Consumer complaint received 2024-09-23 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: FAIR COLLECTIONS & OUTSOURCING, INC.
State: NV

Complaint narrative:
I needed to find an apartment, & I tried XXXXXXXX XXXX They showed a model & said that the unit I rented would look similar. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX before I was even allowed to see what the unit looked like! I asked them if it was cleaned & sanitized because I have an XXXX XXXX. The place was not clean & very disgusting. There were dead bugs all over & in the fridge. Paneling from the kitchen counter fell off at my feet when I put my hand down. The toilet area had what looked like yellowing, rust, & mold. There were areas with stains everywhere. There were unknown hairs all over the walls & floor. 

I told them the very next day it was unacceptable! I left that place feeling sick due to my condition. They lied & mislead me. To top it off, the first lease signed was incorrect & had to be re-drafted. It had an incorrect move-in date & did not have the promotion they offered listed. The employee had me sign a second lease! When I told them the place was disgusting, they told me basically that I got what I paid for! XXXX at XXXX said it was a cheaper unit, so this is what I could expect! I am on XXXX XXXX, & I could only afford so much a month. I went back & forth with them for weeks. They left me without a place to live for close to a month! Then, they emailed me saying they finished a service request I never put in close to a month after I was supposed to have moved in, the beginning of XX/XX/2023! They claimed it was cleaned, but I had already found another place to live so I wasn't left homeless! The manager was never available to speak to & was always in " meetings ''! I had to find another place to live because my parents were moving out of state! The unit was not up to the health code & unsanitary. I was not about to risk my health again after they initially lied to me! In fact, I have over 50 pics of that disgusting unit as proof! 

I had a lawyer draft a letter. According to laws in Nevada, if the place was not up to code & made sanitary & safe, I could break the lease. Furthermore, I never lived there 1 day! I didn't have access to get through the gated entrance either! Plus, they had their lawyer send me a letter stating I owed them even though I never lived in the unit or utilized anything within the unit! I never received the letter because they sent it to a mailbox at the property I never lived at or even had a key for! I never went back in the unit after the 1 & only time I stepped in to look at it! They ignored the lawyer 's letter completely. Before I knew it, they sent me to collections! They took advantage of a person on XXXX just doing their best to survive! 

They continued to give me grief further aggrevating my XXXX & making me feel suicidal. I felt I had dodged a bullet after seeing how many complaints there were about this property! There were dozens! I also tried to contact the corporation that owns the XXXX property, & they never responded to me! I received something from the debt collection agency they sent me to, & I tried to refute it. I sent them the lawyer 's letter, & they never responded to me either! Before this happened, my credit through XXXX was close to an XXXX rating! My history showed that I managed my credit well & paid all of my bills on time! Thanks to XXXX, my credit fell to around XXXX! I had always paid off my credit and even paid off a car loan. I never defaulted on anything! 

I tried to dispute this with XXXX because this was false advertising & a form of fraud! I have been doing this for months, & they keep saying it's valid! I sent them the lawyer 's letter & proof of the addresses I lived at. They put that I lived at XXXX when I never did! My credit was one of the few things I had to my name, & they ruined it! I am not responsible for this debt, & I am the injured party here! I was taken advantage of, & I am still dealing with this mess that has negatively impacted my XXXX! 

The manager also never signed off on the correct lease dated for XX/XX/2023. XXXX XXXX kept referring to the other lease that was supposed to have been destroyed since it was not accurate. Her office employee assured me that the first incorrect lease would be torn up & canceled! The property manager never signed the correct lease! There was only supposed to be one in the first place! They made mistakes on the first one! I should never have had 2 leases on file!! 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX These three businesses committed fraud & misrepresented themselves! 
They committed fraud having me sign 2 leases & not ripping up the first incorrect one! Then, there was the false advertising of the unit. Then, they pressured me to sign the lease for the unit before I saw the inside of said deplorable, disgusting, unsanitary unit! They were notified of the problems right away. XXXX 's associate XXXX XXXX also made me feel like I was not valued as a future renter since I could not afford a more expensive unit! He told me it would have looked better & would have been cleaner if I had more money! He belittled my financial situation as a XXXXXXXX XXXX. He said this run down unclean unit was the best I could get since I couldn't pay more. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  These links have photos of the disgusting unit as well as complaints from me & dozens of other people that actual live ( d ) at XXXX!

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation