When I moved to Bellagio Apartments in February of 2011, it wasn't an outright new rental for the management company of the complex. I took over the lease from some young Hispanic guy who carried himself off as too good for the place. He seemed to be in a hurry to off-load this place. His furnishings which I saw before I moved in were definitely high end and I think he was over living in what, I later agreed, was the ghetto.
I forget his name now but let's call him Hector. So Hector signed out on his lease and I signed onto the lease he had plus, because I fell for the "avoid a raise in the rent" sales pitch of the female McKinley rep at the time, I signed on an extension of an additional year at a "small increase" in rent to kick in in August of 2011. There was the issue of the deposit, of course. He told me that I could keep it when my future move out day would come. I protested politely saying it was his money but he gave me the distinct impression that he was well over any further dealings with this rental company. He wanted none of it and was willing to forfeit the deposit to me.
Fast forward now to November of last year when I eventually do move out. I drop off my keys and my forwarding address form with Edwin the gay guy in the office. He's a meticulous fellow and I see him take the form and place it carefully in some binder.
December comes along and I haven't heard a word from Bellagio about the deposit. I call them and I get forwarded to a lady named Crystal. She says they never received a forwarding address form from me. I tell her I left it with Edwin. She denies having received it. I give her my current address and my email address so she can keep me appraised of the deposit. She reminds me that the amount of the deposit will be reduced due to prorated rent and utilities owed since my lease was officially ended on the second of November. I'm non-committal and just ask her to process the deposit return as soon as possible. She says that she'll get right to it.
A couple more weeks go by and no word from Bellagio. I call and speak again with Crystal who seems very confused and disorganized. She says that she sent out the Statement of Deposit (or some such name) form to me. This form would have been an acknowledgement of McKinley what monies were due me from the deposit minus any deductions, like pro-rated rent or damages or the like. She again reminded me that the full deposit amount would be reduced by utilities due. I again am non-committal and just request whatever is owed me to be sent to me. She reconfirms my address and is correct. She says that the SOD (Statement of Deposit) will be sent by FedEx and asked if I wanted a confirmation number. I told her I didn't need it. (Since I trusted her and felt it would be a mute issue.)
Well, a week and then two passed. No SOD or check or anything. Not even an email explaining what might have happened even though I gave Crystal my email address on the second call to her.
So now, January 20, I call Bellagio yet again. I ask to speak with the manager and it's Crystal on the line. She says the manager is out but since my issue is a deposit return, she'll be able to help me and transfers me to her office where she picks up again. She looks me up in her system which seems to take an inordinate amount of time and surmised that we've spoken before on this. I agree. I ask her what has been done regarding this and she says the main office is still working on this. Having just perused Florida landlord/tenant related law on various websites, I now have on my computer screen before me the actual wording of the Florida law regarding returns of deposits and I tell Crystal that now I am due not a reduced deposit amount but I am owed the full deposit plus interest since this has been more than 30 days and they have yet to contact me on this. I state that unless I get a check in the next 24 hours I will sue them.
Now she's hammerin' and hawin' and all a-fluster. I tell her that if she gets on the line with someone who can authorize the payout, I'll wait on hold. Twenty five minutes of hold later she comes on and says the matter is confusing. She asks if I am a transfer. I assume she means a transfer of lease and I fill her in on the transaction that took place between me and "Hector" and Bellagio in February of 2011. But she means a transfer from one apartment within the complex to another. I tell her no. She says that they have information in our systems that the deposit was due to a Shaquita something or other. I told her I took over the lease from a single dude who's name I'd forgotten. I tell her "Why is there such a fuss about who was the original leaseholder?" The fact of the matter is I took over the lease and I had a legal, physical copy of the lease which clearly indicates that I had a deposit on file with McKinley and they acknowledged it. I told her it's silly to hem and haw so much over a $99 deposit. I suggested as a customer courtesy that they just cut me a check for that amount and we can be done with this. She says she's really confused since it was assumed that the amount of the deposit was $300. I tell her it isn't, it's $99. She put me on hold again to confer with her accounting person at the main office in Michigan. After a few minutes, Crystal got back on with me and said that she'd be FedEx over-nighting the check for $99.47 to me. (I don't know where the 47 cents comes in but at this point I wasn't arguing.)
The next day comes and goes but not without me eerily hearing a sound of a truck on the property around 12:30 pm. I look out my window and it's a FedEx truck parked across the parking lot in front of the building next to mine. It, like I guess all the buildings in this complex, has an apartment 208. Is FedEx delivering an important overnight delivery to the wrong address?
So here I am, the evening of the day after and still no deposit. What's more, when I did actually pull out the Bellagio lease contract from storage, I discovered that they actually owe me over $157.
I guess I'll be going to court.
EDIT: At 9:15 am today (Thursday, January 22) a UPS guy knocks at my door at the very same time that I'm reviewing this post. Lo and behold, he hands me an envelope. Inside, an Amscot money order for $99.47 from Bellagio. Well, whadya know.
I forget his name now but let's call him Hector. So Hector signed out on his lease and I signed onto the lease he had plus, because I fell for the "avoid a raise in the rent" sales pitch of the female McKinley rep at the time, I signed on an extension of an additional year at a "small increase" in rent to kick in in August of 2011. There was the issue of the deposit, of course. He told me that I could keep it when my future move out day would come. I protested politely saying it was his money but he gave me the distinct impression that he was well over any further dealings with this rental company. He wanted none of it and was willing to forfeit the deposit to me.
Fast forward now to November of last year when I eventually do move out. I drop off my keys and my forwarding address form with Edwin the gay guy in the office. He's a meticulous fellow and I see him take the form and place it carefully in some binder.
December comes along and I haven't heard a word from Bellagio about the deposit. I call them and I get forwarded to a lady named Crystal. She says they never received a forwarding address form from me. I tell her I left it with Edwin. She denies having received it. I give her my current address and my email address so she can keep me appraised of the deposit. She reminds me that the amount of the deposit will be reduced due to prorated rent and utilities owed since my lease was officially ended on the second of November. I'm non-committal and just ask her to process the deposit return as soon as possible. She says that she'll get right to it.
A couple more weeks go by and no word from Bellagio. I call and speak again with Crystal who seems very confused and disorganized. She says that she sent out the Statement of Deposit (or some such name) form to me. This form would have been an acknowledgement of McKinley what monies were due me from the deposit minus any deductions, like pro-rated rent or damages or the like. She again reminded me that the full deposit amount would be reduced by utilities due. I again am non-committal and just request whatever is owed me to be sent to me. She reconfirms my address and is correct. She says that the SOD (Statement of Deposit) will be sent by FedEx and asked if I wanted a confirmation number. I told her I didn't need it. (Since I trusted her and felt it would be a mute issue.)
Well, a week and then two passed. No SOD or check or anything. Not even an email explaining what might have happened even though I gave Crystal my email address on the second call to her.
So now, January 20, I call Bellagio yet again. I ask to speak with the manager and it's Crystal on the line. She says the manager is out but since my issue is a deposit return, she'll be able to help me and transfers me to her office where she picks up again. She looks me up in her system which seems to take an inordinate amount of time and surmised that we've spoken before on this. I agree. I ask her what has been done regarding this and she says the main office is still working on this. Having just perused Florida landlord/tenant related law on various websites, I now have on my computer screen before me the actual wording of the Florida law regarding returns of deposits and I tell Crystal that now I am due not a reduced deposit amount but I am owed the full deposit plus interest since this has been more than 30 days and they have yet to contact me on this. I state that unless I get a check in the next 24 hours I will sue them.
Now she's hammerin' and hawin' and all a-fluster. I tell her that if she gets on the line with someone who can authorize the payout, I'll wait on hold. Twenty five minutes of hold later she comes on and says the matter is confusing. She asks if I am a transfer. I assume she means a transfer of lease and I fill her in on the transaction that took place between me and "Hector" and Bellagio in February of 2011. But she means a transfer from one apartment within the complex to another. I tell her no. She says that they have information in our systems that the deposit was due to a Shaquita something or other. I told her I took over the lease from a single dude who's name I'd forgotten. I tell her "Why is there such a fuss about who was the original leaseholder?" The fact of the matter is I took over the lease and I had a legal, physical copy of the lease which clearly indicates that I had a deposit on file with McKinley and they acknowledged it. I told her it's silly to hem and haw so much over a $99 deposit. I suggested as a customer courtesy that they just cut me a check for that amount and we can be done with this. She says she's really confused since it was assumed that the amount of the deposit was $300. I tell her it isn't, it's $99. She put me on hold again to confer with her accounting person at the main office in Michigan. After a few minutes, Crystal got back on with me and said that she'd be FedEx over-nighting the check for $99.47 to me. (I don't know where the 47 cents comes in but at this point I wasn't arguing.)
The next day comes and goes but not without me eerily hearing a sound of a truck on the property around 12:30 pm. I look out my window and it's a FedEx truck parked across the parking lot in front of the building next to mine. It, like I guess all the buildings in this complex, has an apartment 208. Is FedEx delivering an important overnight delivery to the wrong address?
So here I am, the evening of the day after and still no deposit. What's more, when I did actually pull out the Bellagio lease contract from storage, I discovered that they actually owe me over $157.
I guess I'll be going to court.
EDIT: At 9:15 am today (Thursday, January 22) a UPS guy knocks at my door at the very same time that I'm reviewing this post. Lo and behold, he hands me an envelope. Inside, an Amscot money order for $99.47 from Bellagio. Well, whadya know.