07.31.06

Hot Town, Summer in the City…

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:18 am by trueepicure

I’m way overdue for an update on the adventures in DC. Sorry folks, but it’s been a crazy last few weeks.

We arrived in Virginia on June 30th, and stayed with our wonderful, patient friends, who generously put us up for the night. We knew we’d arrive late on Friday, and our apartment leasing office wouldn’t be open until the next day. So we planned to stay with A and L for the night. After a long 3 1/2 days in the car, it was wonderful to know that we could crash in their back room and get up the next day in a lesiurely fashion (instead of getting up at the crack ‘o dawn).

We happily woke up the next morning, and headed out to IHOP for a thank you breakfast (and no, I can’t eat the pancakes unless I bring my own syrup). At around 11:30 E and I headed over to the Encore Apartments to sign our lease and pick up the keys to our furnished apartment.

I should mention that we received no less than four emails from the leasing manager at the Encore, telling us that our apartment was ready, assuring us that everything, including our rental furniture, was in place.

When we arrived at the leasing office, the leasing manager wasn’t there. That should have been our first clue that things weren’t going to go well for us. The woman who was there was the assistant manager, but it turns out that she had only been with the company for two weeks. Maybe it was four, but regardless, she didn’t have the foggiest notion what she was doing.

After about 20 minutes, she finally found the right keys. The lease agreement was still nowhere to be found. She finally found the lease after about 30 minutes… but there was no furniture order. Whaaaa!? “You were supposed to have furniture in the apartment?” She asks. Uh, yeah. “Were you going to order the furniture, or we we going to order it?” E and I look at each other and roll our eyes. “You were supposed to order it.” Oh crap. This does not bode well. “Well, I can’t find the paperwork, but lets go check the apartment to see. Maybe it’s there.” Uh huh.

The trip over to the apartment reveals that there was a major flood at the complex during the recent rains. Yeah, that’s making me feel comfortable. We get to our apartment, and its about one and a half steps above ghetto. The apartment itself turns out to be nice enough but not surprisingly, empty. “There’s a grocery store down the street, where you can get some food and have a picnic…” she says.

We head back to the leasing office to make some calls. The leasing agent calls her supervisor, K (who is the person who emailed us and told us that everything was ready), who says that she is “sure” that she faxed the order to the furniture rental store. Yeah. Sure. And there is no confirmation documentation, or any other documentation for that matter. WTF!? Several calls to the furniture rental company reveal that no on is in the office that can help us with our situation. And really, we weren’t surprised. It was the weekend before July 4th, and we’re pretty sure that we’re screwed until later that week.

So, with assurances that we will get a call from the leasing agent on duty before close of business. She promises to call the general management and have someone contact us to explain what happened. No apologies from the leasing supervisor, no nothing.

We left that day, completely deflated and knowing that we wanted to have nothing to do with the Encore. We headed back to the house to regroup.

A couple trips to different grocery stores yielded some apartment guides that we leafed through. A post on my college alumni group requesting emergency help finding an apartment, and a call to some of E’s friends who are realtors, were the next steps. We made some appointments to see various condo rental units and apartments, and headed out for dinner.

In the middle of dinner, we realized that it was just before 5, and we hadn’t heard a peep from the Encore rental office. Hmmm… let’s give them a call. No answer. Surprise. Before we left the Encore office, the assistant manager had indicated that they would try to “figure something out” for us. We mistakenly assumed that she meant it, and they would find us a hotel or something - assuming that everything wasn’t booked for the holiday weekend. But no call… and no call Sunday either.

We spent Sunday and Monday looking at various apartment options. We finally found a place that we liked well enough, and that we thought we could deal with for a year. The process of securing an apartment in the new place was difficult in it’s own way. Aparently, all of the staff in the leasing office are new, and they have no idea how to do their jobs. The leasing agent we were working with out and out lied to me, and then his boss basically covered for him. I don’t remember the apartment market being like this in Phoenix!?

But we’re here, and we have our stuff - or what’s left of it after the big sale. And we have each other, and we’re happy.

To my Arizona/West Coast friends and family, I love you all and I miss you. Let us know when you’re coming for a visit!!

Permalink