My husband (who is in the United States Army) and I lived at the The Hamptons in Beachwood, OH for almost 1 year. Remember that...almost one year. Before reading this, I just want to make everyone aware that there is a law on the books (that we had to remind the Hamptons of) that states when a military member has official ORDERS to report to duty elsewhere, that military member is free and clear of breaking a lease for those purposes. There is even a list out there with companies on it that are not "military-friendly."

When we went to the Hamptons to sign up, we were told there was a special at the time: Instead of signing a 12 month lease, we could sign a 13 month lease and get 1 month for free. Sounded great so we signed up! When we "signed up" for the 1 month free, no where did it read (there was nothing in writing about it,) nor no one ever told us that if we had to break our lease early for whatever reason, we would have to pay for that 13th month. Knowing that we are in the military and we could get "orders" at anytime, we would never have signed a 13 month lease if we knew we would have to fork out a whole months rent in the end if we were ordered elsewhere.

We lived at the Hamptons while my husband was attending school for his Masters program through the military. He has been in the United States Army for 7 1/2 years and has had to move tons of times due to military orders; therefore, he has gone through this process before.

Truthfully, it was a fine experience while living there as far as living conditions and maintenance was concerned; that was not the problem. Here was the problem: My husband got his new military ORDERS for Kentucky and was given a "report" date to be in Kentucky. Knowing that we needed to give notice to the Hamptons within 30 days of our moving date so that we would not be penalized for breaking the lease, we promptly made copies of his orders and wrote an official letter stating our move date and notification. Technically, we gave about a month and a half notice: more than what was required. We believed this was doing the "right" thing so that they could have notice that the apartment would be available sooner rather than later.

2 things happened after this that was just wrong on their part and just not the right thing to do; You make the decision.

We lived there for all of November, paid the rent. Then, we were there for just a few days into December and instead of pro-rating our rent for those couple of days before the actual move, they said that since we gave our notice more than 30 days before-hand, they were charging us for ALL of December. We put up a fight on that, so then they said "okay, nevermind, we will waive it for you." (It would have been nice all along if they could have told us that we should be out by the end of November to avoid being charged for all of December...all because we gave more than 30 days notice!) Thanks Hamptons! Well, we were told our deposit would be coming back in the mail and all was well. About a week later we sure did receive a letter from them! It was a letter stating that not only were we not getting our $500 deposit back, but also that we owed more than another $500 for the difference in rent that is owed! Great question: What rent'! Yup, that 13th month on the lease that was "free." Anything else they can rake us over the coals for' Anything else they can charge us for all because we gave them extra notice of our military ORDERS' Again, you make the decision.

So in the end, we gave the Hamptons a month and a half notice of our need to move due to military ORDERS. We gave them a copy of our military ORDERS. Then the Hamptons said they would charge us for an entire month that we pretty much were not there for (would have moved out earlier if they would have told us that would happen) and then they ALSO pocketed our deposit and charged us another $500.

Thanks for doing the right thing Hamptons. You are all a great, ethical, "stand-up" kind of company.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/05/2008
Sorry to hear about your pain with the Hamptons! This is no surprise that after all these years they still don't understand the concept of CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! The management has a way of nickle and diming most of their residents and God forbid, you show them what the LAW really says about tentant rights. They will use scare tactics and greedy lawyers to do anything possible to avoid doing the RIGHT thing.

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