Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have contacted American Capital close to a month ago trying to rent a house from them. $60 dollars later and close to 3 weeks I ended up homeless getting the run around from them and after everything they required online they then went and added more things on knowing the time frame we had. They don't respond back and when asked how long it would take I was then told they had to do a walkthrough of my current home. When does a landlord have the right to request or deny to rent to a new tenant due to not being able to do a walkthrough of there own personal space. They cut the power off on tenants or the water. Landlord shouldn't be able to charge the $20 application fee if they don't plan on renting the home. They are making more off application fees then rent. How's that right?

  Business response

  04/21/2023

  As a courtesy we have refunded the application fees of Ms. *******-******* and her two co-applicants.  This is an exeption to our general policy, which is that once we run a background check the application fee is not refundable. As an aside, our application fee is less than our expense to run the background report - we do not make any profit from application fees, and if we do not run the background report we refund the application fee. Typically we wait until after an applicant finds a property that they wish to lease before we run the background check. Unfortunately we are not an emergency housing service, we are landlords and our move-in process typically takes 2 to 3 weeks. One step of our process is an in-home visit after application and before entering a lease. Ms. *******-******* was unable to complete this step as she had no home at that point of the process. We did refer her to the Samaritan Center, an office of the local Catholic Charities that handles emergency housing and shelter. We wish Ms. *******-******* and her co-applicants the best in their search for permanent housing. Our applicants and residents can contact us via phone, text, email, and in person for drop-ins during office hours. We welcome the opportunity to resolve any issues directly. 

  Customer response

  04/21/2023

  Better Business Bureau:  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  They never once told me to go anywhere and at the point of this and at the point of when I had to stay with family for a night was 3 weeks after application fee was paid. As well to get any answers from anyone at American Capital was almost impossible. I had to message multiple times to get one response as well my last message from them was they would let me know my next steps on what could be done.  Regards,  ****** *******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩