Only because zero stars isn't an option. I've never dealt with a company like this. I have no idea how they're still in business.
First off let it be said that in the last several years this company has seen multiple management changes, which in a business like this is problematic.with all the management changes, their system of keeping track of records is atrocious. They lose everything. Make sure you get copies of everything up front should you rent from Campus.
First of all, my four roommates and myself either pay rent via direct deposit or by mail. Both options eliminate the possibility of accruing late charges considering the payments are really paid on time, which of course being paid by our parents, they were. About 6 months into our lease we go to the office to get a payment history statement. I cant remember why. When they gave it to us there was an obscene amount of late charges beginning the first month of our lease. I'm not even upset about the fact that they never once called to say "hey by the way you guys owe like $1700 and that number is only growing, maybe come take care of it." Whatever. I guess that's not their responsibility. But, we had never paid late. We had the bank statements to prove it. Despite the fact that we could prove when our payments were made, they were adamant that we were going to pay them. Their records didn't even show that payments were made late but they still assured us they were late and we needed to pay them. This debate went on for the rest of the period of our lease. DESPITE the fact that we had the records to prove when our payments were made and they literally had nothing, they only dropped the charges by essentially telling us they were only dropping the charges because they were tired of dealing with it, not because they were flat out wrong.
Upon our move out after doing a full clean we expected to get at least 80-90% of our deposit back. (obviously accounting for some normal wear and tear. Also, I have worked for another (non-competing) property management company here in Waco for two years and had a comfortable idea of what these expenses deducted from our deposit should be.) We were instead shocked to receive no deposit back but instead a bill for... wait for it... $7,500. Befuddled, I went to the office and requested to see the invoice from the person who gave the bid to do the cleaning. Not only could they not produce one, which they are required to do by law, but they didn't bother producing one until two weeks after my initial request! During these two weeks, however, they did a fantastic job of dodging my calls, ignoring my emails, and making me wait in the waiting area for a ridiculously long time before telling me there was no one in the office that could help me right now. Luckily I had taken a few pictures upon move out that directly contradicted the charges on the invoice. (They charged us for replacing three doors. One was legitimately broken, and the other two were ????? no other doors were damaged. they charged us for repainting three rooms for substantial damage, my pictures showed otherwise. Then, the kicker: $5000 for one year old carpet replacing.. the carpet would legitimately need to be made of panda to cost that) When enough parents became involved, they finally responded essentially telling us "oh we went with another contractor and he's only charging us $2500 to do the repairs (conveniently the exact same amount as our security deposit) so we just applied your security deposit to the charges and everything canceled out. case closed." Then they essentially wrote us off and stopped replying again.
Aside from the unprofessional unethical, and honestly completely illegal dealings in these issues and in this office in general, certain management on staff are downright abrasive and unpleasant. The manager who reluctantly dealt with us was honestly just horrible to us throughout the process. With that being said there are certain agents in the office that are truly good, genuine people whom I do honestly like and respect. I can't bash the entire staff just because of a few bad eggs.
Moral of the story is that if you live with Campus you need to do your due diligence throughout your lease. Do your inventory and conditions form. Take pictures of EVERYTHING before and at the end of your lease. Keep open communication throughout the year (because they sure wont). Be prepared for issues to arise. Judging by the other reviews I'm not the only one with this experience. And when, not if, you get screwed in the end, have all of your ducks in a row and be persistent that they fix these issues, thoroughly explain any suspicious charges. and don't just say "screw it, too much hassle" when the process to make things right seems overwhelming. They really do prey on rich little Baylor kids who would rather forfeit their deposits than go through all the effort of arguing and debating ridiculous charges to try and get those deposits back. read more