ComplaintsforEquityTeam

• Initial Complaint

  09/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On July 21st 2023 we moved out the house we were renting for over 3 years from Equityteam, we decided to not to renew the lease as we were presented with a rent increase of almost 10%. Not one late payment in the 3 years and after enduring multiple ongoing issues with animals in the house, trees falling on the property, flooding in the basement which stemmed from a crack in the foundation which resulted in water pouring out of the electrical outlet during heavy rains. It was disappointing to say the least. Once I reformed EquityTeam of our notice to vacate, I feared the fight that would come in getting my security deposit back. I had read the reviews online as well as looked into the civil cases against EquityTeam of others to whom they defrauded but I wanted to give EquityTeam the benefit of a doubt. Almost 30 days after moving out, I received an email stating we were getting a refund of our security deposit and thanks for taking great care of the place. Only to read further and see they were deducting $389.40 from my security deposit. I immediately disputed all but 3 of the charges. The 3 charges, I took responsibility for were for the strike plate on one of the bedroom doors as well as the two electrical outlet covers, totaling $42. I received an email about a week later saying I was getting a refund for $120 more as they dropped the broken blinds in bedroom caused from raccoons falling through the ceiling and a missing exterior globe. I had pictures of the day we had toured the place proving this globe was missing prior to us even putting an application in. But they supposedly have pictures of the place prior to move in day. Should never have seen the charge for it in the first place. They refused to give me the $215.40, I am still owed. They never once mentioned or adjusted a refund of the 10% coordinating repairs fee as well. I have included pictures of the sink on move out day that shows no clog was present that I was fraudulently charged for.

  Business response

  09/12/2023

  The following email was sent to this tenant to try and resolve this dispute.

  *******,
  
  I'm writing in response to your BBB complaint about your refund.
  
  First, I'm sorry this has caused you stress and frustration. From reading about your tenant experience, I see why this has just added to your frustration with the property you called home for 3 years.
  
  Please keep in mind we do not own the property, we just manage it. Some things are because the owner didn't want to make improvements, some things are acts of god (like the large tree limb falling on the driveway in a storm that had every tree company in town busy for days). We do our best to solve problems as they occur.
  
  You have already received a report of the tenant responsible damages totaling $354 + 10% admin per the lease for a total of $389.40. Of this amount, $120 has been refunded to you in good faith to settle the deposit disposition, meaning $269.40 is what was withheld from your SD.
  
  However, you do not feel that is fair enough so you went the BBB, which is your right. I wish you would have asked to speak to a manager here first, but I'm happy to help you resolve this now.
  
  Overall, you obviously took pretty good care of the unit, and we're grateful for that. However, we have a job to do for our owner client, and that is to report these things and charge accordingly for them.
  
  In reviewing the tenant-responsible repairs, I see the main charges are for some broken blinds, doors not shutting, a clogged sink, and other very minor things. If you notice, there are also a number of items that say "clean...." but don't have an amount assigned to them when they certainly could have.
  
  The things we DID charge for are hard to prove unless we really dive into the inspections and ask the inspector to recall their notes on these items. This is something we certainly can do, but before we spend the time doing that, my question to you is what do you feel is fair?
  
  I don't believe it's fair that you write a review of us saying that we are "defrauding" people because that is not who we are. We are always in a difficult position between the owner and the tenant, and do our best to be as fair as we feel a judge would be based on the evidence we have. Many people don't like our opinions, but they are our best efforts to be fair to all parties. I hope you can understand that.
  
  I see where you took responsibility for $42 of the $269.40 that remains. In good faith, I propose we save each other time and headache (us investigating this with our inspector only to get the answers that we almost certainly reaffirm our position, and you from writing letters and making your case), and let's split the amount in dispute; $134.70. That would be about $92 more than you feel you are responsible for, and it would be $137 less than we feel the owner should get (again, keep in mind we did not put charges on there for any cleaning).
  
  I hope you can see this shows we're fair and reasonable, and I hope you can agree to this so we can settle this and both move on.
  
  If you agree, I will make sure we send the funds as soon as we see the BBB complaint is marked as resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  Mark T*******

  Customer response

  09/12/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ** ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******
  

• Initial Complaint

  05/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My husband and I put in a 101$ application to rent a property. When we applied it turns out that to property had been rented out for weeks but the company still showed it as available. They cheated us out of money. I called to get a refund and they said they one give us one and they never did.

• Initial Complaint

  12/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am currently a tenant under this management company. This company not only refuses to fix any of the issues in my uit but they are also no longer communicating or making a resolve with its tenant. The unit issues have not been addressed and making arrangements with this company concerning payments has been a nightmare. They regularly do not return calls or emails. It is apparent they also do not communicate with one another as I have had several issues with payment arrangements and eviction threats. Dealing with this company has been so unprofessional and stressful to say the least. I've tried many times to get a resolve and have not been able to.

  Business response

  12/16/2021

  *******,

  I'm sorry you're experiencing issues. 

  We take our customer service seriously, so we are launching an internal investigation to organize the facts around this and will be in touch soon with our findings.

  In the future, you could have simply emailed us this complaint to one of our managers so we could deal with it internally, instead of running to the internet with your issues.

  We'll be in touch soon and look to resolve this with you.

  Customer response

  01/08/2022

  Complaint Type:
  Service Issues
  
  Service Issues
  select
  Problem:
  I made a compliant regarding this company and their repeated failure to maintain or even respond to request of tenant they manage. I unfortunately was not able to respond before my complaint was closed and have opened a new one. The company response to my original complaint was I should have contacted them via email requesting someone higher up(which I have done more than a few times) before "running to the internet". To start off I'd first like to address the disgusting unprofessionalism with this company. If the company or someone "higher up" had gotten back to me the 3 months I've requested this I wouldn't be "running to the internet" for a resolve. As of today nothing regarding my situation has changed. The ledger is still messed up none of my issues have been addressed. No one even after this complaint has reached out to resolve anything and it absolutely unacceptable. Everyone according to the receptionist is working from home and well it shows. So if the company would like to resolve I again am requesting that someone "higher up" CALL or EMAIL me regarding these matters and actually do their job rather than going back and forth on the "internet".
  
  Desired Resolution / Outcome
  Desired Resolution:
  Contact by the business
  
  Contact by the business
  select
  Desired Outcome:
  Contact by the business; Billing adjustment; Explanation of charges

  Business response

  01/08/2022

  Most Recent Message
  Date Sent: 12/27/2021 11:18:43 AM
  Dear BBB,
  
  This is getting ridiculous as this tenant is just unnecessarily defaming us, yet is not responding to our messages directly seeing resolution. 
  
  She has been speaking to our managers, when she decides to communicate with us, but she doesn't like what she's hearing even though we're simply enforcing her lease and abiding by state landlord-tenant law.
  
  She is used to paying late, but since we took over, we told her we will not be allowing late payments and we will enforce the lease payment schedule.  She doesn't like that.
  
  She's complaining about Maintenance, but as of mid-December, still has not accepted an invitation that was sent to her in October to join our Maintenance WO platform despite us asking her to do so many times.  
  
  We are CONFIDENT we have handled her ledger issues properly, and in fact, have been more generous than we've needed to be, giving her over $320 in credits (all related to the last PM that managed the property, not us).
  
  The only outstanding issues she could have are a couple of outstanding work orders, none of which we deem an emergency, and all are currently assigned.  
  
  One problem could be we cannot get time scheduled to fix these issues if she still has not engaged in joining our Maintenance WO platform.
  
  We will reach out to the tenant AGAIN to try and get these repairs done asap, but we will not be addressing ANYTHING else on her ledger unless she can provide us sufficient evidence why our findings our wrong and how we're not acting in accordance with the Lease she has signed.
  
  -ET

  Customer response

  01/08/2022

  Date Sent: 12/28/2021 11:25:06 AM
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.  I have numerous of emails stating the seriousness of the maintenance issues in my unit I have then documents and will not resend them again as these emails date back to October when equity team took over the property.  Equity team is already in breech of the current lease. The lease states I should have central a/c and heat  and 2 working bathrooms. I have neither of these things. The screens on the window are a safety violation according to the heath department of Cincinnati. One thing that has been made clear here is Equity team has no plans on addressing these issues they only plan to continue to dodge their responsibilities as the managing company. I will seek further council regarding these matters. Equity team is obviously so use to being unprofessional and having no accountability when there is lack on their part. I've sent bills as proof multiple times. Paying has never been an issue as I always pay in full with whatever late fee included but as off today the ledger does not reflect that I have this for my records as well. Im understanding now this will not get me the resolve I need and I will have to do more as Equity team as a track record for being not only terrible with keeping up with maintenance on properties but also are EXTREMELY unprofessional. This was proven here in the response to the complaints. 
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩