Friday, September 2

Letters, letters, letters

I'll start off by telling you that I did hear back from the apartment complex's corporate office today. I got a thorough and thoughtful response written by the regional vice president, who addressed each one of my concerns, and apologized for my complaints.
Again, I was told that the utility bills are what they are. To be clear: this is not the main crux of my issues. My problem is the place falling apart around me. But whatever. She mentioned the market for rentals, and how their rent increases are based on supply and demand. I get that. She offered us a $110 discount on our next month's rent to compensate for our inconvenience of the air conditioner and the toilet. Thank you, I'll take it.
She liked my idea about giving potential renters a heads-up on the average utility bills, and will be talking to marketing about putting that piece of literature together. She noted that Grant was not in the office for the majority of my conversation, that the guy in the office was maintenance man, Greg, and that had Grant known I was this upset, he would have come out of the office to talk with me. I apologized for the mistaken identity, but still pointed out that it must be just Beth then who is blamed alone for my treatment yesterday.
Then, the cherry on top: we have her permission to break our lease with no penalty, should we choose to. Just give them the 30-day notice. We may take her up on that as well, but we'll have to wait to hear from Houston first. Also, she asked, could this maybe temper my desire to spew venom on the message boards?
I replied back that I appreciated her taking the time to reply to me; would certainly take her up on the rent credit; understood supply and demand but that that philosophy does not excuse being rude to current tenants; apologized for blaming Grant for as much as I did due to mistaken identity; promised nothing about the web site reviews I'd write; and asserted that I'm not completely unreasonable, and that her e-mail did a lot towards making me feel better about the situation.
Not that I'll be going into the office ever again. Brian gets to deal with the front office from now on. I'm done.

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