M.D. Atkinson Co, Inc. - Bakersfield, California

Adriana T.

EDITED RESPONSE:

This rental company said that my charges were reviewed and found valid. By who exactly? By the rental company? Obviously the rental company is going to justify literally ANY charge so they can squeeze you of every dime they can get. Hate to be the one to break it to them but there’s absolutely no valid reason to charge $485 dollars for paint. We took pics btw… can assure you there was nowhere near $485 worth of paint damages. I don’t remember receiving justification for each charge either, pretty sure I just received bills and receipts but nothing in writing explaining why we got charged this. Don’t forget this is a crooked company everyone. Check the reviews on boardwalk apartments and you’ll see they charge almost $500 in paint constantly and a lot of people complain about their move out fees being outlandish.
Original post:
Just giving any potential renters a heads up to dodge this rental company literally at all costs. We put down a $900 deposit for our apartment and when we left we documented the apartment and I can assure yall we did not leave with over 1400 dollars worth of damages. We had our entire deposit taken, and an added 500+ dollar charge. 485 for paint, 400+ for cleaning? Make it make sense. We went to fight this and they immediately sent receipts, documents, and proof of how much they paid individuals that worked on our unit. Nonetheless it felt like we were up against crooks who knew they could take advantage of tenants because they’re a rental company. Absolutely absurd how much we’re “legally” tied to paying. I hope someone reads this review and backs out of applying.

Jan L.

* Update....If they rip you off, stay on them. They sent a 2nd cheque weeks later with the remainder of what they owed me my minus $95 for a carpet clean. The carpets were left immaculate but I let this go. I doubt they actually cleaned them as they were NOT cleaned prior to my initial move in*

All was well and fine for a year as they took my rent money. Always and on time, payments were made. I was super quiet and I am a neat freak. Moving is stressful, especially as I was moving on to another country but I took the time to make sure that that unit was spotless. Every drawer, every shelf, bathrooms, floors, baseboards. Little upgrades were even left behind there. Fresh vacuum marks were left in the carpets, garage and patios swept. I did not even put any art on the walls, zero paint or repairs needed. I take a lot of pride when I leave a place. Come to find out, MD ATKINSON only refunded me half my security deposit? Why? They think I am no longer around to rectify this? The office will not answer calls and not interested in seeing my photos I am glad I took when I left. The lease says even that they cannot keep more than $125 as a cleaning fee. They kept $330!!! For? The carpets were not even shampooed when I had moved in and I had let someone know about that asap so it could be noted early in my lease. They must have had my unit confused with someone else's for that unit to need "medium clean". Illegal, what they are doing. Renters, BEWARE! My move out photos are attached.

Brown S. B.

I applied to one of the apartment complexes and was denied due to rental history. I don't have any evictions, and was denied with no other explanation. I even had someone with a perfect rental history willing to cosign the lease with me and they flat out said no. It seems that since the Pandemic ended these companies forget that we are regular people trying to get back on our feet like most normal folks have to do.

Arielle A.

There's holes in the fence leading into our gated community, and there has been homeless people coming in and out and breaking into cars. I've called them every day this week to make them aware, and to have this fixed and Mona doesn't answer or return your calls!

jessey B.

Amazing experience!! Jenn Elmore and Jeanie Chui are hands down , the best women me and my family have worked with. Their professionalism and knowledge definitely surpassed our expectations!! Both ladies are a gem and pleasant to work with. Highly recommend!

Kayne W.

The worst property management company for all businesses. I’ve been in business for 10 years and counting and I’ve never had an issue with parking that is until The new property manager mind you I’ve had about 5 total before the new one. Wouldn’t it be a fire lane the whole time? The personal problem with parking led her to paint the curb red illegally, then harass me in my place of business like a valet driver to move cars. Then she went ahead and called the fire department on me for parking. They did nothing. Then she emailed the captain about possible liabilities not a fire lane.m. I have the emails to prove it should I upload those as well? Thank you finally listening to the business owner.

Jonathon O.

Best commercial property managers!! Extremely professional, knowledgeable, and willing to help.
Clarissa is awesome! Very easy to work with.

Gar L.

I will start my review on a positive note. We have been in our (rented home) for about 20 months. The preliminary lease experience was extremely positive. Both Jeanette and Sophia were absolutely great. The home is 50 years old and sat vacant before our landlord purchased it. There have been many issues that have come up. Each time we advised MD, their internal maintenance people would show up promptly. They were friendly and courteous. They would fix the problem, take photos, and show us that it was fixed to our satisfaction.

There have many personnel changes in the 20 months we have been here.

In December of 2022, we were having pool issues. The pool is serviced by an outside vendor. The sweeper began to malfunction, and the pool light went out (we use it at night for safety). The newest person we are currently dealing with is Monica. She is great and always does her best to help. However, for the past 8 months, there have been nothing but excuses. The pool leaked and lost 4 inches of water every week. We were told it was normal and just evaporation. After showing the vendor, lo and behold there was a leak. The vendor claimed the sweeper needed new treads. That took weeks. That was done and the sweeper still didn't operate properly. The vendor claimed the sweeper needed to be rebuilt. That took months. They returned it and still didn't operate right. In between we alerted the vice president and were told that we were impossible to please, and she would ask the owner to let us out of our lease. That was ridiculous. We love the house. Our rent is paid at least a week early. We have put our money into revitalizing the backyard.

The landlord came to the house (unannounced) and I happily showed him the house. He commented that we are great tenants.

I spoke to the CAO at length and was left with the impression the owner would call just to hear our side. Instead, we received a rather terse email from the vice president.

We plan to stay in this house for as long as we can. There would have been no problems had the pool vendor just fixed the pool sweeper in the first place. We have had very limited use of the pool as it is dirty and now green.

I feel bad for the owner as he has no idea what is going on here. He can be assured our rent will always be early and we will treat his house as if it were our own.

I am deeply disappointed the owner will not call me to discuss this. I am hoping he reads this and has the decency to call me.

I would like to stress we are not disgruntled tenants. We just feel like the owner needs to know what is going on. Not just the employee's side, but also that of the tenant.

Attached are pictures of the pool as of August 30. This has been going on all summer long. The pool is green and filthy. I understand we have new vendors, and we were blamed for the old ones quitting. Had they fixed the sweeper properly, there would have been no complaints.