Closed San Francisco home-sharing start-up, unable to provide refunds, asks customers to keep foldable partitions instead
- HomeShare, founded by Stanford University alumnus Jeffrey Pang, closed on April 26 because of financial difficulties
- Start-up wants its customers to keep the Screenflex room dividers, which it says retails for US$1,600, in lieu of the refundable deposit
Tenants of the San Francisco-based start-up HomeShare, which closed abruptly last month, have been asked to keep “foldable partitions” used to subdivide rented flats as refund instead of cash.
HomeShare’s closure on April 26 came as a surprise to residents and partners alike who had no idea that the company, founded by Stanford University alumnus Jeffrey Pang, was facing financial difficulties.
The start-up offered tenants the chance to live in brand new luxury flats in the city by dividing them into small, affordable units using temporary partitions.
In an email to HomeShare residents obtained by the Post, the company said it would be unable to return the deposit paid by customers for the Screenflex divider, used as a partition for the luxury apartments so more roommates could be accommodated and make the rents payable to landlords cheaper for each tenant.
Instead, residents were encouraged to sell or use the divider, which HomeShare said was retailing for about US$1,600, as they saw fit.