We were forced to move out of Sierra Palms due to "rennovations." The apartments were apparently being converted into condominiums and we could not renew our lease.
After moving out of an apartment complex you're supposed to turn in keys, do an examination etc.By the time we were done with our moving the office was about 10 minutes to closing. Past experience taught us that the office personell were generally very unhappy to help especially when it was close to closing time. We turned in our information and keys rather hastily as a result.
A few weeks later we received a bill totalling $450 in "cleaning" charges. The best part is that nothing would be cleaned, this place is getting rennovated.
Bear in mind we were in a hurry to leave and the place wasn't in pristine like-new condition but then again we did put in sufficient effort to make the place look nice and nothing was at all broken. Past apartments I lived in generally had a deposit amount which took care of the "cleaning" charges and then some.
At this point we learned that our "deposit" wasn't a deposit at all but it was rather a shurity bond that was handled through a third party company located in another state. What this meant was that this bond company paid the deposit in exchange for us paying them a deposit.
This made for a very nasty situation between us, the apartment complex, and the bond company. We initially refused the charges because we felt they were unjustified and were more than happy to speak with any Apartment Employee, they of course washed their hands of any responsibility as it was now the bond company's business to collect. Sierra Palms already collected the money from the bond company after all.
Not too long after our credit was being threatened and we were forced to pay the charges, the Apartment Complex did not care to hear our case, neither did the bond company. These people were in it to simply take our money with no answers given.
Granted we do understand that we are responsible for returning the apt.in the same condition it came to us in, and granted it wasn't spotless as we left it, also we did not do the final inspection walkthrough. But $450 to simply clean a place is rediculous, is the cleaning crew honestly paid $225 an hour!?
When further pushed for answers the apartment complex had told us they did not need to prove they actually paid any service or person this amount for cleaning nor did they even need to disclose whether or not the place was cleaned. We were also told by the apt. Manager Neil Cohen that he charged us as much as possible because he felt we "did not put any effort into cleaning."
Bottom line, NEVER do business with Sierra Palms or trust any business that uses "shurity deposits" or other third party bond companies in place of old fashioned deposit systems. United Dominion Apartments is the property holder for Sierra Palms.
Ricky
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
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