Edina Apartments Owned By Brad Bakke: Avoid At All Costs (In Minneapolis, Minnesota MN)

See the original story of Torborg Management, or Torborg Builders,a subdivision of Torborg Apartments.

To All Individuals Searching for St Cloud Apartments,

I have an experience I would like to communicate to all individuals looking for a St Cloud apartment. I want to tell you about my tenure at Windsong apartments in Sartell / Saint Cloud Minnesota. I have created this site to let renters looking for a Saint Cloud apartment know of the unprofessional and poor property management that is executed by Torborg Builders-Torborg Management. This also concerns the managing staff and building staff.

Please note this is completely factual as there is not need to embellish any part of this apartment rental story. If you are looking for St Cloud apartments, I hope your read this before choosing a location. I hope my experience with Torborg Builders-Torborg Management is useful in determining a place of residence when searching for St Cloud apartments.

As a renter I lived in these apartments for long past my signed lease, and was never late on a rent payment. During my tenure the property manager and I had a conflict, and thought it was resolved shortly after it happening.

I will start at the beginning.

1) Poor Condition at Move in

Upon moving into my St Cloud apartment (Windsong) the apartment wasn’t clean, as it looked like Torborg Management didn’t dust or vacuum the rental unit before my move in. Along with the mess there were multiple broken items in the rental unit i.e. master bedroom door didn’t lock, master bedroom closet was broken, missing light bulb, and large cracks in the bathroom tile. I am not one to make a big deal of little issues, so I just wrote down the broken items on my move in sheet and cleaned the apartment to my standards.

2) No Consideration For Privacy

Within two months, the Windsong Property Manager had acknowledged the broken lock and closet, she mentioned she would get it fixed. I thought that was fine and said let me know when she was to go in and fix it. Another month and a half went by when I saw Windsong’s Property Manager passing in the hallway she stopped me and said,

“Oh, I am not sure if you noticed but I was in your apartment last week and I fixed your lock and your closet.”

It was nice that she had fixed the door. However, I was bothered she entered my apartment without telling me beforehand, and then waited a week before she told me. I am not sure about anyone else, but I like to be notified before management enters my private space. I wanted mention it to higher management, but like I said I don’t like to make a big deal of little issues. There was no harm done so I just wrote it off as nothing.

3) Irresponsible

One month I paid rent and my check was lost. It was towards the end of the summer. I received a call from the Windsong apartment manager on the fifth of the month while I was working. She called to tell me that I better get my rent check in by noon or I will be charged a late fee. I was confused as I know I put the check in the rent box two days prior. She persisted that she didn’t have it. To avoid a late fee I left work for 45 minutes to run home and re-write the check she had lost. I confirmed with a carbon copy that I wrote a check two days prior.

4) Grounds Poorly Maintained

I also want to note how poorly the grounds were kept during my tenure. My biggest issue with grounds maintenance was their snow removal. We had received a lot of snow and the snow removal of this St Cloud rental property was below inadequate. I work pretty normal hours and in the morning, more times than not, I had to walk on sidewalks that weren’t shoveled. If the sidewalk was shoveled, only a path as wide as the shovel was cleared and not the whole sidewalk. Also I rented a tuck-under garage and snow plows couldn’t get close. In most St Cloud Apartments the property manager would shovel out the area where the plow can’t get. This is not the case at Windsong apartments, no clearing was done in any amount of time. I actually got stuck multiple times trying to enter and exit my garage (Thank God for good neighbors), not to mention the garage door sensor would trigger on the compacted snow where the door would close. Hence the door wouldn’t shut unless I cleared the area after every time I drove into my garage.

5) Unfair and Harsh Contract Implementation

The following piece is what put me over the edge. Everything listed above was tolerable in my book, and the following incident is what drove me to create this website and want to tell everyone of this nightmarish St Cloud aparments rental company and their management style.

On November 5th, along with my rent check, I put in my 60 day notice. I wanted to move out at the end of December and didn’t think the 4 days would be a big deal as I had already stayed beyond my lease and it was only 4 days. I have done this before in my rental history and at worst case scenario was they may prorate the rent a few days. Not the case with Torborg Management-Torborg Builders. I received a call saying that it wasn’t a 60 day notice and I was liable until the end of January. I was appalled that a company who owns around 10 St Cloud aparments, would be so prude of 4 days. None the less I understand when I sign a contract I am agreeing to the terms, it just seemed a little raunchy to me. Windsong’s Property Manager said if she could rent it out by January I wouldn’t have anything to worry about and wouldn’t have to pay January’s rent. I thought my chances were good as these are the same terms I entered the apartment on (taking over a different renter’s lease). Over the next month she showed my apartment twice. In the first week of December I received a note in my door that stated the clean out procedure, and a checklist of everything to clean. In the upper right hand corner it stated that the lease was until the end of January but the apartment was transferring to another unit. I thought, GREAT!! She found someone to rent the place and I can move out at the end of the month. I would find out in a few weeks I was sadly mistaken.

6) Unaccountable for Personal Mistakes

On December 31 I called Windsong’s Property Manager and said everything was clean and I was ready to check out. She told me that I was liable until the end of January. I was utterly confused, and tried to explain the letter I saw in the door. She admittedly stated that the letter was suppose to go to another apartment, and that I was still going to be held accountable for January rent. I tried to convince her that this was not my mistake, and its costing me a months rent ($750). She refused to compromise, so I said let me check out and I will talk to another level of management. So I drove over there to check out, upon entering the apartment I was greeted by her boyfriend and her 2 or 3 year old child. Since when do you bring your boyfriend and kids to work with you (completely unprofessional)? Upon checkout she questioned the missing bulb and the cracks in the floor, I just stated look at my move in sheet. At that point I knew she was going to make this as difficult as she could for me, as she was trying to stick me with anything and everything she could. Even stuff I had claimed on my move-in sheet, which I must note wasn’t fixed in the my whole tenure (poor management). I was getting the feeling that there was something personal going on, and realized she wasn’t over our prior conflict yet. Her way of getting restitution was to make me pay while I am moving out. She mentioned a few things that needed to be cleaned. I told her I would clean them and call her. I did so and called my parents and had them accompany me on the final checkout, I was in fear of what she might do with my deposit money so I wanted a few witnesses. Upon final checkout my mother even tried to convince her this was a communication error, and asked if we could work something out. She wasn’t budging and said to take it up with a higher level of management. So I contacted Torborg Builders Management.

7) Unprofessional all the way to the top

After getting nowhere with Windsong’s Property Manager, I was hoping that someone in higher management would have some professionalism. I was wrong about that too! After 6 days and leaving multiple messages trying to contact Torborg Building’s Head Manager she finally answered the phone (in mid message). I asked if she was aware of the situation. The first thing she asked about was the prior conflict. I said yes that is me, and I mentioned that I thought that conflict was resolved and didn’t see how that was significant to the current situation. Through the conversation Torborg Building’s Head Manager voice gradually got louder with a harsher tone as I tried to tell my side of the story. She refused to hear me out, and ended the conversation by saying. “You will pay the rent by the end of the month or you will go to collections, GOODBYE!” and she hung up the phone on me. Once again I was absolutely appalled, the top person at Torborg Building’s Head Manager cannot even stay calm and listen to disputes when they occur?! I knew in this conversation that there was no chance at resolving this professionally without the court’s intervention. I looked into small claims court to see what I needed to do, but it wasn’t worth the time or the trouble to get it resolved in court. I decided could spend my time and energy doing something with a more positive effect. So I paid the rent spent my efforts communicating my nightmare of a rental experience with Torborg Building-Torborg Management.

Windsong Apartments in Sartell, MN

Edina Apartments Owned By Brad Bakke: Avoid At All Costs (In Minneapolis, Minnesota MN)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Torborg Management | Torborg Apartments | Torborg Builders

Friday, January 11, 2008

Edina Apartments In MN Will Steal Your Deposit - Owned By Brad Bakke of Minneapolis MN Edina

digg

About Me