3800 Main Apartments

Great location, fine finishes, efficient floor plans, competitive rates and plentiful attractive amenities. The initial leasing agent I worked with @ 3800 Main proved to be extremely kind, amenable and personable, however, pleasantries aside, my boyfriend and I lived a thoroughly foul experience with the leasing staff upon withdrawal of our lease application. Following several unreturned emails, we decided to view the property once more before making a final decision to – or not lease an apt. Following verbal notice delivered in person, we were informed that we would not be returned our security deposit; for clarity – our grievance does not concern the financial loss of the security deposit(as we did not expect recovery), our chief complaint lies with the absolute lack of a respectful, coherent, cohesive and overall satisfactory explanation concerning the applicable circumstances and/or policies surrounding the agency’s inability to refund our deposit. We initially discussed the matter with a frontline leasing agent (agent 1), who, when challenged – posited that we would not be returned the deposit because they had ‘waived the application and admin fees’. On request for clarification, agent 1 sought guidance from his manager (agent 2) and he (agent 1) returned with an answer that ‘it’s just policy’, at which point I asked to please be briefed on the specific written policy we’d agreed to which was inhibiting the refund of our deposit; this dialogue led to the agent 1 disclosing that at this point it was at their discretion whether or not we’d be returned our deposit. I asked to please speak with the agency’s local manager and I directly observed the manager roll her eyes and deny my request to agent 1 and only upon the agent 1’s insistence, did the manager avail herself for discussion. While introducing myself and my boyfriend, agent 2 interrupted me and very sternly offered ‘I understand, you’re wanting to get your deposit refunded, you’re NOT getting your deposit back’; mind the audience, the initial intention of the agent 2 was seemingly resolute, finite and ultimately uncompromising – she’d already reached a decision without considering a mutually respectable discourse. Following insistence on my part, agent 2 maintained that I was not going to be refunded the security deposit because I had ‘agreed to it already and that’s just policy’. I requested again to be highlighted the written agreement, and I was pointed to a section which stated that I could not be refunded my deposit if I had withdrawn my application before approval (I’d already been approved for the apt. and THEN decided against leasing); upon pointing out the above mentioned, I was told that I would not be refunded my deposit because I had not signed a lease within 3 days of being approved. I related that I’d been approved 2 days prior and that following multiple contact attempts by my boyfriend and I, I had yet to receive a proposed lease and that given the recently displayed lack of timely response to other previous contact attempts on my part, I fully expected that I was likely not going to have received my lease offer within the 3-day turn around that the agency itself had explicitly set forth (thereby nulling their own proposed policy for inability to return my deposit). At this point, I was again, repeatedly, excitedly and disrespectfully reminded by agent 2, with aggravated tone and inflection that I was ‘not getting the deposit back’. A 3rd agent enters the conversation and very politely attempts to engage active listening with a seeming aim to resolve what has now escalated from a reasonable request to a tense dialogue. At this point, the agent 2 disengages from the conversation and rises to stand next to agent 3, throughout my brief discussion with agent 2 - agent 3 enacts frequent, intermittent and abrupt interruptions and eventually decides to begin pointing at me during our dialogue at which point I become upset and ask her to please cease from her aggressive gesticulation, agent 2 asserts that she is not being disrespectful and yet again reminds me that I was ‘not getting the deposit back’. I challenge agent 3 to please explain to me comprehensively and succinctly why to this point I have been offered 6 distinct, independent and mutually exclusive explanations by a combination of 3 different staff members as to why I would not ‘get the deposit back’. I moved to illustrate that the 6 reasons I’d been given were as follow: 1. Can’t get deposit back because the application and admin fees had been waived. 2. Can’t get the deposit back because it’s just the policy. 3. Can’t get the deposit back because you’ve withdrawn your application after approval (there is NO explicit or implied written verbiage relevant to procedure for returning the deposit after approval ). 4. Can’t get deposit back because you haven’t signed the lease within 3 days (54 hours have passed since notice of approval to lease, and, 4 separate emails have been submitted to the agency since then (on mine and my partner’s behalf) each without response. 5. Can’t get deposit back because it’s standard policy anywhere you rent. 6. Can’t get the deposit back because the apt had already been taken off the market for 1 week and they were losing money (the apt. in question is brand new, uninhabited and was not going to be occupied by me until Oct. 01, 2016 )Of note, each of the above-mentioned explanations were not offered willingly, wholly and/or reasonably but rather, were offered in sequence only after having been met with resistance and evidence to the contrary (by way of logical verbal dispute by me). In essence, I was told that I ‘can’t get the deposit back’ because of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, but instead was offered 1 then 2 and 3 etc. after my having debunked each argument. My boyfriend and I were ultimately told that we were ‘not getting the deposit back’ and that it was in fact NOT at their discretion to return the deposit, and that agent 1 was wrong for telling me so. I informed the agents that I’d been recording our conversation and I intended to use the audio to relate my grievances to their superiors and/or likely pursue further action, I was then told that the conversation was being ended, and was yet again reminded by agents 2 and 3 that I was ‘not getting the deposit back’ and that I needed to leave the property. I reached for a copy of the lease application we’d been reviewing and was very angrily told I could not take it with me. My grievance is lastly with the financial loss of the $300.00 security deposit, truthfully, the request for refund of my security deposit was just that – a request, one which I was prepared to be met with (understandable) resistance and ultimate denial. What I was not prepared for during my discussion with agents at 3800 Main, was a gross, discourteous and obdurate sermon. Mine is not the lone dissent concerning adequacy and capacity of the leasing agents/staff charged with administration at 3800 Main, it would seem, rather, that there exists a clear and striking theme within the representatives at 3800 Main. Mine and my boyfriend’s lived experience today, transcended a minor, trivial request and instead quickly became an obnoxious and deplorable affair for all involved parties. I do not seek to regain my $300 deposit; instead, I hope to relate my complete dissatisfaction with the deterioration of the integrity of civil discourse instituted by the staff at 3800 Main.