from November 2009 - January 2010 i worked for a leasing company. I actually moved to the city and moved into one of their properties in october 2009. Then i began working for them! I worked at a separate property than i lived, but it was all the same company. For starters i was never trained. i was just thrown into the job to begin with. After working there a couple of weeks my manager said that i could get a discount on my rent because i worked for the company. So i contacted the property manager at my apartments and she said that she would have to check with the Assistant Vice President for approval. If it was approved i could. Since i was going to get a discount i asked if i could transfer as well. I was approved for both. A couple of weeks later we paid $110 to transfer, received a month free, and was told since i was an employee i did not have to pay my pet deposit since i had a dog. We moved two weeks before our wedding and everything was fine. Since i had not worked there long i did not know what an "employee Lease" looked like so i trusted since they were also my employers that they were having me fill out the right paperwork. While still working at the same property, i felt really taken advantage of. I worked most days without a lunch break because my manager would leave for hours. i was denied the entire week requested for my wedding/honeymoon and had to settle for 4-5 days. I new that while i may of hated my job that i just had to bite my teeth and do what i could because i needed the job. I was promoted the middle of January to assistant manager at the property directly across the street from the property that i lived in and i took it. My manager from the first property was moved over there about three weeks before. Her assistant manager was moved so she requested me to come be her assistant. I did not like this girl. I got a pay raise and went from part time to full time and this is what i had to do to make ends meet. While working for her she began breaking leasing rules and trying to pin them on me.
A woman came in with her children to look at apartments. After looking she took a application and brought back later that day. while running it through the leasing program to get her ready to move in i noticed that she did not meet the income requirements for that apartment. I immediately talked to my manager and she told me no problem, just change it to what it needs to be. I went through with this because she was my superior and that is what she told me to do. The next day i was at a training at another property and i asked the trainer what to do about the situation i was put in. I felt like she may have been setting me up. he told me that was against the rules and she should have never done that. He immediately called our AVP to complain. Our AVP then confronted her in a phone call and i heard my manager tell her "no, i did not tell Kari to do that. She is lying" My manager confronted me and i told her that i did say something. I told her i did not want anything to do with the lease. I did not want the commission for it and i wanted no ties to it because the application is also a legal document and i would not be held responsible. My manager said fine, she then added money to the income and listed child support as an extra income (which she had no idea). I left to walk an apartment. when i came back, she whited out the changes she made and said "are you happy, i covered it up because you made me feel bad Mrs. christian girl" I then told her that i still wanted nothing to do with it. I asked for my name to be taken off the application and other paperwork. she said fine, she would take it because she could not afford to lose leases. The next morning the file was laying on my desk completed for the applicant to sign the lease and move in and she had FORGED my signature on several documents on the file. I reported her to the AVP. All she did was write her up. I felt like it didn't matter since they were friends outside of work. I requested to be moved, but wasn't. I feared losing my job so i did my very best to be on top of my game. My manager apologized and asked me to stay and not quit or transfer. I stayed hoping a position would open somewhere else. Just two weeks later my manager yelled at a resident in the office, which i thought was inappropriate. The resident was needing her mail box key because she did not get it at move in. so i went to get it. Then my manager yelled at me for getting it. I told her that we were asked by corporate to not hold mailbox keys anymore because it was the against the law to prevent people from getting their mail. she told me i did not know what i was talking about and to never side with the residents again. I went home and talked to my husband about the situation and he asked if i would please quit immediately for fear that she may get me into trouble for all she had done. So i ran back to my office. Filled out my time sheet, gathered my things from my desk and left a note that i would not be back and left the keys in the drop box.
My husband and i were living pay check to paycheck then. It would be a about two weeks before my check would be to us. When it was time The same manger mailed it to me with the wrong apartment number on it. so it ended up getting lost in the mail. I text messaged the manager one week after not receiving my check and she replied very rudely. So i called the AVP and she said she would take care of it. She called back and said that i would have to take it up with the post office. The post office said i had to take it up with them. The corporate end of the company that issued the check said they could not cut another one until the first one was accounted for. but it was no where to be found. It was about 4 weeks before i got my check. this put us in the whole because everything was late and the next months bills were due too. We knew we would have to move so i went to talk to the manager at my property. She said that since i was on an employee lease that i could break my lease and not have to pay. She said they require a 30-day moe out notice but i could just put mine in that day. she told me to bring her a statement saying i was moving. I took her a notice and she made me fill out the company move out notice but told me not to put the date because she would probably date it for the month before so i would not have to pay last months rent. We pack and moved Feb. 28, 2010. I took a job in another city 10 hrs away. when we were looking for apartments in our new city we kept getting denied because when they called our previous renter she gave us a bad reference. I called to see what the deal was. She then started saying that i owed the last months rent and i skipped on her and i had to pay it. I said that she had assured me that i would not and denied it. i asked her how much i owed her and she said $650. i said that i could pay it eventually but not then because i had to recover from my check being lost. she said ok.
Last saturday i checked my credit report and i have 3,000 dollars from this apartment property for breaking my lease. First thing Monday morning i notified the collections agency that that was not the agreement and i needed the paper work filed on me. They sent it and sure enough they were trying to tag me for breaking my lease.
I called the AVP for that property and she said that everything that they did with my lease was wrong. She said company policy was that i had to work with them for 6 months before i could sign an employee lease. She said that technically i was responsible for it because it was not an actual employee lease. Basically they took an regulare lease and filled in what they wanted and just gave me the price that would have been for the employee. I told her that this was not acceptable. She said that she would settle for the 830 dollars plus the keys, pet cleaning, floor cleaning, and apartment cleaning. She said that i was suppose to pay my pet deposit and i said that i was told i did not have to. So basically as a whole this company has messed up my life. Because of that one check getting lost we accumulated close to 1,000 dollars that has been turned over to collections and i have had to pay to improve my credit score.
Basically i feel that i should not have to pay them anything. I feel that they are poor employers and wonder how else they have taken advantage of other employees and tenets.
Do i have any legal standing to fight back to at least not have to pay the 830. I know that they have settled but it is a year later and i am still having to call and argue to get my credit score back up. I quit because of them, then they mailed my check with the wrong Apartment number on it (even though i lived across the street) causing me to owe hundreds of dollars to different people. In the long run ( a year later) I desperately need a new car and can't get one because of the debt and my credit score.
Can i fight back on this?
A woman came in with her children to look at apartments. After looking she took a application and brought back later that day. while running it through the leasing program to get her ready to move in i noticed that she did not meet the income requirements for that apartment. I immediately talked to my manager and she told me no problem, just change it to what it needs to be. I went through with this because she was my superior and that is what she told me to do. The next day i was at a training at another property and i asked the trainer what to do about the situation i was put in. I felt like she may have been setting me up. he told me that was against the rules and she should have never done that. He immediately called our AVP to complain. Our AVP then confronted her in a phone call and i heard my manager tell her "no, i did not tell Kari to do that. She is lying" My manager confronted me and i told her that i did say something. I told her i did not want anything to do with the lease. I did not want the commission for it and i wanted no ties to it because the application is also a legal document and i would not be held responsible. My manager said fine, she then added money to the income and listed child support as an extra income (which she had no idea). I left to walk an apartment. when i came back, she whited out the changes she made and said "are you happy, i covered it up because you made me feel bad Mrs. christian girl" I then told her that i still wanted nothing to do with it. I asked for my name to be taken off the application and other paperwork. she said fine, she would take it because she could not afford to lose leases. The next morning the file was laying on my desk completed for the applicant to sign the lease and move in and she had FORGED my signature on several documents on the file. I reported her to the AVP. All she did was write her up. I felt like it didn't matter since they were friends outside of work. I requested to be moved, but wasn't. I feared losing my job so i did my very best to be on top of my game. My manager apologized and asked me to stay and not quit or transfer. I stayed hoping a position would open somewhere else. Just two weeks later my manager yelled at a resident in the office, which i thought was inappropriate. The resident was needing her mail box key because she did not get it at move in. so i went to get it. Then my manager yelled at me for getting it. I told her that we were asked by corporate to not hold mailbox keys anymore because it was the against the law to prevent people from getting their mail. she told me i did not know what i was talking about and to never side with the residents again. I went home and talked to my husband about the situation and he asked if i would please quit immediately for fear that she may get me into trouble for all she had done. So i ran back to my office. Filled out my time sheet, gathered my things from my desk and left a note that i would not be back and left the keys in the drop box.
My husband and i were living pay check to paycheck then. It would be a about two weeks before my check would be to us. When it was time The same manger mailed it to me with the wrong apartment number on it. so it ended up getting lost in the mail. I text messaged the manager one week after not receiving my check and she replied very rudely. So i called the AVP and she said she would take care of it. She called back and said that i would have to take it up with the post office. The post office said i had to take it up with them. The corporate end of the company that issued the check said they could not cut another one until the first one was accounted for. but it was no where to be found. It was about 4 weeks before i got my check. this put us in the whole because everything was late and the next months bills were due too. We knew we would have to move so i went to talk to the manager at my property. She said that since i was on an employee lease that i could break my lease and not have to pay. She said they require a 30-day moe out notice but i could just put mine in that day. she told me to bring her a statement saying i was moving. I took her a notice and she made me fill out the company move out notice but told me not to put the date because she would probably date it for the month before so i would not have to pay last months rent. We pack and moved Feb. 28, 2010. I took a job in another city 10 hrs away. when we were looking for apartments in our new city we kept getting denied because when they called our previous renter she gave us a bad reference. I called to see what the deal was. She then started saying that i owed the last months rent and i skipped on her and i had to pay it. I said that she had assured me that i would not and denied it. i asked her how much i owed her and she said $650. i said that i could pay it eventually but not then because i had to recover from my check being lost. she said ok.
Last saturday i checked my credit report and i have 3,000 dollars from this apartment property for breaking my lease. First thing Monday morning i notified the collections agency that that was not the agreement and i needed the paper work filed on me. They sent it and sure enough they were trying to tag me for breaking my lease.
I called the AVP for that property and she said that everything that they did with my lease was wrong. She said company policy was that i had to work with them for 6 months before i could sign an employee lease. She said that technically i was responsible for it because it was not an actual employee lease. Basically they took an regulare lease and filled in what they wanted and just gave me the price that would have been for the employee. I told her that this was not acceptable. She said that she would settle for the 830 dollars plus the keys, pet cleaning, floor cleaning, and apartment cleaning. She said that i was suppose to pay my pet deposit and i said that i was told i did not have to. So basically as a whole this company has messed up my life. Because of that one check getting lost we accumulated close to 1,000 dollars that has been turned over to collections and i have had to pay to improve my credit score.
Basically i feel that i should not have to pay them anything. I feel that they are poor employers and wonder how else they have taken advantage of other employees and tenets.
Do i have any legal standing to fight back to at least not have to pay the 830. I know that they have settled but it is a year later and i am still having to call and argue to get my credit score back up. I quit because of them, then they mailed my check with the wrong Apartment number on it (even though i lived across the street) causing me to owe hundreds of dollars to different people. In the long run ( a year later) I desperately need a new car and can't get one because of the debt and my credit score.
Can i fight back on this?
