tl;dr - Astonishingly unprofessional, incompetent, and erratic employees. For the sake of your time and sanity, do not deal with this company. I am sure there are good people at Werentcentralmass that are professional and competent, however, I did not encounter them. Admittedly, I should have read the countless poor reviews of this business and of Joe Ward before I dealt with them, so shame on me. Either way, this is my complete and honest review: I was shown an apartment by Joe Ward that had been gutted with the promise it would be ready for August 1st. It seemed like a great deal for $1295, so the next day I went into the office to put down a $700 deposit that would "take it off the market". Before I signed the application, though, I had a few questions about the strong legal language in the fine print at the bottom of the application. The language stated that if you were approved for the apartment, and decided you did not want it, they kept your deposit. It also stated that if the landlord decided he wanted to keep your deposit, werentcentralmass is entitled to AN ENTIRE'S MONTH RENT ON TOP OF THAT. This is pretty excessive. I have dealt with shady landlords before, so I just wanted to discuss this with someone before I signed, especially because I was putting a deposit down on an apartment that technically did not exist. The questions and concerns I had were reasonable, but the person, Rochelle, with whom I dealt was astonishingly unprofessional. She acted as if I was personally insulting her by questioning the legal language. She was dismissive, impatient, and rude. Before the door even closed behind her, I could hear her complaining. I also encountered her on the way out of the building and by the looks she gave her friend, you would have thought she was in high school, and not an adult representing a business. Again, ASTONISHINGLY unprofessional. This should have been all the red flags I needed for this company. However, Joe Ward breezed in after her and assured me everything was above board. I was uneasy, especially after the receptionist and he argued through the wall about the actual price of rent for the apartment. None of them wanted to "put anything in writing". Red flag number 2. I really liked the apartment though, so I put down the deposit. After this I was strung along with requests with more documentation, all of which I provided, and then, radio silence. I called, texted, and emailed Joe Ward day after day and heard nothing. I called werentcentralmass several times over a series of days and always got their voicemail AT A BUSINESS DURING BUSINESS HOURS. I was becoming very uneasy as the move in date loomed closer. THREE WEEKS after I put down the deposit, I then saw the apartment listed again for $100 more with the caption "This won't last!" Unreal. I finally cornered Joe on his office phone and he claimed "I didn't get your messages", "I have two Alannas in my phone" "Insert generic excuse" etc. Supposedly it had taken two days for them to decide I was not approved and three weeks for me to find out. If I had not hounded them, I probably would never have been told. Ironically, the keeping of the deposit is to ensure that YOU don't waste THEIR time and leave them scrambling to find a tenant. Excuse me now, while I scramble to find an apartment. Unbelievable way to run a business. 10/10 do not recommend. read more

This place is horrendous and sucks. Stay far, far away. My wife and I viewed a place that we really liked and wanted to rent. Sabrina took our application and deposit for the one bedroom unit and disappeared for the next two weeks. She only bothered to reach out to tell us that the unit we wanted was already "rented out" despite us putting a deposit down. I can't forget to mention that our deposit was cashed immediately. In Sabrina's defense, she tried to remedy the situation but all the new units she was showing us were utter crap so we requested the deposit back which she said we would definitely get back in full. Two weeks go by without a word until I had to hound her. When I finally got Sabrina on the phone she said oh crap I'll check on that and get back you. Of course she never does. We finally got a check in the mail a week and a half later but not even the for the full amount and now I can't get a hold of anyone. They're keeping my money at this point. I will be copying and pasting this review on all forms of social media. Stay far away from this ridiculously unprofessional place. Nothing but scam artists and crooks. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, but I am going out of my way to write a review and warn people to not deal with this place. I feel bad for anyone who has had to deal with these guys already. Seriously, go read the other reviews and you'll know why they suck. Sincerely, a guy who was just robbed of a deposit read more

I have never written a review of anything, positive or negative, but I feel compelled to warn others about werentcentralmass. If I could give zero stars, I would. During the course of a cross country move I put a deposit down on an apartment and was told this would take the unit off of the market. As soon as I sent the money the broker, Joe Ward, stopped responding to me. I did not hear from him for 6 days, despite repeated attempts to contact him. When he did respond, he stated the apartment had been rented to someone else. I was left to scramble to find another place with very little time. Incredibly inconsiderate and unprofessional service. read more

I have used We Rent Central Mass multiple times, I've worked with their terrific team to purchase income property and also rent it out over the past 6 years. All of the agents there are great, but most recently I have been working with Pamela... she was able to sell my income property in 1 day; most recently, I have been building a new construction home and again used Pamela as my agent, from start to finish she has been nothing but professional and helpful. I highly suggest We Rent Central Mass and Pamela. read more

Another horrible experience. One star is an understatement. If you ever want to rent or lease an apartment stay way from this company . Charge you $50 for a credit check and criminal record . Want a deposit to take apartment off market .deposit right way . Still waiting for my check 2 weeks later . Agents unprofessional and rude . . Stay way from them . You all work to hard for your money .false advertisement read more

Their communication is awful. We had a house we contracted to rent and the pipes burst, major damage and the owner decided to fix the home and just sell it. That can happen and was not their fault, but trying to find out the status of the home before we received the final word on our status was like pulling teeth. We had accepted an offer on our home and we were left with no house for our family to move into with almost no notice. Making it worse, we have 4 requests into them to recover our deposit and not a single reply. We have no idea if there plan is to steal our money being we have no other way of knowing without hearing back. I would never trust this company. read more

Who is Worcester Apartment Rental Agency? Is this the same as WorcesterApartments.com? This is very, very confusing????? read more

My wife and I used Linda Rankin as our agent while moving from Westchester County in NY to Worcester, MA. I sincerely hope that the mistake we made using Linda and her company is the first of few mistakes we make in our move to Worcester. We gave Linda very specific parameters for our apartment search, the primary of which was that ANY unit be deleaded, as we have two small children, both under the age of 5. Linda sold us on a unit near my wife's employer, a nice-looking 3 BDRM unit. She promised us that the unit would be deleaded by , as it was undergoing a complete renovation. We repeatedly asked Linda over the course of a couple weeks if the unit would be ready by the time we and the moving company showed up. All along was yes. Two weeks before the move, I inquired with Linda about the status of the unit. Her response was that the apartment would be deleaded, but not the common areas. So if my kids were to never leave the apartment, they wouldn't be exposed to any lead paint, dust, or other hazardous materials. When I reminded her via email about the Massachusetts Lead Law requiring the abatement of all surfaces below five feet, her next email to me was that "the common areas would be done ASAP." Which was it? Were the common areas going to be deleaded or not? Frustrated, I told Linda that if she had a check for most, but not all of our deposit, when my wife would be visiting Worcester to find another unit, I would accept the partial refund as a full refund. Needless to say, she screwed that up as well as there was no check when my wife arrived at their office. Normally, I'd give them 3 stars, but being deceptive about the deleading of a property to a couple with young children is beyond low. If there was a negative star rating, I'd be first in line to give WeRentCentralMass one. read more

We used werentcentralmass to find a 3 bedroom apartment. After finding a gorgeous 3 bedroom and immediately put a deposit on the home with our realtor Linda Rankin. She was very helpful. She left the company and kept in touch at every turn. We put a deposit on the property in July, for a September 1st move in. The property was supposed to be ready for move in. It was not until the 17th of September. We scheduled and rescheduled 4x with movers. Unfortunately, there were many other issues with the company as well as with the landlord. With 2 small children under 5, we needed a lead inspection. The landlord refused to pay for it, 2 weeks after we were scheduled to move in-so I paid out of my own pocket. We had already signed our 14 year old up for franklin schools since we had a signed lease, and had given a deposit which was supposed to keep the property off the market. We uprooted our entire family to move to a new town, with a new school- very difficult with a teenager. I called the landlord over and over, only to be ignored for weeks. It turned out a new realtor had been assigned to the property. I didn't know since she never bothered to call me. Sabrina at we rent central mass took over the file, never contacted me, and instead relisted the property. Even though we paid for our own lead inspection, and had given a deposit on the property as well as already signed the lease this company STILL relisted the property. Sabrina never called us to tell us. It was only after driving to the landlords office, then driving to the realtors office in Worcester that I spoke with Jamie, to find out that the realtor and landlord decided to scrap our signed lease. Nice to know. Extremely unprofessional. I am physically sick over this. I cannot stress to anyone enough that this company is beyond unprofessional. 1 star is a complete exaggeration. If only I could give less... read more

You'll only waste your time with these people. 1) We showed interest in a unit and filled out an application with a $50 fee per each occupant. 2) We were told that as long as we put a deposit down, we would be able to take the unit off of the market. We also agreed to move in 2 weeks earlier than initially discussed (15th instead of the end of the month). 3) We put down the deposit and was told that an interview process was to be followed. 4) We were then told that someone else had put down a "backup" deposit on the unit as well and agreed to move in on the 1st. The agent acknowledged their mistake but told us that the broker will prioritize the other group since they are looking to move in on the 1st versus the 15th. What's two weeks when we're signing a long term lease and they'll receive the same amount of money?! Very shady business ethics! Current process seems inefficient and communication is clearly lacking. Still waiting to hear from the manager... read more

I see a lot of negative reviews here and I'm honestly glad I did not read them before contacting Werentcentralmass as they may have colored my experience or made me decide to look elsewhere for rentals. I have not moved into my new apartment yet (though paperwork is in place) but as of now I am very happy with Werentcentralmass and Pamela Laporte in particular. The reason I am not giving Werentcentralmass 5 stars is the difficulties I had initially contacting the business. I called three time and was redirected by a secretary to different mailboxes, and later I contacted a leasing agent who works out of Werentcentralmass without knowing that she was affiliated, so I believed she was a private landlord. I also tried emailing, but it was not until I visited the office in person that I was able to make progress in my search. I observed at least one male leasing agent speaking harshly to a family of potential tenants, but I was lucky enough to work with Pamela, who was very accessible once I had her card and cell number and was kind enough to show me the apartment I ended up choosing twice over the course of two days. She had insider information about landlords and the housing market in Worcester that proved invaluable to me, and has been warm and helpful throughout the entire process. In short, I think (often-righfully) angry consumers/renters/etc. are most likely to leave reviews in general. If you are looking for a house, condo, or apartment in Worcester, I recommend paying Werentcentralmass a visit in person and making direct contact with a leasing agent. Hopefully you will be paired with someone as lovely as Pamela, and I am sure many of her colleagues can serve you well in your search for housing. read more

Had a great experience with Linda Rankin, I fully recommend working with her. She was professional, quick to respond, and ensured the process went smoothly. read more

I'm giving this ONE STAR because there is no option for ZERO or WARNING! Werentcentralmass is not only a company that will find you an apartment, but who also buys and sells home. DO NOT TRUST the owner. He omitted the fact that he was not only the broker, but also the seller of a flipped property that had been purchased as a foreclosure. The foreclosure was due to a tax lien and with it having been less than a year since his purchase, and with there being no release of the property by the estate, two national title insurance companies refused to issue insurance. This was because until 12 months post purchase, the estate could at any time pay the town what was own in property taxes and reclaim the property. We were denied the loan for this reason. Mr. Ed Murphy, owner of we rent central ma and broker, has refused to return our deposit because he claims we did not do everything in our power to get a loan, and that there is no issue with the property. With letters from the lender denying the loan, letters from the two title insurance companies denying insurance, he still claims we have not shown that there is an issue with the property. If the owner acts this way, I can only imagine the great example he sets for his employees. Oh, and brace yourselves... he likes to throw lawyer names around to try and intimidate. read more

I got a hold of a woman named Pamela last week. She asked what I was looking for and I let her know my budget, bedrooms, etc. She said she'd get listings together and email me. She sent me one listing ABOVE my budget and I agreed to look at it anyway thinking maybe it was negotiable since she knew my budget, plus I asked her if she had any other listings. I text her back and them emailed her when I got no response. I have yet to hear back from her. This company is severely unprofessional and I would NOT go to them again. read more

Utterly horrible. One of the worst organization's I've ever had to deal with. I rented my condo thru them last year almost exactly. Pamela, who is still working with them wouldn't return phone calls. We found an add via Craigslist they happened to be handling. Now, the condo below mine is being rented out. I have friend's that wanted to view the unit and likely move in. Jackie Lashay was their contact. They, set an appointment up to view it Tuesday at 5. They actually got stood up. The woman wouldn't answer her phone all day. When we got a hold of their office at about 5:45, we were told we'd receive a call back as soon as what had happened was figured out. Guess what, nobody has called and it's now Friday afternoon. I hope this building burns down and it's employee's all get denied unemployment for they didn't work at all in the first place. I strongly urge anybody to avoid using this businesses service's. In conclusion, I rate this place two middle finger's way up. read more

we used we rent central mass to lease our property. Mistake big time. I did not appreciated their unprofessional attitude. Joe Ward, one of the first mistakes we made in our intend to get a good tenant. He is always in a rush like you are wasting his time. (very careful, he tells you that he knows the potential tenant beforehand and is a lie) Only interested on their commission. Unfortunately, this agency is very unethical and unprofessional. The called manager of the agency (Jamie) needs to go back to school to get polished on Customer Services techniques. You talk to him and it is a waste of your time. Never got my money back from a tenant we rented the apt to that end up living in the apt free for a couple of month and in the end, I have to evict them. My experience with them have been largely negative. GO ELSEWHERE. read more

I would not use Linda Rankin as a realtor ever again. She was very unprofessional & self absorbed. Definitely a waste of my time even trying to work with her. read more

Terrible experience. We met with Ray Karkman. When we arrived he seemed annoyed by our presence and then slapped down two rental agreements on a desk and told us to fill them out. He basically ran back to his computer. When we sat down to go over the agreement we had a few questions that he again seemed totally bothered by. When he didn't know the answer to a question he just kept saying we are the largest rental company in central mass. When we told him that we wanted to live in a specific area he said that he probably couldn't find us anything (even though they are the largest rental company in central mass). There was some confusing language on the form he wanted us to sign. The way it read basically said we might be responsible to pay his company the first month of rent if things didn't work out with the renter. When we said we wouldn't sign it until we were told exactly what it meant, he said he really didn't know what it meant but "we are the largest rental company in central ma." Then he refused to show us anything unless we signed the form that even he didn't understand. When we stood up to leave he seemed relieved that he wasn't going to have to do any work. If I owned this company, and I had an employee like this, I would tell him to look for another line of work. If you are in sales you really can't be a snarky jerk even if you want to be. We left and went on craigslist and found a place right away. Don't bother with this company, they don't know how to help and they clearly don't want to either. read more

I really don't know whose fault this fiasco was. We viewed a property. The landlord announced it was a 9 month release. Sabrina was shocked. In fact, she seemed as surprised, if not more than, we were during the viewing. We liked what we saw enough to present it enough to the folks bankrolling our home rental and they asked for some estimates on utilities. I had to hound Sabrina for over a month. When she finally got back to me, she mentioned a "bank issue." It two weeks for her to go "LOL I think it relates to the home improvements or something." Then another couple to say the bank issues didn't exist. So I began filling out the applications, making plans to grab the check, and was informed the deal was off because the landlord had changed the pets policy for insurance reasons. There was clearly a lack of communication between agent and owner. This could be partially attributed to the fact it took Sabrina over a month to clear her voicemail box and she seemed to only get every third email or so. read more

A couple friends and I were looking to rent a 3 bedroom apartment in Worcester so we decided to try werentcentralmass.com and went down to their location on Grove st.All seemed well at first and we found an apartment that we loved, so we put a deposit down. A few days later I get a TEXT message, not even a phone call, from my agent saying "we need to go to plan b." Turns out the landlord didn't want 3 people in his 3 bedroom apartment (that makes sense.... not). So we looked at a couple more horrible apartments in less than desireable locations in the city. I felt like we were now not a priority and finding us an apartment was not in their interest. I ended up finding another apartment and needed my deposite check back from werentcentralmass, which turned out to be a huge headache in itself. Long story short after about a week and multiple unanswered phone calls/texts I went down to the office and finally got my money back. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT USE WE RENTCENTRALMASS unless you like getting lead around in circles and putting deposites down that apparently don't mean anything. read more

ATTN: PROPERTY OWNERS! BEWARE; Do not use this company to find you a renter for your property! They are not motivated by what is in your best interest but only by their interest; which is collecting an entire month's rent for simply posting your ad on Craigslist and showing it a couple of times. First warm body to come along and submit an application (not even pre qualified), and they stop marketing the property altogether. I lost two weeks of marketing the property because they took a deposit from people that were not qualified (rent to income). There is no sense of urgency on their part. They will get their entire commission whether they rent the property today, two weeks or two months from now, however, you will lose money every day that property sits vacant (they clearly do not care). The agent I dealt with got defensive any time I asked a question, failed to follow through with what he said he was going to do, and had just all around poor communication skills. Seriously, consider yourself warned.... read more

Zero stars. One of these Realtors is outrageously rude and I am not surprised to see his name has been listed on other reviews here. He treated us extremely poorly and we are great tenants, full-time workers, with great rental history. All we wanted was to do business with "WeRent" and this man would not give us his time because we had spoken with another Realtor. He insisted we come into fill our paperwork again and meet him in his office, even though we just wanted to see one place he listed online. I was forced to resort to dealing with the person we contacted before because he stopped talking to us altogether. And she informed us the place was no longer on the market. The male Realtor couldn't even take a second to tell us that. I reached out to managed to complain about how absurdly nasty this guy had been and there was - PER USUAL - no response. Thanks for nothing, WeRent. We found a place on our own and you lost our business! read more