We rented a house in North Litchield Beach through The Dieter Company. The transaction was conducted by Brigitte Fege of the Dieter Co. Upon leaving the house at the end of the contract, I requested someone from The Dieter Company, Brigitte Fege preferably, to come to make the final walkthrough of the house. I was informed she was in the hospital. I called the owner of the house, Geneva Baumaister for her to do the walkthrough and she agreed and arranged a date and time. The next day I got a phone call from the owner's daughter, Kay Port, saying that they were advised by their attorney not to check us out, and that she had 30 days after us leaving the house to inspect and send us the deposit. Hmmm... I did not like that already. So I proceeded to vacate the house, professionally cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms and took pictures of every corner of the house.
30 days after moving out, I received a certified letter from the owner with about 20 bills from different companies, some handwritten by the owner's daughter, saying that not only were they not refunding our deposit, but that I own them $1,615.31 on top of the $1,800.00 I had in deposit. Not only that, the letter stated that the owner is waiting for more estimates for various repairs and renovations, and she will send me the bills as they come up. It turns out that the owner has been trying to sell the house for over 3 years, and at the suggestion of her realtor she is refurbishing it to try to sell it - AND SENDING ME THE BILLS! Sounds like FRAUD to me.
Now coming back to The Dieter Company which is what this complaint is about. I called Brigitte Fege to informed her of the situation and see what The Dieter Company is going to do about it. I was informed that The Dieter Company has nothing to do with it and they were staying out of it. Now, I signed this contract at The Dieter Company office with a Dieter Company employee, not only that, Brigitte Fege's signature is the one in the contract and I went to their office every time to make a rental payment. Brigitte Fege told me that the owner was her friend and she was not going to do anything about it. Now I am starting to wonder if this was a premeditated scheme to charge the last tenant for the refurbishing necessary to sell the house.
If you want to rent or buy a vacation home, or are looking for lodging accommodations in Lichfield Beach or Pawleys Island, make sure you know who you are signing a contract with. The Dieter Company collects their commission and fees, give you NO SUPPORT and you end up with a whole lot of bills from unscrupulous home owners. I would not recommend using The Dieter Company. There are plenty of reputable real estate agencies in the area, do your research. I hope this helps some other renter, whether vacation or long-term, avoid the headache and trouble I am having.
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