When my boyfriend and I wanted to find our first place together the Hillsborough seemed like a no-brainer. It was in the location we wanted, rent was reasonable, the apartments were newly remodeled, they had 2 pools! Rainey gave us a friendly and thorogh tour of the building and we were both impressed. I came in a few days later and filled out applications for myself and my boyfriend and paid the deposit(at the time it was $99 because of a move-in special). I waited for Rainey to give us a call when she was ready for us to come in a sign a lease... and then I waited.. and waited and waited. She finally called me about a week before my moving date (and probably 3 weeks after I'd filled out the application) to tell me my boyfriend had not been approved and if I wanted to live there alone I would need a cosigner - um no - not an option for us! We ended up moving into another building a few blocks away owned by the same management company without any BS of getting denied or needing a cosigner. It was extremely stressful for me to have to make a decision about an apartment with only a few days time to work with! I gave her a call right away and said we would need to look elsewhere and that I knew the application fee was non-refundable but that I would be expecting my damage deposit to be refunded to my account. Even though I asked Rainey to call me back and confirm what I'd said she never did. When I hadn't heard from her for a week or so I left her another voicemail. Thinking maybe she was too busy to waste her time talking with someone who was no longer a perspective resident I did't call her again - Until I saw that the damage deposit had been charged to my account on my monthly bank statement! I called Rainey to ask her why that happened... and called and called and called FOR WEEKS, voicemail after voicemail, and was completely ignored!!! A few times someone else in the office physically answered the phone and told me they would "write her a note." Well whether she got those notes or not I never heard from Rainey again! I finally called one day not careing if I spoke to Rainey or not... I simply explained my scenario to the first person who answered the phone. They said that they needed to keep the deposit because they had "held an apartment" for me. The fact of the matter was there were 4 other identical apartments open at the time! I caused the Hillsborough no loss in income! This woman I spoke with also kept getting her facts confused on what the rules were... first she said that if they held the apartment for a month they were allowed to keep the deposit, and when I told her they hadn't held it for that long she changed her story to 2 weeks. I told her that if they had to hold the apartment it would have been because Rainey had taken so long to get back to us... after frustratedly hanging up the phone with her, I decided to call Steven Scott Management and was immediately transferred to the head of their Refunds department. The woman was very curtious and understanding with me and said she would call the manager of the Hillsborough immediately telling them they needed to refund me the money, she said there was no such policy about keeping a refund if the apartment was never moved into whether or not they held it. If I never lived there a deposit was unlawful for them to keep! She also apologized for Rainey's rude behavior. The manager at the Hillsborough called me a few minutes later - while I appreciated her prompt response (which was a change for once), I sure didn't appreciate her attitude. I told her that Rainey had been so rude I wasn't sure why she would want to keep an employee like that on her staff and she said that there had never been any complaints before - in a way as if in some way I had provoked Rainey to treat me this way. She made no apologies and continued speaking to me like an idiot and overtly acting down right suspicious of me and acted as if she believed Rainy incapable of such irresponsibility. She asked me questions like why all of a sudden I wanted this money refunded (since a few months had elapsed) I yelled at her that I had wanted it all along and I would have gotten it soon had Rainy not been ignoring me all that time. When she could hear how friggin upset I was she decided to get really calm and tell me that there were "lessons" to be gleaned from all that had transpired and that me and Rainey both needed to learn how to do better follow up with getting back to people. EXCUSE ME' I tried to "follow up" with Rainey, that unhelpful jerk for months! Well whatever.. a few days later I got a check in the mail and breathed a huge sigh of releif. Steven Scott has lovely well kept apartments - the Hillsborough being the best and most beautiful property - I would have enjoyed their courtyard and pool immensly. But in this economy it boggles my mind that such inept employees with such overtly discourtious attitudes that have no intention of helping their clients would be allowed to keep their jobs! If anyone with any authority reads this... please consider fireing Rainy'

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates