Consumer complaint received 2023-10-02
Company: National Credit Systems,Inc.
State: FL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Rental debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
Dear Sir/Madame : Every story has 2 sides. The following is our side of the story with timeline, evidence, and details. In a spirit of cooperations and mutual understanding, we will be happy to meet with you and your staff and resolve our differences. 

We moved into XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) at the Apartment Complex discussed in this complaint, on XX/XX/XXXX up to the end of XX/XX/XXXX. We experienced the following : Since our move in XX/XX/XXXX, we have reported the following issues in the old unit to the office staff, maintanence staff, and the Property Manager, on repeated basisp and our requests have been delayed or ignored : 1- A gap in the shower door in the master bedroom, which finally 3 months after the initial request was inspected by the " building crew '' who acknowledged that There has been an installation/construction DEFECT with the shower door. It was promised that the shower door needed to be entirely replaced, and it would take approximately 3 weeks. The problem still existed and not fixed as of our moving out date at the end of XXXX, XXXX. As a result, we were not able to take shower in the master bedroom at all. Further, there was a crack in the tub in the second shower which was reported during the first week of our move in XX/XX/XXXX. 
2-The old apartment was not clean, at the time of move in. The air vents and the air filters were matted thick with dust, dirt, and debris. In spite of our efforts and our continuous complaints, no action was taken. Given our heath condition we had to clean them manually ourselves. Specially during the HOT temperatures in Florida during Spring and early summer with Heat Advisory the air conditioning broke 3 times in 2 weeks. Given our health condition, we had to spend most of our time during the day in public places and mall to preserve our health. 
4-The first days moving into the old apartment, we noticed the carpets in both bedrooms needed cleaning. We requested the cleaning of the carpets. No action was taken, in spite of our continuous requests to your staff. Given our health condition, we had to purchase an expensive multi surface carpet and hardwood cleaner/steam machine via XXXX, and we ended up cleaning the carpets ourselves. 
In addition, we noticed spots in the laminate floor that were damaged. There was also a piece on the counter on the living room side which we made note of check off list when moved in. Yet you are still charging us for the damage that was reported, before we even moved in! 
XXXX we moved into the old apartment, we noticed the Oven was extremely dirty. Burnt XXXX food residue encrusted the inside of the oven. We reported this iaaue to the XXXX of the office staff, within XXXX hours of moving into the old apartment. Once again, no action was taken. Therefore, we had to clean the entire oven inside/out ourselves. Spending time and money out of our own pockets. 
6-Window blinds needed to be replaced in the living room. This issue remained unresolved even until our move out in late XXXX. As a matter of fact, having talked to Management during the last month prior to our move out date, she was not aware of blinds. When asked about this issue, management replied " What Blinds? I do not know about any blinds!? '' We have informed the person in charge of maintenance the 2nd day of our move and at least 8 times throughout our stay at this property about this and many other issues needed to be fixed in our apartment at that time. The maintenance team, informed us that it was very difficult to get these blinds for our apartment, and that they were different size than the other apartments, and that he would have to get the blinds from XXXX, or XXXX XXXX. No further action was taken to fix or replace the blinds. 
7-Having both being XXXX, and after consulting with our XXXX XXXX, and upon his recommendations and according to the guidelines and laws of Americans with XXXX XXXX, our main concern was the accessibility to Elevator in our building living on the 4th floor. 

The Elevator in building 3, was not functioning for periods from a few hours on 2 occasions and up to 3-5 days in the other occasions. Please refer to the Email Sent to the management on XX/XX/XXXX. This was our first email complaining about the elevator. The malfunction of elevator in our building has caused me and my partner a lot of aggravation, and XXXX XXXX 

Given our XXXX XXXX and continued malfunction of the elevator and the ongoing unresolved issues with our apartment, we suggested if we could move to a lower-level apartment. 

The Property Manager asked us to expedite the move earlier due to the fact that current apartment we were living in, had a waiting list and therefore must be leased to a family quickly. 

Further, the property manager stated that we needed to hurry and sign the lease for the future unit, the one we were supposed to move into, that we have not seen/visited the inside yet. We therefore signed the new apartment lease only the night before we were to move into the new unit, not having seen/looked inside the apartment, only trusting your company that the apartment was ready to move in. 

Based on your verbal promises that the new apartment will be in a perfect clean and move-in ready condition by Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX and that we had to move out of the old unit by Sunday XX/XX/XXXX ( to prepare the old unit for the new tenant ), we started to pack our belongings in a very short notice, hoping that the new apartment will be ready for us to move in by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Given the short notice and our limited physical mobility, my partner and I, started to pack our belongings and kept continuous checking with XXXX and the rest of the staff in the office to see if the new unit is ready to move in. The staff in the office were confused and did not know what was going on, and the Property Manager was off until Friday. 

Unfortunately, in spite of the property masnagers verbal promises, the new apartment was never cleaned and not ready for us to move in. We continuously checked to see if the new unit was ready to move in. Over the XXXX continuous days ( Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX through Friday XX/XX/XXXX ), and even Saturday XX/XX/XXXX the air conditioning was not working ( XXXX readings ) and the apartment was never cleaned. We informed the Property Staff on Wednesday that the Apartment was not ready for us to move our belongings.

Further, we asked on a continuous and repeated basis from the property staff members and the maintenance team for the apartment A/C to be fixed on top of the fact the apartment was dirty. very similar to the older unit we had been living in, the air vents, countertops, kitchen appliances, fans, light fixtures were covered in a brown sticky residue. 

Once again, on Friday XX/XX/XXXX, we checked to see if the New Unit was ready to transfer our belongings from Old Unit. We encountered the same condition : AC thermostat was reading 76-84 degrees over three consecutive nights, The shower door in the new unit, was not closing properly, shower walls, and glass seal were covered in mold and mildew, There were wasp nests, spider webs all over the patio and a bad smell inside the apartment, The Sprinklers outside that were supposed to water the plants, would soak the entire patio, There were burnt stuck-on residue left on the patio, which we could not even get cleaned, The front entrance of the apartment looked like that someone had tried to break in, and the wood frame where the lock was located had cracks, Noticing the damage to the front door lock, and knowing that the window was open in the bedroom, we did not feel Safe to move in, In spite our calls and walk ins to the office, no actions were taken to facilitate our move to the New Unit, and we were in the middle of no where knowing that we must vacate by XX/XX/XXXX. After the fourth day of our continuous efforts to resolve the issues in the new uni before moving in, we had no response from the management, and staff. Given our Health conditions, and our overwhelmed physical efforts, frustrations, and aggravations, to resolve these issues, we had no choice unless to find a reasonable accommodation somewhere else. 
Further, based on your promises, we signed a lease for New Unit, with no show of apartment prior to moving in and were charged {$500.00} transfer fee. 

In conclusion, our decision to move from The Current apartment cpmplex, was the result of unfulfilled promises, living conditions not suited according to ADA guidelines and Laws, and the forced decisions to run for survival.

All our claims in our communication ( above ) are supported with photos, conversations, emails, videos, and documentations. 

We asked the Property Manager, to let us know if we can resolve this issue amicably. All we received 3 weeks later, was an email filled with false statements.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation