Comments on: An inconvenient truth about consumer reviews

By: Henry Hall

Henry Hall — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:20:46 +0000

I work with a lot of professional property managers and a major pain point they have is a negative review from a tenant who violated his or her lease and the impact those reviews have on potential clients, whose investments they were hired to protect. I think its one of the short comings of consumer reviews when it comes to B2B businesses like property management.

By: Tammy Kotula

Tammy Kotula — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:07:06 +0000

Hi Rebecca — Thank you so much for your question!

Have you already tried asking your landlord if they have any other available units in the building? If not, I would recommend beginning your apartment search now. On our website (www.apartments.com), you can tailor your search by the area you would like to live (down to the neighborhood level), number of bedrooms, rent range and more.

I hope this helps you find what you are looking for. Best of luck!

Tammy

By: Rebecca Altuz

Rebecca Altuz — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:04:07 +0000

I have to move from my apartment with the next few weeks My landlord will not renew our lease and doesn’t give us a reason I just need to know what to do

By: Tammy Kotula

Tammy Kotula — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:05:15 +0000

Hi Amber –
It sounds like you and Bonnie share the same concerns about having to pay to respond to negative reviews about your apartment community. Do you also monitor the free review websites such as Yelp to see if the same reviews are being posted there? Do you allow consumer reviews on your own website? This might help keep them contained in an environment, which is owned by you so you can respond freely. Unfortunately, I do not know how one would get around having to pay for a monthly service charge if that is where the comments are appearing. However, I would be interested to hear how other property managers are handling some of these same challenges.

By: Tammy Kotula

Tammy Kotula — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:54:06 +0000

Bonnie – I understand your frustration and agree 100% that there are two sides to every story. Unfortunately, people tend to be most motivated to leave a review when they had a negative experience, which sounds like what happened with this disgruntled resident. It’s important for consumers to keep this is mind when they are reading reviews. I usually disregard a review if it appears that someone is on a rant (e.g. the only negative reviews are coming from one individual). The point where I begin to give some validity to reviews is when I see a string of negative comments coming from different people. Also, you raise an interesting point about having to pay to respond to reviews begin posted about your apartment community. I’d be interested to hear what other managers think of this and how they are handling it.

By: Jamie Lynn Natole

Jamie Lynn Natole — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:46:23 +0000

Amber, we just created a free account and respond with the user name “NiederstMgmt”. The fee is minimal if it is responding and protecting your reputation, but it does seem a little “scammy”.

Isn’t it funny how the only time you get any feedback from your residents on that site is when they are mad or when THEY did something wrong. I call the site ApartmentRantings, in reality….that’s what it is. I wish they had a “TenantRatings.com, landlords have that right to know what they are getting into… haha!

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:26:24 +0000

any recommendations on how to comment on Apartmentrating.com negative review without having to pay for their monthly service? We had a tenant who bonced a rent check but then went to that site and posted horrible things about our property. When we tired to respond, the web site wanted us to pay a monthly fee.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:08:49 +0000

I am a manager at a large apt community and I had a person that we choose to not renew his lease. He was so vindictive that he wrote so many bad reviews and yes it does affect how the public view’s us.He broke all the rules but he chose to place the blame on us and I feel its not fair that we get slammed and on most of the sites, we have to pay to create a respond. Thats discrimination towards the owners and that should be changed. I should have the same opportunity to respond to their negative posts. There are always 2 sides to every story and this should be in bold headlines at the top of each of these websites.

By: Tammy Kotula

Tammy Kotula — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:28:09 +0000

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback Joe!

By: Joseph Gutwein-Schultz

Joseph Gutwein-Schultz — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:15:08 +0000

Tammy, we just wanted to give you a response since your article was very insightful and helpful. Your closing comments “I believe that we just want to be heard.” have some great application in all of our relationships. May God bless your efforts – Joe ;-)