see how it is set up and copy it but with my own hashtag?
"Posting endless links of how corrupt our political system does NOTHING!"
I am glad they are posting these endless links because it gives me an idea of how big the problem is and how hard and loud we have to fight. I think you are all helpful.
This Compass Rock shit likes to abuse everybody and everything, even Yelp. I hope they get kicked off Yelp.
What they are doing is a blatant abuse of Yelp and all sites that are set up for honest evaluation of services and products. I hope that Yelp cottons on to them soon and banishes their nasty, photoshopped website. There is no level low enough that these bloodsucking hustler parasites will not stoop and immerse themselves in. If they were only half as good at managing a property as they are at lying and deceiving, this place would be run like clockwork.
Remember Yelp is a business too!
Looks like they have removed the "Community Rewards" post from their FB page. I can't find it anywhere. Well done everyone. They obviously know they screwed up and are trying to erase all evidence.
Not so fast. Take a look at the left hand side, under "Apps."
According to Moelis & Co our sale is still pending. Moelis lists it's client as the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association and not the tenants in what is supposed to be a tenant led bid so we cannot get any information on this deal. Why keep tenants in the dark for 4 years now TA "Board of Directors"? Is that how a Tenant Association Board of Directors is supposed to act?
11/30/2011
Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association
Board of Directors
Undisclosed
Acquisition of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Complex
Pending
http://www.moelis.com/our-offering/SitePages/select-transactions.aspx
Did they ever answer this?
http://stuytownreport.blogspot.com/2014/06/memorandum-from-guterman-copied-to-firm.html
Never answered. And for the TA not to look into this is both shocking and dismaying.
the TA looks into nothing. What about the overcharges TA? yeah, silence, only silence.
CR and CWc pretty shady to bribe for yelp reviews. you have to lol. They're that desperate.
Watch out - The new leases will have you all signing off and agreeing to NOT LEAVE a bad review on any social site.
Wait for it.
Given how the Marsh and Steinberg have been since they partnered with Garodnick/Moelis/Brookfield we are not shocked but am as you, dismayed. We also question the job qualifications of the Treasurer and their financial experience / background. Nothing this TA does makes any sense. We are questioning whether or not to stay or if we can even still buy here. They are too secretive.
"We are throwing out all products by Procter Gamble and Pfizer and any corporations we learn support fast tracking TPP by bribing US Senators and refuse to buy anymore things by those companies."
If you've already got those products, I say use them. Just don't buy any more. P&G and Pfizer are among the most abominable animal-abusing corporations in existence. I don't buy anything produced by them.
I like the new format, STR, that puts the reader at the bottom of the comments. I was getting carpal tunnel scrolling down all the comments on some topics! :-)
I wish there was a way to leave Yelp reviews for the impotent TA! I'm going to send all of them a bottle of Extenz! I've got some stars for them. Ninja stars!
So interesting catching up on all the blog posts.
Here is another Yelp like site. Started by NYU student. She gives rewards for reviews on the review page. She has a ton of apartment listings from CompassRock on the Stuyvesant Town page and the Peter Cooper Village page.
Apt listings
https://www.cityspade.com/search/new-york/for-rental?page=4&price_from=&price_to=&selectItem=new-york&title=Stuyvesant+Town&utf8=%E2%9C%93&x=0&y=0
https://www.cityspade.com/search/new-york/for-rental?baths[]=&beds[]=&price_from=&price_to=&selectItem=new-york&title=Peter+Cooper+Village&utf8=%E2%9C%93&x=0&y=0
Reviews
https://www.cityspade.com/reviews/result?utf8=%E2%9C%93&address=Stuyvesant+Town&location=New+York%2C++NY&x=37&y=10
what about freedom of speech?? isn't this america?? so go ahead...sue me!!
Freedom of speech is great! But if you are referring to gaming the Yuku system that's against Yuku's policy. Sorry.
Why Do You Need to Buy Yelp Reviews ?
Money is able to purchase a lot of things. But money can never buy you a good reputation especially when it comes to Yelp. Things could have been so simple if you could just be able to pay for some positive reviews on your Yelp page or if you could give discounts and prices to your customers so that they throw positive reviews. Buy Positve Yelp Reviews
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