Wentworth USA--I am taking them to court for my deposit and the damage they say I caused to our townhome. Has anyone had similar experiences or would they be willing to go on record to assist me in court'

We were willing to let them have our deposit just to be rid of them but when a collection agency contacted me over a year after we moved out, I had no choice but to fight them.

For those looking at Wentworth as a possible residence, my wife and I were somewhat fooled by the large square footage for a low price. The townhouse was big and offered a walkout into a large grass area. In that back area, we had a gas grill, a swingset designed for toddlers and a little toddler sand box that was never disturbed by neighbors. The only thing we ever had stolen, oddly enough, was a welcome mat. There was also a maintenance man, whose name I can never remember who was really nice and took care of us. Sadly, these are the only positive comments I can make.

Things went ok in our first year. When we moved in, we saw that the carpet was worn and probably should have been replaced. I asked about it prior to move in and they said the townhouse was, as is. Although it was old and worn, I guess it was serviceable. As time went on, we noticed that maintenance orders would continue to get lost and we had to request things several times. Our garage was never fixed. Things started to go wrong when we foolishly put our rent in the drop box in front of the building. We have NEVER paid our rent late before or after this. It was lost by the office and we received an eviction letter and a demand to pay it plus a $50 charge. I spoke to Laurie, the manager and she basically called me a liar and said there was no way they could have possibly lost it. I asked her if that $50 was worth losing us as tenants and she said that she does not give breaks and even though we were quiet, on time paying tenants it was too bad. So, from then on out, we walked our rent into the office and made them write us a receipt each and every time. They were extremely rude about the intrusion and acted like we were doing something wrong. At that point, we started looking for other places.

We started to have problems with loud neighbors, so much so that my next door neighbor slammed a door so hard it cracked our window. When we complained about the neighbor, they said write a letter. They then came in and fixed our window and charged us for it. Again, Laurie, called me a liar and we had to pay for the window. These are just some of several examples of the horrible service and attitudes we received from their staff. Customer service is not a requirement to be a landlord but I think people should know what they are like. We turned our notice in, moved out and turned our keys in. The lady who took my keys was so rude and nasty, I wanted to punch her. I made her give me a receipt for the keys and it was like I asked her to move out our furnature.

A month later, we received a letter indicating our deposit was pending. We figured we would never see it. Three months later, we received a bill for $193 for damage. We ignored it. We moved out over a year ago. Two days ago, we got a letter from some collection company in Texas who threatened to ruin our credit, etc. Thus, we are taken Wentworth to court.

To summarize, the complex is old and run down. The maintenance people are nice but have the thankless job of keeping things together with rubber bands and scotch tape. The office staff was rude and made sure that we knew that they could not care less whether we lived there or not. If you can live somewhere else, do it. There are tons of townhomes available with nice management companies and good landlords.

7/31/08--Since I put my original post up, I have contacted the collection agency to tell them to leave me alone and am taking them to small claims court to get my deposit back.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/10/2008
I would be willing to go to court for you. This place is trouble. They are also contradicting in their move out process. They have an itemized list of what they will charge you when you move out if it's not clean. I cleaned so well that I was certain I was getting something back and surprise, surprise....I got nothing back. So when I confronted the rude management she said that they pay the cleaning company one fee whether they clean 10 things or 1 thing. I still have the letter to help you. So the one little thing I need cleaned according to them cost me way more. However, they will pay their cleaning company one fee and then charge you for 10 different things if they can to make money. Tey are so cheap. Laurie and Jamie have absolutely NO CLASS. I hate even driving by and seeing the dump I used to live in!! If you repond on here with your email address I will contact you via that. DO NOT MOVE HERE!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/11/2008
yeah well this same situation is happening to me right now. i will go to court for you but u got to come to court for me PLEASE!!! HELLP!
From: jsys	Date: 07/11/2008
I'd be more than willing to go also. They totally ruined my credit. I would have taken your $193 bill over my $1000bill. they said i ruin the carpet even though when i moved in i marked off blotches of bleach on carpet. I went and complained to the blonde hair lady there and she was like ok i will look into your claims. 6 months later i get a bill from a collection agency. Even though i went to go visit my old apartment after getting the bill and the new tenant let me in to take a look and low and behold it was the same carpet, looks like they just had a cleaning and all was well and still wanted to charge $1000 to replace the carpet in a 1 bedroom apartment. WOW we did my mom's whole house for less than that!
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/11/2008
At least you thought to keep all the proof. That was our mistake. They didn't come after us for our $1000 until 3 years after we moved out. And we had nothing but problems with the place, from the bug, spiders, and bats. Our cars got broke into. The ceiling caved in above my son's bed and it took them over 3 months to come fix it. And the trash outside our place was just unsanitary. I too curse that place under my breath any time I'm forced to drive past. I have so many bad memories of that place that I will try my hardest from ever having to drive by. I wish we would've kept our proof because I would've gladly testified, but I don't think I'd be much help now. I wish you luck!!!!
From: crazy4movin	Date: 07/12/2008
I live here now and I am dealing with this as well. but if by chance mention this site to your lawyer and see if he can't get this entered into court and see if the judge will look at all the complaints about this place. It couldn't hurt to try.... Good Luck
From: 07tungsten	Date: 07/24/2008
Now I am worried...I moved out over a year ago and I did not keep any of the paperwork. :( I actually turned them in to the Housing Authorities and they got a big fine after they inspected my apartment!! They found about a million things wrong with my apartment. It was kind of ironic...I paid extra for the apartment with the *newer* carpet and the authorities noted that it needed to be replaced. They were always rude to me, horribly rude! Both the ladies there were awful. They could care less about you, they just want your money for rent every month. I just wonder how they are still in business. My ceiling was caved in the for the last two months I lived there! They never would fix it, so I lived with several buckets in my living room while it dripped...for months. Yeah that's Wentworth for you. I can't help but flip them off every time I drive by. I can't believe they can't just randomly attempt to send out bills years after people move out. I shouldn't be surprised though, they don't seem to have any morals at all. Best of luck at court, you will have to give us an update when you get everything settled.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/31/2008
Since I put my original post up, I have contacted the collection agency to tell them to leave me alone and am taking them to small claims court to get my deposit back. I will keep everyone informed.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/31/2008
I used to live there back in 1998 -1999 and even then the conditions were questionable.
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/01/2008
Good luck! I hope someone nails them good at some point...they need new ownership that's for sure! The staff is bad enough, but it makes you wonder what the acutal owners are like to allow this crap to go on!
From: DavidCorrado	Date: 08/03/2008
Report them to the BBB so they get rid of those signs in the office that they are good enough for the BBB. Courts 30 dollars so its not a big deal. Unfortunately its not like judge judy. I would recommend going based off hard evidence like pictures. good luck all.

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