Locations Hawai’i

Locations HQ

Locations Hawai’i is the property management firm that handles various rental properties including numerous “old folks home” facilities. The corporate office is located in Kapahulu. Reviews of the property management division (it is also a real estate agency) on Yelp have pretty much summarized the personal sordid experience detailed in Notes. Any positive reviews are planted.

Continued e-mail correspondence with Sy, the so-called “property administrative assistant,” has proven futile. Sy has remained obstinate about not accepting copies of processed checks (from the bank, no less) as “proof of payment,” even though courts of law do so. Sy had even commanded that communication with the corporate office by lowly tenants was forbidden.

The resident manager, Randi, was deliberately left out of the loop so far. Randi is incompetent and totally reliant on Sy for daily operations. Of the two brief encounters with Randi, that latter statement proved true. Warnings about Randi were also previously issued by the one friendly tenant mentioned in Notes a while back.

This morning, a visit to the bank and a legal aid firm yielded the suggestion to defy Sy and call the corporate office. That call was subsequently made. The voicemenu system of the property management division was designed to discourage callers. In fact, it eventually defaulted to the receptionist’s voicemail. Why would the receptionist be out of the office at 11am? So, the quickest way to bypass the automated phone system barricade was to call the real estate division. A real person answered (no voicemenu) and the call was directed to the accounting department. Another real person answered and the call was directed to another person who allegedly was “higher up the food chain” than Sy. Alas, Ciara was not there (no surprise) and her default voicemail was invoked. A message was left with brief details about the current situation at the “old folks home.” No return call ever materialized.

The plan from this point forward is to reduce e-mail correspondence with Sy to a single message with the updated bank details, check copies to prove that payments are current, and a note that check copies are legal “proof of payment.” The recipients list will now include Randi and whatever other relevant Locations e-mail addresses are discovered. Aside from that, there is already a sufficient “e-mail trail” for future legal defense.

A subsequent Web search, for no particular reason, resulted in the discovery of the Yelp review page linked above. Upon reading the reviews, the revelation that Sy was merely a puppet goose-stepping his “marching orders” via the “chain of command” became all too apparent. As intended, Sy would be the “fall guy” if the scam was exposed. The whole scam is “standard operating procedure” for Locations Hawai’i. That is why actual names and corporate identity have been revealed here. People residing in Hawai’i should avoid doing any business with the shady operation. Fucking scumbags!

Addendum: Another curious aspect of this affair is that the original billing statement was for one month rent and the late fee ($876 + 43.80 = $919.80). The check was submitted with the billing statement. The last two billing statements have been modified. The statement shows a payment of $43.80 with a new $832.20 delinquent balance. That makes absolutely no sense. Clearly, there is something going on that suggests high-level theft and embezzlement. Any attempt to coerce Sy to respond in e-mail about anything concerning the rent payments have resulted in silence. He sticks to his rehearsed line about the alleged delinquent balance. Sy is being coached.

Update: The one friendly tenant (mentioned earlier) also stated that Randi was an accountant (more likely a bookkeeper) and that she also has lots of money problems. “She can’t save money,” he said to explain why the seventy-something Randi isn’t retired. Randi also purchased a new automobile “just because she liked the color.” Could the embezzlement ring be limited to Randi and Sy? That may be the case. The letterhead is not official. The e-mail address is invalid and the domain is probably from several years ago. The letter, upon closer scrutiny, originates from Randi. The billing statement is exactly the same every month now. It shows a $43.80 payment (leaving a strange $832.30 amount in delinquency). There has never been a single check written for that amount. The modus operandi has been exposed, but how do they get the money out of the main account?