Avail Account Locked - Demands proof of life

[Petra Handrigan]

Hi,

I posted a mid-term rental on Furnished Finder. On Furnished Finder every listing gets reviewed and verified before it will be live on their website. The listing also includes the rental license number. I planned to use Avail for tenant screening, lease signing and rent payment. I had a prospective tenant (traveling nurse) last week who was interested in renting the unit starting in mid-August and I sent her the link to the Avail application. She filled out the application  (Wednesday afternoon) and I received the report. On Thursday she asked when she would get the lease and I told her in the morning that I was working on it. I had an 8 hour surgery that day and my husband and I (mainly him) worked on uploading our custom lease after the surgery and we were going to send it to her that evening. That evening I received an email from her stating that she could not verify our profile and that she would be reporting us. We contacted Furnished Finder to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the listing. We decided that this is not a tenant we would want to rent to. Friday evening I received a message from another prospective tenant letting me know that they filled out an application. I attempted to log into the Avail account to review the application only to find that the account was locked. I attempted to call Avail but there is no phone support on the weekends. I emailed and received a response a day later stating that the "algorithm flagged the account". In order to unlock the account I need to send them a photo of myself holding a sign that shows the current date and Avail on it (what is this a kidnapping where I have to send proof of life?), my ID and documentation that shows that I am the owner of the property such as a closing statement.

I called again this morning, Monday, only to be transferred to voicemail, so it looks like customer service for when your account is locked in non existent. At this point I cannot review the new application I received and I am unable to respond to the new applicant to either accept or deny their application. I let them know that I have issues logging into my account and I would be in touch at the beginning of the week, so today, Monday. However, I cannot hold them off forever obviously.

Has anyone else run into this? I do not the believe the BS about the "algorithm flagged the account". Apparently an unstable individual can hold your rental business completely hostage by making false accusations. 

I have used Buildium and other screening and property management softwares in the past and never had something like this happen. Needless to say that I will not use Avail for any of my rentals going forward.

Thoughts anyone? How would you proceed with this?

[Michele Shima]

Hi @Petra Handrigan.  I'm curious how Avail resolved your issue and what went wrong? I was thinking about using them for my rentals going forward. 

Your feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

[Petra Handrigan]

It was resolved after I provided all the things they requested including a photo of myself holding a sign with the date and Avail written on it. Completely ridiculous. They should disclose what they need prior to when the property is listed.