So, in my last post I was pissed. I was being cheated and I was pissed. But I wasn’t going to just bend over. Here’s what happened:

I confirmed my deposits with Camden Glen Lakes. Turns out I did not have to put an apartment deposit down, because my credit was good. So I only paid a $400 pet deposit, $200 of which was refundable. I sent a long email to the manager of Lakeside at Northpark and let her know I wasn’t going to bend over and be cheated and if I didn’t get a prompt reply to my concerns I would be filing a grievance with the proper regulatory body. I received a voice mail from her the following day telling me she had sent my email to the district manager who would be contacting me.

This is what he sent me in reply:

“Your concerns about your refund were forwarded to me for further review, as it appears that some of the underlying questions stem from when we took over management of the property for the new ownership.

I did review all of the lease documents associated with your apartment, including your Camden lease and the Security Deposit accounting from when the property changed ownership.

According to Camden’s records, you had a $200 total deposit on hand, which was exclusively your Pet Deposit. From the email and my discussions with the site staff, I understand that you feel that you should have a total of $400 deposit. When reviewing your lease, I did note that your latest renewal (2/8/14 – 2/3/15) lists your Security Deposit as “$0.00”. There is an animal addendum that coincides with the email from Camden below. You paid a total of $400 when you added your pet. $200 of that was a non-refundable fee and $200 of that was applied as a Security Deposit: the $200 we showed to have on hand for your apartment.

With respect to the cleaning charge, I did review your ledger but I did not see the $70 check deposited that you stated you paid prior to move-out. I do see however that you were charged a $60 cleaning fee, once, when we processed your move-out, which is less than specified on your lease. You should have been billed $70, as your apartment was a two bedroom.

As for the utilities, I understand that Camden and our staff clarified that utility bills are actually billed in arrears and the pro-rations you were billed were due to the methodology of billing in arrears and that the amounts were true as accrued through your move-out.

One of the other complicating factors, which may or may not have contributed to some of the confusion is that we did not receive a rent payment for your pro-ration in February, leading to the additional billing of $78.06 (cable, trash and rent).

I do have a call in to our accounting office to determine the status of your refund and can let you know as the information is relayed to me. If you would like for me to revise your Final Account Statement to correct for the couple of items that I noticed you were billed incorrectly for above, I can work on processing that but it will delay any refund you may be receiving. However, just at first glance, your refund would go down.

Let me know if you have any questions.”

This was just parroting back to me everything the manager had been telling me. This is my reply to him:

“Mr. Cross,

As has been repeatedly discussed with your unfriendly, disrespectful, extremely rude and incompetent staff, I DID pay the prorated rent for February. I have attached the scan from my bank of the check, dated 1/2/15 in the amount of $1,367.78 which included January rent in the amount of $1170.00, February prorated rent for 3 days in the amount of $125.36 (I’m sure your math skills are up to the task of checking that amount, right?) leaving $72.42 for the water/gas/trash for the previous month. I have also attached a scan of the negative of the check I wrote on 2/3/15, the last day of my lease and the day I dropped off the keys, in the amount of $70.00 that I wrote for the cleaning fee. I was subsequently told the cleaning fee was being waived because I had left my apartment so clean. Which is why I don’t have the actual check, because it was never deposited. As I said in my previous email, if you are going to go back on your waiver of the cleaning fee and remove it from the deposit, I want my check back. You do not get to have my check AND remove it from my deposit. I wouldn’t put it past you or your disrespectful staff to deposit it after I’ve received the refund that it was already removed from.

I checked again with Camden and they confirmed I did not pay an apartment deposit, only a pet deposit. Interesting that your rude and incompetent staff told me I had an apartment deposit and no pet deposit, hence much of the confusion. Since I’ve proven I paid the pro-rate for February and since I paid the last water/trash/gas bill that was sent to my new address, there could, at best be only a few days of water/gas I still owe, if any. Your assertion that my deposit refund should be smaller is in fact false. I still expect an accounting (bill, invoice) of whatever water/gas charges I’m being billed for, dates of service and amount. Please, please, please try and tell me again that I didn’t pay my prorated February rent when I have the proof here. Even if you remove the $70 cleaning fee (AND RETURN MY CHECK) and any small amount of water/gas I MIGHT still owe, and even if I only had the $200 pet deposit, my refund should be over $100. I proactively did everything I could to make a smooth transition, paying the Feb. prorate with my Jan. rent/water/gas, writing a check for the cleaning fee when I dropped off my keys, leaving my apartment in excellent shape, and promptly paying the water/gas bill I received for the last month I was in residence and I have never in my life dealt with such an incompetent and rude group of people. I lived in those apartments for 7 years. I moved because your staff was so rude. Even going in to pick up a package, tenants were treated like scum. And they clearly have no idea what they are doing. I am a professional business person, dealing with invoice/billing and customer relations daily, and the level of incompetence borders on criminal. Your staff decided they did not like the fact that I was calling them on their mistakes and so decided to try and bully me. You can be assured that even if you choose to do what is right, I will file a complaint with the BBB and any other place I can file a complaint. If you decide to try and cheat me further, I will file a formal complaint with the state regulatory agency.”

I admit to some snark about his math skills. This is how he replied:

“I will review the additional documentation you have provided and get back to you. However, the name calling and disrespectful tone of your email is not needed. I have never had any interactions with you prior to this e-mail chain and I am working to try to resolve the issues you have listed.”

This is how I replied back to him:

‘I sir, did not call you any names. I have only described my interactions with your staff. They are not exaggerated and I will not be called out for being truthful. Seriously, I have NEVER been treated the way your staff has treated me and I don’t much care that you don’t like the fact that that makes me angry.”

So, all of this occurred on Monday 3/16. I did not hear a word back from him. When I had not heard a word as of Tuesday 3/24 I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to file a complaint. I decided to give it the rest of the week. But when I got home and checked the mail there was a check from Lakeside at Northpark. I had a $200 deposit available for refund. The check was for $204.34. Apparently when someone actually looked at the books it turns out they owed me an extra $4.34. So rather than contact me and admit that his staff had made mistakes, apologize and at least try and repair some of the damage he was a coward and just mailed the check. Asshole. There. Now I’ve called him a name.