Deposit refund to tenant was at mercy of landlord

I rented an apartment in Century City from Seeff Century City in January 2020. I rented for a year and paid my rent for the full year upfront to Seeff together with 2 months deposit that I had to provide which was the requirement to rent the apartment. After the year period, I rented for an additional month and gave notice at the end of February. I had paid for painting of wall and additional cleaning which was required. I was then advised that I could not be refunded my deposit as the landlord had to make the final call (even though I had paid the deposit to Seeff). Their relationship with the landlord was placed above my relationship as the tenant with Seeff and I was at the mercy of the landlord to refund my deposit. My deposit was only returned to me after the father of the landlord had to review the property almost 2 weeks after I vacated the premises (even though Seeff had confirmed that I had left the property in a satisfactory state), but they could not release the deposit till the landlord gave the final okay. I was also referred by Seeff to my contract where they advised me that the landlord was well within his rights if additional repairs/maintenance was done that the landlord could take up to 14 days to refund my deposit. I was not treated as a customer and felt that Seeff was only concerned with the landlord of the property that they rent out on their behalf but I want to tell everyone about my bad experience so that you don't find yourself in a similar situation.