These are archived reviews of Acadian Properties from 2008. For more recent comments, please visit the entry.
2008-01-15 17:20:58 I have reported Acadian Properties to IRS for suspected fraud activity. they will be audited within a few months. —daviscamper
2008-02-01 11:11:56 Good article in the Aggie today about acadian. The article seemed to be pretty accurate as far as complaints go these problems go back atleast 8-10 years ago. —MyaBrn
2008-02-02 22:40:25 Hmm... In the phone interview for the article in the Aggie (2008-02-01) I failed to remember all of the really good problems! I should have come back to this page and reviewed my words for 2005. —DylanBeaudette
"2008-02-08 I hate Acadian! They are HORRIBLE, they make me sooo angry! So incredibly rude to me! I am a small, very quiet, nice girl and they made me feel absolutely horrible. I wish I could put them out of business! Charged me late fees when I paid my rent on time!!! Brought it in but didn't get a reciept, Stupid! They told me that I probably wrote in the date on my carbon copy of the check and was probably lying about turning it in on time. Joe refused to let me speak to the manager when I politely asked since she wouldn't want to deal with an insignificant problem. Also, told me that they didn't have to explain how they were adding in extra days to the late fee they were charging me. Then a snooty blond walked over to "back him up" against what! I'm a 5'3" girl who was speaking quietly and respectfully but simply asking him to explain to me what and why I was being charged! Then Joe told me our conversation was over and told me to get out and refused to say another word other than to almost yell that we were "done". The girl laughed with Joe and shouted to me "grab some candy on the way out!" I wanted to smack that smurk off that girl's face! but instead I walked quietly out to cry in my car in frustration!! HATE them. I like one of they people above who said they flip off the office when they drive by, I may have to do so as well. ahhh!! Also, told us when we moved in that they were going to replace the carpets and the didn't. Also staight up said they were going to charge us for painting the house when we moved out which they are NOT allowed to do! And though they have gotten to our maintenace requests quickly they never call to let us know anyone is coming and have showed up with no notice to show our house to prospective tenants as well! Don't rent from them!
- Jamie
2008-03-07 17:06:30 I've read a lot of really bad comments on here with Acadian, but generally I've had a good experience with them. They are very prompt with maintenance issues and if you want to rent from them the next year they will give you first pick of their properties as a prior renter. I think that Acadian MUST have improved from what I am reading here because I have had no problems with them at all. —ValeriePeterson
2008-03-07 17:07:33 Sometimes I do detect some rudeness, though. That doesn't bother me too much, but it is worth noting. —ValeriePeterson
2008-03-09 20:36:16 STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!! Arcadian sucks beyond belief. This is a family run business with the mom being "the manager", she obviously suffers from various mental illnesses and her son "Joe" is the ultimate loser who "runs the office". While I was waiting for them to talk to me, Joe was complaining to other co-workers that he doesn't get attention from women (its worth mentioning Joe is in his thirties), of course, the manager was there to help him with this important issue but couldn't help me when I wanted to talk to her. I had to work it out with "Joe". Joe has an extremely bad temper, most likely as the result of being made fun of his entire life, and takes it out on customers, even when he leaves voice messages over the phone. I guess this is as good as it gets when you have several mentally ill people run a business. Its almost fun to see how poor they treat their customers. My recommendation is to pay 100-200 more per month if you have to, but stay away from these mad creatures. I personally wish the entire family to go to hell. These people are ridiculous. —KevinW
2008-03-27 17:20:38 I would like to add to the chorus of dissatisfied renters. I am not a student, I am a professional who lives in Davis who has a good salary and who has never had a late rent payment. The apartment where I have lived for 5 years was turned over for management to Acadian by the owners of our apartment building. During the time that Acadian managed our property, the lawns were not maintained, fences fell over in disrepair (with exposed rusty nails and children around), landscaping died from the sprinkler system ceasing to function (and not being repaired), safety lights burt out and were not replaced, yards flooded because of unkept gutters, trees were not pruned, amongst a litany of other problems. I cannot specifically comment as to why, but the property owners hired a separate part-time property manager to act as the go between for tenants and Acadian, and to follow up with Acadian to make sure basic maintenance was being done on the apartments. I speculate that our property owners were horrified by the deteriorating conditions of the properties and the way their tenants were being treated. On a personal level, my experiences with Acadian were the worst interactions I have had in my adult life. The animosity I was greeted with by the staff left me speechless. I went into their office to address an issue in an adult and professional manner, and quite frankly I was so angry and hurt by the way I was treated afterwards I sat in my car and cried. This experience is from 2007, and our property owners have since "relieved Acadian as their property management company". I would strongly recommend against property owners and renters using Acadian. All property management companies are going to have some disgruntled clients, but the complaints against Acadian are a refection of their intrinsic dysfunction, poor business practices, and lack of respect for their customers. —MarieBoisvert
2008-04-01 16:33:34 I wonder if they just have difficulties with students versus adults in terms of renting houses? My fiance rented a house through them back in 2001 and had some mold problems...severe mold problems...they came out a few days later and fixed it by scraping it out and putting a fan in front of the wall to dry the mold (not the most sanitary, but it worked). Upon move-out someone bought the house from the owner and unbenownst to Acadian this owner came in and tore up the entire house. Luckily Acadian couldn't do anything and gave them their entire deposit back...he was a student then. We are currently in the process of signing a lease with Acadian and have not had any problems with them thus far. I won't hold my breath, but anytime you live in a college town there is a huge difference with how students are treated and respected over adults who don't live off of student loans. Trust me, I have been there and done that, so I do understand. But, so far everything has gone very smoothly. Who knows, maybe I will be on here in six months complaining, but so far they have kept their appointment times, been friendly on the phone, helped us right away when turning in an application (we had it all together upon walking into their office), and called us two days later to sign our lease. Everyone in the office has been really friendly and helpful. You can tell that the office staff have been beaten down by dealing with disgruntled tenants...but I can understand that too. It worries me to hear all these negative comments but people are far more apt to speak out when things are bad rather than good...go figure:-) —BEMLVR
I think if you had seen the post before yours you wouldn't raise that question. It doesn't matter if you are a student or not, you are paying the rent, everyone student or non-student should receive a good service. Look at other DavisWiki articles and you will see whe in fact, there is something good about a business, people do speak out. KevinW
2008-04-24 12:42:38 I had made an appointment to see the 1-bedroom at Aspen Terrace place on Wakeforest Dr. next week, I was wondering if anyone had lived at there and could give me their inputs/suggestions? —Teresa85
2008-06-03 7:46:00 I've been renting apartments for 8 years. I am not a young and inexperienced tenant, who is incapable of being polite but firm with college town rental agencies or being proactive about maintenance issues. Acadian is the worst rental agency I have ever dealt with either as a student or as a professional. I lived in one Acadian property as a subletter and it was a typical college town slumlord property (stained carpets, garage torn up by the previous tenants' dogs, cockroaches, non-functional oven, barely functional "central air", etc). At that time (2002-2003) Acadian seemed to be only be about property neglect (which honestly is pretty typical), and was only moderately surly in my communications with them. I left that duplex with a good portion of my safety deposit snatched away from me to clean carpets, replace blinds, and other things they probably aren't allowed to charge for. However, at that point they were only the 2nd or 3rd worst rental agency I have experienced. Later in my time at Davis (Winter 2007) I found a very cute Victorian house that had been divided into apartments and managed by Acadian. It even had hardwood floors (rare in Davis!), a really nice shared garden, and at least one super cool neighbor! I was thrilled to take over the last few months of a graduating student's lease and rent happily until I finished my doctorate. When I filled out my application I was told that their system for processing credit histories was down and it would take longer than usual. I nodded and headed off to a much needed vacation with family back East. After about two weeks, I called their office and dealt with a very rude and defensive woman who told me I was being pushy and that there were many applications ahead of mine to process. I told her that seemed fair, and reminded her that my move in date was quickly approaching. I called again a week later, and had a similar but more strained phone call. A week later, which was about one week before my move-in date, I got answering machines from 9-4 (West Coast time). I left several polite but honestly pushy messages as I was getting a bit nervous about having a place to live. I called right at 5PM and had a blow-up conversation in which I was informed that they still hadn't run my credit history and that Acadian did not wish to house me. Yes, I cried a lot and many hours of roadrunner cartoons were needed before I could face the world again. The Davis housing market is certainly not as tight as it was in the past, but finding housing a week before moving in is just not possible. Not only did I loose my application fee and have to sleep on couches for a while, but the apartment I did find was $300 more dollars a month in rent! However, I'm happy as I narrowly escaped a truly miserable lease situation. —Susan
2008-06-28 17:27:14 I would not recommend this company. When I moved in to my apartment, it was absolutely filthy, with dirt and grease all over the walls and bits of food stuck to the wall. Numerous things were broken in the apartment (though all apartments supposedly go through thorough checks and repairs before one moves in). It took months to get these things fixed. The company is good at taking your money but lousy on making the places livable. —jsg718
2008-06-28 17:49:02 How is this place still in business? —SunjeetBaadkar
2008-07-09 23:20:24 I too had a horrible experience with Acadian. To make a long story short, I took them to small claims court over normal wear and tear on 5 year old carpet that was never properly replaced. I'd highly suggest you avoid this management company. —MaraDog
2008-07-11 19:29:21 I went in to their office today, basically ready to put down a deposit on anything near campus. To make a long story short, I asked to put a deposit down, and submit my application before seeing the apartment. It was the location I was looking for, and they accepted dogs. At this time of the year, it was enough for me to want to put down a 3 day refundable deposit. . The 'Senior Vice President' Joseph Shaw said, "That is a stupid idea. Why on Earth would you do that?" I replied, "Well, the fact that you accept dogs, and the apartment is across the street from school is enough for me." He said how it was a stupid idea again. I asked him why they would not allow me to submit my application for the apartment. (What would he have said if I were an international student?!? ) He refused to tell me why they would not allow me to apply for the unit before seeing it, and told me that I should leave because he doesn't need me for business!! At this point I felt as if he was more than just being rude, he was becoming aggressive. I asked him why he wanted me to leave, and told me how embarrassing it would be for me if he were to call the cops. Then he said if I didn't leave, he would make me leave. I said to go ahead and try putting your hands on me, and the other male working there stood up, as if he was getting ready to fight me too. WE CAME VARY CLOSE TO FIGHTING. I gave in (I was out numbered 2-1, plus I wanted to set a good example for my dog) and told them I would leave. But before I would leave I wanted the owners name and phone number so I could call them, and tell them how their Senior VP treats clients who want to rent from their company. He told me to take their card, and notice that the last names are the same! HE IS THEIR SON! It all made sense now!! How else could this prick keep this kind of job??? Threatening to fight me when I want to put a deposit down, and rent from him!!! I am 100% for small business', especially family owned and operated ones, but this company makes me hate big business that much less. IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR SOUL....DO NOT EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!! —Lola
2008-07-17 10:42:31 dang, I was about to consider this place because of the cheap price and stuff, but after reading u guys' comments, no thanks haha, thanks for saving me from this mess, guys haha. —Tokie
2008-07-19 18:53:01 What can I say? They are bad about returning phone calls and now we have to get receipts because they mysteriously didn't get one of our rent checks on time. We had to get someone outside Acadian to fix our sprinkler because they never got around to it. Only 2 of the phone jacks in the house worked when we moved in, so when the DSL people came to help us get internet, they actually fixed all the jacks for us. —themichelle
2008-07-21 17:17:49 Apparently, they're only pet-friendly on their own terms. They will not rent to you if you own a scary breed of dog, like dobies, rotties, and german shepherds. I realize that some breeds aren't allowed because of Homeowner's Insurance policies, but Acadian applies this ban across the board. Once I mentioned the type of dog I had, they weren't interested in helping me any further. After reading all the above comments, I thanked my dog profusely for saving me from this company. —MichellePalmer
2008-07-21 18:48:07 Add my name to the list of people who have had horrible experiences with Acadian. I was a tenant from 2006-2007. Early on in the year, when I first started my lease, I submitted a list of repairs that needed to be made — clogged drain, moldy door, and closet doors that didn't slide. Nothing too difficult to fix. However, months later, they still hadn't made any attempt to repair the place. In fact, it got worse, as their foundation repairs caused several cracks in the floor, walls, and ceiling. When I asked about it, they said that they had never received a repair request, even though I had written the repair request in person at their office months ago. So I wrote up the repair request again. This time, when I submitted it, I asked someone from the staff there to sign a receipt that they had received my request for repairs. This is where things got freaky. They refused to sign it, and acted indignant that I would even question their ability to repair their properties in a timely manner. He raised his voice so that I could not get a word in, when I countered in a louder voice, the staffer called me a "madman", and asked me to leave else he would call the police. As such, I left, unable to even drop off my request for a repair.
After that, I had to do all of my business with them by registered mail with return receipt, so that they wouldn't conveniently lose documents as they had in the past. This way, I could also avoid arrest at the hands of people I had a legitimate business interest with. By mail, I demanded that the property be repaired within two weeks, else I would terminate the lease. They complied, but not without sending a letter threatening legal action if the lease was ended prematurely, and lying about the behavior of their own employees. At Acadian, the customer is always wrong.
All in all, given all of the other comments on this page, I believe that crucifixion would be too good of a fate for these slumlords. —BrentLaabs
2008-07-23 16:16:17 HOPE FOR DISGRUNTLED ACADIAN RESIDENTS: We too had an unacceptable percentage of our security deposit withheld. We wrote a letter detailing the condition in which we found the house, the condition in which we left it, and the negligence of Acadian throughout the time of our lease. We specified the amount of money we were demanding, and we threatened legal action. We didn't hear anything for about a month, but then received a CHECK from Acadian returning almost $500 more of our deposit. It wasn't the total sum we had demanded, but it we felt we had won a small battle. —DavisKid84
2008-08-16 12:15:57 I knew acadian has a bad rap, but I signed a lease to live with some friends. A note on pests: They changed the pest section in the lease, FYI, and I was told by the desk people that "if you notice a pest problem, try to remedy it yourself first (with Raid, etc.) and if it doesn't clear up, come back and tell us it did not clear up itself." (But roaches don't clear up with raid, or a nuclear bomb for that matter). My current managers (I won't disclose which apartment) told me a gel should be used, which is carried back to the nest to kill them all. The manager said her daughter rented a house with acadian and they simply caulked the holes where they were coming out (NOT the solution). I'm hoping pest problems through this property management will improve somewhat because of this lease alteration. —MattWright
2008-08-25 12:05:25 As bad as my experience was, I'm amazed to see comments detailing Joe threatening people with phone calls to the police or PHYSICAL VIOLENCE from himself! Acadian is a malicious business! Why the hell are they still slumming people over and getting away with it?
I'll say it again: if you do have the unfortunate experience of living in an Acadian property, take dated photographs of EVERYTHING. At the end of the year when I received a fraction of my security deposit back - with the most ridiculous price estimates I've ever seen attached ($95 for paint touch-ups? $200 for shampooing the carpets? What?) - my family and I sent them a very politely-written letter saying that we had documented everything during the move-in and the move-out and now have a collection of photos showing the state of the apartment. Without having to send even one photo, we were returned the full deposit (very surprising, I know). My opinion is, Acadian is an old slumlord business; they operate through lies and deceit, and if they can get away with it, they win.... like a troupe of gypsies that set up a shop in town rather than continuing their nomadic life. The moment that someone brings a legitimate counter-argument to their table, they fold their cards. My guess is they hold back almost everyone's deposits, thinking that they are just students and won't bother to contest it (or will be unable to contest through lack of evidence).
Another thing I found a little confusing.... their "late charges" come and go on a whim. I was being charged nearly constantly for late fees, but there was one time where a "late fee" was supposed to exist and it magically disappeared on it's own. Like someone said earlier, such late fees are illegal and should not be paid at all. Frankly, I think Joe will just tack on an extra "late fee" every month or so just to squeeze a little bit more cash out of the tenants. But apparently he doesn't have the brain to keep up with it, cuz he'd threaten me with them one day and then forget it the next. What an idiot mama's boy.
P.S. Where did the "slumlord" link go on this page? You can't tell me someone actually removed it? This business is the very DEFINITION of slumlord! Please, advertise this company in THE WORST way possible! Do other people a FAVOR and ward them away from this sinkhole of a business. —Chronoz
2008-08-29 14:37:06 DO NOT RENT FROM ACADIAN. When I moved to Davis I didn't know better (and also sort of had no choice), but I would go WAY out of my way to never rent from them again. I have lived in an Acadian property for the last year, and stopped by their office today to get a copy of my lease to submit for residency purposes. They looked through their records, and although they did have a copy of my application, they had no copy of my lease. I told them very politely that I was 100% sure I had signed my lease (really - who doesn't sign their lease???), and they said obviously I didn't sign it, because if I had signed it, they would have it. Then they said that if I had indeed been living in that apartment for the last year then I had been illegally occupying it.
Seriously?? They lose a piece of paper and I am illegally occupying my apartment?
I knew that I had submitted a copy of my lease to the USE Credit Union for address verification when I first moved to Davis, so I went by to see if they still had it on file. Unfortunately, USE only keeps records of address verification documents for 6 months - so again, no copy of the lease. They did, however, have a signed and dated document stating that they received address verification - IN THE FORM OF A LEASE AGREEMENT - when I opened my account. I am hoping that I can submit that and other supporting documents for residency purposes, but if I were depending on Acadian to have the basic competency to keep up with the documentation of who is currently occupying their apartments, I would be screwed. If for some reason you are unable to avoid renting with them, please do yourself a favor and make multiple copies of everything. Obviously they can't even keep up with a lease, and I can honestly say that I have never had any person affiliated with any business be so rude to me in my life. —shosha
2008-09-09 19:20:47 It's hard to believe that such an enterprise exists in quiet, little Davis. BEWARE: Acadian Properties is the Davis equivalent of North Korea. You will always be wrong or a liar. You are supposedly the one who doesn't understand or obey the laws of the state. You will lack any valid (or useful) information on where you are living. They will talk down to and intimidate customers who bring up complaints. Dissenters and those asking questions will be (verbally) crushed or simply exiled.
Prior to moving into an Acadian administered house (and about a week before my lease was to actually begin) I went into their office to address particular issues I had with the house. I had been told that "pigs" lived in the house before me and driving by the house pretty much everyday I saw that even though the previous tenants had moved out, there had seemed to be little work done on actually cleaning up the place. I was assured that the same standards that I would be held to when I vacated would apply to the previous residents and that the house would be clean, not to mention habitable, upon moving in. All lies.
The number of issues with the housed were numerous and ranged from serious Civil and Health and Safety Code violations such as roof rat infestation, exposed and dangerous electrical wiring, and dry rot to the backyard's decor with its copious supply of beer cans, soda bottles, and straight up trash bags hidden in the bushes (each full of their own wonderful surprises). It also seemed like the place was barely even cleaned when the previous tenants left (despite promises to the contrary). The whole front of the house needed to be power washed, the floors were sticky and in some spots clearly had gum and dried vomit (seriously). The kitchen as first glanced appeared to be clean, despite all of the broken tile on the counter. Moving the kitchen appliances quickly revealed that the cleaning was quick and superficial. Trees and foliage were overgrown and in need of maintenance and one of the bathrooms was absolutely disgusting; complete with cracked mirror, inoperable electrical, and an odd red, sticky, mess on the tore up linoleum. Eventually, I went to city hall to check out any previous code violations and read about permits that had been previously issued. Although Acadian vehemently denied it I'm certain that some modifications in the garage were illegally done with no permits.
I decided within a few days that to pursue the normal channels of repair request would have not brought the house up to acceptable or habitable conditions anytime soon. I documented every violation with photos and referenced exactly which code particular conditions violated. After some good research (the links on the page were a great starting point!) I went into their office one morning and announced my intention to vacate the premisis and demanded to be removed from the lease as well as the return of my security deposit as allowed under Civil Code 1942. After practically one full day of being told different answer and verbal arguments it was clear they didn't want any trouble and released me from the contract. As they put it "you don't want to be there, and we don't want you there."
If you are having ANY problems with Acadian do not hesitate for a moment to exercise your legal rights as provided by the California State Legislature as well as rulings by the California Supreme Court.
While you may be temped to go in screaming my advice: Be as professional as possible, but also extremely firm. The moment they say something is going to happen, demand that it be in writing. They will change their story as quickly as its said. Be prepared with knowledge of the law and be able to outsmart them at all costs and you will get what you want. Check out the City of Davis' Building Division at city hall where you can look up past permits and code violations. Let them know you mean business otherwise they're just going to fuck you in all the worst ways.
2008-09-10 12:02:24 I'm in the middle of a dispute with them right now, I will post to tell everyone how it went. In the meantime, I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I urge everyone to file one as well if you had a problem with anything they did or didn't do, even if its just a customer service issue. There are no complaints against them at this point and it would be great if we didn't allow them to be BBB certified. It's also a good way to warn future tenants that don't visit this page. —rebeccap Keep us posted after the fact! (makes me want to find the itemized bill which I have still sealed and it came postmarked past the 31 days they have to tell you what deductions they make...) —StevenDaubert
2008-09-30 17:44:03 F*CK this company and everyone who works for them, they all are just terrible, inconsiderate and should be told to go F*ck themselves, not joking. Joe is an asshole, My mom had some questions about the parental financial support form and I asked if he could talk to her for a sec and he said "I don't want to talk to your mom dude." This guy is just so unprofessional and such dumb f*ck. ONCE YOU GET YOUR DEPOSIT BACK PLEASE PLEASE GO IN THEIR OFFICE AND TELL THEM TO GO FUCK THEMSELVES THEY NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET A REALITY CHECK ON WHAT A CUSTOMER IS AND HOW BUSINESS WORKS. —socrates7
2008-10-04 11:22:51 This is by far the worst place to rent from and now they've added automated messages that are as useless as the staff. My experience so far, past 2 months, have been horrible. They take forever in fixing the smallest things in the apartment, even when asked to put a doorstop on a bedroom door...they came in and added doorstops to random doors that don't even need them. We moved in and our microwave wasn't functioning, which wasn't fixed until a month later. I am fully regretting signing a lease and anticipate on fully building a case with whom ever is interested in getting them shut down. —TY3
2008-10-04 16:08:30 It is the nature of their business that people will hate them. —NickSchmalenberger
Perhaps, but it is not the nature of their business that they should be universally despised. I've rented in many places in Davis, some of them somewhat slummy, but none were so deplorable as Acadian's place. Their unique combination of low-quality facilities, high-cost rent, lackadaisical repair schedule, ghastly customer service, and habitual loss of important documents makes them the paradigm of a poor landlord. —BrentLaabs
2008-10-04 16:46:44 Sweetmonkeyfeathers...someone needs to put these people out of business... —SunjeetBaadkar
