Houston beware! Dalcor just bought a large block of apartment buildings from Westchase Multifamily LP of New York. Dalcor will now have 6223 units in Houston (up from 2448). This was reported in the "Houston Business Journal."
We were new to Houston and used a rental agent to help find an apartment for us. We ended up in Dover Pointe. The drywall and ceiling in the laundry room had all fallen off and was still in the laundry room. The then Manager promised it would be fixed by the time we moved in. That didn't happen. We made several calls to the Manager and she stated she was having trouble with the main office as far as authorizing the repair. Three months, and many phone calls later, we arrived home one day to find our washer and dryer in our living room. No prior notice, they just came in and finally fixed the walls and ceiling. A few days later, water came pouring through the ceiling. We called the manager to report it.
A month after we moved in, we arrived home to find a notice on our door. It said we owed them $30 and if we didn't pay it immediately, they would evict us. We took our lease, our checkbook, and photocopies of our cancelled checks to the office. The manager stated that we had not paid the full amount due for the water bill. We showed her the water bill and the cancelled check that paid it in full. She kept the copy of our cancelled check and said she'd look into it. A few days later, after hearing nothing from her, we called. It was a clerical error on their part, the bill had been paid in full. I then questioned why they would send such a threatening letter when it turned out to be their clerical error. Her response "I didn't do it, I was just doing what they told me to do."
Two months after that, we received the same letter, stating we owed them $30. It was signed by their new manager. I called her and explained about the past notice. She said this was for the MTM. She stated that she had sent us a lease renewal, and because we didn't return it, they were charging us a $30 month-to-month fee on top of the rent. We had not received any lease renewal notice. We immediately went to her office, paid the $30 MTM, and paid the next month's rent including the MTM fee. This was 15 days before the rent was due. We were going to be out of town for 3 weeks, so we paid the rent early.
We returned home to find an eviction notice taped to the inside of the front door. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. I called the Manager, reminded her of our visit, and she admitted that she had forgotten to post the rent that we had paid 15 days early. I asked for a written withdrawal of the eviction notice. She said "You got it." To this day, no such document was sent to us.
When our lease expired, needless to say, we did not renew it. Enough is enough. On the lease expiration date, we met with another new Manager. I specifically asked if there were any other monies due. She said no. She said that if there were, we'd receive a letter in the next 30 days. No letter arrived, so we believed what she had told us.
Then, two months after our meeting to surrender the apartment, we started getting dunning calls and letters about $40 due Dalcor. Given their track record, I just had to call and find out what got mis-posted this time. The new manager, (yes, another one) stated she was too busy "cleaning up this mess" to help me and would I please call back the next day. I called the next day and she was still too busy to take my call. A few days later, we received a bill from Dalcor for a $40 cleaning fee. We immediately sent the check to Dover Pointe. The dunning calls and letters are still coming - in spite of the fact that I sent the collection agency a copy of Dalcor's bill, a copy of the envelope postmarked 7 days after the date of the first dunning letter, and a copy of the cancelled check and the date the funds cleared our bank. We made two attempts to contact the new manager, but she is always too busy to look into it for us.
I have read the other consumer complaintss filed on Dalcor. I am in total agreement. Something is really messed up in Dalcor's main office. They have trouble keeping their help in the field, they have trouble maintaining their properties, and they definitely have a problem with their accounting.
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