Sommerset La Costa

Dear Ms***, I am in receipt of your letter dated 2/16/17, regarding the complaint of a non-refundable holding deposit for a rental apartment at our community. The complainant visited our property on 2/4/17, in an effort to secure rental housing within the coming weeks. I went
over rental options with them during their visit, and they returned on 2/6/to complete a rental application for Unit ***, with a lease start date of 2/17/17. Along with the application, they left a $deposit (via credit card payment) to hold the unit until their lease start date of 2/17/17. I discussed the application process with them in person, including how the application process works; and explained to them that their deposit was essentially taking that unit off the market, and the deposit would be fully refundable within hours. If they cancelled their application after the hours, their deposit would be forfeited, which they acknowledged on the Rental Deposit Receipt (attached for your review.) They were notified on 2/6/at 9:a.mvia e-mail correspondence that their application was still pending approval, that it would most likely be a conditional approval, with an extra deposit required. On 2/7/at 9:a.mthey were notified via e-mail correspondence that their application was approved with an additional $deposit due at move-in, and were advised at this time that their credit card would be charged the $deposit. (I had explained to them when they applied on 2/6/that I would alert them when the credit card would be charged.) On 2/13/17, I received an e-mail correspondence from them (dated 2/12/at 4:p.m.) that stated they were cancelling their reservation, and asked for the $deposit to be refunded. My response on 2/13/at 8:a.macknowledged their cancellation, but explained that the deposit was non-refundable as it had been past the 24-hour time frame; and therefore their request for the $deposit to be refunded was denied, as outlined on the Rental Deposit Receipt. In order to be eligible for the $deposit to be refunded (actually, the charge would have not even been posted, per my conversation with them on 2/6/17…deposits are only posted after an application’s approval), they would have had to cancel the reservation no later than 2/8/at 9:a.m. Given that I was out of the office all day on 2/8/17, we would have given them an extra day to cancel the reservation. However, they did not cancel their reservation until 2/12/17, which was several days after the deadline in order to receive a deposit. I did offer to transfer their deposit to another unit, but did not hear back from them. We are a Fair Housing community, and our policies and procedures are clearly outlined in our Screening Criteria (part of the application packet) as well as on the Rental Deposit Receipt. I am sorry for the financial inconvenience this may have caused them, and would be willing to transfer their $deposit to another unit within days, if they are still interested. If not, unfortunately, I am unable to reverse the decision about the non-refundable deposit, as we held that unit off the market specifically for them, and were not able to offer it for rental to other prospective renters. If there is anything else you need from me, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Thanks and have a great day. Kind regards, *** *** | Community ManagerSommerset La Costa*** *** ***, ** ***, ** *** | T: ***.***.*** | F: ***.***.***www.***.comwww.***.com

Review: My husband got orders to Camp Pendleton from his current duty in Wisconsin. So we started looking online and found Sommerset La Costa apartments in Carlsbad, Ca. We contacted [redacted] who is the property manager, she said the apartments looked even better in person then they do online. So we paid her $80 ($40 a person for application fee) and $500 for a deposit. When we got to Carlsbad on September 27th, apart from the online pictures being entirely different from the actual apartment (apparently those were "remodeled units which were unavailable and have never been seen" according to [redacted]) we decided that we were entirely mislead on the whole place and the style of management and thought it best to keep looking. In short, we never signed a lease. [redacted] said that she would contact us on Monday September 30th about getting a refund. She did not contact us, we called her and she assured us that we were never charged. Upon checking our account, we were charged $580 (deposit/non refundable application fees) and then charged again two separate times for $40 for a grand total of $80 on October 2nd. When we contacted [redacted] she wouldn't take our calls for a week and just sent emails insisting we were never charged, then she told us that a check was in the mail finally on October 8th and gave us a corporate number to call. We have not received a check nor has Sunrise Management (San Diego [redacted]) taken or returned any of our calls. It has now been 25 days and still no money or call. The first time [redacted] said our money was sent on October 8th and then later claimed it was sent out on October 15th. They have our current address (as does public record because we filed the property change of address) and even if they sent it to our old address (WI) we would gave received it because all of our mail is forwarded to us.Desired Settlement: We were charged a total of $660 from Sommerset LaCosta, obviously $80 of that is non refundable due to the application fee. We never signed a lease and obviously never moved in so a total of $580 needs to be sent to us.

Business

Response:

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide feedback regarding Incident [redacted] submitted by [redacted], on or around 9/27/13. Upon your review, please keep me updated of next steps.

From what I recall, [redacted] inquired about our community via Rent.com, with a maximum price range of $1800.00. At the time of his inquiry, I had one of our Classic Interiors on the market, with a market price of $1805, for which they submitted their application and deposit payment authorization. Being brand new to the community, I had never seen any of our Contemporary Interiors, as they were all occupied upon my arrival. (It wasn't until months later that I saw one in person for the first time.) Our market price on the Contemporary Units at the time, if available, would have been in the $2000 range. During the application process (all done via e-mail, fax, etc.) I did have one phone conversation with [redacted], in which I expressed my excitement about her move to San Diego, as I very much always enjoy helping people find their new home. At no time, to my knowledge, did I ever say "the apartments look better in person." However, I happen to really LOVE our product (both Classic and Contemporary) and my genuine and sincere customer-service oriented presentation really conveys to the prospect how confident I am that they will see great value in living at Sommerset. I am always very clear about Classic vs. Contemporary...and at that time, I would have never intentionally indicated that we had a Contemporary available, since we didn't. I actually do happen to think our apartment homes look better in person, but I always leave the final interpretation to the guest.

During their road trip out to San Diego, which took several days, I connected with them several times to be updated of their estimated arrival date/time. In an effort to go above and beyond for my future residents, I gave them my personal cell phone number and also offered to meet them at the Leasing Office, after business hours, on a weekend, to accommodate their arrival, as I was very excited to have them as part of the community.

Upon their arrival, they were clearly disappointed in the Unit they had rented. According to them, they were expecting one of the Contemporary Units, and were under the impression that it would be what they got; when in fact, they had rented one of our Classic Units. I was very apologetic about the misunderstanding, and asked them if there was anything we could do to turn this around...including updating the cabinets, countertops, possibly some of the appliances, etc. I was clear that it wouldn't happen overnight, but that they were my TOP priority on the next business day. They again voiced their disappointment, and left the property "to find another place to live."

I can't remember exactly the timing, but I followed up with them on that next Monday to see if they had made any decisions, and if there was any way that we could keep them here in our community. (I believe this was via e-mail.) At this time, [redacted] said they had already found a place, and requested a refund. Be advised that our policy for refunds is when a reservation is cancelled within 24 hours of the reservation. However, in an attempt to make it right for them, I let [redacted] know that we would process his refund right away. Upon review of his Ledger, I told [redacted] that I never charged his credit card at all. This was an honest mistake...I was new to this property, and did not realize that there was a Deposit Ledger as well as a Ledger, and since I did not see any charges on the Deposit Ledger, I simply did not think his card had been charged. In fact, I told him several times that I had not charged his card. Several days later, they did contact me, and said that the charge had gone through and requested an immediate refund. (The charge had been processed...on the Ledger.) As you can imagine, I was horrified! I had no idea that the deposit charge had been processed. I felt so bad, and communicated to the [redacted]s that despite their overwhelming disappointment during this whole process, these were honest mistakes and I would do everything that I could do expedite their refund. Over the course of the next several days or so, they did leave me several messages...not once did I ever NOT respond. Often times, however, I did respond via e-mail, as I felt that the situation was becoming more confrontational. Unfortunately, I didn't always have the answer for them, but I did respond in a very timely manner as they continued to be my top priority at the time. In each response, I took full responsibility and apologized profusely...and even expressed my hope that someday we would be able to provide housing for them at one of our other Sunrise Properties. (It really is my best intention to provide the very best service to my guests...my motto is "I'm not happy until the customer is happy.") And speaking on behalf of the Sunrise Management Company, I was willing to do what it took to someday make this up to them, and to turn this situation into a positive one for everyone. It was at this time, that I felt I had exhausted all of my efforts at the property level, so I turned their file over to my Corporate Office for refund processing. I even passed along the Corporate Office contact number to the [redacted]s, in an effort to show that I really was trying to rectify the situation. As for the actual refund...again, this was another honest mistake. When I notified Corporate of their refund request, I did not know at the time that my part had not been completed. While I did initially tell them that their refund was sent out on or around 10/8, I was mistaken. I am required to do, through our Property Database, a "Final Account Statement," and I simply missed a step. It was unintentional, and once I did realize this (on or around 10/15), I completed that last step with a RUSH on their refund.

As you can imagine, this was a series of unfortunate events. I understand the stress that a big move can bring...and empathize with the [redacted]s in the disappointment that they experienced, with Sommerset and with Sunrise. I made mistakes, and for that, I am truly sorry. And while I personally recognize their right to report their feedback, I do hope that we can clear this up once and for all, and put it behind us. In the aftermath of the [redacted]s experience, we have taken a pro-active approach to providing our Team Members (myself included) with additional training resources to ensure that this does not happen again. And if [redacted] and [redacted] would ever consider giving Sunrise Management another try, we would be grateful for the opportunity to earn their trust and business once again.

Thank you for your time, and have a great rest of the day.

Kind regards,

[redacted] | Community Manager