In August 2004, I responded to add in the Austin Apartment showcase Guide. Lincoln Oaks advertised a move in special. $300.00 first month rent, $99.00 Deposit and Application Fee. A money Order was requested for the $99.00. I moved in September 4, 2004 and paid two months in advance. The beginning of October I received a note at my door stating, if I don??t pay my October rent with-in a certain amount of time I was going to get evicted. I walked down to the office to find out what was going on. When I got to the office I spoke to the leasing agent, she couldn??t figure out why the assistant manager gave me an eviction notice, so the leasing agent called the manager at home to find out why. 20 minutes later the manager pulls up to the office. When the manager starts going through my file, she realizes that the assistant manager made a mistake. The manager than asked me if I had paid my water deposit, I told her no because no one had informed me about it. The manager then told me that I could pay it later. A few days later I receive a $25.00 water deposit bill at my door.

From September ?? December 2004 I mailed in my water bill payments directly to NP&W. January 2005 I decided to pay my water bill at the Lincoln Oaks office, and save myself a postage stamp. February 2005 I received my water bill; it was showing a $0.00 payment for January. I went to the office to talk to the manager about the bill; the manager made a photo copy of my bill and told me that the assistant manager would be contacting me. I never heard from the assistant manager. The late charges kept showing up on my water bill in March and April 2005. At the end of March I made another trip to the Lincoln Oaks office, to talk to the management team for the second time about my water bill. When I arrived at the office I spoke to the assistant manager and explained the situation. The assistant manager then looked up my account in the system and told me to go back and look at my records, because I must have skipped a payment. I then told her that I could get a photo copy of the check, but that I needed to get reimbursed, because this is the Lincoln Oaks management??s mistake. The assistant manager then told me that all she needed was the check number, and to show her what the check looked like so that she could look for it in her files. I left the office to find the carbon copy of the check. When I returned with the carbon copy of the check, the assistant manager then told me that she sent my payment together with another resident??s payment, and all the credit went to my neighbors account, and $0.00 showed up on my account. After that error was finally corrected, I started mailing in my water bill directly to NP&W again, because the management team at Lincoln Oaks demonstrated to me that they could not handle the job.

On November 29th 2005, I moved out of Lincoln Oaks apartments. I assumed that I was going to receive a final water bill directly from NP&W, but unfortunately Lincoln Oaks management handled my final water bill, and made another error. After I received my final water bill I decided to contact the Texas Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau complaint # 90072821 for assistance with my outrageous water, and cleaning bill. The Lincoln Oaks management team responded to the Better Business Bureau, and stated the $99.00 was an administration and application fee, and the reason for the high water bill was because I was two months behind. The $25.00 water deposit fee was now a connection fee?? The management team also stated that I had a $25.00 cleaning charge, because I left the oven, tub, and sink dirty and that they had Polaroid??s to prove this. I responded and asked the management team to tell me what two months were showing up delinquent on my water bill, so that I could send carbon copies of the checks to prove that my bill was paid up to date. Also I asked to see digital photos with the time and date printed on them, not Polaroid??s. When the Lincoln Oaks management team replied, they stated that my final water bill was the one showing a late charge, so they assume that it was the month before that was delinquent. I knew that the Lincoln Oaks management team had access to my NW&P account information, and that it wasn??t necessary for me to send proof of paid water bills, but I went ahead and sent proof of paid water bills for September, and October to the Lincoln Oaks management team. About a week later I received readjusted water and cleaning bills from the Lincoln Oaks management team, but I `still did not agree with the charges. The water bill is now considered a gas and water bill. This was really confusing to me because all my appliances were electrical, and I have never received a gas allocation service charge on my bill statement, during my stay at Lincoln Oaks, until I received my readjusted final water bill. It has been to my experience when I lived at other apartment communities, that the $25.00 water deposit covers the final water bill, and if there is damage or cleaning charges it is taken out of the $99.00 deposit??simple.

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