ComplaintsforUnion Knoxville

• Initial Complaint

  10/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 10/3/23 I served as my son's guarantor in his application for an apartment at Union Knoxville (Greystar Management). We initially received an offer at a rate acceptable to us, along with this assurance verbatim under Rental Rates and Lease Terms: “Original rental rate quotes will be honored for 2 business days.” My son signed the same afternoon, but when I logged in to sign the guarantor agreement the next morning, still well with the two business days, not only did I see a different and much higher rate, but the lease that my son had already signed at the initial rate had disappeared and been replaced by a lease showing the higher rate. I have been referred repeatedly to their policy of tiered rates, wherein lower rates are sold first, and I understood that the rate would not be available indefinitely. That is precisely why the explicit, written guarantee to honor the rate offered for two business days was significant. The company’s response: “the rate is honored for a full two business days as long as rates do not change.” What else could honoring the rate for two days possibly mean? It’s nonsensical, and classic bait-and-switch. The company has continued to repeat the tiered rate policy, but has not addressed the obvious contradiction in their terms, which I presume are still being advertised to prospective tenants. This amounts to a dishonest business practice. The company claims it has no capacity to receive phone calls and no physical physical leasing office. The website is a slick front page and little else, and the whole operation seems more like a money grab than a legitimate business. When I looked at online reviews, I saw that the property manager had left her own company a five-star review to boost its rating. When I left my own review describing what I believe are deceptive business practices, the company retaliated by divulging personal information about myself and my teenage son online, and has not responded to my request to remove it.

  Business response

  11/17/2023

  Union Knoxville operates on a rate-tier system; this means that a certain number of leases are allotted to each rate tier. If other prospects sign leases more quickly and push the tier, then remaining leases are re-generated at the most current rate tier. This was expressed in writing, via email, to the guarantor and resident. I have outlined the times and dates that the process was explained below:
  

  10.3.2023 at 8:43 AM EST
  10.3.2023 at 6:19 PM EST
  10.4.2023 at 12:26 PM EST
  10.4.2023 at 8:55 PM EST
  

  The lease states that: "Original rates will be honored for two business days. The rental rate quote is associated with the apartment home's availability at the time of your quote, move-in date, and lease term requested. Any changes to the time of the quote, your move-in date, or lease term may require a revised rental quote which may result in a different monthly rate." This explains that if the availability at the time of quote changes, the rate may also change - which is what occurred in this situation. A lease is not considered complete and cannot be executed until both guarantor and primary have signed the lease. The guarantor had not signed the lease, the rate tier changed, and therefore a new lease was generated.
  
  Our property manager did leave the property a five-star review - the property manager did not disguise themself as a resident or prospective tenant, but rather expressed that they were excited to see residents enjoy the property. 
  
  We did respond to the guarantor's review. The response stated: "Hello Sara! We apologize that your experience has been less than satisfactory - we are operating under limited staff, as you stated, and have worked to communicate clearly and thoroughly. Our first few emails to our VIP list and applicants explained that the rate tiers would rise quickly and that if other prospects signed more quickly, leases that had not been executed would be cancelled and re-generated at the most current rate tier. We are genuinely sorry that you have not enjoyed your leasing process here - however, we are so happy that you carried through with your lease and we do look forward to having you here at Union Knoxville! We will take a look immediately at the website issues you have outlined above; we appreciate you making us aware of those issues. Please shoot any other questions or concerns you may have to [email protected] so that we can address them appropriately. Once more, we are thrilled to meet you and will let all of our residents and prospects know as soon as our phone lines are up and TLO is open!" 

  Union Knoxville strives to provide our customers with the best possible experience, and therefore has changed the response to the review to state: "We pride ourselves on providing exceptional service, so we are disappointed to hear that your visit with us was anything less than satisfactory."

  
  We have continued to communicate our tiered-rate policy with all prospects via email blasts as well as our social media channel.
  
  Thank you!

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