Complaint Review: Regus - Campbell California

During the month of January 2014, I met with Gabe Regalado, who was in charge of renting office space for Regus at 1999 South Bascom Avenue, 7th Floor, Campbell, CA 95008. He was very helpful and very personable. He suggested that I get a "virtual office" first. Quite frankly, this was a complete waste of money as all the receptionist did was forward the office number to my cell phone. They did provide internet access. However, it was almost always a pain in the neck to get the Ethernet to work. All other services like using the copy machine or calling out on the office phone was a la carte (They charged you extra for using them). You did get free coffee and water (whoopee!). At any rate, I gave an $800 deposit for the virtual office and another $1800 deposit for the actual office. I had one office space without a window for three weeks and then they switched me to an office with a window when it became available. As it turned out, this was a new business for me. I held seminars and tried to sign up clients for retirement and estate planning services. The reason I did not want a long term rental commitment was because I was not sure how things would work out, being as it was a new business for me. After doing two postcard mailings and four seminars, I had not brought any income into the business. This was not the fault of Regus. However, I sent my entry card and office keys to Regus by certified mail, giving them notice on April 20, 2014 that I was surrendering my office and giving more than 2 months notice of termination. When I was sitting in the conference room with Gabe, I expained my vision. It was clear to him that I would not be in the building long term.

As I continued to do seminars (assuming my business was successful which it was not), I would be holding seminars in different locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This is the reason I went to Regus in the first place. As my seminars moved, I could move my office space to another Regus location close to my clients. Gabe understood my business plans and needs very well. He had me sign in a few places on the contract. He verbally told me several times, "All you need to do is give me two months notice before you move out of your office." That was well understood between us. I never got a copy of the contract and was unaware that he had modified the contract after I signed it to a yearly contract without notifying me. He never said anything and I never received any copies of the contracts or any indication of the nature of the contract as they billed me for one month for June 2014 in May 2014.

The only way I found out about the change was when I was contacted by a bill collector circa June 6 for an amount of $9700.00. I could not figure out how they arrived at this amount. I finally deduced that what Gabe did was alter the contract without my knowledge and submitted it so he would get his full commission for renting the office for a year instead of only for a few months. To put a few extra dollars in his pocket, he threw me under the bus, by modifying / completing the contract that was not what we verbally agreed to; not notifying me or providing me with a copy of the contract. I received no indication of the terms other than what was verbally agreed upon between the two of us from Regus and only was able to deduce what happened after they turned the contract in for collection. I enjoyed meeting Gabe and doing business with him. He is very personable. However, this is one of the most unethical actions I have encountered in business. I'm sure his area manager, Dominic, and his president, Dixon, will use the full power of their financial might to smash little guys like me, but people should know what sleezeballs they are doing business with before engaging in business with them. Frankly, I tried very hard to work this out, but they think they have me over a barrel and there is nothing I can do about it. To me, this is very short sighted on there part, as any money they think they are going to collect is certainly not worth the negative publicity. I will be going to file charges with the Campbell police but they usually consider this "a civil matter," although it's no difference to me whether they extort money out of me this way or use a gun. I will also be filing a complaint with the California Department of Consumer Affairs.