Sunday, October 8, 2017

The Reserve @ Ridgewood


This is a narration of an experience I had with this residential complex: The Reserve at Ridgewood, Sandy Springs, GA. It is not a short version. I wrote it because I had promised myself to do it.
There are three girls working here named and their manager. I traveled from another state to Georgia for a week to find a home as I was going to move in the next two weeks. So I found this complex The Reserve at Ridgewood and chose an apartment in their complex I liked the plan. It was getting ready for next available resident which was going to be me. I paid the deposit so they’ll keep it for me and went back home and did all the payments and opening account for gas and electricity so that they would provide me the apartment key.
On Saturday noon I sent a friend to get the keys for me as I was going to be late and their office would be closed after 4 or 5 pm. I arrived at 10 pm and got the key from my friend in their fancy basket of welcome package. I went into the apartment and found all the carpet everywhere throughout the apartment completely soaked that all my socks and even my pants bottom got totally wet. It was late at night after 13 hours’ drive that I saw this. The office was close and was going to be close the next day on Sunday too. They had not even left the AC on and it felt like a tropical wetland in there. Both I and my wife were so angry and upset that just went to rest at a hotel. That was how they had provided us, total new residents, with our home on our arrival.
I had an appointment with the movers the next day at 10 am which I postponed to noon, so that maybe the carpet is in a better condition. That morning I even went to buy a piece of plastic to lay over the carpet so that I could unload the truck. They came at noon and saw the carpet and frankly suggested I need to dry this up before moving in, they suggested industrial fans which I went and bought on Sunday afternoon. I bought two of those and contacted emergency maintenance to come and see what’s going on in that wetland of an apartment for which I had already paid a ton of money just to get the key, to a very inhabitable place! The emergency guy was stuck in between honesty and the benefits of his supervisor managing the complex! I wanted him to see what a mess they had provided me. He contacted his manager and realized the carpet cleaners had come to clean the carpet on the same day that I was supposed to move in, like a couple hours before I arrived. For God’s sake, I was supposed to be in my home on Saturday morning and you show up to clean my carpet at 8 pm?! It just happened that I arrived late on that day. And he had done an absolutely terrible job on not only cleaning the carpet but soaking it with dirty water sitting there!
The emergency guy brought another two fans to fan out the moisture from the carpet on Sunday along with the other two big ones I had bought. I had to leave it and go back to the hotel which I had already checked out since I thought it will be good enough to move in but it was absolutely worsened with the stink coming out of it. I had rescheduled with the movers until Monday at 6 pm just to be sure it will be done by then. Next day was my first day at work which started by me traveling to work from a hotel. My wife went to see the apartment and couldn’t stand the space as it was so horribly stinking. She went to the manager to let him know what has been happening to us in this time and he had treated her so wrongly as if we owe him something on top of the $1,900 I had already paid from my previous home and now was a homeless person without a penny of cash in my pocket! That was so frustratingly cruel and absolutely irresponsible. I had to leave work, my first day at work at a whole new company after 4 hours and go see what on earth was going on with my assumingly future home!!! What a cruel world it is, the people, the realtors, and those who manage real states! It feels like they want to draw your blood and drink it in front of your eyes!
I went there and talked to the manager for about an hour and explained what a mess they had provided for us (I wish there was another word I could title him with, as he is so not worth this title). They did not seem to care much but to contact the carpet cleaner and blame them. The carpet was a little less moist and I thought maybe I could move in now. I sat a bit by the kitchen inside the apartment and I felt like I was to puke from the smell rising from the floor. Yet still I thought it will go away and I cursed the people in charge so damn hard in my heart. That evening the movers came again and I was somehow determined to move in but I wanted a second opinion, not my wife’s as she hated it already. I asked the movers for their honest opinion and they walked into the apartment and back up right away. They said either the whole building is full of mildew or some animals are left dead in this building. That was when I lost it. It was Monday and the office was open and I was there and it was their home and they were supposed to have it move-in-ready by Saturday and I had no place to go. I called the emergency maintenance again and he came over and saw what hellish of a condition they had provided for me. He contacted his supervisor and his manager and they started a conversation. He said they will replace the carpet tomorrow, Tuesday!! And both me and my wife still homeless, paid for something that was not even slightly ready had no option but to go to a hotel again using my credit cards.
I talked to my work manager and explained him the situation and he said don’t go to work tomorrow; stay home and finish the inhumane business those people had created for you. I came back on Tuesday morning and respectfully complained about the terrible conditions and that I expect to see somebody to take responsibility. Thanks God I had some credit cards, otherwise I had to sleep in my car for three nights! Apparently the big guys of this management, this absolutely irresponsible management, had talked to each other and had the complex manager suggest me that I also have the option of termination of lease based on mutual agreement with a reimbursement of the costs that had incurred on me during this time. I and the manager signed some agreements on the funds to be reimbursed back to me and we rushed out to find another place. All the time I had spent to come up with this location was in vain and all the money I had spent the past two weeks on the hotel to find a good place was wasted and I restarted my search. We were so frustrated that quickly selected a small apartment in the area but at least we saw inside of it first.
I had no money for another two weeks until I get my first paycheck and still had not received any reimbursements. I had not received my refund for another 25 days and I had sent them several emails telling them about my condition and almost begging them to expedite the process of refunding me, all due to what they had done to me, but the only thing they said was it takes up to a month for a check to be issued! I was just so sorry for the management of this apartment complex and was just happy that I had some credit cards. I spent another night in a hotel and the same movers came help me on Wednesday at my new location. All that time all my life was in a U-Haul truck and I was homeless and penniless due to what happened here. All and all due to the irresponsibility of the person or the people in charge here. They don’t care about your condition! They just want the money out of your pocket and the sooner they get the money the sooner their true nature reveals itself. It’s just another small evidence of what capitalism has done to the people, especially those in real estate business.
I went through this experience with this property and I took a ton of pictures and videos of the apartment in that condition just to keep a record for myself. I wish I could record the vomit-provoking stench of the apartment too. I just don’t wish that to happen to anyone. It is so terribly exhausting, aggravating, and frustrating. I don’t know how the other apartments are in this complex but I would not recommend dealing with such a management who is so irresponsible and negligent about their residents. There are a lot of other good places for the more cautious people.