I have literally had the WORST experience with The Lodges, which is ironic considering that I have not even moved in.
When I came in the leasing office I was very explicit about my placement requests. I only came to The Lodges after leaving Hannah Lofts, where I lived last year and loved. I had intended on resigning my lease at Hannah Lofts, but found out that they, at the time did not have any fully furnished units left in the apartment style I wanted. Because I was and continue to be only interested in leasing a fully furnished apartment, I came to The Lodges to see what fully furnished options The Lodges had to offer.
The girls in the office spent a considerable amount of time with me and went through all the available resident profiles to try to find a match that would work out for me, combining my preferences for a fully furnished apartment on the first floor, with serious, studious students, and close to a bus stop. There wasn't an apartment that was a match for me and my preferences, until they remembered an empty apartment in Building 5. They said that if I signed into that lease, I would be the only person in it, and that more girls *could* be added if they matched my profile. They said the likelihood of it being completely filled was pretty low, and I agreed that it would be a good situation for me to sign into.
The girls weren't sure if I could be placed into that apartment that day because there was a weird situation with the previous tenants terminating their lease, and they told me they would let me know on Monday once they talked to a supervisor. Since I was only interested in signing a lease at the Lodges based upon that particular placement, we agreed that I would only sign once they learned if that placement was possible or not. As I left and was getting into the car, Alyssa came out and told me that her supervisor (Jerome, I think) contacted her back in response to her inquiry on the apartment and gave her the go ahead to sign me into it. I came back inside and signed the lease based upon that. I didn't spend time reading the lease line by line, as the office was closed at the time I was signing the lease, and we were trying to finish up the process as quickly as possible considering the office closure.
A few days later, I got an email requesting that I resign the lease, as it was Alyssa's first lease, and she did not know that it could not be printed out double sided. There was also a missing signature or initial on the original lease, so I resigned another lease, again not reading it through because I was clear on what had been agreed to orally between the girls and I, confident that it was included in the lease.
I later received an email placing me in a totally different apartment full of girls that don't meet my preferences. I was not trying to be difficult, but I was extremely frustrated that the basis for which I signed my lease upon had been completely changed. The current arrangement to me violates the premise upon which I signed the lease and is not a living situation I am interested in.
My initial issue was more so with roommate placement than the actual apartment. I was told I would initially be alone and other girls would *potentially* be added it we matched, but that the possibility of a full apartment was slim to none. That's why I was confused as to why I have been moved and placed with people. After there was no resolution by The Lodges to fix the roommate placement situation, I still prepared to move into The Lodges.
Before I signed my lease, I asked for the Move In Date. I then told the leasing agents that I would need to move in early, because the Law College starts before the move in date. I was assured that an early move in would not be a problem and that there would not be a fee assessed for doing so. I was told to email Jerome so that he could approve the request. I did email Jerome and we talked dates, and that was that. It was not until I received a voicemail on August 17 from The Lodges notifying me that my apartment was ready for move in that an "Early Move In" fee was ever mentioned. I was told that I needed to bring in a check for two or three hundred dollars (I forget how much exactly) to cover my early move in fees. I was furious. I was never told that I would have to pay an early move in fee. In fact, I was explicitly told that I did not have to pay any early move in fees. I demanded to speak with Jerome, and after going through our emails, he realized that it had never been communicated to me throughout our emails that an early move in fee existed. He agreed to waive those charges, and I prepared to move in on Friday, August 19.
I picked up my keys on Friday, August 19, around 5pm and went to the apartment for the first time. Upon entering my bedroom space, I was surprised to find it unfurnished. At first, I wasn't worried. I just figured that The Lodges, incompetent as ever, screwed up once again, and forgot to put the furniture in the room. I went to the Leasing Office to let them know that my room was missing furniture, and the girls pulled up my lease. They were mystified to realize that the lease that they originally had created for me did not include furniture. These two girls were the exact same two girls who helped me when I came to visit The Lodges and they were familiar with the requests I had. They recalled that I only came to The Lodges because I could not find a fully furnished unit at Hannah Lofts. While I was in the office with them, the girls (Alyssa and the other girl, I don't know her name) realized the mistake that they made. When I first signed my lease, I took over another girl's lease in an apartment in the 5th building. That apartment was fully furnished. Alyssa, not quite knowing everything about lease creation, did not realize that she explicitly needed to state "fully furnished" on my lease, because I was taking over a lease that was fully furnished. When I was moved to the Apartment that I am currently placed in, I was moved to an apartment that was only partially furnished. This is where the problem first formed.
While I understand that accidents do happen, it is completely unacceptable for a problem, once detected to exist unresolved as this one has. The furniture problem was detected on Friday, August 19. Both Nick and Jerome, the manager and assistant manager at The Lodges, were not in and could not be reached. I was assured that Jerome would contact me first thing Monday morning. He did not. He did not contact me at all that week, until I contacted him on Friday, August 26th. When I finally got a hold of him, he had no idea that there even was an issue with my apartment, the lease, and me not having furniture. There clearly is a communication problem within The Lodges operation if a problem this huge has not been escalated and properly communicated between the "first responders" and those in management. It is completely unprofessional and disrespectful for tenants to have to wait a week for a response, only to have to contact those in authority themselves to find out that management has not been notified of their problem.
Jerome, when informed of my issue, did little to help me. I asked him when he would have an answer for me about regarding furniture placement in my apartment and his response was very aloof. He refused to give me a deadline to expect an answer upon, repeating that he did not know when he could get back to me. When pressed after demanding I receive by the end of the day, he promised that he would be back in contact with by th end of the day, but of course- never called back. I called the Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, and again on Monday - and again, no Jerome. In fact, on Monday, I was informed that Jerome was not at The Lodges because he was helping out at another property. With all due respect, The Lodges needs to learn how to properly manage its own property and prioritize its own residents before it sends off one of its few employees to help with other properties. On Monday, I escalated the issue to your parent company, American Campus Communities, and only after doing so, have I received any sort of resolution (if you will even call potentially offering me a bed a resolution).
I started school on Friday, August 19, and have had classes every day since then, including on the weekends, with the exception of Sunday, August 28. With no bedroom furniture, I essentially do not have an apartment. The entire point of having an apartment is so that you have somewhere to sleep! While I do have keys to the apartment, I have not actually taken possession of it. I have been committing back and forth from West Bloomfield to East Lansing every single day (with the exception of Sunday, August 28) since then. That's one full month of commuting three hours and 140 miles per day, totaling over 100 hours spent driving and over 4, 000 miles over the past month. I do not have a car, and have been been renting a car and borrowing cars from various friends and family members. Commuting has not only put a substantial burden on me financially, as I am paying for car rental and gas, but also physically. I am waking up super early to get to class and driving home late. I am tired and less focused in class. This is absurd. All of this could have been easily avoided if The Lodges valued their residents and actually took action and initiative to solve problems in a timely manner, instead of waiting until being reprimanded by their Parent Company.
The Lodges of East Lansing took no action to solve my furniture problem until I contacted their Corporate Office. Sheila, the woman who I was put in contact with contacted Nick, the property manager, who stated that he thought it was doubtful that they would be able to provide me with a fully furnished bed, but would "try" to get me a bed. I signed my lease under the presumption that the leasing agents stated that I was taking over a fully furnished lease, meaning that both the apartment shared space and my bedroom would be fully furnished. I had no interest in being offered a piece meal of an apartment, with a bed, if I'm lucky. It was disappointing that The Lodges of East Lansing only finally responded to my issue after contacting their corporate office.
Frustrated with The Lodges when the initial lack of furniture problem was discovered on August 19, I placed my apartment for sublease through The Lodges. The girls at the office assured me that they could easily find a subleaser for me, as the School Year had not started yet and they were continuously signing new leases. They assured me that the subleasing fee of $200.00 would be waived, that I would receive my August payment of $674 back, and that I would be released from the lease without fault, as it was their fault that the lease had so many issues and was in violation of the mutual agreement we made. I also, being proactive, have placed multiple ads listing my apartment for sublease. Over 10 different people have contacted The Lodges and all have been turned down, as The Lodges is trying to hold me hostage in the lease. I know for a fact that multiple parties have signed at The Lodges since I placed my apartment for sublease one month ago, and NONE were in exchange for my sublease, as was promised, as The Lodges again continues to exploit the situation they have placed me in. I even had an interested subleaser who called The Lodges and was told that my apartment was not available for sublease because I did not fill out the Sublease form. That was a blatant lie that The Lodges told the potential subleaser because they wanted her to sign a new lease with them instead of taking over my lease. The potential subleaser contacted me and told me that The Lodges said I did not have that form on file. I knew that was suspicious, so I called The Lodges Office to ask why this was communicated to my potential subleaser when I knew I had the form on file. The girl on the line from The Lodges pathetically apologized, saying there had been a mistake made and that I did indeed have the form on file. I can only imagine how many other times this "mistake" has been made in regards to my lease and subleasing attempts.
I have thus tried to further escalate my claim to the next level of American Campus Communities Corporate and was put in contact with Cathleen. I requested that Cathleen terminate my lease with American Campus Communities, and forwarded her all electronic communications I had with The Lodges. After reviewing our Communications, Cathleen left me a vague voicemail asking to call her back on a Friday afternoon, and then never called me back after returning her call MULTIPLE times. I finally emailed her, and then- and only then, did she respond back to her telling me that she did not find a valid cause to terminate the lease. Well of course, she did not find a valid cause to terminate my lease. She works for American Campus Communities and wants to continue to suck me to pay for an apartment that I have not even moved into!
Since the receipt of that email, I have spent over a week trying to call and email her. SHE HAS NOT RESPONDED. NOBODY FROM AMERICAN CAMPUS COMMUNITIES HAS RETURNED MY CALLS OR EMAILS. I have explicitly requested that I be put in contact with their highest form of Corporate officials to resolve my issues, and each request has been ignored. The only contact The Lodges of East Lansing has had with me is to send me an email stating that an eviction is imminent if I don't pay the September. I responded back to that email asking for The Lodges to stop contacting me regarding a September payment as I have not moved into the unit and am in communications with American Campus Communities to terminate the lease.
I am completely frustrated with this situation. It has placed an overwhelming amount of stress on me, which is completely unnecessary. I have never been treated this inhumanely by a leasing agency or any business before. I have paid off all of my leases in advance in the past, and that was the plan with The Lodges also. I am an exemplary tenant in my past living situations.
I fully expect The Lodges to reimburse me for the August payment of rent that I made, considering I never even lived in the apartment to pay rent, to terminate the lease and release me from it without fault, and I expect to be reimbursed for the expenses (gas and car rental) that I incurred in commuting because the apartment was not livable.
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