Lindsey Apartment Management... scam artists or slum lords?
I was looking to relocate into my own personal space. Have a solid rental history. Decent credit. Substantial income. Wasn't looking to get a "luxury" apartment because I live a busy lifestyle (two jobs, gym membership, frequent traveler, etc.). My main job is in Fayetteville so I applied around for apartments around here. The catch is that I have a really well behaved indoor senior cat and I'm not looking for a place that has a huge initial deposit.
I've seen plenty of Lindsey apartment communities advertised and some were nice and some were really bad. I looked at one of the nicer ones (with a golf course) and was told that there was a two month waiting list. I asked to be put on that list but was told for them to do that I'd have to put a deposit down. Since the location wasn't my first choice and the rent was slightly higher than I wanted to pay, I decided to pass but went to look at another Lindsey property across town.
By this point (in the beginning of June), I had looked at several apartment from different listings. Including the Lindsey property across town which was the most reasonably priced with lowest deposit. So I applied online and again I'm told that for an August move-in (due to wait list), I had to put a deposit down. Reluctantly, I did so in hoping that it would seal my spot in.
I check in early July (as instructed by leasing agent) and was told that there was nothing available for August yet. Then I was told that I was still a few people down on the list. This had me concerned but I held out. It was the last week of July and I fortunately made arrangements for the next few months. So I contact the property about my deposit.
To which, I'm told that they tried to contact me about an available unit in August but never got a response. I got no missed calls, voice mails, or text messages. Upon checking, I did get an email that made its way to my Spam folder. It was dated one week prior to my move-in day. So I go to the property and ask for a refund which was put on my debit card. I'm told that she (leasing agent) would process it that same day and I should see the the refund in 48-72 hours. She also said that she would call me to confirm the refund.
I waited four days and I got no call confirming the refund. So I went back to the leasing agent on property who said that they mailed me a check instead of just refunding to my card. To which, I requested that they stop the check and refund my money to the card (as I needed it to cover part of another deposit). She then tells me that only the manager can do this and she won't be in until Monday. I ask if corporate office can handle this to which she makes another excuse saying that she will email them but they probably won't respond until next week.
tl:dr; - So to recap... Paid a deposit months ago. Didn't get an apartment (because they didn't have one). No refund to my card. After several contacts with property managers over a period of two weeks. No refund issued on my card. Then told that it was processed via check but no confirmation was given. Going to have to wait another week to confirm payment (if it was done).
Posted Aug 5, 2022, 9:52 PM UTC
I do hope you get your money back and never had to pay a deposit to get on their lists before, might be a new rule to rule out people not serious.
Move in/out times tend to coincide with school start/end dates with the college right there so August and May are usually the times you'll see the most traffic.
This interaction would put me off wanting to rent from them, I rented a low rent appt from the from 2015-2020 and it wasn't great.