Pattern of complaints against one of largest home renters in U.S.
Progress Residential faced a slew of complaints from renters and former employees
Progress Residential faced a slew of complaints from renters and former employees
Progress Residential faced a slew of complaints from renters and former employees
The water began rising around three o'clock in the morning after a water heater pipe burst inside the rental home Laura and Gus Andersen had moved into just days before; cardboard boxes still sat on the floor, unpacked and exposed.
Gus, a member of the military, rushed to sweep the water off the hardwood floors as his wife recorded video of the sloshing liquid inside their house south of Atlanta.
Despite frequent and persistent requests to their landlord, Progress Residential, the company did not immediately fix the damage and test for mold, the Andersens say.
"Do something — do anything," Andersen pleaded in a recent interview while standing on her front lawn.
In a "clearance letter" dated 2 1/2 weeks after the pipe burst that contained spelling and grammatical mistakes, a contractor told the Andersens it did an inspection and found "dry and normal conditions" in the spots where it tested.
When asked if she still worries about her health living in the home, Laura Andersen told a reporter, "I do ... I worry about what is going on behind the Sheetrock, what is going on behind the flooring."
The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit's three-month investigation into Progress Residential — which has 26,000 homes — found a pattern of complaints from renters and former employees about the company's customer service, standards, billing practices, response times and internal culture. The concerns span markets, states and years.
Andersen was one of more than a dozen people interviewed for this story, which also relies on public and nonpublic documents, court records and filings.
Online, renters have sounded off in hundreds of posts: "you prey on your customers," "deplorable," "ridiculous," "the worst company" and "a total nightmare."
The company often posts a reply that includes, "We apologize for your frustrations."
In addition, the unit's investigation found attorneys general in eight of the nine states where Progress operates — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — have received complaints, including one from David Mehan in Arizona.
"I was just so fed up," Mehan said in an interview.
Progress Residential, in its response to the Arizona Attorney General's Office obtained by the National Investigative Unit, admitted to two internal errors in Mehan's case and reversed a little more than $1,700 in charges.
"I'll never do business with them again ... because they're awful," Mehan said.
Melanie Lefebvre and her husband, Michel, won an initial default judgment against Progress this year in Mississippi for approximately $3,500, accusing the company of keeping their deposit and making up home repair charges.
The company got the decision thrown out over a technicality; both sides go back to court Nov. 30, court records show.
"We tried to negotiate with them, we tried to get a mediator involved, everything was falling on deaf ears. So we thought: we have no choice; we have to file suit," Lefebvre said during an interview from Mississippi.
"Absolutely, we felt ignored."
Progress Residential is accredited with the Better Business Bureau with an "A+" rating. But customer reviews, which combine to give Progress about two out of five stars, do not factor into the rating, a BBB spokeswoman explained.
The BBB said it had received 278 complaints against the company since Jan. 1, 2016, many regarding service issues, guarantees or warranties.
Former renter Angela DePolo-Hughes says the company blocked her on social media after she complained about a host of issues that culminated in an eviction notice on Christmas Eve. She then started a Facebook group that now has more than 300 members.
"People are sharing their horror stories ... We're not going to be quiet," DePolo-Hughes explained during an interview.
And it's not just renters feeling wronged.
A federal class action-lawsuit (3:16-CV-356) filed in the Southern District of Texas led by a former employee claims the company forced leasing agents to illegally work longer hours "without any overtime."
The company denies the claims; a trial is scheduled for January.
Through spokesman Peter Jakel at public relations agency Linnel Taylor, Progress Residential's CEO, Chaz Mueller, did not grant Hearst Television an interview for this story.
In a two-sentence statement that did not specifically answer any of 24 questions submitted to it by Hearst, Progress Residential said: "We strongly believe these claims are without merit. We strive to provide our employees with the best possible work environment and our more than 100,000 residents with homes in desirable communities."
Progress Residential's parent company, Pretium Partners, announced in June it had raised more than $1 billion from "investors from across the globe, including insurance companies, pension funds, and high-net worth individuals" to "acquire, renovate and manage" single family homes.
The public release said Progress Residential had already purchased 5,000 homes for its Real Estate Fund II, known as SFR Fund II.
"We are confident that our leading real estate platform, deep sector expertise, and operational advantage will enable Pretium to continue to acquire, renovate, and manage single-family rentals, while seeking to provide our investors with the risk-adjusted returns to which they are accustomed," Pretium CEO Donald Mullen said in the statement.
But Laura Andersen says she's still waiting for some repairs to her Georgia home after a flood of inaction.
In the interview, Andersen said she would "never again" rent from Progress Residential, which, she said, had "failed us."
"They literally and figuratively left us out to dry," Andersen said.
Know of waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement? Send investigative tips to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.