Avalon at Bear Creek apartments: shady dealings
News ·Saturday November 5, 2011 @ 21:19 EDT (link)
Honey writes:
We moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek on August 14, 2009. Our lease was set to end on August 13, 2011, and we renewed (for a third year). We ended up moving out November 5, 2011 and gave our notice that we were moving out on October 10, 2011, paying to break the least as in the contract. As per the lease we knew we were supposed to give 30 days notice.
While we lived at Avalon at Bear Creek, I thought that I had a good relationship with the management. I always called maintenance right away when there was a problem, and had good conversations with the maintenance staff. We had lots of problems with our refrigerator after move-in. They came over to "fix" it 3 times before finally replacing it several months later. Just to give some insight into the "relationship" that I thought that I had with the staff there. I spoke openly with Glenn Mason (manager) and Melissa Maxwell (and even Christy, who worked in the office) there. They knew when we went on vacation (so they could get our mail for us and keep an eye on things while we were gone). I was very open with them when I had family problems (I lost 2 family members back to back) and they pretended to care. I'll leave Melissa out of the equation, because she moved on to greener pastures after we renewed our lease the first time. On our first renewal our rent increased significantly. When we first moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek we were paying $1062 per month. We also paid a security deposit of $250. Included in the $1062 was an $8 trash charge. Our pro-rated first months rent totaled $617, we paid an application fee of $42 and a non-refundable Amenity Rent/Common Area fee. We lived there for one year and everything was fine; we were invited to continue to live there and were informed that our rent would increase the second time around.
After our first renewal our rent increased to $1251 which included the trash fee and a $30 parking fee for the carport that we were renting. This is the year that my family problems came up and I spoke with the people there and they pretended to care about me and my feelings. Also during this year we went to the barbecue they had for the apartment community and won a $100 gift certificate for the month of September, which we took in the month of October because we had already paid our September rent. I should also note that sometime during this year I overpaid by at least $100 (I think it was $129 because that's the amount they kept over the security deposit upon move-out). At the end of our lease term we received another invitation to renew and while we were considering moving out east (somewhere) we weren't actively looking yet, so we decided to sign our lease for another year. We knew that there was a good chance that we would have to break the lease, but we knew the penalty for that and were prepared to do that when the time came. We also noticed that our rent was to increase yet again to $1434 per month including our carport.
I'll also note that when we renewed our lease the first time David read through the lease, but when we renewed the second time it was my turn to read through and know the terms. While I was reading through it caught my eye that we only owed the apartment complex a 20-day notice that we would move out early. But when we signed the lease for our second renewal I asked what the protocol was for early termination of the lease. I was informed by Glenn Mason that it was 30 days written notice and a month and a half rent to get out of the lease. David started looking actively for a new job around September and we thought it would take a while to find one that would make him happy and a place that we would want to move to, but it only took a couple of months. As soon as David had his interviews and we decided on a place to move I informed the apartment complex that we would be moving out in early November. I was unsure of an exact date because we had to give the moving company a 4-day window to pick up our stuff. I gave them 30 days notice on October 10, 2011 and we moved out on November 4th (lease termination was November 5th). I should note that I paid through November 9, 2011 in full all at once.
We set the pre-move-out inspection and I discussed things with the maintenance manager. I informed him that we would not be cleaning the apartment or the carpet in the apartment (since they would charge for it anyway). I was informed that the prices for these items would be approximately $125 for cleaning the apartment and the carpet cleaning would be approximately $80 (they were actually $135 for cleaning the apartment and $82.12 for cleaning the carpet). I was told the final water bill would also be included in the move-out charges (this bill was $49.21). I was also told that if there was any paint damage that that would cost us as well, but he wasn't sure of the numbers for that. The maintenance manager informed me that as of that day everything looked fine and that painting shouldn't be a concern, at least as things looked to him at that time. I asked if I needed to touch-up any scuff marks on the walls and he told me "No, they are considered normal wear and tear." I asked this question twice and got the same answer both times. (Note: we filled out a paper when we moved in and a paper was filled out for us when we moved out that list all damage to the apartment). Now when we were moving out of the apartment the movers were very careful to not hit the walls or doorways. As they were finishing up the maintenance man came for our move-out inspection. He informed me that he could not do it (or any of it at all) because there was still furniture in the apartment. All the furniture was moved away from the walls in anticipation of the move-out inspection, but the man would not even do a preliminary walk-through with me because it was nearing closing time and he didn't want to "waste" his time. He informed me that he would do the walk-through on his own the next morning (he asked if I would be there to supervise, but I informed him that we had a long drive and would not be present). He told me that he would take pictures and let us know anything he found. I did my own walk-through before we left and saw no damage in the apartment (other than dirt and scuff marks that I had already been told not to worry about twice).
We did not hear anything from them for a while; then one day we received a phone call telling us that we owed the apartment complex an amount of $183.33 more on top of the $250 security deposit and the $129 I had overpaid sometime during the last year because they had found "damage" and had to charge us for four hours worth of painting. They sent us an itemized receipt that had a charge of $160 worth of painting, but there were no attached pictures as the receipt claimed. We called them back after receiving this statement and were sent the pictures via e-mail. We looked at the pictures and could not see any damage except for the dirt we knew we were going to have to pay for anyway, but on further examination of the itemized receipt we saw a charge for accelerated rent in the amount of $186. I called the office in Redmond, WA and was told that that charge was in error and they would inform corporate of this (I spoke to Christy). They did not "take care of it" as they said they would and so I made several phone calls to the corporate office and was told the same thing every time. This charge was not really on the receipt; it was just a separate way they inputted the rent that we had already paid. I knew this was bullshit. I went round and round with them and told them that we were disputing these charges (the accelerated rent as well as the so called damage they were claiming). I waited for weeks before I finally got a phone call saying that the dispute was overruled and they were not going to give us any of our money back. They also told me that they were sending this to a claims company and all our disputes had to go through them.
Out of the blue the next day I received a call from a woman named Jessica in the corporate office and she dealt with post disputes from customers and was the one to explain exactly what happened and try to reconcile with me. I told her the same thing I had told everyone else: I was told that David and I "left on good terms" and that we "should not be charged accelerated rent because we had already paid everything we owed them." She told me that "no, the accelerated rent was a different charge and that it was charged to us because we left earlier than we said and didn't really give a 30 days notice". I said "No, that is incorrect" (I got very angry), and I told her again "no, we left on good terms, I asked Glenn Mason and he was the one who informed me that we left on good terms". She said "the people in Washington are the ones who filed this additional claim against you". I said (in passing) "well, I read my lease and if I recall correctly we were only required to give a 20 days notice, but I gave 30 days to be nice and to make sure I had it covered". She said "You are exactly right, I don't know why no one caught this before, but in the state of Washington you are required to only give 20 days notice". She then said, "let me call the office in Redmond and find out why they are charging you for this and if there is any reason they have a right to, but if it's in your lease then I will personally take the accelerated rent payment off". She also was going to look into the so-called damage they were claiming. I had made the case to her that I could see one or two hours of painting but not four. I said "they could paint the entire apartment in 4 hours".
I received a phone call from her the next day and she told me that she was taking the accelerated rent payment off and that she was personally going to check into the "damage" to see if the apartment complex in Washington was just being petty (she told me that she wasn't able to get in touch with anyone at the Redmond office so she would look into the damage that evening and get back to me the next day). She promised me that she would do what she could, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to help me so that we wouldn't have to pay for the "damage". She called me back the next day and told me that with the picture number #299 showed wall damage and the other pictures showed scuff marks. She said that since that picture was in there there was no way she could take the damage off. She also said "we normally don't charge for scuff marks, but since there was 'proof' of them as well as the wall damage, [she] couldn't take that off".
I informed her that I suspected foul play on the part of the apartment complex and that "I can't prove it, but I think they took a sledge hammer and did the damage themselves". I also told her that I had nothing against her personally and that I appreciated the effort that she put into helping me when no one else would. I told her that when I told my story that I would not say anything bad about her, and I haven't. I also told her that she should have the corporate office look into the dealings of the Redmond office's business practices, because they are less than noble and I didn't want others to be treated the way that we were treated. She apologized and said "I'm sorry you feel that way, I hope this doesn't make you think less of our company." I told her I understand what you are saying, but I would not recommend anyone staying at any of their complexes around the country and that there was no way that I was keeping my story to myself. I told her that no one there could stop me from telling my version of what happened and also what I thought happened after we moved out. I made sure she knew that I wasn't threatening her or her company, but also made sure that she knew that our story would be made public. She told me that I was welcome to call her to chat anytime about anything and that she wanted to be my friend. I appreciated that because I opened up to her and told her what I felt had happened and how I had been treated after my family problems and that the office out there had treated me like I was some sort of criminal (at least in my eyes), and they were threatening our good names and our good credit when we did nothing wrong.
A few weeks later we received a check in the mail in the amount of $2.67! This just feels like another slap in the face after all we've been through because of them.
Books finished: The Golden Age.
