Global Management One

I am sort of wary of writing this, out of fear that they’ll recognize my name and, I don’t know, come after me? However, just in case anyone out there happens to think to look this place up on Unilocal before using them, I need to do my part.
Global Management One (hereafter referred to as «GM1») is great if you are:
–lazy
–unable to find an apartment on your own due to some kind of inability
GM1 MIGHT be great if you are:
–looking for an apartment (outside of a major metro area) where Craigslist is not often used for ads
GM1 is the company that posts ads on Craigslist that read similarly to «Capitol Hill — studio’s, 1, and 2 bedroom ready today» and speak of a «rental agency fee» and freakishly low prices for apartments. If you call them, they tell you that they have all these wonderful apartments but they can’t tell you the addresses until you’ve signed up with them. This means paying them $ 195 and saying that you’ll get a refund if they don’t find you a place, but ONLY IF you come in twice a week for 60 days to get an updated list.
Then they hand you a list of apartments and that’s that. It might be my own naïveté, but I was under the impression that they would ask for my criteria and create a list for ME, or go over different options with me, not just give me a hundred-​page packet listing apartments ALL OVER THE STATE (yes, including Eastern Washington) even though I only wanted Seattle and the east side. When we first spoke on the phone, I specified what I was looking for and the person I dealt with read off a number of places that sounded like what I was looking for, with the criteria I wanted, but there was never again anything that specific.
I read through the packet and discovered that every single apartment in my area was either:
–a place I’d already viewed and deemed unacceptable after seeing it ON CRAIGSLIST (sometimes for picky reasons, like a lack of parking, and sometimes not)
–a place that had godawful reviews online (rents raised every month, etc)
–a place that was being torn down in a few months (yes, they should still be able to rent the place but it should be specified on the list that it is a SHORT TERM LEASE)
The list does not specify if a place has parking. It doesn’t specify size, either. I was told I had to drive by every apartment I was interested in, then tell GM1 and they would set up an appointment for me to view it. I ended up not using them AT ALL, telling them I wanted my money back because they had done me no service at all and I found an apartment on my own (Craigslist is love), and being told that, no, I am not special and exempt and I still had to come in every week for sixty days (which I figured, but it was worth a shot, right?).
So I did, and it was annoying, and I will say I did in fact get my refund ($ 150, which is always the case because they keep some for whatever purpose).
The people at GM1 all seemed very nice. I don’t fault them, but it’s a useless service. I also feel like they rope in unsuspecting people with their ads singing of super-​cheap places, even though most of those places are ALREADY ON CRAIGSLIST.
Some people don’t know how to do this on their own. Some people are too lazy to do it on their own. Some people may be somehow disabled and NEED the extra help (although I have a hunch they could get that help for free from some organization…). I have never lived out in the country or in Eastern Washington, but I know that Craigslist is not as useful there. A service like this may help people looking to rent in an area like those. But for most people? NOT worth it.