ComplaintsforCasto Communities Management, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  12/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On 6/30/2023 I left my apartment, **** *** * ******* **** ** ****** **** ***** after residing there for a total of 3 years 6 months. To date, I have not received my renters deposit. When I finally was able to contact them about this I was told that they charged me $20.00 for 4 Stove Electric Burner Drip pans. They also charged me for $25.00 for cleaning the oven. When I asked about these charges they stated the following: Quote - "If you notified us prior to the move about the drip pans needing to be replaced we would have replaced them for free of charge. Since you moved out and they were not clean we replaced them and charged you $20.00. The oven was excessivley dirty which you were charged $25.00"- Unquote, In my opinion, the oven drip pans were not dirty but stained from normal wear and tear. The oven was not excessively dirty; in fact it was about as clean as it was when I moved in. In addition, I did not receive any of the promised items when signing the lease for the 2nd time, for example, a carpet cleaning etc. They never even sent me the $4.00 difference beween what they say I owed them for the afformentioned damages, and the $49.00 deposit. Basically they took advantage of a Senior Citizen and took my hard earned money for themselves, They are taking advantage of the situation after I moved out, Shame on them! These are not reasonable charges considering the state I left the apartment upon exit, I left the apartment in excellant condtion. I am looking for Sawmill Commons to refund me my original $49.00 deposit.

  Business response

  12/20/2023

  Dear *****,

  Thank you for reaching out and bringing your concern to my attention. Per the attached move out checklist, you were provided upon turning in your notice to vacate form, we request stove drip pans to be replaced, or a $5.00 per pan charge will be accessed upon vacating.

  In regard to the stove cleaning upcharge, the checklist references making sure all appliances are cleaned thoroughly as additional contracted serviced invoices will be billed at the actual cost which were billed directly to your account upon move out.
  When reviewing the attached images of the damage present this is above normal wear and tear per the signed lease agreement these damage charges are justified.

  The remaining security deposit refund of $4.00 was issued on 7/13/2023 to the forwarding address provided at move out which was *** * ***** ** * **** ************ ** *****. Please feel free to email me directly at *********************** to provide me an updated forwarding address where a new refund check can be issued & I will get this sent out immediately.
  
  Kindly,

  ******* ********
  *********************** Collections Representative III
  Casto Management

  
  

  Customer response

  01/05/2024

  [If you do not say why you are rejecting the company's response, BBB must close your complaint.] 
  
  Complaint: 21026527
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  no matter what the checklist says, if you are willing to replace for free prior to checkout the drip pans, why would you gouge a person for 20 dollars if not requested prior to move out. This an unfair tactic.

  This is unacceptable.

  Willing to settle for $24.00. 

  Will not accept anything less to close this issue with BBB

  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ***

  Business response

  01/05/2024

  Afternoon *****,

  After speaking with you several times regarding this matter since you vacated at the end of June 2023, I would like to settle this dispute & resolve your concern. I have brought this to my supervisor's attention, and we have agreed to settle this dispute by removing the drip pan damage charge which will be refunding you $24.00 in total.

  Please provide me with an updated forwarding address and I will get an immediate refund check issued.

  Kindly,

  ******* ********

  Casto Collections

  Customer response

  01/09/2024

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your accep***ce of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I accept the business's response to resolve this complaint.
  Regards,
  
  ***** ***

  *** ********* ***** ************ **** *****

  Customer response

  01/24/2024

  From: ***** T <********************>
  Date: Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 6:26 PM
  Subject: Complaint # 21026527
  To:
  
  
  Hello , 
  
  I may have to reopen my case, Complaint #21026527 with Casto Communities Management because up to this day, I have not received the $24.00 from Casto Communities Management as per our last arbitration agreement.
  
  Please see attached ,forwarded email below for your perusal. 
  Please advise how do we get this resolved. 
  
  Thank you. 
  ***** ***
  

  Business response

  01/24/2024

  Morning,

  The email below was sent to the email address we have on file for ***** *** - ******************** on January 18th to give her an update on the status of her refund. Please find below email sent & refund attachment to confirm.

  Kindly,

  _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Afternoon *****,
  
  Your reissued refund check was sent as of today January 18th via USPS to the forwarding address you provided. Depending on USPS you will see this between 5-10 business days. Please find attached information pertaining to your refund.
  
  Kindly,
  
  ******* ********
  Casto Collections
  ***********************

  Customer response

  01/25/2024

  Hello,
  I'm pleased to announce that today, I received a check for $24 from Casto Communities Management . Hence, we don't need to pursue this claim any further. 
  I thank you and appreciate your support/assis***ce.
  
  
  Best Regards,
  ***** ***
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I accept the business's response to resolve this complaint.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ***

• Initial Complaint

  06/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My brother lived at Glenchester Lakes and got a month to month lease with no hassle. He was never pushed into a 9 month lease after he requested month to month. 

  So I am writing about Vistas at Rocky Fork. I emailed the property, ****** Cramer, 61 days before my lease was up and asked to go on a month to month lease as we were looking for a house. 

  Rather then write me back, ****** called. She said we could not go on a month to month lease. She said she could only offer us a 9 month lease. Initially we did not sign it, as we were still pushing for a month to month lease. Eventually, as it closer to the end of the lease, we felt bullied, and signed it. 

  Then we found a house and turned in our notice to vacate. Then ****** called and said we would have to pay a fee for not giving them sufficient notice. When my husband got on the call, ****** said she misunderstood and we could have gone month to month. 

  We contacted the Regional Manager, **** ******* and explained to her that ****** was deceptive, and had misled and bullied us into the 9 month lease, knowing we wanted month to month and her saying it wasn't available. She did not care about how we were misled.   

   

  Business response

  07/05/2023

  Afternoon ******* & *****,

  Thank you for reaching out to discuss concerns you have regarding the handling of your move out & charges accessed by The Vista at Rocky Fork. I apologize if you do not think this has been handled in the proper manner. After reviewing the file, previous signed leases, email correspondence & notes entered, I was able to determine the following:

  *******, I do see on April 30th you reached out to the property regarding the possibility of going month to month due to house hunting. At this time, it was noted that you also inquired about potential short term lease options.

  On May 1st, ****** ****** reached out to inform you & ***** that a 9-month lease term was the shortest option they were able to offer in the month your lease was expiring. Per the attached lease renewal offer letter, month-to-month offers are based on limited availability.

  On May 18th, ****** ****** followed up with you regarding a renewal decision and left a message at that time. She did not hear back from you or *****, ****** then followed up with you both again on June 21st.  On this day, she received an email from you stating that you all closed on a house that day and would be vacating at the end of lease term expiring on June 30th.

  Once a written notice to vacate was obtained with a exact move out date, ****** followed up to inform you both of your financial responsibilities. At this point in time, your lease would have rolled into a month-to-month lease obligation effective July 1st and would hold you financially responsible for July’s rent at the full market rate plus the $500 month-to-month fee.  ****** explained that if you still planned on vacating on June 30th as stated in notice, that The Vista would attempt to re-rent the apartment home asap. If The Vista was able to successfully re-rent the apartment, you would be reimbursed starting from the day the new resident started paying rent on the home through remainder of your financial obligation. At this time, the apartment home has yet to be reoccupied.

  I do see per the attached lease the protocol was followed & the balance remaining due is accurate. I have highlighted areas of the signed lease explaining in full detail this financial obligation.

  Please reach out to me directly at *********************** if you have any further questions or concerns. If you wish to set up a repayment plan, we can accommodate this.

  Kindly,

  Customer response

  07/10/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I accept the business's response to resolve this complaint. I will reach out to Kristin for my concerns.
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  CASTO PROPERTIES OVER CHARGED FOR CARPET REPLACEMENT BY CHARGING A TENANT FOR CARPET REPLACEMENT IN ROOM THAT DID NOT HAVE DAMAGED CARPET CASTO PROPERTIES OVER CHARGED TENANT FOR REPLACING STOVE TOP PARTS INSTEAD OF CLEANING THEM, CASTO PROPERTIES WRONGFULLY WITH HELD DEPOSIT FROM TENANT. CASTO PROPERTIES LIED DURING SHOWING AND FALSE ADVERTISED. CASTO PROPERTIES CLAIMED THERE WAS ON SITE SECURITY BUT THERE WAS NONE TO BE FOUND. CASTO PROPERTIES OFFICE STAFF IS EXTREMELY RUDE.

  Business response

  08/23/2022

  Good Afternoon,

  My apologies on not responding sooner, I had not seen this come through. Attached you can find the carpet invoice, correct carpet pro-ration sheet, move-out statement, and an aggressive voicemail hours after the financial statement was finalized.

  All CASTO properties across the board replace damaged carpet in full so that it can age together for proration purposes. The carpet was damaged with bleach stains as you can see in the Move Out Statement attached. We do not prorate drip pans as we replace each pan for $5 across the board. Below I have taken the time to write all communications between our company and Mr. ******.  

  The financial move-out was completed and sent via email May 17th around 1:30 PM. Shortly after around 2:50 PM ****** called Graceland Flats and was very aggressive over the phone demanding tax returns from our business and calling our workers lazy and stupid. The Graceland Flats staff is unable to discuss collections so they attempted to redirect him to our collections team. After ending that call, he continued to keep calling the Graceland Flats office. (One Voicemail Attached) Our collections team reached out at 2:56 PM via email explaining the costs and providing photos. Around 5:44 PM Mr. ****** replied via email with, "We can go to court" and "If I need to supema a office worker or your tax return I will". Our office staff leaves the office at 3:30 PM so we did not respond until the next day. May 18th at 7:47 AM we replied informing Mr. ****** that if he would like to go to court, then he was most welcomed to. We informed him that we replaced the carpet throughout the whole apartment due to bleach stains. As a landlord once carpet has been damaged and needs replaced, we replace the whole carpet throughout the apartment so that it can age together when we prorate. We did not hear anything after that. On June 15th at 10:02 AM Mr. ****** emailed that he would like to dispute the charges due to not prorating drip pans and replacing bedroom carpet. Our collections team replied the same day at 10:38 AM explaining that we do not pro-rate drip pans as we charge a flat rate of $5 per across the board and that carpet is replaced entirely when damaged so that it can age together for proration purposes. We provided the Conditions of Premises & Alterations portion of the lease to him. We did not receive a response after. On June 16th our collections team saw that the pro-ration was done incorrectly. The carpet invoice had been cheaper than what was prorated at. ($114.59 difference) Our team emailed Mr. ****** at 1:15 PM informing him of the mistake and that we had corrected the balance. We did not receive a response. On August 15th at 9:59 AM Mr. ****** reached out informing us that he had submitted a claim and asked to talk to us about his review he had written. Our team replied same day at 12:46 AM explaining that we are more than happy to discuss the review and go over any invoices, photos or charges. Mr. ****** replied at 2:02 PM informing us that our claim will be disputed and that he will subena the casto owner of the LLC that is registered with the state to testify in court.

  If you have any questions, please let me know.

  Have a Great Day and Stay Safe!

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