Moving to Dortmund
I moved to Dortmund just a week ago. The last days were quite busy: I have managed to solve a big portion of the bureaucracy, I have met with my new supervisor for the first time - he is really nice -, and I have moved to a flat with great people.
If this is what you want to hear, then stop reading right here :)
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Everything written above is true, but there is a catch in it.
For almost two months, I believed that I had arranged a fully furnished room in a WG (Wohngemeinschaft - shared flat) in Dortmund and that all that had to be done after arriving in Dortmund was to unpack my luggage and buy some food. So I planned to come to Dortmund on Saturday, only two days before the start of my PhD. But because of some bureaucracy, I had to visit Dortmund on the Wednesday before. And that's when it all started.
I tried to reach my future landlady, but unsuccessfully. She didn't respond. When being in Dortmund, I went to the given address. There it was quite clear that I had been cheated.
Yeah. Three days before the planned arrival in Dortmund, I realized that I do not have anywhere to stay.
As the first step, I have decided to stay in Bonn for a few more days. I have paid my accommodation for the whole month anyway, and there is no need to hurry to move under a bridge :) And as the second step, I started to search for another WG, this time even more desperate than during the summer.
It must be said that finding a WG in Dortmund is not easy in general, and furnished rooms are rare. Moreover, to get the room you usually have to go through an interview with the other occupants.
In a short time, I managed to arrange a few interviews, all of them for the same day. So on Friday, I went to Dortmund again. I didn't find any WG. In the one I liked most, the occupants decided on another applicant. But they offered to host me until I find something else. They told me that I can stay in the free room for a few days till the new guy arrives and that they always have a place in their washroom. And that's where I am right now - sitting on the floor in a room with a washing machine, dry clothes hanging above me :) But that's not a complaint; I am having a good time here!
In the meantime, I have found an (unfurnished) room in a WG. If everything goes right, I move there on Friday. But I don't have any contract yet - so drück mir Daumen!
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And how did it happen that I was cheated? As I wrote above, finding a WG is not easy, in particular if you are not in Germany yet. I wanted to have September free of any arrangements (because of my internship in Bonn), so I was looking for a WG during the summer holidays. After spending two weeks doing nothing else than reading and answering adverts, I was getting desperate. During the two weeks, some obvious scams appeared in my email (owner unexpectedly staying abroad, sending keys per post, ...); so I believed that I knew how to discover deceptive proposals. The one trap I fell into looked more trustful. I have a signed contract, a copy of the landlady's passport, and even a receipt that I paid the deposit and the rent for the first month (I wouldn't expect to get any messages from a cheater after sending the money). Honestly, I was a bit suspicious even when sending the money, but I have decided that I don't have to be always so negative and distrustful. And I really wanted to believe that I have found a flat.
From the retrospective, I can see all the mistakes I have made. One above all: putting the documents next to each other, it is obvious that the signatures are absolutely identical, all of them being taken from the passport.
I feel stupid that I have fallen into that trap. And I didn't want to tell many people about that, because I am not comfortable with sharing my stupidity. But eventually I have decided to share the story to warn my friends of scams.
Do not trust something only because it looks more trustful than the obvious trap.
It cost me 900 Euro to learn this.
And no, I haven't reported it to the police - not yet. But I do have it on my todo list; it just doesn't have the highest priority (not when I do not have anywhere to live and the crime is two months old anyway).
If this is what you want to hear, then stop reading right here :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything written above is true, but there is a catch in it.
For almost two months, I believed that I had arranged a fully furnished room in a WG (Wohngemeinschaft - shared flat) in Dortmund and that all that had to be done after arriving in Dortmund was to unpack my luggage and buy some food. So I planned to come to Dortmund on Saturday, only two days before the start of my PhD. But because of some bureaucracy, I had to visit Dortmund on the Wednesday before. And that's when it all started.
I tried to reach my future landlady, but unsuccessfully. She didn't respond. When being in Dortmund, I went to the given address. There it was quite clear that I had been cheated.
Yeah. Three days before the planned arrival in Dortmund, I realized that I do not have anywhere to stay.
As the first step, I have decided to stay in Bonn for a few more days. I have paid my accommodation for the whole month anyway, and there is no need to hurry to move under a bridge :) And as the second step, I started to search for another WG, this time even more desperate than during the summer.
It must be said that finding a WG in Dortmund is not easy in general, and furnished rooms are rare. Moreover, to get the room you usually have to go through an interview with the other occupants.
In a short time, I managed to arrange a few interviews, all of them for the same day. So on Friday, I went to Dortmund again. I didn't find any WG. In the one I liked most, the occupants decided on another applicant. But they offered to host me until I find something else. They told me that I can stay in the free room for a few days till the new guy arrives and that they always have a place in their washroom. And that's where I am right now - sitting on the floor in a room with a washing machine, dry clothes hanging above me :) But that's not a complaint; I am having a good time here!
In the meantime, I have found an (unfurnished) room in a WG. If everything goes right, I move there on Friday. But I don't have any contract yet - so drück mir Daumen!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And how did it happen that I was cheated? As I wrote above, finding a WG is not easy, in particular if you are not in Germany yet. I wanted to have September free of any arrangements (because of my internship in Bonn), so I was looking for a WG during the summer holidays. After spending two weeks doing nothing else than reading and answering adverts, I was getting desperate. During the two weeks, some obvious scams appeared in my email (owner unexpectedly staying abroad, sending keys per post, ...); so I believed that I knew how to discover deceptive proposals. The one trap I fell into looked more trustful. I have a signed contract, a copy of the landlady's passport, and even a receipt that I paid the deposit and the rent for the first month (I wouldn't expect to get any messages from a cheater after sending the money). Honestly, I was a bit suspicious even when sending the money, but I have decided that I don't have to be always so negative and distrustful. And I really wanted to believe that I have found a flat.
From the retrospective, I can see all the mistakes I have made. One above all: putting the documents next to each other, it is obvious that the signatures are absolutely identical, all of them being taken from the passport.
I feel stupid that I have fallen into that trap. And I didn't want to tell many people about that, because I am not comfortable with sharing my stupidity. But eventually I have decided to share the story to warn my friends of scams.
Do not trust something only because it looks more trustful than the obvious trap.
It cost me 900 Euro to learn this.
And no, I haven't reported it to the police - not yet. But I do have it on my todo list; it just doesn't have the highest priority (not when I do not have anywhere to live and the crime is two months old anyway).
