| The Park at Voss was the hugest fiasco, not to mention a big rip-off. They rejected me for a $599/mo studio and I make $38K a year in the oil and gas industry. They sent me a letter stating that I was rejected based on my credit information from Experian. However, I had just gotten a report from Experian last month and my credit score and FICO is a 650. They were renting to Katrina victims at the same time and you can't tell me a bunch of those people don't have scores lower than 650 (Louisiana has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and some of the poorest of the poor live there - one woman from New Orleans I talked to on the day I signed my lease told me she was trying to get temp work and didn't have a car - I have a car and a full time job). Also, the Leasing Manager, LaShon, was extremely rude to me, stating I didn't have employment for the last 6 months and I said I could provide a letter of employment as I was offered employment and accepted on Sept. 19. She said I could provide a letter of employment but if it didn't say what she wanted that she didn't have to accept it. She would not tell me what she wanted it to say or the specific information that needed to be in there. I provided a letter of employment from my boss stating that they were happy to offer the position at $38,000/year and that they were happy I had accepted. When I faxed it to LaShon she stated that's not what she wanted it to say, that it shouldn't say that I had accepted. I asked her (sarcastically, of course) if it would be better if they didn't know for sure if I had employment. She seemed to just want to play a game and said she didn't like my attitude, especially when I told her I was definitely going to contact the Better Business Bureau, TAA, and leave a poor review on this website. I think that's really why she rejected me. I went to the Lenox that same day and was accepted on my credit score alone in 5 minutes! I provided the same letter of employment to them also but was told they did not need it, that my credit score was sufficient. Also, after hearing all the problems I had at the Park at Voss and how I was losing my admin & app fee there over all this (almost $100), the manager there waived my app fee ($40). Total, it only cost me $204 to get into an apartment at the Lenox (I got a studio - the one with the bookshelf dividing the living and bedroom) and that includes the October rent. My rent is $580ish per month so I saved $1006 on my rent and move-in, not to mention the $40 app. It doesn't have a w/d but I can live with that for now...
I went yesterday to pick up my bond check from the Park at Voss. They made me wait a long time, telling me that the manager was out on property. Turned out she was sitting right in front of me the whole time (I had only previously talked to LaShon on the phone, giving a hard time to other resident(s) who had come in to ask questions. She was rude in the most professional way possible (I know that sounds strange but it's the only way to put it - her customer service skills were so poor although she seemed to carry them off with an attitude of "too bad for you - it's your choice, not ours, that this isn't working out" to just about everyone who came through the door. To say she is a scheister is putting it mildly. Some men walked in while I was sitting there and I figured, as long as they make me sit here and wait for my check, they are going to have to listen to me tell everyone within earshot about my problem with them. The gentlemen told me they weren't surprised they couldn't find my check - that that was general operating procedure for the Park at Voss management. Out of 3 sets of residents who walked in to ask for something from the manager while I was there, only 1 walked out happy (and most people had to wait at least 10-15 minutes for help - I was there a total of between 30 and 45 minutes. 1 guy was trying to renew his lease and wanted it not to go up. She said that was "impossible". (I happen to know it's not impossible because I've negotiated on that before when there was something about the apartment I wasn't happy about.) I absolutely cannot fathom the kind of scam they are running there. Their attitude is that there are plenty of people standing in line behind you, dying to take your apartment. That was basically (in so many words) what she said to they guy who was trying to renew his lease at a lower rate. She finally found my check, but only after she tried to blame losing it on the leasing consultant who helped me on the day that I was there and signed all the forms. I pointed out that Lyric was not there on the day that she (LaShon) and I spoke (Tuesday, Sept. 20) and that she said that my check would be ready and waiting when I wanted to come pick it up, so Lyric couldn't possibly have anything to do with it. She then started backtracking and admitted that "it must have been another person's check" she was thinking of. So they obviously do this to a lot of people.... And shortly after that she "cheerfully" found my check.
I let my apartment locator know not to waste her time and your clients' time by sending them to the Park at Voss. It is a beautiful property but the management of it is worse than any I've ever seen (and I've lived in PLENTY of apartments - since 1990 with a perfect rental record - never a late payment). |
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