Integrity Investments, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Please understand that it is necessary for me, [redacted], to aid my mother [redacted] in typing these messages on her behalf because she is elderly and legally blind.  Together we have had these issues, which began over the last year, it seems since the building changed ownership and management.  We also do not appreciate the responder of this email disclosure of our rent amount and insinuations that because we are in low income housing we are getting a deal. 
We have never had any specific training on the thermostats.  As far as I am aware [redacted] has only been in our apartment one time to show me how to clean the sensors, but no direction as to the proper use of the device.  At that moment when [redacted] was here the heat was turned off therefore their comment that he stated that the apartment was  "quite hot" except the heat was turned down to the lowest setting.  We would prefer to receive actual training, not hearsay from [redacted] or the individual responding to this email.
Regarding the door insulation kit, it consisted of a box, two cylinders that slide into material and then slid underneath the door.  The installation was done properly, but it would not stay put and instead continued to remove itself each time you opened or closed the door.  We even tried to cut the cylinders down to reduce it from popping, but that did not work either.  Perhaps a better kit that stayed put would be helpful in correcting this problem.
To my knowledge many of the AC units may be partially covered or taped up, but are still allowing cold air to enter the apartments per my discussions with other residents in the building. Of which many are afraid to report these problems for fear of eviction.
We understand the tubs may have passed code in 1997, however they remain difficult to use for elderly residents.  My mother is unable to use the tub due to its height.
Recently we did five loads of laundry and the dryers still are not heating properly, for an average size load, causing excessive expenses on re-drying items. Perhaps you need to look into cleaning out exhausts or determining if dryers need to be replaced.  In addition the biggest dryer used for larger loads is also not drying loads properly.  Other residents have also complained to me, but again afraid to come forward.
Good news is the snow removal has improved since writing this complaint, it is much appreciated.
Regarding the electric/utility bill, in December 2013, our bill, including the oxygen machine totaled $136.85 (a price we were able to afford in our budget).  However [redacted] became ill and entered the hospital and then rehabilitation from Jan. 6 through Mar. 3 and  therefore not residing in the apartment at that time.  In January, all heating dials were turned to the lowest setting, except in one bedroom with the door closed and towel underneath, and no oxygen machine was running and the bill totaled $174.00 (why so much higher?).  To further test, once February came I turned off all the dials except the bedroom, and the bill totaled $98.68. So this data should prove that the oxygen machine is not the issue.   As far as housing is concerned, we did not receive a heat deduction from our rent, as the responder had specified.    We are working on obtaining heat assistance, but in the meantime would like help in determining where the excessive power is coming from, to allow us to afford our bill, maybe a bad appliance or other reason?
We would appreciate better steps towards resolution of these issues, but appreciate you responding to our needs.
Regards,
[redacted] & [redacted]

To begin, we believe [redacted], who is
a caregiver for her mother, [redacted] who lives in Apt #[redacted], filed this
complaint.  They have one of the few 2 bedroom-housing vouchers in the
building.  Their rent is $320.00 and the lease is comes up in December of each year and the rent should go down even more.  She is not on the lease and her
mother is very elderly and has oxygen machines running all the time. This
really escalates the electric costs.  Our maintenance person, [redacted], tells
us the apartment is quite hot during his visits and according to a Focus on
Energy Report we have, their apartment is in the excessive electric usage range
consistently compared to the average usage of the rest of the building.,
We have done training with our residents on
regulating the thermostat. They need to be set harmoniously and the set up in
this building is very typical of electric baseboard heating seen in most
apartment buildings. 
The doors are properly installed. Some of them may
be undercut and [redacted] requested a door bottom insulating kit.  She did
not ask [redacted], our maintenance person, for help and said she could do it
herself and evidentially had problems with the install and returned it to [redacted]
via another tenant.   She never asked for additional help.  This
was about two weeks ago.
The windows are vinyl and some do have some
drafts that are let in, we have had our maintenance do caulking for insulation
when we get complaints about this. It is a simple installation; however, [redacted]
nor [redacted] have complained to us about windows. 
All of our A/C units have covers on them, per
our manager. If for some reason the tenant has issues putting them on we have
told them in the past to alert us, and we will have maintenance assist them. We
also put shrink wrap around several of the new units to keep the outside cold
air from getting in, although again, we need to be make aware of the issue to
be able to remedy it.
As for the tubs, the building was built that
way in 1997.  It has passed building inspections, and we have not had
complaints from other tenants. This has never come up during the lease renewals
she has done in the past.
The dryer issues have been resolved. Our
maintenance person has had them all repaired, and we have not noticed any
machines with low collections, nor gotten complaints from other tenants about
the machines. 
As you aware this has been a particularly harsh
winter; however, according to our manager the lots are sidewalks have been
taken care of and have been in good condition all winter. Both our plowing
company and maintenance person have been working quite hard to keep everything
in good condition. The walks have been shoveled more efficiently than ever
before. Our maintenance person has been coming in off hours to do additional
snow shoveling, just to make sure everything is taken care of.
The main complaint appears to be about the
electric heat and the costs.  As we all know, this has been an especially
difficult winter for everyone. In addition, starting last summer we gave notice
and then began lowering rents, but having tenants pay their own electric bills.
They have all been instructed to apply for energy assistance if they need it, and we brought in people to discuss this with all the tenants, and we know for a fact many people have received $100 to $200 credits on their
energy bills.
If this person is on Housing, they are getting
one heck of deal and the numbers are working out pretty much as they were prior
to heat cost assumption.  We did research before the switch to make sure
that we lowered the rents to account for the electric bills being paid by the
tenants. However, their heat consumption must be within the average range for
the building and theirs is not.
I hope this helps and answers your questions.
 If you have any other questions, let me know.
 
Integrity Investments, Inc.

Integrity Investments, Inc. purchased the apartment complex my wife and I lived at in Lake Mills, WI (Pondview Apartments). The previous apartment owners and management team were diligent, kind and available at most hours of the day and 24/7 for emergency.
Integrity was not. They never (and I mean NEVER) answered either office phone lines, were very rude over the phone, jacked up our rent immediately upon ownership transferring and did not accommodate us when we told them we were moving.
My wife and I bought our first home in a neighboring town and saw that our lease required a 30-day move-out notice. When I provided that via signed letter and email, I received a call from [redacted] in their Brookfield office that 30-day wasn't sufficient. He claimed it needed to be 60-day move out terms. And what's worse is that he said the 60 days couldn't begin until the start of a new month (we were letting him know on April 22).
So we had delay the close date on our new place from May 15 to June 15 to try and avoid paying for two residences for two months' time.
I asked [redacted] if they would have an on-site manager who could do a final walk-through with me on the final day of the lease. He said, "No." Only after I really put a fight did he agree to "have a guy drive up all the way from Janesville to meet me," assuming that it was my job to cater to his schedule (although it is obviously the contrary).
Now 4+ months later, my wife and I have received a letter threatening collections for a "delinquent" water, sewer and light bill. Integrity received the bill on Oct 14th, but didn't put any notice of it to send to us until the 30th. We received it on the 3rd, which is two days after the bill says there will be a 10% rate increase if unpaid.
I tried to call their office to see how I could possibly be getting a bill from June in November. No one answered the phone (as is there practice).
The person I contacted at the City of Lake Mills informed me that Past Due noticed were sent to my current residence (which that were not) and the Integrity (which would make more sense). We never were forwarded any notice of this. Why? Why would we get nothing until a lien would be threatened against our home.
It really doesn't make any sense.
For a couple with an average credit score of 810 to have to deal with a company like Integrity has been extremely frustrating (even after we started renting from them). If I were could recommend one thing, it would be to never get involved with them. They apartments are in a great location an look nice, but they management and ownership is so very very poor.
You are better off buying a cheap home and doing the repair yourself (because that's how it will be for you at Pondview). We once went three days without warm water.