Bad service and misled

I’m writing with a heavy heart and I am losing sleep as heavily pregnant as I am. I’m really regretting deciding to rent with Central Development. I moved to Lemon Tree Apartments on 6 September 2019 and my experiences from there have been rather unfortunate and unpleasant. At first I thought I should just let it go for my sake and unborn baby’s sake but then I ask myself how is it solving anything if I keep quiet? And if there’s an opportunity to speak do so and leave it in the hands of those who have to deal with it.

I would have emailed client services but my previous experience is discouraging with bad attitude and no desire to assist from by the people that answer the phones hence I am using this platform. I was assisted by Hanco Benade from the day I went to view the apartment till I signed the contract. I must say he is hard to get hold of and takes time to respond to emails or even smses. Whe I moved into the unit 241 the water meter was on a negative and as a new user of such unit I didn’t know and kept buying vouchers which was useless cause apparently every time I bought it was kind of “paying” the negative balance that was already there. After a lot of struggle and the customer service told me there’s nothing they can do I need to get hold of the service provider that provides the unit to assist as as central development they have nothing to do with water meter. I’m a new client renting with Central Development, was I not suppose to get to the unit with everything on par and ready for my own use?. Anyway Natatcha from the office helped me and sorted it and I appreciate her help so much.

My problem now is with how I feel Hanco Benade misled me in terms of the lease signing. At first he offered 50% off first rent, no admin fee, free 100 MB wifi (t&c’s applicable), R7300 deposit. At first I made a huge misunderstanding and did not note the R 7300 deposit part and I immediately paid R2500 to secure the unit since this deal was so good. Later when I went to sign after paying the ‘remaining’ R1 150 he brought it to my attention that I needed to also pay R7 300 deposit. I explained I had no money at that point I honestly missed the part of the deposit cause if it were so, I would have budgeted for and not leave the place I was living in mid month to secure that one, meaning I had to also pay prorata rent where I stayed. He advised that I should pay 50% of the deposit (laybye) atleast to be able to move in and I committed to paying the remainder today, 13 September 2019. Based on this I signed the contract and amended lease period from 12 to 6 months and he told me to pay it by Monday 2 September before 12 to avoid losing the offer and I did just that. To my surprise yesterday I received a statement that says I owe R14 600 and some cents. This statement includes rental for October which I agree with and not reputing but also noticed that the 50% off first rent wasn’t effected and I needed to pay it. My initial reaction was to call Hanco, he was not available and was told by the office he was offsick. I called Elsje the lady that sent me the statement and she was on site but another lady was also helpful. I also sent an email reputing the statement highlighting the issue about 50% off first rent

Later on I sat and looked for a copy of a contract and I noticed that the 50% off first rent was scratched off and I signed next to it together with the amendment of the lease duration. I acknowledge that this is my signature, I may have signed not paying attention but I feel that Hanco did not explain the contract fully with me and during the signing it was just sign here and here and there. I am pregnant and my have a “pregnancy brain” moment I definitely would remember if this was explained. It was ******** of me to just sign but I trusted and believed the only issue we sorted out was the deposit issue not knowing that I also lost or what i thought was also the “good part” of the deal.

I wrote another email to Hanco and Elsje apologizing that I didn’t read the contract but I still do feel that something was not done right or I was denied an opportunity to make a final decision to either continue with the lease or go somewhere else. My 13year old daughter who was with me there also heard the same thing I heard and believed so it cannot be pregnancy brain.