Nicole W.
Our Experience with The Reserve at Rivington
Our recent experience with The Reserve at Rivington (Richmond, VA) has raised legitimate concerns about ethical and trust-related matters in their business practices. In fact, they are not even approved by the BBB. To preface, however, the front desk/reception employees are exemplary: professional, patient, and highly proficient- they go above and beyond. First all, the third-party application platform interface was nothing short of a nightmare, with limited American-centric fields (because no one apparently travels or lives outside America?) and unexpected information alterations, causing repeated logins and field adjustments. It changed dates, property/suite types, etc. Moreover, several properties use the same 3rd party platform, but applying for different properties with the same email resulted in numerous bugs and tech glitches, leading to the advice of one employee, "just create a new email to apply for each property". The primary concern, however, lies on the unethical practices of the the property manager. We were applying for a 6-month rental of the Edenshire property at $2,110 per month. I printed out the rental summary, and in good faith, paid the $225 application and reservation security deposit. Following up on our application due to repeated tech issues, we were then informed with a previously undisclosed "short-term rent fee" of $400 per month. Online, our application details 'mysteriously' changed and rent summary now showed $2,690. While they tout a fabulous pet policy, each pet costs an additional $300- which resulted in a further $900 expense we did not anticipate. The short term rental fee of $400/moth was AT NO POINT communicated during the application process, in person, on the website or in our account. In fact this "fee" was unknown to the organization's own employees, who vigilantly tried to support us and spent quite a bit of time trying to convince the property manager to waive the fee. There is a serious lack of transparency in pricing and fee disclosure - and it raises questions about the integrity of this establishment. We declined the offer to lease, feeling instead extremely frustrated and beyond disappointed.