Macanthony Realty International review: scams 27

I purchased a property through MRI, a development in Bansko Aspen Golf . The development overran by several months, i was finally told it was complete in July, i am still waiting to get my keys! I have left several messages and emails and to no avail. Their rental section have called month on month to try to sign them up, i in no uncertain terms told them where to go. They are complete cowboys in every respect. The property was over priced, the construction was delayed and i have yet to get my keys. Why will they not hand over the keys? It does not take a genius to work out. I tried to make a complaint and NONE of the so called chiefs had the decency to call me back. I have purchased 5 properties through them and have had major problems with all of them. Steer clear, false promises and lies.

Re.MRI Scams. Before they change their name to maybe DCC Property. Read what other victims have said about them. We have to stick together on this. /link removed/ www.overseasCafe.com, www.theanswerback.co.uk As their lawyers have alrady stopped people like eyeonspain from anay comments at least the [redacted] can say what they like including former employees. the MacAnthony family are a disgrace.

I wish to add to my complaints of malpractice with MRI that all victims should read the following. SCAM victims of MRI macanthony reality international READ more about this company and let anyone you know wishing to buy from them what is in store for them.

www.darraghmacanthony.com
www.mrioverseasproperty.com/mri-team.aspx
www.foromarbella.com
www.blogcatalog.comtopic/darragh+macanthony

The fact that they have lied about furniture packages, lied about rentals must make us feel great to know that they are possibly setting up another company under DCC property
READ www.investmentpropertyrumours.blogspot.com

and those like my friend who bought in Cyprus. READ about the mri malpractice www.news.cyprus-property-buyers.com

I have had nothing but trouble with this company I parted with my money to join there rentals team and have had nothing sent to me not even a client number, no answer to emails, no answer to phone calls, always going to call me back but dont does anyone know how to go about reporting them or trying to get money back i have never known a company so deceptful and full of lies.

Have nervously listened to my fathers worries regarding his retirement investment, a property in Bansko, Bulgaria purchased through so-called MRI overseas properties. On closer inspection of the paperwork and following a bizzare phonecall from a Bulgarian mortgage company stating that Bulgarian Government prohibits banks from giving any further mortgages as agreed, phone your Lawyer! A google search shows it appears he has just thrown 38000Euros into the bottomless pit of these scam artists pockets. Can we really call them a Company? Can they not be named and shamed on national media?

Can we just double check the information regarding Bulgarian Morgages not being available to anyone.I am aware there is what i regard as more than a unhealthy alliance between the morgage brokers the solicitors and the company we all use to share the same bus going to the exhibitions and a fair amount of the staff worked for Both MRI and the morgage company at one time or another they were even part of the MRI training package that you recieved in there head office in Marbella, I think it may be closed now.
I deeply regrett having worked for these people even if it was for thank god a short time, thankfully i was not one who signed there ushal gagging order that they make all staff sign when you leave the company or everyone would be a hell of alot wiser to this shower.

My brother and I bought 2 properties in Bansko in Bulgaria from MRI.this was 2 years ago.I bought 2 furniture packs and we were assured that we would be in by jan 08, well here we are Jan 09 and no keys, deeds, act 16 or furniture packs. I spent £130 on my apartments. what legal redress have we? Bulgarian law i understand is useless. I have been informed that although we were sold a Ski/Golf property we cannot use the Pirin Golf Course by Ian Woosenham as it is a private course.

Can anybody mirror this experience?

NIGEL

Got caught in the MRI mortgage loop ultimately losing apartment I'd put a 30% deposit on, and furnished.

Neil
Swansea

I agree with all the comments on this page. I too have been ripped off by MRI. I also bought and paid for their furniture pack. Now that my apartment is finished they are demanding more money from me. Over 1000 euros for vat or some such nonsense, If I do not pay this they will keep all the money I have already paid and I will receive no furniture. When I threatened legal action. They responded by basically saying 'bring it on'. We are a Spanish company . Legal action will be very expensive, will take years and we will won. I am in a catch 22 situation. I don't trust them and don't want to throw good money after bad.

Flatcap

I have also purchased with mri and also took on their aftersales package (waste of money) they were no help at all with some of the problems i had, they just passed me from one person to another.
I have found other apartment owners more help than mri
there are some owners forums over at
www.bsc.ukgo.com

I'm in a similar position in Bansko ... I've setup a personal webspace giving some more info ...

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/number5/web1.htm

Thanks.

I too have purchased through MRI back in Mar'07 and it has been a nightmare ever since. I could write about all problems I have encountered but this would be the size of the New Testament by the time I finished.

The highlight however, has been that we were basically advised by MRI representatives in Bansko, when we asked about financing the investment as we were not wanting to release equity to do so, that "we shouldn't worry about getting finance as someone will give you finance over here".

After nearly a year of going through the mortgage application with CFP, who were introduced to us by MRI on our initial visit to Bansko, and numerous calls from MRI wanting us to sign up for this and that if we didn't want to miss out, we were eventually given initial approval in Nov'08 only for it to be taken away in Dec'08 due to the bank concerned pulling all such products from the market. This left us in a difficult situation in that we had no money to complete the investment and were in danger of losing the 20, 000 euro approx we had already forked out to MRI and their sidekicks for property, after sales, rental management services etc.

With no other avenues open to us in which to raise funds we were resigned to the fact that we would loss all the money we had already invested. We weren't too impressed by this as it was MRI et al that led us into this situation in the first place by making such false statements as referred to above.

To add insult to injury we have recently received a letter from lawyers of MRI in London that they wish to take us to court for the outstanding balance owing on the property in there "due to the loss of opportunity to sell to another buyer"! Yeah hilarious!

This has caused us a lot of worry and stress but we have not secured anything against the project so I’m not sure what these people think they can achieve from this action.

If the law is equitable and stands for justice surely these crooks don't have a leg to stand on unless they stole it from one of their many scammed customers. It is them that should be taken to account for their deceitfulness and down right fraudulent activities.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated; my advice is to stay well clear of these crooks

I am just about to complete on a property in Cyprus, Adriania luxury resortin Peyia. Is ther any body else out there who is in the same position. I still have to pay a 5% final payment before completion.

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreicated

Ian

we too have been scammed by mri. we purchased 3 properties in Palm Marina in Bulgaria. Joined the aftersales which was just another scam.paid for 3 furniture packages amounting to 22, 400 euro. now they want an extra 4, 500euro for vat. we wont be paying. we were told our furniture would be cancelled and no refund given. Has anyone gotten a solicitor on to them or taken them to court. it is barefaced robbery. dont no how they are allowed to get away with it.causing us a lot of anxiety and stress. has anyone gotten their money back for their furniture or has anyone paid the vat and had their furniture installed. Please let me know . any advice welcome.
colette

Has anyone used/heard of Solution Overseas? I believe they are part of the MRI Group?

This company are nothing but thieves. Our build in Bansko was supposed to be complete in March 08. Still waiting, even though they demanded the last payment at Act 15 in November.
This morning, they demanded another 20% for "VAT" on the furniture pack we paid for in 2007! Pay up or you will not get your furniture...

Thieves, pure and simple.

I really do not think that I would get the furniture, even if I paid the extra 20% Currently looking for a solicitor to help out here. The distance selling regulations ust surely apply.

Same her with respect to the "lifetime after sales service" - HA! rip off that was!

###!

There is a place in HELL for a company like this - and people who steal the life savings of good hard working people.

we have been invited by mri construction to a meeting in Birmingham or London in August.
This is to discuss the completion of our property in Bansko, we have put down 50% deposit but cannot get a mortgage now for the balance.
A very arrogant and rude man named David Jenn from Mri construction said if we didnt turn up for the meeting we would be taken to court in Bulgaria and then consequently have a judjement against us in the UK to seize our assets. We will probably go to the meeting just tell him what we think of MRI. I can't see how any court in Bulgaria can have any ruling in the UK, plus it will probably take them years to get to court.
Has anyone had any similar conversatiions with MRI regarding property in Bansko?

Check this web site out, if you want the real scoop on the MacAnthony Realty gang

MRI Support Group - Misled Realty Investors Support Group.

http://mri-sg.org/

Hi Muggedup,

I think you will find they are right, I own a property in Almeria Spain and could not complete on my 3 bed penthouse apartment due to the banks removing the mortgage product! They are now pursuing me through the Spanish and UK courts to recover the money and force me to complete. Bulgaria is no different due to it now being a part of the European Community and these new laws fall with EU regualtions. So if I where you I would be careful how you handle this situation and actually work with the developers and not against them.

And it will not take years either, more like a few months. The developers have the rights and the law on their side so be aware, dont be stupid.

Hi Muggedup

Do you mind me asking which development you're involved in in Bansko? MRI have defaulted on certain contracts and I am proceeding against them through the Bulgarian Courts and have already had a hearing to secure my position and prevent MRI dealing with the property. MRI appealed the actions but the appeal was dismissed by the Sofia Court. I too received a letter from their English Lawyers earlier this year which threatened to sue via the English Courts and I told them I would welcome the opportunity to go through our courts as this would give me the opportunity to counter claim... so bring it on. Didn't get a response not surprisingly. My lawyers in Sofia have told me that the Bulgarian Courts have full juristdiction in our case and the English courts could not deal with it. MRI are good at putting the "frightners" on people ... If anyone feels vunerable they should get together with other support group members and get some good legal advice (sharing costs) and fight back.

Hi Maji
Sorry a bit late in posting but telling Mugged up not to be stupid is a bit rich! MRI are demanding 66000 euros off me -well the last half plus whatever extra secret costs they pile on, and there are always plenty of them believe me- for a bog standard apartment that isnt even finished, that will have on their own admission NO facilities, and isnt even guaranteed to be built since the Bulgarian Govt is threatening to pull down any that dont have Act16 in about 2 years time. How stupid is it to hand over more of your cash to MRI without a fight? Very very stupid. I agree some people have been able to make deals with the developers. This was where the developers were NOT MRI and in cases where MRI had told investors ths developers were useless in order to get them to transfer their money to an MRI Construction Company development. Crooks, Pikeys? Not a strong enough word to describe them..

MRI are/were crooks. They have disappeared off the scene to the USA. They sold us a holiday apartment. That was the last we heard of them. They used apparently independent financial consultants who were not independent, but run by persons related to the family. They showed us and sold us one apartment, and when the documents came it related to a much smaller inferior one. They sold us a full clean of the apartment. It never materialised. They promised after-sales service ...

Scam. Bring them to justice.

We basically bought from second-hand car dealers and vacum cleaner salesmen who re-located to Spain - worked in timeshare, honed their sales tactics and went into 'real estate'. Ocean Estates was another boiler room type operation.

However its our own fault for falling for it. How was buying on the coast of Bulgaria ever going to be an investment? I remember headlines like 'Booming Bulgaria' in the property mags. It was only booming because we plebs were buying there - not because there was any local demand. How were these properties ever going to be filled with tenants or potential buyers? Where was the secondary market ever going to come from? Maybe if we loved Bulgaria it would have made sense to have a home there. But we bought to make "loads a money", which could never happen there (unless of course you're someone like Darragh MacAnthony). It was dumb. Most Brits bought some kind of dream and didn't buy with their heads. I bought simply because it was cheap. But that's not a good reason. Maybe if I had bought a property in a decent up and coming capital like Budapest or Warsaw, or even just locally in the UK would at least have some kind of demand, even if the property dropped in value due to this crisis. Bulgaria is in the EU, but it shouldn't be, its not ready. Of course we have difficulties now. Also the coast now is a long ugly ghost strip. Sunny Beach can have some action in the summer, but outside of the central areas there is nothing.

However MRI and others should of course be held to account for any legal infringements or clear scamming.

These guys are bad, very bad. Just ask the 1068 members of the MRI Support Group http://www.mri-sg.org

* Promoting awareness of the many problems buyers may or have faced as a result of sourcing property overseas and especially through MRI Construction (as an agent or as a developer).

* Lobbying for change in the EU to eradicate what is perceive as unfair practices in the International Real Estate industry.

* Bringing together individuals to and raising funds to sponsor Class Action against offending companies in the EU.

Have you lost money through your dealings with MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) Group of Companies?

Just make sure you check the facts, before you make a move forward with Macanthony Realty!

FYI: The Orlando, Florida flagship office on International Drive is now empty. It looks like they have shut down and no (CEO) Dominic Pickering in sight.

Please visit http://www.mri-sg.org for more information on MRI.

For anybody who has invested money in this project and have lost their faith after the decision of the Judge Beatriz Fernandez to drop the case due to a lack of jurisdiction, it is possible to bring the case in UK and take to court Darragh MacAnthony once and for all.

For anybody who may be affected by this you may contact me for further information.

We had a similar situation in 2007 in Morocco, MRI took a deposit and then a £23, 000 down payment, before saying single females can't get a mortgage, when asked for money back, they said it had been given to devolper not kept in legal holding place! Lost £23, 000