Up until we moved out, our experience at the Park was fine. It was quiet, we had clean surroundings, nobody bothered us, and we didn t bother anybody else. We were ideal tenants and the management staff provided everything we needed. During the move-out, however, things got shady. We were short on time and ended up having to work during the move-out inspection. This proved to be a big mistake on our part.

I called a week after we moved out to ask about when our security deposit would be returned to us to find that not only were we not going to receive a deposit but we were being billed in addition to the deposited amount, bringing the total move-out bill to $693. I can assure you that this was not for lack of cleaning or care for our apartment during our stay at the Park. My roommates and I cleaned for three days, a total of about 12 hours, and had the place looking great before check-out. Furthermore, the Park had just completed their yearly walk-through on all apartments weeks earlier to check on wear and tear. Nothing was reported on this inspection so we were expecting to see our entire deposit come back.

We eventually decided to pick our battles and gave up on the cleaning charges ($159 for what the manager said took one hour of work), deciding only to argue the fees to replace the two damaged items that we had never damaged. To give you a better idea of what happened, I want to offer an excerpt from my Notice of Disputed Claims letter:

We are disputing these charges because we noted discoloration of the countertops and vinyl when we moved in, but did not have the opportunity to note them during the move-in inspection, which was conducted in an entirely unprofessional manner. The employee who normally conducts inspections was not available during our inspection, and the person who actually conducted our inspection instructed my roommate to stand at the bar of the kitchen while the employee inspected the rest of the apartment on her own. After leaving my roommate behind in the kitchen, the inspector marked every item as clean or good. Therefore, upon moving in to the apartment and noticing blemishes to the counter and bathroom vinyl, we justifiably assumed that the apartment considered them insignificant. Upon move-out, the apartment s new management has now claimed that we are responsible for these damages, which pre-dated our leasehold.

I felt completely taken advantage of because I wasn t able to make the check-out. After disputing the claims with the Park manager, she pointed me in the direction of their collection agency. The story only gets worse from here.

The man I talked to (Jim) was not only pleasantly condescending, he was presumptuous, he inferred that I was retarded (a derogatory term that I do not appreciate and has no place in professional matters), and to cap off our call he suggested that I man up , which he repeated four times before I hung up the phone.

Needless to say, I would not recommend this apartment to anyone. Nobody should be treated this way. 3mPoZ6gGN6wTPgNi4L2C

User Responses
From: 545647575	Date: 08/30/2008
I'm so sorry for you, but I can totally relate. We went through something similar and we felt as though we were overcharged as well. We decided not to fight them on it, because we assumed it would only get worse. Your story proves that. I am shocked at the way you were treated by the collection agency. At least we can all be happy we don't live there anymore.
From: npseattle	Date: 07/07/2009
I had a similar experience, collection agency and all. The parent company is Riverstone Residential, so be careful.

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