Complaint Review: GORDON SHIPLY OF GOOD NEWS CHURCH

I was raised as a Christian man to be careful where I put my faith and that if nothing else, church leaders would light the way. I automatically cut slack for those with higher callings because I assumed they are doing God's work. But all that said, Gordon never had higher work to tend to the numberous times he didn't fix things, didn't come when he said he would, didn't provide things he promised; his only higher calling was the almighty dollar.

GORDON SHIPLEY of GOOD NEWS CHURCH TOPEKA KS is a con man. He wears his church stature on his sleeve not as an example of faith and devotion to a higher calling, but as a way to lure folks into renting townhomes owned by the church. Wolf in sheep's clothing reincarnated as a slum lord in a pastors robes. Its horrible on many levels!

Problems started upon move in when the basment he said was always dry had water. I spent my first 2 days of moving in, cleaning up his water. He promised this would not reoccur and that it was the first he was every aware of the unit taking on water. However everytime it rained, the basment got wet. Every month for the 8 months my family was there we had water and as a result- mold.

Additionally, we had maintance issues from a fridge (included in the rent) not working and causing our grocery bill to skyrocket becuase milk wouldn't keep nor would ice, to bad wiring in our unit which led to a light fixture in the ceiling shorting and making a small fire. Not to mention the time I pushed the button on the fan hood to turn the light on and got a small burn hole in my finger when it shorted out. Our roofed leaked and the kids never got decent sleep on a rainy night becuase the dripping drove them crazy. Essentially, if you didn't want to wake up stepping in water, or fall asleep listening to it, the main floor was the only floor to be-which has no bedrooms.

The conditions were the worst I have ever been in anyware including the military which isn't know to be the most accomodating. What made it worse was the fact Gordon showed no true interest in fixing any problem we ever had. If he showed up to see why we called, emailed and sometimes appoached him about, it was only to pacify us, look for the lowest cost bandaid promising all would be fixed. It never was. There was water in our basment upon move out as well.

As for safety, this was another lie. Gordon claimed that many police officers frequent his church and subsequently surveil the property. However the only time police were within view was when we had to call them on our neighbors because GORDON refused to hold them to the conduct terms of our lease. Windows shook and kids couldn't sleep because of the tumultous neighbors having block parties. We had to take action for ourselves because he refused to, and that meant our cars got vandalized, our outdoor property stolen, and our crappy neighbors making verbal threats against us. And all the while, GORDON didn't do anything and stated that these same neighbors would be getting thown out eventually anyhow becuase they didn't pay their rent.

There was never a strait week where there wasn't a neighbor asking if I have seen GORDON aka (the unholy ghost). There are only 10 townhomes at this place, and everyone had major issues from the basment conditions to the ceiling falling in. There was no 1 unit without problems and there was no 1 floor in any unit that didn't need some kind of maintenance.

Now don't get me wrong, we would see Gordon from time to time, when another unfortunate couple would do a walk through. We actually would see him a day or 2 before preping the place with getto fixes. And when these poor folks came, we tried to blast him with our concerns because this would hopefully show the future renters what they would be getting into.

This man isn' t just a bad landlord, he is a bad so called Christian. My children were subjected to large amounts of mold infestation. He never cared. My families stuff in the basment got ruined becuase i trusted a pastor. He still does not care. ANd when he did let us out of our lease, he kept the deposit as if he did anything to deserve it and after telling me we could stay there rent free until things were fixed.

GORDON did tell us not to pay rent as evidenced in the emails at the end of this report, yet when we moved out 5/19/09 he withheld 1/2 of our deposit for rent which you can clearly see he stated we would not need to pay until he fixed things [redacted my name to match my SN on this report]


From: Bad landlord and even worse pastor gordon shipley
Subject: RE: Rent Confirmation
To: Gordon@goodnewstopeka.com
Cc: Bad landlord and even worse pastor gordon shipley
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 9:46 AM


Gordon,

I want to refer you to the previous email you sent where you write:

"You will not have to pay rent until we have the basement dry and the mold or mildew remediated. I anticipate that will happen before the end of the week."

Fuzz on walls, black mold, and just look at the wall between the bathroom and the laundry area-disgusting! You didn't remediate anything, and my decision to leave was 5 days later when it was apparent you won't stand by what you say. As of this day nothing has been remediated-so per your email, I don't owe you rent!

Bad landlord and even worse pastor gordon shipley


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon@goodnewstopeka.com [mailto:Gordon@goodnewstopeka.com]
Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 1:32 PM
To: Bad landlord and even worse pastor gordon shipley
Subject: RE: Rent Confirmation

Hi Bad landlord and even worse pastor gordon shipley

If the paneling has come loose we will re-attach it. You will not have to pay rent until we have the basement dry and the mold or mildew remediated. I anticipate that will happen before the end of the week. I will stop by after you get home from work this afternoon.

Gordon

BROKEN DOWN AND WORE OUT!
Topeka, Kansas
U.S.A.