Noeline Leelasena Or Nl@lankamail.com Potential scam for holiday apartments in Sri Lanka Colombo, Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka Internet

The report , Noeline Leelasena Potential scam for holiday apartments' in the website www.ripoffreport was brought to my attention recently.

I was appalled to read its contents, the name of a respectable lady brought to disrepute by an irresponsible person. As a customer who has made use of her Pannipitiya apartment recently I feel it's my duty to write a few words on this issue.

There is a racket going on in SL where crooks get hold of copies of deeds of property belonging to expatriates and after forging them sell them to unsuspecting buyers with the help of shady lawyers (see the following:
http://sundaytimes.lk/071028/FinancialTimes/ft3021.html
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2005/2/849.html
http://srilankanhotnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/woman-among-five-held-in-land-racket.html).
My sister living in LA was one of the victims. When she went to SL on holiday last year she found out a prime property of hers in SL had been sold without her knowledge. Unfortunately, she is now in a middle of a legal battle to regain her property in Sri Lanka.

Noeline was wise not giving in to your demands. How does she know that you are not part of a gang who gets holds of deeds of properties belonging to expatriates and sell them to conmen in SL? How would you like your name splashed across the website , Yoshita Pinnaduwa trying to extort copies of deeds online from expatriates beware.. I was nearly saved'(in your own words)

Luckily it looks like Noeline did NOT want to do business with you. She has the legitimate choice to refuse your offer. That does not make her a fraud and you have absolutely no right to smear her name without any shred of evidence.

It looks like for $70 a week rent for a tourist apartment, you have been making many unreasonable demands. There's a saying in SL You want to buy a horse for peanuts and then try to get him to hop across the Neranjana River ( Thuttu dekata assaya gannath one, neranjana gagen painnath one.)

I am glad you have stopped responding to letters. You have done enough damage to a decent, law abiding lady's reputation already defaming her character.

By the way, did you try Hilton Colombo ? Try Hilton next time, it is only $100 a day. They will give you all the additional photos' of sitting, bedroom and toilets, but I'm pretty sure they won't give you the deeds!

Yoshita

There are many inaccuracies in your report, which we have raised numerous times. There is no need to repeat those points.

I think we can both agree that your demands were excessive and hence we decided not to proceed. We have been renting apartments in the UK and Sri Lanka for over 20 years. These are usually for longer tenancy periods and at a much higher rent. However, no prospective tenant has ever requested a copy of the deed and to setup pay-pal for money transfer. For this kind of business, pay-pal is not offered and a landlord has no obligation to share a deed with a prospective tenant.

What is very surprising and disappointing is how you suddenly decided it was a scam without any hard evidence and filed an inaccurate report on a web site damaging an innocent person's reputation.

You didn't have the decency to notify my mum of the report which you had filed. We have taken no action for 3 months as we were not aware until very recently when a dear friend notified us of this preposterous claim of my mum ripping off clients.

We don't need your money, but what we need is for you to realize that you can't accuse people and file damaging reports without any evidence. We challenge you to find someone who can concur with the accusation that my mum is running a scam. If you can't, we request that you apologize and remove the claim.

I trust logic and common sense will prevail,

With kind regards,
rasitha

Based on our attorney's advice, we will not be responding to any future rebuttals or claims posted by this business. We have the evidence to prove the points mentioned above, including three emails from 6/18, 6/22, and 6/25 requesting documentation on rental policies and/ or proof of ownership, in which we even offered to send a template for rental policies if needed. We also requested the exact address of the property on 6/25 but our request was ignored. Initially, we had thought an actual visit to the property was not needed, but decided it is warranted when things became suspicious due to the lack of documentation.

We have not lied, and have nothing to gain from lying about a business. We do not know any of these individuals personally. This a business we found online and we merely took the precautions before sending funds. We said this may be a potential scam because it had the characteristics of an internet-based scam such as the lack of a physical address/ location, no publicly posted or documented guidelines/ policies or even proof of ownership, and its request for a direct money transfer, even when we suggested a more secure method such as paypal. In the absence of any documentation, how could we have known whether the individual we were sending money to was the actual owner of the apartment/ business? These days, anyone can create an email address and post pictures of apartments on various websites, which is why we asked for proof. If it wasn't a scam, all they had to do was to send rental policies on their letterhead or some sort of ownership documents so we know that we were sending funds to the right individual/ entity.

We called the Attorney General's Office as well as the Department of Consumer Affairs, and they said that all consumers should take precautions regardless of the amount of money in question. They advised that consumers should 1) check with the Better Business Bureau or with their local Bureau of Consumer Affairs before sending funds to a US based business, and 2) never send funds abroad to any individual or business, until you are able to verify that it is a legitimate and reputable business. Additionally, they advised that consumers should be suspicious of those who insist on cash wire/ bank transfers as the only form of payment they will accept. They said the Federal Trade Commission's website has more information about protecting yourself in transactions with individuals or businesses abroad. We hope this information would be helpful to other consumers who are thinking of sending money to internet based individuals/ businesses.

Again, based on our attorney's advice, we will not respond to any more postings by this business regarding this matter.

Ms Pinnaduwa's report is full on inaccuracies.

1 According to the report she said " we asked her to provide us with written policies regarding refund of security deposit"

She never asked that question

2. She said that I said " we need to pay cash for our whole stay on 1st day "

On 22 June in my e-mail I said " You can either transfer the money to my account or take cash on the day "

3. She said " ..we agreed to that if we could see a copy of lease we'd be signing but she completely ignored that request too "

She never asked for a copy of lease

4. She said " when we asked questions about the location & apartment ...she didn't e-mail us for weeks "
On 12 June in her 1st e-mail to me one of the questions asked was ( question no. 4 ) " what exactly is the location in Pannipitiya?"
Same day on 12th June I wrote back " This is situated at Depaname, Pannipitiya in a housing scheme ( Jeff Gardens )

5. She said " I sent her 2 e-mails after that asking for some sort of policy guidlines that would guarantee the return of the security deposit & contact information for her " brother" so we can talk to him directly .."

She never asked for any of these.

6. We also asked for the exact address of Apt. to see if we could send a friend to see it & ever since then she's been missing in action "
On 13 June I wrote " if you have a friend or a relation in Colombo you can send him to view the apartment & report to you " To this e-mail she replied on 16 June " unfortunately there's noone that can go & take a look at the Apt."

These are her lies.

She is claiming this is a scam just because I didn't want to rent my apartment to her.

Legal action is being considered against this report and this person. As you can see from the email thread, she made number of outlandish demands for a $70 per week rental, from a property which is normally booked out months in advance. When the owner decided not to deal with her, she claimed this is a scam. We don't need your business. Please rent an apartment from someone else.

Sounds like you were trying to force NL to rent her apartment to you. May be she didn't want to rent it to you as she didn't like your demands.
Just move on and maybe someone else in Colombo will rent an apartment to you.

Three months after filing the rip-off complaint, I received an email today from someone claiming to be the son of the company owner threatening legal action against me if I don't remove the ripoff report. Luckily I had saved all the correspondence and again outlined to the sender that the rip-off report just outlines everything that happened. It seems like the company doesn't want to do business with anyone who asks for documentation or proof, and when you share that information with other consumers on rip-off, you get threatened with legal action. It is sad that the company doesn't even allow consumers to come to their own conclusions based on what happened to another consumer and threatens to sue for detailing what happened. If they're claiming its not a scam, all they had to do was to send us some documentation on the policies and proof that its a legitimate business. Then not only would we have not filed a rip-off report, but we would have used their services! I still don't get it, if it is a legitimate business, why threaten the consumer instead of offering some proof? If it is a legitimate business, I have no problem removing the report, but to this day, they have not proved it is one. Doesn't that make it even shadier that all they want to do is shut consumers up? As a consumer, if the following happened, would you be suspicious that it is a scam?

NL= the owner's initials

1. We asked for proof of ownership before we sent money since there are many scams these days, and NL refused;

2. NL asked for a direct money transfer which is common among scammers, so we asked if she could open a paypal account to ensure both parties are safe, and she refused;

3. We asked for written rental policies and documentation that the reservation is guaranteed and the deposit will be returned, and NL didn't have any. We even offered to send a template if needed, and she still refused;

4. We said we need a receipt for the deposit and NL said all she can send is an email or a simple contract after we get there and meet her "brother";

5. We asked for the exact address to see if we could send someone to see the place, and NL ignored the request;

6. Moreover, when we asked for more pictures, she said she doesn't have any which was highly suspicious if she is the owner.

If they prove its a truly legitimate business, I'd gladly remove the report, but a threat is not a good reason for it...

Hi

I am Noeline's son and I was visiting London during the time Ms Pinnaduwa contacted my mum to rent the apartment in question. She receives quite a lot of requests for the 2 x apartments which she owns in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As I was staying with her during this time, she consulted me on this particular request.

Ms Pinnaduwa wanted a short term rent for a room - USD 70 / week. But she was very demanding and requested my mum to setup a PayPal account for money transaction, wanted a copy of the deed to confirm that she was the legitimate owner, wanted to check her Face Book profile and so on. Given that all the demands far outweighed any financial benefit, I asked my mum to ignore Ms Pinnaduwa and instead deal with less demanding clients. My mum sent Ms Pinnaduwa a detailed email on 30 June. Details are below. Instead of acknowledging or responding to the email, Ms Pinnaduwa had decided to file a false report accusing my mum of running a scam. The report is misleading and has many inaccuracies. Over the past 3 years, my mum has been renting apartments in Sri Lanka (from London) and she's had many referrals, not only from the US but from EU as well. May be Ms Pinnaduwa was disappointed that my mum did not satisfy her endless requests, but it does not make my mum a cheat or a scam artist.

Email sent to Ms Pinnaduwa on 30 June:
>>
Yoshita

I was very disappointed to receive your e-mail. Whenever we are not using
the Apartment, I have rented it out. I have had quite a few tenants & I
have cheated no one. Neither will I cheat anyone in the future. None of my
previous tenants have requested proof of ownership documentation. I am not
aware of any landlord who furnishes such requests for tenants.

As I have plenty of enquiries & bookings for this Apartment I decided not
to proceed with setting up the Pay Pal Account, scanning deed documents or
checking your profile on Face Book or searching via Google.

I should have responded to you but I have my son visiting from USA & I
have been very busy.

You should not assume it's a scam just because as a landlord I decided not
to adhere to all your requests.

If you so wish you may visit my Apartment & check my deeds while you are
in Sri Lanka.

Hi

I am Noeline's son and I was visiting London during the time Ms Pinnaduwa contacted my mum to rent the apartment in question. She receives quite a lot of requests for the 2 x apartments which she owns in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As I was staying with her during this time, she consulted me on this particular request.

Ms Pinnaduwa wanted a short term rent for a room - USD 70 / week. But she was very demanding and requested my mum to setup a PayPal account for money transaction, wanted a copy of the deed to confirm that she was the legitimate owner, wanted to check her Face Book profile and so on. Given that all the demands far outweighed any financial benefit, I asked my mum to ignore Ms Pinnaduwa and instead deal with less demanding clients. My mum sent Ms Pinnaduwa a detailed email on 30 June. Details are below. Instead of acknowledging or responding to the email, Ms Pinnaduwa had decided to file a false report accusing my mum of running a scam. The report is misleading and has many inaccuracies. Over the past 3 years, my mum has been renting apartments in Sri Lanka (from London) and she's had many referrals, not only from the US but from EU as well. May be Ms Pinnaduwa was disappointed that my mum did not satisfy her endless requests, but it does not make my mum a cheat or a scam artist.

Email sent to Ms Pinnaduwa on 30 June:
>>
Yoshita

I was very disappointed to receive your e-mail. Whenever we are not using
the Apartment, I have rented it out. I have had quite a few tenants & I
have cheated no one. Neither will I cheat anyone in the future. None of my
previous tenants have requested proof of ownership documentation. I am not
aware of any landlord who furnishes such requests for tenants.

As I have plenty of enquiries & bookings for this Apartment I decided not
to proceed with setting up the Pay Pal Account, scanning deed documents or
checking your profile on Face Book or searching via Google.

I should have responded to you but I have my son visiting from USA & I
have been very busy.

You should not assume it's a scam just because as a landlord I decided not
to adhere to all your requests.

If you so wish you may visit my Apartment & check my deeds while you are
in Sri Lanka.

Hi

I am Noeline's son and I was visiting London during the time Ms Pinnaduwa contacted my mum to rent the apartment in question. She receives quite a lot of requests for the 2 x apartments which she owns in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As I was staying with her during this time, she consulted me on this particular request.

Ms Pinnaduwa wanted a short term rent for a room - USD 70 / week. But she was very demanding and requested my mum to setup a PayPal account for money transaction, wanted a copy of the deed to confirm that she was the legitimate owner, wanted to check her Face Book profile and so on. Given that all the demands far outweighed any financial benefit, I asked my mum to ignore Ms Pinnaduwa and instead deal with less demanding clients. My mum sent Ms Pinnaduwa a detailed email on 30 June. Details are below. Instead of acknowledging or responding to the email, Ms Pinnaduwa had decided to file a false report accusing my mum of running a scam. The report is misleading and has many inaccuracies. Over the past 3 years, my mum has been renting apartments in Sri Lanka (from London) and she's had many referrals, not only from the US but from EU as well. May be Ms Pinnaduwa was disappointed that my mum did not satisfy her endless requests, but it does not make my mum a cheat or a scam artist.

Email sent to Ms Pinnaduwa on 30 June:
>>
Yoshita

I was very disappointed to receive your e-mail. Whenever we are not using
the Apartment, I have rented it out. I have had quite a few tenants & I
have cheated no one. Neither will I cheat anyone in the future. None of my
previous tenants have requested proof of ownership documentation. I am not
aware of any landlord who furnishes such requests for tenants.

As I have plenty of enquiries & bookings for this Apartment I decided not
to proceed with setting up the Pay Pal Account, scanning deed documents or
checking your profile on Face Book or searching via Google.

I should have responded to you but I have my son visiting from USA & I
have been very busy.

You should not assume it's a scam just because as a landlord I decided not
to adhere to all your requests.

If you so wish you may visit my Apartment & check my deeds while you are
in Sri Lanka.