Let me start this review off my saying that I did rent from Dodson for two years previously, and during that time I didn't have any serious issues. Since I had already been renting with Dodson, I chose to rent another property in Manchester once my lease ran out. I assumed I would have a similar experience, but I was so wrong.
I rented the apartment without seeing the actual unit (my dumb mistake). I had seen a downstairs unit in the same building a month ago, and didn't see anything immediately wrong with the place so I decided to jump on it when I saw a new listing for $100 cheaper. There were immediate red flags. The apartment advertised a half off first months rent special when I signed the lease, which they promptly forgot about and it took about two weeks of screenshots of reminders to get them to honor.
Then I actually get the keys. I was a little put off because I immediately noticed three sets of blinds that were in pieces, and that the smoke detectors were just chillin' on the counter, but they did not make the extra effort to install them. This was annoying but minor. There was also an abandoned washer dryer just hanging out in the back porch collecting dust. It didn't make fit a nice view, but I was still getting a good deal so I wasn't going to complain.
I tried setting up a small twin bed in the smaller bedroom and -CRACK- a prong of the bed just goes through the floor. I wasn't even putting weight on it! This concerns me greatly and I put in a work order. At my previous property, stuff was taken care of and acknowledged within three days. I was still hopeful that they would be as responsive in this unit. I was wrong Not only was my floor collapsing, but I noticed a few days later that my washer dryer was leaking. I hadn't used it yet. I stopped bringing my belongings in on the second day due to the floor fiasco, and I had not even spent the night in the apartment. I set up property melds and followed up by emailing my property manager, but nothing was getting fixed. They would send someone from maitenence to look at the place but they would call at 5pm and say they couldn't fix it today but they would get to it next week, or the next day. This happened like three times. Water is still seeping on to the kitchen floor. I notice there is some mold in the kitchen and the corner of the cabinet new to the washer has rotted due to water damage, so it had obviously been an issue for a long time. There is also visible patches of mold on the entryway to the building upstairs, and a hole in the wall of my bathroom by the shower. I realize that this place has serious issues, and has not been maintained in a long time.
The kicker was when I got my security deposit back for my old place, and they charged me $253 for a cleaning service for a place that I already scrubbed clean. I asked for a detailed list of what they charged for and received the most nitpicky, passive aggressive document full of pictures of rooms that still looked clean. At this point, I have come to expect landlords to deduct unnecessary charges, but I was furious that they charged me for minor details in my old place, but did not display the same attention to detail when I was moving in to my new place. Again, I had broken blinds and abandoned appliances and holes in the wall (and now floor!)
I gave up. I sent a certified letter asking to terminate the lease and threatened to get the building inspected. They let me out- the one nice thing they did in this whole experience. Mind you, my letter stated that I am requesting the security deposit in full. The document I signed to let me out of the lease said I would receive my security deposit back in full, minus any damages. I never spent one night in this place, and the amount of things I moved in was less then the amount to fill a small car when leaving. Dodson has been proven incompetent again, because it is now exactly 45 days since the end of my lease (10/31) and I have still not received my deposit, despite sending them my forwarding address the day they asked for it. It will be submitting another certified letter to them demanding my deposit, taking them to small claims court, and submitting a complaint with the BBB (by the way, they are not an accredited business on BBB and already have 19 complaints against them! read more