Complaint Review: Cathi Chamberlain Andreas Eckert - St. Petersburg Florida

Linda, past tenant of Cathi Chamberlain and Andreas Eckert, wrote a rip-off claim that we, as landlords never give deposits back. Managing 5 rentals over 10 years and more than 22 tenants we have only withheld deposits from those who have trashed our places. In Linda's case, I stated in an email to her dated 9/6/2005 (I still have a copy) that "i have receipts for over $1,500.00 as well as pictures and witnesses. I still have not gotten the smell of your (Linda's) dogs out of there. I had to replace all carpets, repaint the entire inside, replace the bi-fold closet door, re-clean everything. I don't believe you (Linda) have any idea how much work and money it took to get our place back to how it looked when you moved in. It took me close to 3 weeks..." to get it back to a rentable state. Regarding her comment that the place had mold. That she is correct about. Because she did not inform us until she had moved out that mold was growing, it cost us a small fortune to get that problem under control. She states that there was a wood wall that was rotted away, interesting since that is a concrete block house inside and out. Did we raise Linda's rent? Yes, we did. $50.00 at the end of 2 years, and that only because the property taxes and the insurance skyrocketed. Many of our tenants have actually written recommendations to us for us to share with incoming future tenants. Carolyn, who rented from us for 4 years, wrote that we "have always been friendly and more than willing to help us anyway they could. We have been late with rent and had no problems. Anything that needs fixing is fixed. They have lent us money when we were in need." Adam wrote: "The cottage has always been well taken care of. If anything goes wrong, it was promptly fixed, no questions asked." Pamela, who rented from us for 3 years, wrote "they have in the past worked with me when my rent was going to be late. Anything they can do to make your home more comfortable, they will do. Any improvements to the home they will help you do and buy the equipment needed. If something breaks or a repair is needed it is done right away. Andy and Cathi only want to please and keep happy tenants. You couldn't ask for better landlords." As for why Linda wrote this rip-off complaint, one only needs to read several emails she wrote to me when she became disgruntled. In one, dated 3/17/05 (I have a copy), she writes: "I am not going to live next to Rick if I can possibly do something about this. He yells how fat and ugly I am over the yard and other things I cannot hear because of my TV. My dogs are upset. He is going around and telling people about an episode I had when I was drunk but he is not finishing the rest of the story which is why I stopped talking to him." Apparently, this is what caused her comment in her rip-off complaint in which she states "I was harrassed by a drunken neighbor but they would do nothing about it." I don't know the full story behind that one, but I don't know of any landlord who can control the neighbors' relationships! When Linda moved out, she became increasingly hostile and wrote us several letters threatening to sue us which, of course, she never followed through on because she had no basis. Instead she filed a very derogatory complaint against two hard-working people and now our names are forever linked in Google in a negative way. This site has created a forum that enables disgruntled individuals to mar reputations without evidence to back up their claims. I think its despicable and the creator of this website should be ashamed.