Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/16/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Due to several leaks from a concrete wall in my apartment, mold has been growing in, and behind, cabinets in my kitchen. During a recent large thunderstorm, water was pouring from a wall in my kitchen, which I was told after the storm on June 12th, 2023, has happened before I moved in. At least 3 of my neighbors also have water damage in their apartments from previous and more recent leaking events from rainfall. The apartment property management and maintenance teams are minimizing the severity of the mold. I have asked for a solution, in which I was loaned 2 dehumidifiers. As I am 18 weeks pregnant, this is not a viable solution. The mold has gotten worse since I moved in and the concrete wall where the water was pouring in my apartment from cannot be fixed without substantial renovations. Several of my neighbors are currently experiencing the same issue in their apartments. A neighbor in C7 has been loaned a dehumidifier for the leak in her wall, C3 has had mold "painted over" in recent months, and another neighbor also has mold in their downstairs apartment. I am finding it difficult to get the maintenance coordinator to legitimize my concerns with the mold issues that continue to grow. Several neighbors are now concerned for our health and wellbeing as the concrete wall may no longer be stable and may have a cave-in into our homes.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/12/2023

  In the late evening hours of June 11th, Clemson, SC experience heavy rain storms.  We received the tenant's service request early the next morning explaining the water coming into her apartment.  Our property manager sent 2 guys from our maintenance team to do an initial assessment and set up dehumidifiers. This would help dry out the unit so we could begin making repairs inside the unit.  While we were waiting for the apartment to dry, our team looked for the source of the water leak.  After thorough investigation, they found the gutter above the tenant's apartment had become disconnected during the storm and water flowed down to the ground and into the apartment.  This building is partially underground, so the water seeped into the apartment at the ground level.  This was the cause of the water leak.  The gutter was repaired, and the full drainage system was inspected for any further damage.
  As mentioned above this building is partially underground, so the units can get damp during a rainy seasons.  When this happens, we provide dehumidifiers to tenants free of charge to help pull the moisture out of the air.  We do this to prevent mold.  We encourage tenants to communicate with us if they have a moisture problem and we resolve it as soon as we are made aware. 

  
  I will attach the invoices and payment stubs showing we acted quickly and thoroughly. These invoices are dated after the repairs to the unit and building were completed. 

  
  We have not received any other complaints from tenants during the storm that occurred last night - June 25, 2023, where Clemson received over 4 inches of rain.  Our goal is to respond quickly to all complaints we receive. 

  We understand this was a hard situation for the tenants and have tried to work with them by offering them a few options.
  
  Option 1.  They could break the lease without penalty and move somewhere else.  They would receive their security deposit back once back rent was paid.  They were $433.89 behind in rent as of June 11th. 
  Option 2.  We would provide them a different apartment.  The only one available at the time was larger and more expensive but we offered to the reduce rent by $200/ month until the end of their current lease (July 26, 2023). 
  Option 3.  They could stay in their current apartment with the repairs. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/14/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Top of the Hills Apartment in Clemson, SC gave me a move-in date for an apartment and changed it several times. Since I came from outside the US, I had to pay a lot of hotel fees during this process. They also changed the move-in date after we signed the contract. Then I learned that they tried to make a contract with me while someone else already had a contract but was going to leave earlier. Their plans failed when the current tenant did not leave. When I moved in, I saw they did not do any of the essential maintenance that they promised and handed over to me an apartment that was in very poor condition. Previous people lived there with dogs and everywhere was dog hair and bad urine odor. They hardly replied to emails and did 1% of the essential maintenance. They finally offered me a release from the contract. I got agreed with them to leave on Nov 12 and get my deposit as well. They advertised the apartment for Nov 19. They could not find anyone for that date and then changed their mind to release me from the contract. They gave me 2 options: 1. Pay the full rent and get your deposit, 2. Pay the prorated rent and do not get a deposit. They dictated to me these options and told me if I do not choose one of them, I will get nothing. I was forced to pay a lot of money for their business failures.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/18/2022

  Thank you for the opportunity to tell our side of this unfortunate story.  I will be meeting with our Property Manager/Co-Owner on Monday to get the property details from him.  I am also pulling together all of my communications with Mr. ***** as well as invoices and receipts.  

  I should be able to submit our formal reply by Monday, Nov. 21, 2022 or Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022.  

  
  

  Thanks you, 

  Lisa L****

  Business Response

  Date: 11/22/2022

  We have owned and management properties in Clemson since 2011.  We have worked with many international students who come to Clemson from all over the world to attend Clemson University.  Our goal has been to make their transition to a new country and culture as easy as possible.  

   

  My email conversations began with Mr. ***** July 14, 2022.   Through our conversation, he indicated he wanted to move to *** ******* Ave on July 21.  

  I quickly contacted the current tenant, who was not living in the apartment at the time, to see if he would like to move out early to accommodate the new tenant.  He responded affirmatively so I proceeded with Mr. ***** to move him in on his desired date. 

  Unfortunately, the current tenant changed his mind a few times, and delay his move out date 2 or 3 times.  With a signed contract that ended July 26, 2022, I could not force him to move out before that date. I informed Mr. ***** of this change and communicated with him regularly during this process.  We sent Mr. ***** a lease to sign that began July 27, 2022, when we thought the current tenant would be out on July 23.  We were able to move him in July 29 - 2 days after the lease start date.  Although this situation is unfortunate, we were not negligent and communicated with him about the timing.  The conversations with the previous tenant as well as the Mr. ***** are attached.  I have offered to reimburse Mr. ***** 2 days of hotel accommodation for his inconvenience.  

   

  His interaction with our property manager/owner, **** ***** began on July 26 when Mr. ***** approached him at the property.  He was cordial but made it very clear he needed to move in as quickly as possible.  **** told him we could not do our normal maintenance that quickly.  Mr. ***** said that would be fine and we could work around them while they were there.   

   

  **** had 2 days to prepare the apartment, during the busiest time move out, move in time of the year.

  Once Mr. ***** moved in, he contacted **** that the apartment wasn’t cleaned good enough, so **** sent the cleaner back over to make it right.  

  Then they didn’t like the furniture, so we sent one of our furniture movers over to add pieces and take away the pieces he did not want. 

  Then they complained about an odor, so we rented a hydroxyl unit for 5 days. 

  They still complained about the odor, so we replaced the carpet. 

  Then they complained about water stain in the cabinet under the sink, so we painted the cabinets. 

  The complaints continued and realized we would not be able to make them happy.  

   

  I have attached copies of checks and invoices that shows how we tried to provide them with what they wanted. 

   

  9.21.22 – After all we tried the everything we could to accommodate them without success, we offered to release Mr. ***** from his lease.  At that time, we were still getting calls from students just arriving to the US and we could fill it with students who needed a place to live. 

  9.29.22 – I confirmed he would get his full deposit back when he moved out on Dec. 1^st, knowing that we had lost our window to fill the apartment with incoming students.  

  10.17.22 – We agreed for him to move out on Nov 12 with a refund of his deposit (his contract went through 

  July 2023). However, we did not agree to prorate the rent of November. 

   

  The attachments I provide will show that we communicated as clearly as we could and responded quickly to their complaints.   We even graciously allowed them to break their lease without any penalty.  

   

  Please let us know if you need any other information. 

   

  Lisa L****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/24/2022

  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. 

  The property management says  'With a signed contract that ended July 26, 2022, I could not force him to move out before that date' but they told me the apartment will be ready on July 19, and I made my travel plans from oversees and bought my plane ticket for July 20 since I trusted this is a guaranteed date. How can they give me a date while current tenant still has a contract? Very later, they said to me they talked to the current tenant who was willing to leave early but changed their mind. In this case, why I am the one who is the only affected and had to stay in  the hotel for 9 days. I did not do anything wrong but it costed me a lot.
  

  They are claiming they were not negligent and and communicated with me during the time. But the only thing in these conversations were another apology and thanking me for my patience since the move in time has changed one more time. As a result, I had to keep extending my hotel stays although having a very limited budget.
  

  They blame the changes in mind of the previous tenant on his move-out time, or the busy move-in move-out period for maintenance. It should take the responsibility to get things done rather than blaming other factors. If they gave me a move-in date, they should have sent me a contract staring on 20th July as we first talked, and arrange the maintenance accordingly. It is unacceptable, and very unprofessional to send a list of excuses, and blame other factors after every failure.
  

  The cleaners that they sent came to the apartment with just one towel, and rubbed the cabinet handles for 5 minutes and left. It did not even make a difference because the issue was something different and bigger. I attached some photos of the apartment which shows the poor condition of many places. Please see them and tell me how someone with only a towel can clean it. 
  

  Whatever they did was just to look like they did something for that. 
  

  When I moved in, the only furniture at the apartment was a dresser. Nothing else. Then they brought some other furniture over the next few days, each of them were extremely old and dirty. They were used for many many years already. It is really hard to understand the system that they base on. I almost had to buy a new one for each piece. 
  

  The hydroxyl machine did not make a difference on the bad odor at home as well. Please see how much dirt the carpet washer machine I rented from my own budget extracted. The machine that they sent is not for cleaning, it just filters the air, the dirty carpet is still there. I put a lot of effort and time to explain these to them. Apartment needed an immediate carpet change but they kept trying to avoid this as much as they could.
  

  When they replaced the carpet, they only replaced the living room area. This has happened after months from my move in. Note that the previous tenant lived there with two dogs and left the apartment extremely dirty. I learned about the dogs from my neighbors. The property management did not even mention this before. 
  

  They claim my complaints continued, actually they were not able to provide the minimum living conditions, health and safety conditions at the apartment. Please tell me if these photos are okay and I am the one who is complaining. Please tell me if one would be happy to live in an apartment like this especially with a pregnant wife. Their claims and the photos tell completely different stories.
  

  I was not informed of the move-out conditions clearly. When I asked them if Nov 12 is okay for my contract release and the refund of my deposit, they said yes. I got this response after sending many emails. Then I made my new contract with a new place. From Nov 1st, I sent them a lot of emails and calls about why the system shows me the full amount to pay for Nov although I am moving ut on Nov 12th. They never sent me a reply. After one week, I was able to reach them by phone. They still did not clarify what is going to happen. I called Lisa the other day again. She handed over the phone to the property owner who directly tole me these:
  

  “You got two options: 1) Pay the full amount for Nov and get your deposit back, 2) No deposit refund if you pay prorated amount. If you speak more, you get nothing.” And then the phone was shut off my face.
  

  This is the way I learned about the move out options for the first time. Do they usually treat your tenants like this? Is this okay? What is the reason of this behavior? There were a lot of issues on that phone call.
  

  If they told me before, I would even find a person to take over my lease so they would not worry about finding someone and I coud pay for a prorated Nov rent. But there is no easy process with this property management. 
  

  Just to highlight how awful they are on managing properties with another evidence, they sent me the move out instructions the day after I moved out from the apartment. 
  

  Yes they offered me to pay the hotel fees I paid while my move in process is delayed. And I am learning from their response to this case that it is just for 2 days of hotel fees. They told me in the email it is from July 21-28 (email is attached). They offered to me the refund of hotel fee just recently after I moved to my new apartment. If you care about my inconvenience, why not that time in July? 
  

  Regards,
  ***** *****

  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/01/2022

  We don't have anything more to say.  There is nothing we did or now can do to appease this tenant. We are thankful that he is in a new apartment where he is happy.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/05/2022

  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. 

  Top of the Hill Management did not address all the issues that I specified. They managed this process very terribly starting from delaying my contract for three times up until the time I was forced to choose one of two options at my move-out both aims to charge me for unfair amount of extra money.

  First, I accept their offer to refund me my hotel stays from July 20 to July 29 which I already communicated them via email and I sent them the receipts of the hotel stays. I look forward to receive the refund. I attached their email about the offer in my previous response.

  Overall actions of the Top of the Hill was very unprofessional and unacceptable. Note that I sent them the photos of apartment condition and asked them if it is normal to give someone an apartment like this. They never commented on them. 

  I was bullied by the property owner on the phone who dictated me the mov-out options. Lisa witnessed that talk but she did not comment on this as well. 

  They did not clarify the move-out conditions until the conflict with the property owner happened. Two options were dictated to me 1) pay the full month's rent and get the deposit, 2) pay the prorated amount and do not get deposit. When I asked about the reason, Lisa told me there is nobody moving to the apartment in Nov.  Then I had to pay the full Nov rent although I moved out on 12th Nov to minimize my loss. I do not think it is my problem if there is nobody moving to the apartment right after me.

  First, they listed the apartment as available on Nov 19, but then they changed it to available in January 2023 and they started a renovation in the apartment after I moved out. So I think they decided the apartment needs work. 

  There are many more to say but  do not have a hope that they will be able to help. I already lost too much energy and time to deal with issues at the apartment. Now I look forward to end this case by getting a fair treatment.

  I will be happy to close this case if they refund me the hotel stays from July 20 to July 29 as they already offered and I accepted. Also, I was forced to pay $525 for Nov 13-30 (after I moved out) to get my deposit fully back. It was unfair to charge me for this. You never told me this options. The property owner made it up just a week before I moved out. So it should also be refunded. 

  Regards,
  

  
  ***** *****