Date: 29 Aug 1986 16:22-EDT 
From: David.Detlefs@theory.cs.cmu.edu
To: bovik@a
Subject: Beware NALCO!! (apartments)
Message-Id: <525730958/dld@theory.cs.cmu.edu>
ReSent-To: bovik@K.CS.CMU.EDU
ReSent-From: Harry Bovik <Harry.Bovik@A.CS.CMU.EDU> (C410HB00)
ReSent-Date: 31 Aug 86 09:57 EDT

Under No Circumstances Should You or Anyone You Know and Like Ever rent an
apartment from the National Apartment Leasing Company (= NALCO).  They
require a substantially higher security deposit than is normal in the area,
and then, when you move out, use the slightest excuse to keep it.  My fiance
and I spent 15 person-hours cleaning her apartment to their specifications.
She set up an appointment Thursday night for a "pre-inspection," where a
representative of NALCO was to come and go over what still needed to be
done.  Well, she waited 45 minutes, and this guy never showed.  He later
claimed to have called her at work, despite the fact that her work phone
forwards to an answering service, who had no record of any call.  So, today
he comes by and "inspects" the apartment in her abscence.  When he called to
give her the results of the inspection, his opening line was "Was this place
cleaned at all?"  Now, having put a substantial fraction of the 15
person-hours in myself, this angers me quite a bit; Ann's anger was far
greater still.  It is rapidly becoming clear to us that no matter how much
work we put in, NALCO intends to keep as large a fraction of their
outrageously large security deposit as they think they can get away with.
We found out after she moved in that NALCO is being sued in a class-action
suit on just such a charge, but this apparently has not altered their
behavior in this regard.

Another NALCO horror story: a women was raped in the apartment next to
Ann's.  The tenants in the building got together and formulated a list of
requests to NALCO.  These included 1) Better lighting around the building,
2) Dead bolts on all exterior doors (! Hard to imagine that some didn't have
one, huh?) and 3) Security Bars on first floor windows.  Their responses: 1)
One (1) extra light was put up outside.  2) tenants were informed that they
have always had the option of having a dead-bolt lock installed by NALCO, at
a "nominal" cost of about $70.  One tenant even related the story of how she
had had a lock installed by a third party for about $30, and NALCO REQUIRED
her to have it removed and to have their installed.  3) Tenants were told
something like "security bars on the windows would cause a prison-like
atmosphere that would not be conducive to comfortable living."  As if having
to sleep with your windows closed and locked in the middle of the summer was.

Anyway, caveat emptor.  If Ann does end up getting money back we'll take
some of this back, but we aren't too optomistic at this point.