Complaint Review:
Briana Strampe
J.T. Hankenson and Briana Strampe rented a trailer home from me from Oct 17th-Feb. 23rd 2012-2013.
I have known Briana since she was 4 yrs old. We had considered her a part of our family and thought she had grown up to be a responsible and well adjusted young lady despite having a very difficult at times, life. She was good friends with my daughter and we had even taken her to surprise my daughter for her 21st bday 1 year prior at little cost to her.
I had a trailer for rent and she needed a place and felt that this would be the perfect situation. I told her I wouldn't even charge her rent above the lot rent IF she was to live there herself.
I was dealing with the impending death of my father from Stage 4 Lung Cancer so I told her she would have to wait till Nov. 2012 so I could get it cleaned up but if she wanted to move in sooner it would be up to her to clean it up a bit and that I wouldn't charge her till Nov. 1st.
Well slowly she kept adding things like a boyfriend and a lg. dog. (which the trailer court asked J.T. to insure, he refused) calling me for this or that to be fixed before she would take possession. Like I already said I didn't have time because of caring for my father and a house and family of my own.
Well I had to change the rent due to the fact of adding a person to $100 mo. so their rent was $310.00 a mo. for the both of them to split which I thought was more than fair. Then came the huge German Shepard, the piece of carpet that was suppose to cost $50 and ended up to be $140.
for 1 room, he installed it and did a horrible job with cutting it. Then Rastafarian colors they decided to paint in the LR and Kitchen. Bright green, yellow, and red. I agreed to let them paint but no crazy colors.
When it came time to sign the lease (Btw, they moved in before the agreed on date) I wanted security deposit for the paint and the dog but agreed if the dog didn't damage anything and they painted back to the original lt. gray that security would be waved which was all documented in the lease.
Every mo. I had to call them to collect the rent which was ALWAYS late. In Jan. 2013 I called J.T. after Christmas to ask for the rent and was told I had to get it from Briana due to the fact she had kicked him out. During this conversation he also informed me that they had illegally changed the locks on my property and that Dec. lot rent hadn't even been paid till the 18th of the month (due the 1st of the mo.)
Well days later I got a written notice that they planned to move out which was fine they had a 2 mo. to 2 mo. lease and frankly I was glad to not have to hunt down rent every mo.
During this whole time she accused me of stealing a HDMI cable that since I don't steal didn't take. I did however take mine back after she said she had found hers. Well it came up missing again (until she found it in the place she had put it) but still was claiming I stole. If I own a place to rent to people I certainly don't need to take a cable that I already own 15 to 20 of. I found out after they changed the locks that she was saying I was going in there to either move things or steal their pot. It's a known fact that people that smoke a lot of pot misplace things or hang out with the sort of people that really would steal their drugs.
I tried my hardest to make this situation to end up with them making good on leaving the place painted back to the way it was and clean. After many, many, harassing phone calls and their promises to keep their word, in the end, they didn't. They left things for us to dispose of, the refrigerator was filled with dog hair and rotten food and a broken key in the rear door lock.
If you take a chance by letting them rent or buy something from you on credit on their word you will be very, very sorry and put through more than just your damaged property and the bone chilling things they would say about you or to you or post on FB and my heart goes out to you for truly trusting the wrong people. One example of Briana's comments (whom I had once considered one of my own children) was "Oh pitty poor Stacy, her dad died, boo h*o. My father passed on Thanksgiving evening 1 and 1/2 years after diagnosis. Coming from someone you had cared about that was the most devastating thing to hear in my entire life.
Please be careful of these 2 individuals they are dangerous and unpredictable and most defiantly will screw you over they second you turn your back. J.T. works selling guns and owns his own and Briana would rather slice you open than look at you. It's also been said that if your accusing people of stealing you're usually the one that is doing the deed yourself.
This is the last thing I wanted to do (publicly expose them as they are) but they refused to honor the lease they signed and so it has cost us greatly to repair and clean the mess they left us (money we couldn't afford to spend) and adding a lawyer, court costs, and the time it takes to get justice would have just put us under even further.
So if I can help just ONE person not get scammed by these 2 that makes it all worth it in the end.
It didn't even occur to me at the beginning of all this nightmare that J.T.'s parents have rental property, if his own parents wouldn't even rent to him, there's a very good reason and I had to learn the hard way why they won't!!!
Best of luck to all who encounter these people and I continue to hope that they begin to treat others A LOT better than the way they treated my family and that they can find some happiness in their lives so they don't have to be the really awful people that they are right now.
Stacy Collier