I recently moved out (DEC-31) of a town-home in "The Woods At Polaris Pkwy" in Westerville OH. The management and I have had previous disagreements and the management is prone to sitting on issues and not communicating it or replying to calls/voicemails (as repeatedly evident in reviews at apartment rent sites). Given the above, I requested a walk-thru / final inspection before I turned in the keys. The management said they were swamped and could not schedule one in the 2 days that lead up to my lease end date. They assured that I can turn in the keys and they would call me the following week to schedule something. I turned in my keys and gave them my cell phone number and waited for the call.
A week later, nothing. I left a voice mail. Still nothing. Repeated the drill the next week and the week after. Finally by Jan-21 an associate called and said they had mailed a bill. But how? They did not have my forwarding address as I wanted them to call me and walk thru with me! Their response "We sent it to your old address and the mail-forwarding should have sent it to your new..". How could they make an assumption that I HAD set up mail-forwarding? Fortunately I had, but they had sent nothing. I was peeved. Not only did they NOT call like they promised, but they had completed the walk-thru, finalized a bill ($700) and moved on with the apartment renovation. All this while I was leaving repeated voicemails to schedule a walk-thru? Given the apartment was worked on, they said we had to go by the photos that were taken by their assessment person (not an independent, certified assess-er, just their handy man). So, in short, I had no say whatsoever. This was getting stranger by the day.
One would hope they had picked up the phone called me when they did the walk-thru (like we agreed to), we agree/disagree, we discuss and I write a check to the agreed amount? But, no.
I stopped by and looked at the 'damage' they claimed. Some were genuine, but the $570 they were charging me for the carpet (total replace downstairs for 3-4 stains that should have come off if professionally cleaned - I was ready to pay for that) was unfair. But how could I disagree? It was their photos and that was the only evidence. My disagreement with some stains looking newer and not from when we left fell on deaf ears. Also, there were some absurd charges like "Trash Out" when there was no trash whatsoever in the turned in apartment ("Maybe there was something all he way behind the fridge or the washer dryer maybe?" was the manager's guess). Escalated the issue to the area manager. I have requested copies of the photos and receipts and have received none to date. They agreed to take down the "Trash Out" charge of $25/-. They also said, Canal Carpets made an error in the billing and the new carpet charge was circa $390. I would love to hear from Canal Carpet Wholesale (guessing, 941 Robinwood Ave #
A, Columbus, OH 43213-6709, (614) 586-1777) to see if they did indeed make a mistake or it was an error by the apartment management.
It is Feb-02 and I do not have a final bill. They did not bother sending me a bill till the 3 rd week of January. They claim they sent it Jan-11 but they did NOT have my forwarding address, so where exactly did they send it to? I wanted them to call and not just send a bill which they promised but did not bother to. They worked on the apartment while I kept calling and leaving voicemails.
The carpet in question downstairs was replaced Jun post a mildew issue. They replaced just downstairs only and had me pay for a part of it as well. Thanks to the 'ingenuity' of replacing just the downstairs and assurances that they will ensure a perfect match to the carpet upstairs, we ended up with mocha color downstairs and a creme-beige upstairs. They forced us to accept the 2-tone carpets (you can leave if you do not like it was what they said). But a new resident coming in will not agree to that? So, they had to replace downstairs in addition to the 7 year old carpet upstairs. They decided to pass the cost to me ; used a few stains that should have been professionally cleaned as the ruse, did not schedule a walk-thru like I requested and they promised, and unilaterally came up with the cost to replace the carpets downstairs (their word and the photos they took are the final say per them) and now I'm staring at a bill that states I ought to pay up else...
Even if I ought to pay, given I footed a part of the carpet replace charges ($125-150) in 2009. And given the carpet replace charges they are talking is circa $390 as of today, I seem to have paid 1/4 - 1/3 amount for the carpet replace already in 2009? So that should be taken out? Else they are double dipping there? They tried telling me that it was tied to the renewal. But my renewal was in DEC and the replace happened in JUN. And, I'm happy to use their phrase here "nothing about the carpet renewal is mentioned in the renewal contract"! So, how could it be related to renewal? The carpet replace was post a mildew issue and the carpet in general being 6-7 years old.
- They promised a walk thru but unilaterally came up with a bill while I was leaving repeated voicemails to schedule the walk-thru.
- They said they 'mailed' the bill, but they did not even have my forwarding address
- They have taken down one charge ($25/-) and backed down circa $200 on another post my resistance. They claim he carpet company erred in their invoice. To the tune of 25%?
- They made a bad decision to replace just downstairs 1.5 years ago and the carpets ended up being mismatched/2-tone. They are using my move-out and few stains to get me to foot the bill. I'm just fed up with the careless attitude of the management and glad I'm out of the community. I will take this to the proper channels once I receive the details and wanted to put my case in this forum. I have rated this overrated, overpriced, was once luxury but is now crumbling property in apartment rental sites. Hope people who are signing up for this know what they are in for (the great location notwithstanding).
Thank you for the space & opportunity and I hope the management will respond and make this right.
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