The experience at the very beginning should have been a red flag, and I wish I had heeded it.
Bennett Property managed a property that we were renting, and considering we are their source of income as well as the owners of properties, I would have hoped their treatment for us was going to be comparable, but my hopes quickly diminished throughout our time with them.
Firstly, contacting them is near impossible. When I had found the available apartment online, I quickly jumped on it and called the manage of the property (Sarah J) and since she didn't pick up, I left a message citing my intentions as well as my number. Week goes by and nothing. Called again and left a message again. Nothing. I asked her to at least get back to me to tell me if the apartment was no longer available so I could take my searching elsewhere and still she could not give me the time of day. I had to text her to get any kind of response from her at all. Hardly the sign of professionalism you would expect from such a corporate property management company. Furthermore, when we were grinding through the paperwork, and we got our $1000+ check to hand to them for move-in costs, their receptionist could not have been more rude to me, hissing through her teeth at me, because I had made the mistake of thinking she was speaking to me, when in fact she was on the phone.
Throughout the years, the property had to have many things replaced. The dishwasher was completely out of commission and the insides were literally melting so it had to be replaced. The bathtub faucet leaked and also had to be replaced, and the water boiler exploded and also had to be replaced. Admittedly, the timeliness of the repairs was good, if it were not for the fact that these things should have been fixed BEFORE we moved in, and I can't help but think that all these expenses were held against us at the end when we moved out. Besides the remnants of having a pet left in the apartment, we scrubbed that apartment until it was flawlessly clean. If I had been a visitor, to me the apartment would have been "move in ready". And during the moveout inspection, she gave us no indication whatsoever that the apartment was not in the shape that deserved the full refund of our deposit. We only received 20% of our $500 deposit back, which we were counting on for our move across the country. Everything that we paid for, they did AGAIN at the expense of our security deposit. They cited most of the withholding as getting rid of the "pet smell" in the carpet, which I paid MUCH more than I needed to have to have that removed as well as an additional $200 general cleaning fee. The $250 pet fee, by the way, was the "permission to have a pet" and did not cover a single thing. We would have been better off financially, to never have notified them of our pet and to just take what they could of our deposit anyway. In retrospect, I should have never had the juvenile hope that such a corporate for-profit company would have any kind of empathy or fairness, or do anything other than do all they can to prevent them having to pay you anything.
My advice: do not deal with this company. They have no mind for the renters themselves and see you as cattle that bring them profit rather than clients that are paying them for a service.
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