Palm House Two Assisted Living

Review: On 06/09/13 I spoke with the owner of Palm House II Assisted Living, [redacted] about having my mother in law move there from her current group home. My fiance and his mother had already toured the house and were satisfied. Ms. [redacted] requested that we give her a $1,000 deposit that was, in her exact words, "100% fully refundable." She also assured me that the check would not even be cashed, that it was only being held as a deposit. On 06/10/13 I personally dropped off the check at Palm House II. The estimated move-in date was 06/27/13.

On 06/21/13, I called Ms. [redacted] and left a voicemail on her cell phone that my mother-in-law had decided to remain at the group home where she currently resides, and that I would like to get that "100% refundable" deposit check back. She never returned my call. Today, 06/26/13, I called Ms. [redacted] again and spoke with her. She informed me that the deposit was 100% refundable ONLY when my mother-in-law actually moved in Palm House II. I told her she had not informed me of that previously, but had only said the deposit was "100% refundable." She asked me if I had recorded her saying that, and then stated that she probably did tell me that, however, that is how it is and we were not getting our check back. She also told me to have "my attorney call her attorney." When I checked my mother-in-law's bank account online, I discovered that the check had been cashed the day after I dropped it off (06/11/13) despite Ms. [redacted]'s assurance that "the check won't even be cashed."

My mother-in-law lives in a group home, is on a fixed income, and has Parkinson's disease. She cannot afford to lose $1,000....that is a great deal of money for her. I find it appalling that a person who runs a group home for vulnerable, elderly people can take advantage of them like this. We had also put a deposit at another facility around the same time, and they cheerfully sent our UNCASHED check right back when we told them she'd changed her mind about moving.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of my mother-in-law's $1,000.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com representative,

I really appreciate your hard work in helping us to provide a great service for our customers, and for assisting us when unwanted dispute occur!

Regarding this complaint, there is not to much to say. Every single person in this country knows what is a "security deposit". I don't really need to explain that!

However I would like to refer that, by the United States Law, a security deposit also known as an earnest payment, is the course of a rental agreement, and the receiving party retains the right to insist upon repayment in cash. The party making an advance payment retains no right to insist upon the return of the funds as long as the recipient fulfills the contractual agreement.

When Ms. [redacted] paid $1000 security deposit, that was part of an agreement therefore I will never rent her room to anyone else. The following week I had 3 other families coming over to check our facility, and they were interested to move in that room, but I had to reject them because the room was already secured by that agreement with Ms. [redacted], in a form of $1000 security deposit!

I did say to Ms. [redacted] that the security deposit is 100% refundable, but that's at the end of agreement when they will move out of my facility if there is no cost of repair in relation to any damage explicitly specified in the agreement!

I never said "the check would not even be chased", because that does not make any sense to take the check in the first place anyway! I am doing this business for almost 12 years, and I do agreements with people every month. I never had any complaint like that since I started my business 12 years ago. Our reputation and our integrity is at the highest level, and we are very well known in this industry in AZ!

We do not play around with our customers, and we expect the same way from our customers too!

When someone make a security deposit, they have to be accountable for that! I did not offer the room to any of the three clients willing to move in and I lost business because Ms. [redacted] changed her mind, and broke the agreement to move in on June 27. I am not the one to take advantage of her money, I am actually the one that I'm loosing money because they are irresponsible with their decisions.

And to prove that, I would like to ask some questions: 'Why Ms. [redacted] had also put a deposit at another facility around the same time?" Was she intended to move her mother-in-low in two different facilities in the same time? Or she actually did play around with everyone? Is a "security deposit" something that we should play around with? Is a "Rental agreement" something that we should play around with? And if the answer is "NO", and everyone in this country knows that the answer is "NO", in that case, who was actually the person that was playing with her mother-in-low money?

I am a person that I run a group home, and I do not take advantage of anyone, I actually take care of a lot of people, and that is a very hard work, a tremendous amount of responsibilities, and I do that with a lot of compassion for all this people.

Everyone who does business with me is very happy and they all respect me and appreciate a lot, the level of care that we provide! I do have tons of appreciation letters from all the people we served over the 12 years in business!

With that being said, I will suggest to Ms. [redacted] to be more carefully when she is managing her mother-in-low money, and be accountable for her actions and decisions, and if she makes a foolish decision, please do not blame those that are doing business in very honest, correct and ethical way!

Thank you again Revdex.com!

Have a wonderful Day!

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I reject this "proposed action" because Ms. [redacted] has proposed NO action. Seriously, is ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS a reasonable amount to retain when the most time the room was empty was about 10 days?? If she had lived there for 10 days, which would include time of nurses/cargivers, as well as all meals, it would cost around $800. This 10-day period cost nothing in nurse/caregiver time and nothing in food for the facility!

Ms. [redacted] is flat-out lying because she told me in exact words and lead me to believe that the deposit was 100% refundable. Absolutely NO mention was made of the deposit being refundable only if my mother-in-law actually took the room. She is also absolutely lying about telling me she wouldn't cash the check - that too is a usual practice with deposits. All of the other assisted living facilities we have ever dealt with in the past have returned the original deposit check UNCASHED.

Not that it's any of Ms. [redacted]'s concern, but my mother-in-law was trying to decide between two different places and put deposits at both. The other facility, [redacted], very promptly and nicely returned her original, uncashed check when she decided not to move. There is nothing unusual about that procedure; we had similar experiences when we were looking for a place for her last year. None of the other facilities we have EVER dealt with has refused to return a 100% refundable deposit.

I am really very grateful that we ended up not doing business with such an unethical person. I shudder to think what kind of "care" she really provides for her residents. I will do everything in my power to tell my story as a warning to other people about Ms. [redacted]'s penchant for lying and her unethical practices. She is nothing but a con artist praying on vulnerable elderly people.

I propose that Ms. [redacted] return at least half of my mother-in-law's deposit ($500).

Regards,