I would like to start off this review by saying that Sandy was super nice and helpful. She was a doll so it saddens me to have ended my relationship with this company on such poor terms. Unfortunately this company takes advantage of their tenants when it comes to the security deposit. When my roommates and I moved in to our apartment in August 2014, we were surprised to discover that the carpets were dirty (including multiple stains) and that one door had a large hole in it that they hadn't bothered to fix. Not a big deal at the time. Fast forward to move out time. One of my roommates, her mom, and I spent two days cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. We scrubbed, we patched every single hole and repainted, I even steam cleaned all of the carpet. When it came time to check out I indicated that I wanted to be present during the walk out. I set up the check out with someone else in the office who I hadn't dealt with previously (Dawn). She emailed me asking if we could do the checkout a day before. I informed her she could do a walkthrough but no one else would be present. She replied to my email saying that the original day would be fine and she would wait. When I emailed her on that day to verify our meeting time she informed that she had "went ahead and did the walkthrough the day before." I was confused, as she knew we wanted someone to be present and she had told me via email that she would wait to meet with me at our originally agreed upon day. I should have known then that this company was shady. Knowing that my roommates and I were upset about the walk-though miscommunication, Sandy scheduled another walkthrough with me and with Dawn's notes and we went about it. There were many things documented in the notes that Sandy and I couldn't locate during our walkthrough, including a supposedly "huge" hole in one of the closets. They also noted the large hole in one of the doors that we had noted on our "check-in" sheet and when I informed them we had detailed it, Sandy tried telling me there was "no way it was there" but they wouldn't charge us since we did document it (well duh). Obviously they are really good at documenting the status of their apartments before they let new tenants move in. They also noted things like "carpets dirty" which amused me since I had STEAM CLEANED them and you could still see the marks from the steam cleaner imprinted on the clean carpet. Apparently there was also a ripped screen which I couldn't verify because they had already removed it during the previous walk-through, which shouldn't have even been conducted in the first place. To make matters worse, my roommate insisted there was no rip in it but of course I couldn't prove it since it was gone. Sandy informed me that since there was "dust" in the air vents, she would be forced to hire a cleaning crew. This was the only "dirty" thing she noted during our walkthrough. I was confused, as it would take me 30 seconds to dust it and I would consider that normal wear and tear anyhow but I figured they wouldn't charge us too much. Boy was I wrong. They charged my roommates and I about $400, $200 of which was for (3 people to clean our apartment for 8 hours). Considering my roommate and I had already spent 15 hours deep cleaning I found this to be very insulting; they took pictures of various "things" they felt the need to clean, including two air vents that look perfectly clean and a tiny speck on a bathtub. They also charged us for the "huge" hole in the closet that Sandy, nor I didn't see (although they conveniently had pictures attached-from where I am not sure) and for a tiny little tool for the garbage disposal that was not even listed on the check-in sheet to verify that there actually was one there upon move-in. Seeing as how they missed a ginormous hole in one of the doors it is very likely this was simply missed after the previous tenants left. I have had stuff deducted from my security deposit before but I have always understood and accepted the reasoning behind the charges. This was unacceptable and unprofessional. I think they did the walkthrough without anyone present, using my email as "consent," even though I clearly stated I wanted to be present and was under the assumption I would be and then they used that opportunity to remove items from the apartment and not-knowing I would want a rescheduled walkthrough- documented things that clearly didn't exist.
Up until that point I had a superb experience with Ellefson Companies but after this horrendous move out experience I will NEVER rent from them again and I had to warn others that this company will go out of their way to rip you off. I have always prided myself on being a good tenant and took cleaning after renting very seriously- I should have just taken more pictures instead. You've been warned. read more
