My family and I decided to try to rent a property from this place of business on the week before Thanksgiving. We went through the process and paid the $90 required for two adults to put in an application. We were told that due to an issue in our rental history we would have to go through secondary screening and should receive an answer within three hours in that same day. Suffice it to say we did not receive a phone call or any communication whatsoever. I was required to phone the company twice in two days asking for an update and I was told by Joe, the individual we spoke with originally and gave the money to, that they would call back in "30 Minutes" both times. This also did not happen and after almost a week of zero contact my partner receives a letter in the mail from them saying she was denied. I was never informed, nor have I received a piece of communication stating that I was denied. Seeing as how I was the only one on the lease agreement, I do not understand why we were denied based of the others history (who was not on the lease, she was listed as an occupant) and I was not directly informed in any way. When I called the establishment on 10 DEC 19, I spoke with the community manager who stated her name was "Kate". I then inquired as to why we were not notified at all and she informed me that "Their phones and computers have been down for over three days." If that were the case, they would have been down both times I called them the previous week as that time frame would bleed into Thanksgiving Day and they did not work on that day. Also, regarding the timing of this call if the phones were inoperable during that time, how was I able to easily contact her employee twice in two days during that time? When I asked why my partner received the letter and I did not, Kate informed me that "That their denial letters are handled and sent out by a third-party, not them." She also called that situation "Weird" and said she did not know why that would happen. I finally inquired if we were permitted to receive a refund, minus the cost of the background checks, seeing as how our application did not go through. Kate informed me that "They have a no refund policy.", even though that was never stated during the application process. What was stated during that time, from Joe was that "He did not want to take our money if we were going to get denied." So, once we went through the process and Joe felt that we were much more guaranteed he then agreed to take our money. A no refund policy was never mentioned or discussed. I feel that this type of behavior and misinformation has bled into predatory business practices. I also wanted to state for the record that this establishment required "two times the rent" in income in order to apply. I informed Joe at that time that I had over three times that amount. I only gave him proof for the amount that showed I had well over two times the rent in income. I had even more proof of income to show after that fact, which he was aware of, and could provide more proof for the rest later. This being the case I was more than qualified to rent a property from this establishment. I am stating all of this as I feel that this situation seems very predatory and I am hoping it can be looked into to make sure that this establishment is not trying to take advantage of lower income families who are just trying to find a safe place to live.
***Also I filed with the Better Business BureaU and they were unwilling/unable to hold this business accountable.***
***BE ON YOUR GUARD IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO BUSINESS WITH THIS ORGANIZATION*** read more
