Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This rental property scams their tenants out of their deposit. They conduct final out inspections without the tenant there. This leaves room for the company to be unfair about any issues they may find or they could cause damage and blame it on the tenant. They will ALWAYS find the smallest reasons to keep all of your deposit and sometimes, in my case, they won't even provide me proof as to what the issue is and why they are taking my money. I even went to their office for an explanation and they told me to leave. I still haven't received proof. There are SEVERAL 1 star reviews on ******* all having this same issue. It's been happening for years. They lie and they take advantage of everyone. They should have been put out of business a long time ago. All of their 5 star reviews, I believe are from people they may know or from property owners. They treat the tenants like c*** and on multiple occasions have tried to invade my privacy and then threatened to charge me a traveling fee if they weren't let into my home while I was at work. Too many times they have taken advantage of people. I believe a few people took or wanted to take the judicial route to deal with them. I called the police on them today for stealing. This company deserves to be shut down. They are taking advantage of this military community and have been doing it for years. Enough is enough already. Please shut them down.

  

  Business response

  06/12/2024

  The complainant rented a duplex from our office in July 2023. Prior to the complainant moving in, we had the property professionally cleaned. Our cleaning standards are set to a very high standard so that our customers find their new residence in excellent, clean, and ready to move-in condition. We take great pride in the condition of our available properties and strive to make each customers experience exceptionally favorable. The cleaning teams we utilize do not receive payment for their services until we have personally inspected and passed their work.
  
  A few days after accepting her keys and taking possession of her new residence, the complainant posted the following five-star review online: Absolutely wonderful. I promise I'm not a fake person making a fake review. I am active duty military and just returned from overseas. I needed to move into a home asap. After getting the run around from another reality company, I decided to look else where. I'm not sure how but something brought me to Hunter Rentals. I found some properties I was interested in and so I filled out the application that same night. By the VERY NEXT DAY, my application was reviewed and approved, I was able to fill out and sign the lease and pay my deposit. By that afternoon I had keys in hand! So within 24 hours I was in a home I really wanted. THANK YOU Hunter and Rentals.I also want to mention that the property was very clean inside and outside. I normally do a wipe down of a new home but it looks like it was already done.The women in the office are super down to earth, nice and professional. I'm so grateful. This is the company to go to. They don't play around and they don't try to take your money. I love that.
  
  When the complainant signed her lease contract, she agreed to surrender the property in the same clean condition in which she received it. The complainant signed and agreed to our published cleaning guidelines, which provided her with step-by-step instructions on how to properly prepare her residence for her move-out inspection. As with all our customers, we provided the complainant with the option of cleaning the property herself or pre-paying to have her residence cleaned by one of our cleaning teams. Customers that pre-pay for our professional cleaning services also receive a special discount off the normal cost of a full cleaning service. The complainant opted to self-clean her residence.
  
  The complainant submitted her notice to vacate on April 5, 2024, and surrendered her residence on May 30, 2024, which gave her almost two months to prepare the property for her move-out inspection. During the 2020 pandemic, our office adopted a policy whereby all our move-in and move-out inspections were no longer performed jointly with our residents. This policy remains in effect and is publicized on our web site and is part of the lease contract signed by our residents. Our move-in and move-out inspections are extremely thorough and detailed with thousands of time and date stamped digital photos taken. The photos we take allow us to accurately adjudicate a residents security deposit.We do not charge a renter for any deficiency unless we have before and after photos that definitively reflect a damage or deficiency found at the move-out,that did not exist at the residents move-in. We do not charge our residents for normal wear damages. Should a renter dispute a charge to his or her security deposit, we promptly address the dispute by providing the before and after photos, which have the date and time stamp.  
  
  Although our state allows landlords up to thirty days to resolve a past renters security deposit, our office prefers to adjudicate security deposits much sooner. If a renter opts to self-clean his or her residence, our office policy is to notify the renter immediately following the inspection if the cleaning failed. We also provide the renter with photos of all the cleaning deficiencies.
  
  Upon completing the complainants move-out inspection, our managing director emailed her and informed her that her cleaning did not pass. The email included more than 100 photos of cleaning deficiencies. The complainant promptly responded and stated that she hadnt received the photos. Our managing director emailed the complainant a second time and again attached the photos. The complainant again responded and stated that she hadnt received the photos. The complainant then began sending a succession of emails to our managing director in which she accused us of being crooks and thieves. The following morning, the complainant came to our office and accused us of theft and demanded to see the photos taken by our inspector. While the complainant stood in our front office, our managing director emailed her twice more with the photos. The complainant was unable to view them on her phone. A fifth attempt to provide her with the photos was made by emailing her from our maintenance coordinators computer. As we were attempting to assist the complainant and provide her with the photos, she called the citys police department and reported that we had stolen her money. This accusation is entirely false. As of the writing of this response, no monetary transaction has transpired between the complainant and our office regarding her security deposit. As of the writing of this response, the complainants security deposit has not been adjudicated.
  
  From the viewpoint of the complainant, she equated her residence being found unsatisfactorily cleaned as theft even though she had not been charged for anything. Fortunately for her, the police department declined to file a theft report and correctly informed her that the issue at hand was a civil matter. Filing a false report under Section ***** of the Texas Penal Code is a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000.
  
  Unfortunately,we were unable to resolve the matter with the complainant in our office because she was disrupting our operations and interfering with transactions being conducted with other customers. The complainant was badmouthing us to potential customers and defamed us by telling another customer that we were frauds and not to do business with us. Our surveillance cameras captured the complainant unlawfully defaming us in our office lobby. The complainant was directed to leave our office due to her unlawful and disruptive behavior.  
  
  When I was notified of the disturbance caused by the complainant, I personally drove to her former residence to inspect the condition of the property and determine the status of the cleaning. With camera in hand, I confirmed and documented our property inspectors findings. The first thing I noticed was animal hair throughout the dwelling. It was everywhere on the floors, baseboards, closets,shelves, etc. I found no surface anywhere in the property that had been cleaned. The floors, windows, blinds, light fixtures, fans, cabinets, closets,were thick with dust and animal hair. The appliances were dirty, as were the toilets and bathrooms. Whatever attempt the complainant made to prepare her residence for her move-out inspection was entirely inadequate. She had almost two months to prepare her home for the move-out inspection and it appeared that she had dedicated very little time and effort into this endeavor.
  
  After leaving our office, the complainant began attacking us on social media with multiple scathing and hateful reviews. She has asserted that all our five-star reviews are essentially fabricated by our friends or people we have coerced. It is worth noting that for most property management companies, positive reviews are extremely hard to come by and posting fabricated positive reviews is unlawful.
  
  To further harm our organization, the complainant also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB should take serious note that in her complaint, she has defamed our office multiple times. She has stated as a fact that, They lie and take advantage of everyone. They are taking advantage of this military community and have been doing it for years. Defamation is a crime, and we now have written and visual evidence of the complainant defaming us and harming our business.
  
  Our office goes to extreme lengths to ensure fairness and accuracy when inspecting properties and resolving our renters security deposits. We provide our residents with every possible tool and opportunity to maximize the return of their security deposits. Our move-in and move out inspections take many hours and involve taking thousands of photos. Adjudicating each security deposit involves many more hours while reviewing multiple inspection reports, thousands of photos, and often interviewing maintenance technicians, studying invoices and the notes of the technicians.
  
  In summary, because the complainant failed to properly clean her residence, she is set on destroying our company, which has been serving the military community for over 38 years. Rather than take any personal responsibility for her failure,the complainant finds it more satisfying to defame, harm, and call for the closure of our business, which by the way would significantly harm the hundreds of clients we represent (the majority of whom are active duty or retired service members), not to mention the lives and families of the many employees of our company as well as vendors and service providers associated with our organization.
  
  The complainant is not someone with whom we can ever reach an accord. Because she is unhappy with the result of her move-out inspection, she calls the police to falsely report us for committing theft, she posts multiple harmful posts online, and the only resolution acceptable to her is seeing our business closed regardless of the harm and damage it would cause our employees, customers and clients. A rational, civil person does not behave in this manner. As an Army infantry veteran, I am embarrassed by the actions of the complainant, who is presently an active duty soldier.   
  

  Customer response

  06/13/2024

  Complaint: 21804160
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  The owner or whomever wrote the response has clearly fabricated their story and made up lies to make me look like an "out of control" former tenant. The truth are in the numbers and they do not lie. I have attached some of the 1 star reviews, telling the ***** about what's really happening with H&R. I am not lying or making up stories. Plenty of other former tenants have had the same issue INCLUDING military personnel. If anything they take more advantage of military personnel. I am also prepared to send photos of the place after I cleaned it, including the toilets that they claimed were dirty (once again H&R are making up lies without any proof or backup). The owner or someone has also started making fake negative reviews on their own site and the owner has blamed me by saying "****" has recruited people to leave these reviews, in order to destroy their company. This is completely not true and this is the actual definition of defamation. I also attached the FOUR emails (not five as they have stated) of me being told that I was being charged for a cleaning fee and me then asking for photos that I never received. It doesn't matter by them saying they haven't deducted the money yet, they already sent an email to me saying they were going to. They mentioned that they sent "over 100" photos but I have yet to receive even 1. H&R has made no attempt then or now to try to reconcile anything. They just threw me out of their office (as they stated, their cameras can show that). I went to their office for answers. I even tried to show the lady on my phone the emails she sent me and how there were no attachments but she did not care. I did inform them that I called the cops and then they told me to leave and I still never received any photos. The person who wrote the response made it seem as if I filed a false report and etc. (clearly trying to use legal jargon to intimidate, but I am not moved by this). I am the one who called the police. I am the one with the actual reference number to the report (I guarantee H&R does not have that). The cop advised me to take them to court as a civil matter and so I emailed H&R what the police told me but some how they took that as if they were favored but it's the complete opposite. Complete opposite. The police never said anything to me about filing any false reports or repercussions of that, because there was nothing fake about it. It was the complete opposite and the officer that I spoke to was very helpful. Once again, H&R (the owner) are making up lies. They only mentioned anything about a report because that is exactly what I told them I did. They never spoke to the police or have any details of my conversation with the police. They have no leg to stand on.
  As many as the other reviews explained, at first they are nice, which is why I left a 5 star review. (I do find it odd that the owner responded with an exact copy and paste of the five star review I made almost a year ago from when I first moved in. Its almost as if they've been through this before and so they ask tenants in the beginning of their stay to make the review, they then save it, that way down the line when the tenant speaks out against them, they try to throw that review in their face). (It's easy for H&R to manipulate people in the beginning to write a good review but the true challenge and integrity of a legit business is to be able to keep the five star review and H&R has not been able to do that, with me or with several other past tenants). But after being their tenant and seeing their truth, I downgraded it to a 1 star. I cleaned as best as I could. I have a doggie so yes, I guess I'm not going to be able to get up every little hair but if that's the case than be an adult and professional about it and tell and show your tenant the proof as well as the actual cost. But dont just say "they failed an inspection " without giving them a reason why. That is why I was rightfully upset. 
  The person leaving the response claims they are an Infantry veteran, well than you should be ASHAMED at how you are running your business and how you have taken advantage of plenty of your military personnel. Yes I am still an active duty soldier and proud of it and if there is one thing I am really good at, it's fighting against the injustice of others, especially soldiers. I completely intend on trying to get H&R on the blacklist with Fort *******. That way I can at least save some soldiers from this company.
  H&R also seems to have no shame and will stop at nothing to try to make others look bad when they speak out about their business. I mean seriously...creating fake profiles and reviews and then claiming it was me, "****"...ridiculous. Very *****, immature and unprofessional of Hunter and Rentals. 
  
  I also wanted to mention that H&R absolutely invades the privacy of their tenants. I paid my rent on time every month and I never caused issues or commotion. I worked and went home. Never partied, no noise complaints. I've never had this issue with any other rental company I've dealt with. H&R have no regards for the tenants or their schedule. Several times they tried going into my house but I refused to let them in without me home. I gave them a certain time frame of when I would be able to leave work to be home but they never tried to work with my schedule. They ARE NOT military friendly. They tried to threaten me with a $75.00 "travel fee" if they weren't able to get into my home. After I challenged them and went through the contract about it, they backed off. There was another time where there was a  maintenance worker was at my house for over 3 hours trying to fix something he couldn't do. After awhile I got uncomfortable and tried to call the office to see if they would send someone else but it was after hours and the call went directly to his phone so I quickly hung up because that was really awkward for me. Why does H&R have maintenance workers at people's homes after business hours and there is no supervisor at the office to monitor? He ended letting my dog out, who then got loose and we had to chase him up the street. This maintenance worker also went through my entire house, including my personal space, looking for an appliance that he knew was in a specific location. I believe he did that so that H&R would have someone being nosey because that is what they do. I went to the office to talk to a supervisor about the entire chaotic situation and she did not want to come out to talk to me so she had one of the girls in the front office sit to talk to me. I knew then that H&R could care less about the safety and concern of their tenants.

  
   **I have tried to attach photos and screenshot but this platform is not accepting them**
  
  Regards,
  
  Doralycia ********

  

  Business response

  06/13/2024

  As I stated in my original response, The complainant is not someone with whom we can ever reach an accord. I stand by my previous reply and reject her rebuttal. 

  Customer response

  06/14/2024

  Complaint: 21804160
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  As Inahve also stated before, the owner or muchbless anyone from Hunter and Rentals have actually tried to reach out to me to fix anything. Clearly they are not actually wanting to reach an "accord" because they want to keep all of the deposit. If they truly cared for their tenants they would at least make an attempt to fix the issue. My response as well as many others are correct, especially when it comes to military personnel. They DO NOT care about us. They are not military friendly or friendly at all. They are crooks and scammers. At this point, I know they are going to fund a way to keep my deposit, so I already took that as a loss. What I would like is for H&R to be shut down so that they are no longer taking advantage of people anymore. I will definitely be reaching out to the correct personnel on ******************* to get H&R blacklisted. 
  Regards,
  
  Doralycia ********

  

  Business response

  06/15/2024

  When a renter surrenders his or her residence, Texas law requires that we adjudicate the renters security deposit within thirty days of the date of surrender. Although reviewing and resolving a renters security deposit takes time, our office has an internal policy of notifying renters who self-cleaned their residence if their cleaning did not pass. In these cases, we inform the renter if their residence requires a full cleaning, or a partial cleaning and we provide photos of the cleaning deficiencies. We generally provide the renter with one hundred or more photos. Our experience has been that by reaching out to a renter with this information and documentation right away, the renter will be much more understanding of the situation, especially after viewing the photos. Landlords that wait several weeks or thirty-days before informing the past renter that they are being charged for cleaning tend to encounter an extremely upset customer.We prefer to be straight forward and honest with our customers.
  
  In keeping with this policy, our managing director emailed the complainant following her move-out inspection to inform her that her residence did not pass the cleaning inspection. Photos of the cleaning deficiencies were attached to this email. The complainants immediate response was, where are the photos that you claimed to have attached??
  That place was spotless. I demand to know what was "dirty" and what you crooks are going to take out of my deposit. You left no explanation as to what was dirty or why. All of the reviews on your website are accurate, you all are thieves and crooks. That's exactly why you crooks want to do an inspection without the tenant there. You shouldn't be allowed to do that and I should *** you all.
  Clearly,the complainant was not interested in civil discourse. Her mind was already made up and she conveyed this by disparaging us and accusing us of being thieves and crooks. Remaining professional and ignoring the complainants hostile and derogatory comments, our managing director re-sent the photos in another email and two more times the following morning when the complainant came to our office. While in our office, the complainant was unable to view the photos from her cell phone. The complainant probably couldnt view the photos due to the massive amount of data she was attempting to download to her cell phone. Had the complainant been civil, professional, and respectful, we would have gladly sat down with her while in our office and allowed her to view the photos on our computer. However, the complainant preferred to call the police and falsely report that we had stolen her money. She felt the need to disrupt the operation of our office and make a scene while defaming us in the presence of other customers, thereby harming our organization.
  
  The complainant has accused us of making fake, negative reviews about our own organization online to defame her. This is absurd on its face. What company would post negative one-star reviews about itself?
  
  In her first email to our managing director in reference to the condition in which she left the residence, the complaint stated that, that place was spotless. In her complaint to the BBB, the complainant states that, I cleaned as best I could. I have a doggie so yes, I guess Im not going to be able to get up every little hair. This is a bit confusing. Either she left the property spotless,or she didnt. She certainly received the residence in spotless condition as noted in her laudatory five-star review after moving into the property.
  
  The complainant states that she finds it odd that we kept her five-star review of our company. She then suggests that we manipulate our renters into writing good reviews only to use those reviews against them should they speak out at a later time. In fact, like thousands of other businesses, our clients and customers receive requests to review us. Some reviews are positive, others are not. When we receive a five-star review, it is gratifying and uplifting, so we share the review with our employees. Recognizing our employees for doing an excellent job is a great morale booster and it incentivizes them to continue to do their best. The complainant has alleged that all our five-star reviews are fake. What better way to refute her false accusation than by presenting the very five-star review she posted, which we remembered had been emailed to all our staff members almost a year ago. Further, the complainants five-star review contains her declaration that the property was very clean inside and out when she moved in.Since the complainant failed to complete and submit her 48-hour inventory and condition form, which is the residents personal inspection of the property in which all deficiencies are noted, her five-star review is critically important in establishing the excellent condition of the property when she accepted it.
  
  The complainant states that we scam our renters out of their security deposits by conducting their move-out inspections while they are not present. As I stated in my initial response to her complaint, our office ceased performing inspections jointly with our residents during the 2020 pandemic and this policy remains in effect. We did not perform a joint walk-through inspection with the complainant when she moved in last year, and she was extremely pleased with the condition inside and out. Prior to her moving in, one of our inspectors thoroughly inspected her residence and took well over a thousand photos in the process. The photos we take are time and date stamped. They accurately reflect the condition of every aspect of the property inside and out. The check out inspection we performed was no different. Had the complainant been present for her check-out inspection, it wouldnt have changed the fact that her residence was not acceptably cleaned. Since our office does not charge for damages and cleaning unless we have definitive before and after (move-in and move-out) photos, I am at a loss as to how she believes our renters are being scammed.
  
  It is important to point out that we do not own the property the complainant was renting. We simply manage the property. Property managers are not allowed to keep any portion of a renters security deposit. We collect and deposit a renters security deposit on behalf of the property owner and place it into a trust account. Upon moving out, if there is a charge to a renters security deposit, such as a cleaning charge, the property owner receives the money for the charge, and then uses those same funds to pay the cleaning team. Our office does not scam renters out of their security deposits. We go above and beyond to resolve our renters security deposits as accurately and justly as possible.
  
  The complainant has falsely claimed that we invade the privacy of our renters. Paragraph 14 of her lease contract states the following:
  
      14.  When We May ****** If you or any other resident, guest or occupant is present, then repair or service persons, contractors, law officers, government representatives, lenders,appraisers, prospective residents or buyers, insurance agents, persons authorized to enter under your rental application, or our representatives may peacefully enter the dwelling at reasonable times for reasonable business purposes. If nobody is in the dwelling, then any such person may enter peacefully and at reasonable times (by breaking a window or other means when necessary) for reasonable business purposes if written notice of the entry is left in a conspicuous place in the dwelling immediately after the entry. We are under no obligation to enter only when you are present, and we may, but are not obligated to, give prior notice or make appointments.
  
  Although the lease contract we use provides us relatively liberal access to the properties we manage, visits by our inspectors and maintenance personnel are always scheduled in advance with our residents and we do our best to accommodate the schedules of our residents. The owner of the complainants residence provides a free air filter replacement every month, which is a nice convenience for his renters.Late last year, we informed all our residents by text message that if our technicians or inspectors are denied access when an appointment has been scheduled, the resident will be liable for the cost of the service call. This policy greatly reduces missed service calls and enables our team to be as efficient as possible. To my knowledge, the complainant always communicated with our staff and allowed our technicians in when service was needed.
  
  Late last year, the complainant submitted a service request because her doorbell was not working. On September 15, 2023, a maintenance technician arrived at her home at approximately 3:00 PM. The technician departed her residence at approximately 4:00 PM. There were electrical is***s related to improper wiring from when the property was built. The doorbell chime transformer was too hot to touch,and the doorbell button was not receiving voltage. The service call lasted an hour because the technician could not locate the doorbell transformer, which builders typically install in a bedroom closet or coat closet. The technician had to look in each of the complainants closets to locate the transformer. He was not at the complainants home for three hours. He was there for one hour. The technician was not being nosy or snooping through her personal space. It was necessary for the technician to return a few days later with a second technician to complete the service call. At that time, they discovered the doorbell transformer had been installed in the attic. During the initial service call, the complainants dog managed to run out of her home. While this incident was completely unintentional, our technicians cannot always monitor a residents animal while making repairs. The complainant was home during the visit and could have assisted in keeping an eye on her dog.
  
  As I stated in my first reply to her complaint, the complainant has no interest in taking any personal responsibility for failing to properly clean her residence.She clearly feels that calling us thieves and crooks, calling the police and accusing us of stealing from her, posting multiple negative online reviews about us, threatening to *** us, and have our company shut down is the easiest way for her to get what she wants. I intentionally postponed the cleaning of her residence all last week in an attempt to get someone in her chain of command to meet me at the property but could wait no longer and have had the property professionally cleaned. I took approximately 160 photos of the cleaning deficiencies and will mail those to the BBB via the U.S. ***************  

  Customer response

  06/17/2024

  Complaint: 21804160
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  Hunter and Rentals are exhausting. I see the attachments. You all are the pettiest leasing office I have ever dealt with. Those are the most ridiculous reasons to keep someone's deposit. I've said all that I needed to say. They are clearing targeting me as if I'm the only one that has issues with them. The countless of negative reviews speak for themselves. But they have yet to address those. If I have an issue and these countless of other people had the same issues, than maybe instead of us being the problem, it's Hunter and Rentals and until they take accountability for their actions and how they treat their tenants, people will always complain on them. I'm not the first and I'm sure I won't be the last.

   

  Hunter and Rentals, continue to snake your way through your business dwellings. Continue to lie and twist stories around to make yourself "look better". You are the most unprofessional and worst company I have ever dealt with. I have NEVER, EVER had an issue with any other rental agencies I've dealt with. You bring up my dog and what happened that day and you clearly are favoring what you want. My dog could've been seriously hurt. You speak on how I didn't look after my dog, when I in fact did. Your technician was aware of my dog. He also knew not to keep opening the door and if he did, I would grab him before he needed to go outside, so that my dog wouldn't get out. Your technician was the irresponsible one. He even said how he forgot to let me know first. HOW DARE YOU try to blame that on me. And your technician was there waaaaayyy pass 4. Why are you all just lying for any reason. OMG. What is wrong with you all??

  Also, I talked with my chain of command and you did not reach out to them at all. You don't even know who my supervisor is. What is wrong with you...*****. You all are just lying for no reason!  You can't try to scare me into thinking that YOU would get me in trouble with big Army. Come on, I've been in for more than a day and you're not fooling anyone. Also, dont forget I have photos of my own. So if you attempt of trying to make me look bad, it will only backfire on you. But since you brought up my chain of command. I am currently talking to them and I will inform them of how you all have dealt with me and others. I already mentioned you all to my chain of command months ago, because you were making me leave work to be at home in time so that you could change my air filter and if not you were going to charge me $75.00 for a traveling fee. Trust me, my chain of command is already fully aware of who you all are. I would suggest you all go get the serious help that you need. Clearly you all are hurting for business and money, so you will go through any lengths to retain that deposit. I feel sorry for you miserable people. 

  I no longer wish to have anymore communication with Hunter and Rentals. I have already provided them the forwarding address for what will be left of my security deposit (if they don't find a way to keep it all). I will move on from this because I have a life and a career and more important things to deal with. I will continue to fight this the only way I know how and that is to continue to let the people know about Hunter and Rentals and to steer clear from them if they can. Especially my military personnel. 

  Regards,
  
  Doralycia ********

*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. ↩