Serenade at Riverpark

Review: I am writing to document the incident of Serenade at Riverpark towing my car out of my personal garage (documented in my rental agreement) without my awareness or consent. My name is [redacted] and I have been a resident in A206 for the past 2 years. I have been paying for and occupying Garage B30 over the entire duration of my stay at Serenade at Riverpark. I am an active duty Naval Officer working with Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme. In July, I was sent on orders for temporary duty for several months to Kauai. Shortly before I departed, I went into the Serenade Admin Office and informed the management that I would be gone for 8-10 months and intended on renewing my lease and asked if there was anything else I needed to do before I left. Nothing was discussed with me about a future parking restructuring. I had my mail forwarded to a PO Box in Kekaha, HI and received no formal letter notifying me of an intention to tow my car. I received 1 email dated Sep 5, which said I needed to communicate to the office to receive my new parking assignment (nothing mentioned about towing). Unfortunately, I overlooked this email amongst all the junk mail I receive in my inbox. In addition, my working schedule in HI is very long and I had not been keeping track of my personal email carefully. 7 Days later (12 SEP), I received a message from Wells Fargo (who I'm financing my car with) about a tow notice. Confused about how my car could have been towed out of my personal garage that I pay for and is on my lease, I call Serenade at Riverpark Office and am told that my car was in fact towed from my personal garage. Serenade at Riverpark towed my car without my awareness or my consent. They did not attempt to call me even though I reported to them I would be far away for several months and may not be able to communicate very easily. They did not even bother to call me after they towed my car. When I called, they gave me no information about who is in possession of my vehicleDesired Settlement: I want Serenade at Riverpark to return my car to the garage, pay all towing fees, and pay for any damages to the car that were incurred from dragging the car out of the garage and towing it.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

First off we thank you for your service to our country. Unfortunately, we notified all residents the same and according to the law with a 30 day change of tenancy and gave more days that needed prior to the change. We placed a total of 5 notices weekly prior to the parking changes. We used due diligence in getting the information out to all residents including emailing those that had not complied with getting permits. We are not able to get your vehicle back as a tow company can not release it back to a business. When we received your email and calls, you were advised of where your car was and how it could be obtained. We understand your frustration, however as a community we had to comply with the regulations that were place upon us as a complex. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and hope that privately we will be able to work matters out.

Sincerely,

[redacted], Manager

Review: On 8/1/2013 I walked into the Serenade at Riverpark(SAR) management office during regular business hours to make my rent payment in person as I always do. Instead of accepting my payment personally, one of the(SAR)agents escorted me to a payment drop-box outside the office where I deposited my payment. On 8/6/2013 I received a Pay-Rent-Or-Quit notice from(SAR)due to lack of payment. I went to the management office with a copy of the cashiers I submitted as payment, hoping to resolve the matter. I spoke with the assistant manager about the matter and explained that I'd paid on-time and they had made a mistake. She looked in their payment system and it showed that I'd made a partial payment, approximately 1/2 my regular rent payment. She then looked through several stacks of records and checks and found my payment attached to someone else's file. Seeing that the oversight was obviously they're mistake she apologized and said she would correct the error. All I asked was that there be "no negative" or "delinquent" records or comments in my files. As of today 9/3/2013 my payment history at(SAR) online has still not been updated. This is very, very concerning and professionalism at (SAR) is surely lacking to say the least.Desired Settlement: I'd like my records updated immediately and a formal apology for the unwarranted and incorrect pay-rent-or-quit notice that they plastered on my front door for all passersby to see without so much as a courtesy call, which would have surely unearthed THEIR error.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

Thank you for your letter. As the Manager for Serenade at RiverPark, I apologize for the inconvenience in regards to your August payment. Unfortunately, at the first of every month we handle around 900 checks and they all have to be processed within a 3 day period. In order to get the job accomplished we use a check scanner, it was in the use of the scanner that the technology applied your payment to the wrong account. We have since fixed the problem with the check scanner. I apologize that we didn't call first, however the amount of residents that pay late is too numerous to undertake calling them all at the beginning of each month. We also have to follow the legal posting policies for handling a 3 day notice in case it would become a legal matter which is why your notice was posted face out.

We have also made a lot of changes in the last month in order to better serve our residents. One of them is installing a drop box for rent in the office so those that come into the office no longer have to walk to the back of the building to drop rent. The reason why residents need to use the drop box is that we have to abide by the Electronic Funds Transfer agreement the places controls and guidelines upon us.

I did check your ledger and it does show that there are no issues with your account. I know that you are checking on line to see your ledger, it came to our attention yesterday that the ledgers are not updating correctly on the residential portal. I have reached out to our service provider to correct the issue and that problem should be corrected within the next couple of days. Your ledger shows that you are paid up to date. Anytime you would like us to print out your ledger for your peace of mind we will be glad to do that for you.

Again, I sincerely apologize for the mistake and I hope that you find the rest of your tenancy with us an enjoyable experience.

Sincerely,

[redacted], Manager

Consumer

Response:

Review: 9695753

I am rejecting this response because:

I am very dissatisfied with Serenade at Riverpark's explanation/resolution of this matter. In my opinion there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for having my monthly rent payment credited to some else's account. The fact that there are a large number of payments to process and three days to do it certainly does not excuse that. If their management team can not keep positive control of peoples monthly payments, how can tenants trust that their personal information, SSN's and privacy data won't end up in the wrong hands next? I'm certain that many companies far larger than Serenade at Riverpark handle client payments with much more accuracy and better customer service. Also, their drop box solution is just a band-aide on a gaping wound. They have refused to accept payments personally, refused to provide receipts for payment, and force tenants to use their drop box. For mistakes of this magnitude, I require greater reassurance/compensation than an email response(prompted by a Revdex.com complaint). I expect a reputable business to not only communicate with me as a loyal tenant/customer, but I also expect them to acknowledge wrongdoing on their part and to make it right and reward me. The email response from Serenade at Riverpark leads me to believe that tenant needs and concerns DO NOT COME FIRST, and they have certainly lost my trust and much of my respect as professionals.

Regards,