Hi, I'm a former tenant of Breckenridge Apartments in Omaha, NE. It's located on 160th & Center. The owning company, Richdale Group, is a deceitful, greedy company and I strongly advise against renting from any of their properties. This blog will detail how they have deliberately cheated me out of money which they have even acknowledged they owe me but refuse to pay.
They attempted to get me to endorse a check, the signing of it would have forfeited my right to the rest of the money they had erroneously taken out of my deposit. They acknowledge they were wrong to have deducted things but refuse to pay me anything and as soon as I declined to endorse that check, wanting a new check written for the full amount before I blindly trusted them to follow through, they said it would be no problem and they'd handle it within a week. They then immediately ceased all communication with me. This was many months ago and they continue to ignore my emails asking for status and resolution.
In Omaha, Richdale properties include:
1. ALPINE VILLAGE APARTMENTS
7100 South 86th Street, LaVista, NE 68128
2. BRECKENRIDGE APARTMENTS
15950 Wright Plaza, Omaha, NE 68130
3. BRISTOL SQUARE APARTMENTS
3110 North 97th Street, Omaha, NE 68134
4. EMBASSY PARK APARTMENTS
9045 Burt Street, Omaha, NE 68114
5. INWOOD VILLAGE APARTMENTS
8220 South 87th Street, LaVista, NE 68128
6. KENSINGTON WOODS APARTMENTS
1323 North 108th Street, Omaha, NE 68114
7. LATVIAN VILLAGE APARTMENTS
3002 Paddock Road, Omaha, NE 68124
8. LIONSHEAD APARTMENTS
1414 North 108th Street, Omaha, NE 68154
9. THE BILTMORE APARTMENTS
11525 Decatur Plaza, Omaha, NE 68154
10. THE INVERNESS APARTMENTS
8220 S 87th Street, LaVista, NE 68128
11. THE VANDERBILT APARTMENTS
11233 Decatur Plaza, Omaha, NE 68154
This blog contains relevant emails / phone summaries from their office showing a pattern of deceit and/or incompetence on their part with the ultimate goal to steal my money.
Look forward to my videos that I'll be posting to YouTube! The public needs to know about how this company treats their tenants!
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Richdale Group (parent of Breckenridge) engages in illegal tactics to take your money (hundreds of thousands per year collectively). Let them know that you know your rights, what they are doing is illegal and you aren't intimidated so that you can get all your money back like I did!
Richdale Victims
Richdale trains it's employees to use illegal tactics and will nearly always lie to you to make you feel obligated to pay for things that are actually illegal for them to charge you for. If you know the laws and that the laws are there to protect the RENTER (not Richdale) you'll be less likely to fold under their wrath. Richdale employees themselves (not just the company) can be charged with felony offenses of fraud due to their participation in all of the illegal activities they are involved in by following their Richdale training. Pointing this out is a huge motivator for them to help resolve your case and get your money back. But really, you can actually get back MUCH more in court than your deposit if you can prove their fraud... it just depends on how far you're willing to take it. And proving fraud is actually easier than you think... just ask for move-out records of the previous tenant, invoices to show that they incurred a charge and if they can't produce either, then they are demonstrating that they are charging you for something that they did not incur a charge on, which is illegal.
Contacting the BBB is your best bet if you want to avoid court (but you'll get back only your deposit or less rather than a judgement against them for fraud which gives you much more money back). Richdale ignored me until I contacted the BBB but once I did, suddenly, they wanted to shut my case and give me nearly everything I demanded back. (The fact that they did not give me back everything I demanded -- they were off by only a few dollars -- actually freed me from my voluntary commitment to remove this site and my negative reviews on apartment rating sites -- I actually didn't need to make that concession and I'm glad they violated their end of the agreement so that this could live on -- this email exchange is documented in my blog entries).
Updated Feb 2014Why am I doing this?
Richdale/Breckenridge is currently telling residents I'm lying, making it all up and crazy in a desperate attempt to discredit my legitimate claims, to prevent more people from fighting back, to convince prospective tenants that it's OK to move in and to retain their employees. I really don't like it when people lie about me, especially since their purpose is to defraud more people. I had actually dropped it all after I got my money back, but their lies about me have provoked a response.
After you've read through my blog, you'll see that after I filed with the BBB and let Richdale know I knew exactly what illegal activities they are involved in and showed how I planned to prove it, I got back ALL MY MONEY... so why do I still continue to post? Why was I so clear with them that I would not sign the settlement agreement which would have prevented me from talking about it? After reading all the negative reviews from former Richdale tenants, it was clear the tenants got scared and gave in because they simply did not know what the laws were, what their rights were, and didn't have enough personal knowledge of what deceptive tactics Richdale employees are trained in so they did not know how to fight back and turn the tables. The definition of fraud is "intentional deception for the purposes of gain" -- they use lies, undocumented charges, misdirection and give you the runaround, threats of lawsuits to convince you that you owe them money that you don't or to tire you out and give in so they can keep it - that's fraud. Fraud is a felony offense.
I would have loved to know what I know now at the time that I was dealing with everything Richdale was dishing, it would have saved a lot of time and frustration. It has become obvious to me that I have to help others fight back against these crimes. It took me a year and a half to get my money, but it will take you much less time by taking advantage of what I know! I want to help you! Richdale needs to realize that they cannot get away with their crimes any more. Their existing business practices have to change not only because no one will want to move in, but they will be facing criminal and civil prosecution.
I will continue to expose their lies and illegal practices and gather evidence.
Posts
I need your help!
ReplyDeleteHow can I reach you?
I am being harassed by office. They are trying to force me out.
littlebninja@gmail.com
Hi Paul. I live in Bristol Square Apartments (owned by Richdale) and have been trying to reach you via email but haven't heard back. I'm sure if I have the correct email address. If you get this, please email me at kocchietti@gmail.com
DeleteI am about to move out of this apartment and have some concerns.
Thanks!
I had same problem. I lived at vanderbilt for 5 years but when I moved out they did not returen my deposit but charge me over $1000 regading carpet replacement and other repairs which I verified with lawyer that their duty.
ReplyDeleteI am having problems as well! I contacted the BBB..there are only 5 days left until Richdale needs to reply to the complaint and somthing tells me they won't. What will happen after that? My problem started when I didn't give a 60 day notice in writing of lease non-renewal. (it was more like a 55 day notice). That was fine with me. I just had to stay another month. One of the girls in the leasing office said "why don't you just keep your original move out date and if your apartment gets rented out you will not be responsible for your last month's rent". Big mistake on my part. 2 weeks before my original move out date I called to see if I had to be out due to a new tenant or if I needed to stay another month. She said someone was moving in the beggining of the next month and I needed to be out in two weeks. I scrambled to find a new apartment, signed a lease and paid deposits and first months rent. Breckenridge contacted me and said I still had to pay FULL MONTHS rent for the last month even though there was someone moving in but they would refund that back to me along with my deposit. Another big mistake on my part. About a month later I received my security deposit but no rent refund. I called and they said no one ever moved in and I was still responsible for the rent. So basically they established a move in date for someone who never signed a lease and told me to move out on top of it. I tried communicating with the corporate office and got hung up on as well as getting my calls refused. If BBB can not help me I would like to take them to small claims court seeing as though they owe me over $800. Problem is I have nothing in black and white. Now what?
ReplyDeleteThey are in the process of doing the same thing to me and much more, although I have my stuff well documented and my lawyer on it. I will post more later, and possibly create my own site(s), which is a great way to work your way to the top of search engines so it's the first thing people see when they Google, and will likely be involving the media with what I have. They seem to have done this to enough people that maybe it is time for some class action. Keep posting your experiences.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you have a lawyer on it. Make sure you never sign any agreement that requires your silence, you do not owe them your silence!
ReplyDeleteIf you create a site/blog let me know about it so I can link to it. Also, post links to your site on apartment review sites.
There really should be a class action against these thieves.
Paul, I just got back Brecken-winds "final deal". They are screwing me with bogus fee's, which I kind of expected based on what I've read about other peoples' experiences, but will not accept it. I will be creating blogs and websites to let people know what I have experienced, to warn others and to let others who have dealt with them warn others and express their experiences. I will post my documentation on their abuse. Let me know how to get in touch with you, because this is what I do for a living, and I will guarantee their treatement of tenants will reflect upon their future business. They've messed with the wrong person. Thank you, Tyler.
ReplyDeleteTwo years after moving out of Briarwood Apartments, a Richdale property, they are STILL trying to charge me for treating my home with bedbugs. Now, I am discovering that they want to put it on my credit report in a few days. This company has harassed me and caused my family a lot of heartache and discomfort. I will be filing a report with as many agencies as I know, including the BBB. I want others to know that you are not alone. This company was the rudest company I have ever seen in my life. They were insensitive, disrespectful and I lived in the property in Houston, TX for five years without ever paying my rent or utilities late. They continuously lost my checks (thank God for receipts) claiming that I did not pay my rent and sent me several eviction notices only days after claiming that I had not paid. I received final notices, but no first notices. The turnover rate in my leasing office was so high that there was never any remembering any names outside of a few and my records all mysteriously disappeared when I went to ask for copies. To top it off, a few weeks after I moved out my old unit and adjacent units that were bedbug infested caught fire. A few months before that, another set of units caught fire. When I called my neighbor to check on her and her family, she let me know that she had her apartment treated for bedbugs as well shortly before the fire, but they did not charge her for treatment.
ReplyDeleteI never ever agreed to the payment of this bill...a whopping $920.13!!! They were supposed to do an "investigation" afterwards prior to me ever being sent a bill. I NEVER got an inspection report, the neighbors were never spoken to, and the bill was placed on my account less than 24 hours after the treatment. We were displaced for days, my business lost revenue, and we were socially outcast from many people close to us because they were afraid of being infested. My children's school had to be contacted and they had to be inspected at school. The entire ordeal was AWFUL! By the time the house was treated, we had bedbugs falling from behind picture frames. The issue started upstairs in my children's room and I told the leasing office for months that I suspected they were coming in through the windows. You had to open the windows for fresh air or mold accumulated in the poorly ventilated unit. The issue really exploded when a rat came into the apartment and died behind our dishwasher. It took almost two weeks for someone to finally come inspect, and remove the rodent. Once it was removed (a maintenance man came in the apartment with a glove and garbage bag and did not clean the area the rodent was removed from) our apartment exploded with bedbugs. When I told Rochdale about it and the leasing office, the ladies informed me that bedbugs can't be spread from animals. There is a lot more to this situation, the bedbugs being only one issue, but I hope that adding to this blog helps others.
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