As part of our business practice, we encourage customers to leave reviews on different platforms. Through customers' feedback, we hope to continuously adjust the way we are running business in order to better service our clients.
Our reviews consist mostly of positive reviews, with few negative reviews.
We believe the negative reviews posted are strongly biased; it is necessary to make some explanations.
Attitude is everything
First of all, negative reviews don't really reflect what's truly happening. Many situations can lead to bad reviews, and it’s not fair to judge what’s good or bad with just a few sentences without knowing the full picture.
Furthermore, the reviews on the platform are not necessarily true, the competitors leave negative reviews in malicious competition. There are even companies that make money from improving comments and ratings.
As of today, we manage thousands of properties and have handled over 4,000 cases in the past few years.The negative reviews we receive are really nothing compared to this number. People don't leave messages for satisfaction, but if they aren't satisfied, they're bound to leave bad reviews.
Nonetheless, we still analyze the reasons for these comments as below:
Unqualified and Denied Rental Applicants
Cause: When an applicant’s rental application is denied
Effect: The applicant becomes upset and leaves a bad review; we become their punching bag.
Denied Applicants Requesting for a Refund on the Application Fee
Cause: When an applicant’s rental application is denied after they paid a fee
Effect: The applicant becomes upset to lose their application fee and leaves a bad review; we become their punching bag.
Our online application clearly states that “The Application Fee is Non-Refundable”. All application fees are collected to verify the information of the applicants, such as background check and credit report.
Tenant Requests Denied by Owner
Causes: (a) When the property owner denies the tenant's request; (b) When the property owner fails to repair or provide certain standard required items to the tenant
Effect: Tenant is upset and leaves a bad review; we become the punching bag.
Being a property manager and a representative of the property owner, our control over situations are limited. We act on behalf of the owner to communicate, respond to the requests, and address concerns. When an owner deny a request, the tenant needs to be aware that the owner makes all of the final decisions, not the property manager.
Tenants Evicted Through Court Proceedings for Failure to Pay Rent
Cause: Tenant fails to pay rent and gets evicted
Effect: Again, being upset about the situation, the tenant leaves a negative review.
Tenant and Landlord Disputes on Security Deposit Refunds
Cause: Tenant and property owner disagrees on who is liable for certain expenses at the end of the lease term.
Effect: Tenant is upset when they do not receive the security deposit as the desired amount and leave a bad review.
The security deposit refund is often a grey area and more challenging to determine who is liable for the expenses incurred. Situations like this would be out of our control, but when things don’t go smoothly in either direction, we become the victim of negative reviews.
Anonymous Reviewers
These anonymous reviewers can be competitors, jealous people, or somebody we don't even know. There is no need to discuss further.
Additional Notes:
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Our study shows that all of our positive reviews come from property owners while negative reviews are written by tenants.
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We keep all property owners‘ information confidential.
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We will not provide property owners' information to tenants without their consent.