I was looking for 1 dedicated desk in a WeWork located in Milan, Italy for only 1 month.<p>Desk pricing: 530€/month (VAT excluded).<p>Installation: 100€ one-time<p>Deposit (refunded within 30d):<p><pre><code> - if I pay with Bank direct debit: 1.5x desk pricing = 795€
- if I pay with credit card: 2x desk pricing = 1060€
- if I pay with bank wire: 3x desk pricing = 1590€
</code></pre>
Since I will pay using bank wire (the most common payment method for this amount range) I need to send them 530+100 + 1590€ = 2,220€ just for using a wood desk and a chair for 1 month!<p>I could understand the desk pricing + installation. It's expensive but reasonable.<p>Instead I am quite scared by the deposit amount. No other coworking never asked me for a deposit.<p>In other terms, they are asking me a 1590€ short term loan.
According to last financial reports WeWork has a $-4B loss and $2B revenue in 2021.<p>It looks to me they are on the edge of bankruptcy. They highly need liquidity.<p>Is it different in other part of the world?<p>We work financials: https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/we/financials
This sounds excessive, I'd look into other coworking solutions<p>There's no reason why paying something with wire instead of debit costs 1.5x more (unless they want to keep your card data to charge later other stuff which sounds very fishy)
We pay similar in Germany with our co-working space. We're not at WeWork, but another multi-city company. 3x monthly rent as deposit. No installation cost. Rent increases 3.5% per year automatically.
If they ask you to pay upfront I don't understand the point of a deposit. In fact, I don't understand the point of a deposit either way and the variable amounts make little sense.