Joe DiLeo, Owner/CEO of Bentley Global Relocation, Inc. Joe DiLeo Scammed My Wife and I Out of $4900 Fairport New York

Joe DiLeo, doing business as Bentley Global Relocation, Inc (a Nevada Corporation) with EIN 32-0413346, defrauded / scammed my Wife and I out of $4900 for real estate listing appointment generation services. 

In early May 2014, a man who called himself Joe DiLeo reached out to my real estate agent wife, pitching his listing appointment generation services. Joe explained that he was starting a new sales business in which he and his sales team would mine for listing appointments in our target zip code in exchange for a 25% referral fee for any listings we took on as listing agents and sold. In order to start the service, we need to pay good-faith money of $6500. This money needed to be overnighted to him along with the tracking number in order for him to "open our account" and begin prospecting with his team.

During this time, while Joe was trying to close the deal with us, he was responsive, quick to answer calls/emails, and offered several reassurances that he was operating a legitimate practice.

Here are some other pertinent facts regarding the situation:

• The contract outlining the terms of the deal was a poorly written Word doc, resembling no format legal instrument. Here is a link to view the unsigned contract: /i.imgur.com/a18hy5h.png
• In an effort to prove his company was real, Joe DiLeo provided a W9 for Bentley Global Relocation, Inc.. Here is a link to view the W9: i.imgur.com/xSyGZcL.png
• Joseph DiLeo claims to have "made millions" in real estate sales in the Palo Alto, CA area before moving on to other ventures. I found out later that he has an expired real estate license (BRE #01872314) in Redwood City, CA. This can be verified here: 2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?License_id=01872314

Because Joe's offering sounded fishy, because he already had another RipOff Report, and because there was such a large upfront fee, we were hesitant to move forward. However, on May 12, Joe DiLeo emailed my wife and I an offer to lower the upfront fee in an effort to close the deal.

 Here is an excerpt of that email:

I would like to extend you an opportunity to get involved and drop the set-up fee down to $4900. The remaining $1600 will be forever waived and not applied to further transaction referral fees.

It is my sincere hope that we can move forward and win together......there are many, many deals to be done!!

Joe also offered a guarantee. Here is an excerpt from an email he sent on May 12:

I am willing to adjust the contract to say that if a listing > $2.5M in 30 days I will refund $4900 in full.  I believe this gesture to serve as evidence that this company, and it's founder, are putting our money where their mouth is :-)

In spite of our doubts, we placed our trust in Joe and decided to move forward. 

We signed an amended contract, and sent a cashiers check of $4900 to Joe, along with the tracking information. We also signed a typical referral fee agreement establishing that he would receive a 25% referral fee for any listing appointments he set that we sold. Here is a link to the tracking number: /tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?qtc_tLabels1=70131090000175505761

Almost immediately after the money was received, Joe DiLeo began to become slow and/or unresponsive. Our requests to check-in with him for status updates via email or phone would take days and multiple attempts. We began to get one-line emails, promising us that everything was moving forward and that prospecting had begun but was taking a little longer than he had anticipated.

30-days passed and we had not received a single listing appointment as per our agreement. When I attempted to contact Joe about timing and updates, he began to express frustration and became defensive.

Finally, I requested that Joe terminate our account and issue an immediate refund of our $4900 investment as per our signed agreement. 

On June 23rd, Joe wrote back in response to my request to terminate:

These many weeks of dealing with you have been a recurring exercise in amateur hour.  You're still a young man and I'd hope that as life & business lessons continue to accrue you eventually recognize that "win-win" is a desired outcome.  Only the unaware tip a glass and celebrate when any deal or transaction is otherwise.

I made a mistake and signed-off on an appointment timeline that, in this market, didn't work out mathematically.  But what did happen is the hundreds of hours of prospecting that was promised and many, many A-grade leads generated.  The offer you relayed in Friday's email was absurd and another example of the behavior referenced above.  

We will gladly refund your initial investment.  Catherine will not be the beneficiary of the listing appointments those weeks of work will yield.  These appointments will be directed to clients fully engaged in the system.

Further, I humbly suggest that the next time either of you have personal access to a person who has spent nearly two-decades earning 7-figures/yr in the real estate industry you do more listening and less second-guessing.

I was surprised and shocked to get a response, but even more surprised to see that he was resorting to personal attacks on a purely business matter. Nevertheless, the above email is an admission of fault and a statement that he will issue a refund.

In spite of his personal attacks, I maintained a degree of professionalism and made it clear to him that this was business and that I'd like to move on, post the issue of my refund.

It is now mid-late August and my refund has yet to arrive. Joe has stopped responding to all my requests for contact. I am now in the process of pursuing legal action as I'm afraid that he may be scamming other people aside from me. 

If Joe DiLeo is indeed a fraud and a scammer, he should be stopped and prosecuted as such. I hope that I will soon get my $4900 refunded.