My fiance enlisted into the army in May.instead of the typical 30 or so days soldiers get, he was given under a week to ship off. One week to pack our apartment, one week to put your life on hold to go fight for your country.
As per the Soldiers and Sailors Act (SSA), this was supposed to be pretty easy, and for the most part it was. Except for our apartments. They said they had to have 20 days notice before they'd adhere to the SSA, and that we'd have to pay a full months rent and then some, even though it was our last month, even though we would only be living there the 1st week into that month. They made it clear that, even if we moved out before the month of may, we'd STILL have to pay, and they made it very clear they had no sympathy or really no concern whatsoever for the soldiers of our country.
Well, i just received our bill. Somehow our $660/mo rent is now $808, and we're being charged $1100 in random fees and "damages" even though the apartment had been trash. Water damage in the walls, a shower that would continually back up for no reason (the pipe was connected to the top 2 floors drainage, so whever they used it ours would back up, as well as our toilet and disposal), and more random problems you couldn't shake a stick at. We had repair people there at least once a month (even though they never fixed the problem). Now all the problems that had been reported and NOT fixed WE are getting charged for.
My soldier is in a panic. I am trying to finish my bachelors degree in college, and living with my parents so my soldier and i can save up to get married as soon as he's able, and now we're hit with a ridiculous $2100.00 bill that he can't even refute because he's not here. Convenient to wait over a month and a half to send us the bill - just enough time for him to be knee deep in training and not able to handle this. The army needs my fiance to sit down with them, but he cant till he's out of basic, and if we don't pay them in 14 days they are taking us to court.
At this point my soldier is asking to come home to help deal with this. The apartments are absolutely appalling to me, and i'm not an easy person to get emotional over things. Our last month of our lease that they just 'couldn't afford to break' for a soldier of the US Army, and now as soon as he's gone they are trying to go behind his back and absolutely rape us. They have even suggested using the money he gets from his sign on bonus to pay them with - how low is that?
They promised my soldier AND his recruiter when he left that they would make sure that things would be "handled properly", but depending on who called they got a different story. The manager there, Heather, promised the head of the recruiting dept. Sgt Tiesdale, that they would adhere to the SSA and everything would be taken care of. She told my fiance he'd have to pay partial rent for the days we lived there (totally understandable) but that was it. And now whenever i try to call she is absolutely nasty and says we have to pay everything in that $2100.00 bill in 14 days or she is taking 'us' to court (where my fiance cant defend himself because he isnt here!!!)
The army is not being much help, because there is simply to much red tape to go through, and it takes months. My soldier, the brave and valiant family man that he is, is trying to apply for a leave of absence to come home and take care of this, because what man wants to have his wife go through something like this on her own when she has no money and no way to fight it?
This apartment complex is an absolute rip off. Between how we were treated while we were there (the day we moved in the place looked like a meth lab - they quickly shooed us out and had people come in to clean, but would not tell us what had happened to the last tenants or why the place was so god awful) and all the broken appliances, lights, doors, and messed up utilities, to this. I mean, the rest i could just write off as being a terrible apartment complex, but taking advantage of a US Soldier and trying to make bank off his sign on bonus is an absolute outrage. But no one seems willing to help us, unless we have thousands of dollars to throw at them.
Its a travesty when our own soldiers go off to fight and people in the country they are defending try to take advantage of their bravery and honor by stealing their money and ruining their family in their absence. I pray someone will be able to help us and make this right.
0 comments