I woke up this morning to go to work, and when I walked out of my apartment, I was greeted with a strange surprise...

My car was gone.

I live in the Palm's at Malibu Apartments, which has to be the ONLY complex around that doesn't have any kind of guest parking...and it requires you have this stupid little decal to park there. Well...I have a decal. So needless to say I was alittle confused as to why my car was gone. So in the muggy heat of August I walked 4 blocks over to the leasing office at 8:45 in the morning (mind you I have to be at work at 9 am). When I got there, I walked into the office, didn't see anyone, and said "hello!" in a loud voice.

The apartment manager Dora comes around the corner. The FIRST words out of her mouth are not "good morning, can I help you'" or even a basic "hello". No...I'm greeted with a curt "We don't open until 9..."

I gave a sacastic glance to the clock, which read 8:55.....and let out a slow sigh, inwardly praying for the strength not to yell at the top of my lungs. So I took a deep breath and said "Well, I understand its not 9 but I'm having a major problem. My car is not the parking lot and I have to be at work in 5 minutes...".

So she gives me a mean little grin and snidely askes, "Do you have a blue or green decal'" Well...heck if I know. I have a decal that I got when I signed my lease in Januray, and I was under the impression thats all I needed. So I said "I dont know, but I know I have a decal."

She proceeds to tell me that the complex has changed their parking policy and that everyone has to have a blue decal. Well...no one told me ----. And I let her know that I was never told or contacted about this change.

"We put a news letter on everyone's door telling everyone they had 30 days to come get their new decal, and sign the new parking addendum. So, we gave everyone ample time and ample notice to get the decal."

Um. No. Let me explain. I live in a complex that shares it's front door with one of the busiest streets in Virginia Beach. The front door to my building doesnt have any kind of lock, so anyone can walk in and put anything they want on my door, or take anything they want OFF my door. I have new chinese food and pizza flyers taped to my door DAILY. People stumble in off the boulevard all the time and just hang out in the building....So please tell me how a newsletter taped on my front door is ample notification that you need me to sign an ADDENDUM to my lease..' Yeah. I dont think so.

So explaining my point, I asked her to waive my 125 towing fee because I was never directly notified, and the lease *I* signed said my decal was all I needed to park in the lot; and my decal shows an expiration date of January 2008, exactly one year after my move in date. She refused to even try to call the company. Then she tells me that I'm a "problem" tennet and that everyone in the office knows me by name because I called and complained about the water being cut off while my fiancee was IN THE SHOWER at like 10 in the morning. This incident happened maybe a month after we moved in...They cut the water off and didnt tell anyone. So Mark calls me covered in soap and pissed because he had to drive to his mom's house to finish showering and get ready for work. So yeah, I called and said that was unacceptable. I said they had to notify me if they needed to turn off my water unless it was some sort of emergency. So since I was so upset about it they call me whenever they have to cut my water off (which, surprisingly happens fairly frequently).

Apparently that makes me a "problem" tennet who otherwise NEVER disturbs my neighbors, takes excellent care of my apartment and pays my rent ON TIME every month. Um, by problem, you mean someone who isnt going to just sit back and be walked on...

I nearly LOST my mind I was so pissed.

I got the number to her manager Willnette, and then had to wait for a ride to go get 125 dollars cash to get my car back.

Well....I was so frustrated and flustered that when I went to the ATM to get the cash...I left my card there. Yeah. left it right in the ATM, so in the middle of all this ---- I have to call and cancel my debit card so no one finds it and makes any charges to it.

When I get to the tow place to pick up my car, the tow truck guy tells me he got 30 cars with green decals last night, most of which didnt expire until months from now. He explained to me that the manager called him directly and told him to tow EVERYONE with a green decal regardless of the expiration date. Oh I was steaming!! He also told me he tows for 17 different complexes in the this area, and that ours is the only one that doesnt have a guest parking lot, and that ours is the only one whose manager calls and askes them to tow people who they KNOW are tennets. How much crap is that''! He even explained to me that one time Dora called him and asked him to tow the uhaul of someone who was still in the process of moving in because the parked on the lawn rather than taking up a bunch of praking spots with their truck. She KNEW the guy lived there and he wasnt even moved all the way in before she was sicking the tow guy on him.

So after missing 4 hours of work, I finally get there and get a hold of Willnette.

I told her I signed an addendum when I moved in, and that it didnt make any sense to me how you could put a "newsletter" on my door...NOT EVEN IN MAIL ME A NOTICE, telling me you were doing something as important and changing my lease half way through the term. They had a copy of my registration and the lease I signed...why couldnt they just mail me my decal' Or if they needed my signature they should have called me, or sent me a certified letter telling me to come into the leasing office. Its not my roommate's responsibility to tell me to go sign a new lease, its not the chinese food guy's responsibility not to tamper with my newsletter. Its the LEASING OFFICE'S responsibility to make sure the tennets are notified. Period.

Anyone who knows anything about leagal contracts knows that you cant just change a contract half way through because you feel like it. All the parties involved have to sign new paperwork. I mean..I couldn't very well put a newsletter on the leasing office saying that I'm gonna pay only 200 for rent from now on. They would take me to court in a heart beat and they would win, because any changes have to be made in WRITTING. I dont have that kind of power without their signatures, JUST like they dont have that kind of power without MY signature.

Its really not rocket science.

Well after I told the district manager all this, and then told her how rude the Dora was to me...she said she would issue me a refund no problem, and she apologized profusely for the whole fiasco.

What kills me is that I went into the office and personally handed them my rent check for the past two months. And no one even mentioned anything about a decal. I was already there in person! How hard is it to verify I have the new decal and have me sign the paperwork if I didnt already' I mean...seriously''' Twice. I handed this woman my money twice in a row...and thats why they are liable. If you take my money you have a sense of responsibility to let me know about changes to my lease.

So in closing DO NOT LIVE AT THE PALMS. They suck. Its the most POORLY MANAGED complex I've ever lived in, and I cannot WAIT to move. I refuse to pay that much money to be talked to like I'm an idiot. Its absolutely ridiculous.

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