The Grove Apartments

There were many lies in this matter, because I have been fully refunded I feel much better but I will tell the truth because I have witnesses and text messages as well. When I went to look at the apartment she had TWO FULL WEEKS to get the apartment ready. She asked me what...

day I would like to move in and I told her April 14th she told me it wasn't much to do and it would be ready. I then left my deposit. On the day of moving in and I had already paid my movers and that was the expected day. I had been calling and texting and she was saying it wasn't quite ready. I told her I had to move on that day bc I had moved out my other place and had already paid for the movers and truck. I went to the apartment and things were still everywhere including the carpet being soaking wet from just getting cleaned that day. Also I had signed the lease a week earlier because I had to send in proof to the electricity company that that was my apartment and the date was for 4/14/17. It was [redacted] who said she was cleaning because she didn't have anyone to clean. It was also [redacted] who suggested that if I cleaned she would take money off of my next months rent. I was only rushing to move in because I had no where to go and it was not my fault that after two full weeks the apartment wasn't ready. I didn't bomb the apartment only that Friday. I bombed the apartment every day that weekend. Also, I asked [redacted] did she think I should bomb the apartment and she said yes because she did see a roach or two in the kitchen and I said ok. After that Sunday (4/16/17) roaches were very much still alive. I felt the apartment had a major roach problem. The neighbors (in two different apartments) in the complex stated they also had a roach problem. At that time I reached out to [redacted] and asked her could I get out my lease. I had not stayed there one night and only put less than half of my things in there. She started ignoring me and then I took to social media. I sent her emails that went unanswered as well. She stated it was up to the owner if I could move out but she wouldn't and couldn't give me his contact info. She did offer me to move into a different apartment and I nicely declined. Because of this situation I was forced to live in a hotel for almost a full month with my family. It wasn't until I made the statements on social media is when I was finally able to speak with her, sign papers to get out my lease and my money refunded-- which was at the end of April. Also I still had things in the apartment because at the time I was not out of my lease so why would I move my things out. I'm very disappointed in this response, but I know the truth and my conscience is clear. 
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:this property manager told many lies in her response 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Please see my delayed response to complaint [redacted] below;
 I was actually the General Manager of the sister property that...

[redacted] transferred from. I was not aware of the issues that she suffered once she arrived at the San Marcos property until reading over the complaint today. From what I understand, the apartment was not made ready for her and the General Manager at that time failed to remedy the situation. This eventually encouraged Taylor to remove herself from the situation and seek housing elsewhere. Upon reviewing her account, it seems that the money she paid in was indeed reimbursed back to her. I have called and left a voicemail with the complainant to ensure that all monies that she paid in had been returned to her.  Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have.  Regards, [redacted]

Review: April 2014 our daughter, [redacted], looked into living at The Grove Apartments for the following school year beginning August 16, 2014. At the time, she was unsure of her living situation. When she expressed this concern, the General Manager, [redacted], assured us (as she stood in the dining room and went over the terms with other students and parents present) that should [redacted] not move in that our only obligation would be to pay the Application Fee & Community Fee (these were promotionally waived). With the understanding that this would merely hold her spot and we were under no binding agreement, [redacted] signed the agreement. (I co-signed). No consideration was given or received.

Despite requests, we never received a landlord signed copy of the lease.

July 20, 2014 as [redacted] had suggested, I sent an email letting The Grove know that [redacted] would not be moving in. We never received a reply from [redacted]. I received a number of email correspondences from [redacted] (the new manager) and [redacted] whom we had never met. At this point, they requested that [redacted] find a lease takeover. I replied citing Ms. [redacted]'s promises and the written Grove's Application for Residency which clearly states if [redacted] "refuses to occupy the premises on the agreed upon date" (Aug 16,2014) that The Grove may retain paid Application and Community Fees as liquidated damages. Once again, these fees were promotionally waived and no consideration was given nor received. [redacted] was under no obligation to do a lease takeover as no lease was ever executed.

As I had no further communication, I believed this matter was satisfactorily resolved.

In Dec 2014, I received a phone call from Rent Recovery Solutions stating that they had a collection from The Grove. I explained this was not a valid debt. They apologized for the error and said they would correct it.

Dec 2015, we were denied a refinance and were shocked to find that Rent Recovery Solutions reported an invalid debt of $6,210 from The Grove to all three credit bureaus as a "disputed by the consumer item" in November of 2014!!

We have never received a bill or any mailed correspondence from The Grove or Rent Recovery Solutions to inform us of this invalid debt.Desired Settlement: Immediately remove this invalid debt from the credit history of [redacted] and [redacted] at all three credit bureaus. Send a letter that the lease was never executed and is invalid.

Review: In June 2014 my daughter [redacted] applied for an apartment (I cosigned) at The Grove at Moscow as she was anticipating attending WSU in the fall. She subsquently was not able to attend the school and contacted the Grove via phone in Aug 2014 and was told by [redacted] (a former employee) that she could do a 'lease takever' and would be released from her contract. They IMMEDIATELY found another tenant. [redacted] started to receive email notices that she was delinquent on her rent and she immediately contacted the apartment, she was told by Arizona Harrington Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov to 'disregard the email' as it was invalid she didn't owe them anything. In Nov 2014 I was contacted by a collection agency for the amount of $5640. I contacted the grove on Dec 3, 2014 and spoke to [redacted] (General Manager) who stated that she would look into it and get back to me. On Dec 11 2014 I received an email from [redacted] stating that the collections was no longer valid and that [redacted] did not have any financial responsiblity. I've since had to check my credit and found that they (The Grove) have been reporting the account to the credit bureaus since December as an active collections on my social security number. I've reached out to [redacted] (5/26/2015) (or whomever the general manager is now) and have not heard back, today (6/1/2015) I reached out again. I can provide copies of the emails if necessary - however cannot convert them to a PDF.Desired Settlement: I would like to have a written statment from The Grove to myself and the three credit bureaus that I am not financially responsible for this debt.

Business

Response:

The debt was removed from Rent Recovery Solutions. The collection agency is sending Ms. [redacted] verification that the debt is non-existent.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

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.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] I was told I would receive a letter from Rent Recovery Solutions. I have yet to receive one. It has been almost one week. Unless I receive the letter absolving me of all debt and collection activity, I will continue to pursue action.[redacted]

Regards,

Business

Response:

Complaint was resolved. Verification letter from Rent Recovery Solutions was sent to [redacted] and [redacted] advising them that the debt was inaccurate and removed. [redacted] confirmed she received it. The complaint is no longer valid.

Review: We were led to the Grove Apartments by one of the faculty members at [redacted] because he said it was a clean, safe and student friendly environment for my son to live. The leasing agent we initially met told us there was no deposit and that the annual fee would be waived if my son signed a lease that day. We liked the living arrangements and the community so we signed a one year lease. Once my son moved in we were asked to pay a deposit equal to one month's rent that would serve as a last month's rent payment, and we were told to pay the $250 annual fee to live there. This contradicted the initial agents statement of no deposit or annual fee. My son left school after two months and we were not allowed to break our lease. His room was re-rented and we are now being asked to pay cleaning charges on an apartment he lived in for two months. Management placed notices on the door for my son knowing he no longer lived there and when we asked that they email us any coorespondence they did so at their discretion. When there was money involved if there was a way to get more money out of us they posted the notice, if there was no monetary gain for them they emailed us the information. Students have limited funds and parents pay enough in school costs without extraneous fees being tacked on to an already exorbitant rent for the area. Campus Crest, the parent company, is a for profit business and it is evident in the manner they do business. The staff is rude and discourteous to the point of being dismissive. Future renters beware and read ALL the fine print on the lease because the hidden fees they gloss over, or don't mention at all at lease signing, will quickly add up.Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

I would like to have it on record that the Grove Apartments, and other Campus Crest communities, do business in a predatory, unscrupulous and dishonest manner. I would hope having this information arms future renters with knowledge so they can avoid signing a lease they will later regret.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted] & The Revdex.com,

Review: My wife and I have been living at The Grove for the past year, and back in October decided to re-sign a lease for the 2014-15 school year because we began to receive notices that we needed to resign the lease to guarantee that we could be in the same room and not have to move into another building at The Grove. This Winter it was determined that we wouldn't be returning to Moscow, ID for the next school year, so we contacted the manager at The Grove to discuss our options. She informed us of the process for a Lease Takeover. We posted ads on [redacted] to set up the LTO as requested. Two tenants from my wife's class came into The Grove's front office in March asking to do a Lease Takeover through my wife and the sales staff informed them that my wife wasn't a resident at The Grove so an LTO wouldn't be possible. We complained after finding this out and the manager apologized and said that if something like that happened again they would replace our lease for us. A few weeks later in April we were contacted through our [redacted] ad by two guys that wanted to take over our lease. As instructed by Grove management, I told them they would be required to do a tour with a Grove sales rep and be informed about the lease and general info by an employee so they got all the correct information. They arrived at the front desk and said they were ready to do a Lease Takeover for both our rooms, which prompted the sales staff to offer them a better deal on the monthly rent and waived all their up front fees, which isn't a deal they allow for those tenants trying to do a Lease Takeover. So for the second time the front office stole tenants planning on doing a LTO with us. We complained to the manager again and she stated via email that they would take over our lease as promised.

Come to find out a few weeks ago they haven't taken care of our lease like they promised they would. We were informed by the new manager that they have us on the top of their list for LTO's when a prospective tenant calls in looking for a two bedroom lease. Since we've been lied to so many times by them I decided to call as a prospective tenant and asked if there were any two bedroom apartments available for the upcoming year. I was informed that they were all taken and there were only three bedroom apartments. So then I specifically requested doing an LTO with a tenant that was trying to get out of their 2014/15 lease. The sales staff told me there wasn’t anyone trying to do that so all they could sell me was a three bedroom lease. Based on our complaints to management over the past three months and being told we were first on the "list" for an LTO it appears like they are not only blatantly lying to us about taking care of our situation, but also lying to potential customers that want to take over a lease like ours.

I don't know for sure if what they have done to us is technically unlawful, but it is clearly extremely unethical and the type of business practices that future tenants should be aware of prior to signing into a lease with this company. All hard feelings about this could easily be resolved if The Grove lives up to their promises, and that is all we are asking for. Just simply let us out of our lease and then re-lease the apartment to someone else. This doesn't seem like an unreasonable request based on the circumstances. In the meantime they are just trapping us in a lease we won't use and they've also prevented us from successfully turning it over to other tenants, and now time is of the essence because most people moving to Moscow in August already have their plans set. One other item I forgot to previously mention is when we were told by management that our lease would be taken over by them, I received four emails and two text messages expressing interest in taking over our lease, but since I thought our lease had been turned over to the Grove I told these prospective tenants to contact The Grove directly because we were no longer on the lease they were hoping to take over.Desired Settlement: We are requesting that our lease for the 2014-15 school year, which runs from 8/1/14-7/31/14, be terminated as promised by The Grove's General Manager.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] has been released from all contractual obligations pertaining to his renewal for 2014-2015. As of current, The Grove's lease take-over process was completed. The $500 lease take-over fee, which is a fee that covers maintenance labor costs and the processing of applications, was completely waived for Mr. [redacted]. The Grove truly appreciates their current and former residents, and the discrepancy has been resolved.

Review: I received a phone call from The Grove claiming I owed them rent money. I then proceeded to tell them that I do not and have never lived at The Grove. They then told me that my husband and I were registered in their system as tenants living in building number 9. My husband and I filled out an application and lease agreement to guarantee that a room could be held for us to move into at the end of June if we were approved to live in their complex on May 15, 2014. We were never informed of being approved of a place to live or contacted about being assigned a room. My husband then went over to The Grove to get things figured out. They them proceeded to tell my husband we were registered in building number 7, and that we filled out their lease agreement papers and owed them $1,070 on September 29, 2014 (the first contact that we had from them since May 14th). They could not provide documents to show that we had received keys or any sort of payment other than an application fee or documentation to show we moved in. When asked why we didn't have keys or any of the other stuff listed in the previous sentence, the only answer they would give is "I don't know."My husband received a copy of the lease agreement form which states our move in date as September 12, 2014, which we had not agreed to. The lease agreement also clearly states when a tenant moves in they are to make a community fee deposit of $250, as well as paying first and last months rent. Since we never actually moved in, none of these payments were made, therefor we are under no obligation to pay them anything, according to our current landlord. The lease agreement also states that if a tenant is gone from the premises for 14 days consecutively, the place is considered abandoned. According to the Landlord Tenant Act, RCW 59.18.253 our rights as a tenant have been violated for us only being on a waiting list if we are forced to pay the amount they say is passed due. We feel our rights have been violated as well because of no contact at all.Desired Settlement: My husband and I would like our contract, which was never finalized with us, to be nullified because they did not contact us about being approved and assigned a place to stay, but only being contact about us owing them money when we never lived there to begin with. We just want them to stop hassling us.