We had a disappointing move-in experience that, hopefully, does not speak more broadly to the disorganization of the building management going forward.
At move-in, we were provided with a detailed invoice of how much we owe before taking possession of the keys. When logging into the system to pay this invoice, we noticed discrepancies between the online system and the invoice. Specifically, the online system said we owed the full amenity fee (whereas the invoice said we had a half off discount we previously negotiated) and a pet fee (which was voided as "NA" in the invoice we were provided). We were confused and had the below email exchange, with dollar figures removed:
Us: "We just completed electronic signature and submission of the lease. Just to confirm, by what date are we required to make the initial payments outlined in the attachment you previously sent? We logged into the MyUDR system and are noticing the charges do not match what was quoted in your attachment. Specifically, the amenity fee is still showing up as [XXX], and there is an additional [XXX] pet fee that was slotted as not applicable in the attachment (both of which we used as the basis of signing the lease). Could you help us resolve these amounts, and also the timing?"
Leasing Office Employee: "Regarding payment please refer to your welcome home coast [sic] sheet and not what the website is indicating. You will have to manually enter the amount to make the payment."
Two weeks after our move in, we get an email saying we did not pay the [XXX] pet fee and needed to make payment. We were confused, given the explicit email exchange above where we had proactively called it out and were told we would actually not need to pay it. We sent this exchange to building management and were provided the following response:
Building Management: "I can understand the email communication was confusing. Our portal at move in sometimes can seem complicated, so [Leasing Office Employee] would always refer back to the cost sheet. However, she did not update the cost sheet to reflect the [XXX] pet fee. That being said, the pet fee is still [XXX] as per your signed lease agreement and that mount [sic] is due."
This disorganization is very frustrating, and the explanation that their system is so confusing that their employee doesn't rely on it didn't help things. If we were told from the beginning when we explicitly flagged the discrepancy that we still owed the pet fee, we would have not been upset. However, when you a) are told unambiguously to disregard the amount in the system after you actively bring up the difference, and b) are then on top of that told to manually enter a different amount per a separate invoice saying pet fee is voided, it is very frustrating to then be told you actually owe a higher amount after the fact. It is a bit like telling a cashier "are you sure about this price because it is posted as different on the shelf?", being confirmed that yes you should completely disregard the shelf price, then having the store show up at your house 2 weeks later asking you to foot a multi-hundred dollar bill to something you had been explicitly told was voided. The fact that they wouldn't take responsibility for their mistake I think reflects very poorly on commercial professionalism. read more
