WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Madison McCormick and her boyfriend were excited to move into their new Winston-Salem apartment. The complex seemed nice, and the unit appeared to be clean and quiet.
“At the beginning, everything was fine,” McCormick said.
There were a few small issues during the first five months but nothing unusual, and it was always addressed quickly.
“The maintenance people were great about fixing things in a timely manner,” McCormick said.
Air Conditioning issues and more
About six months into the lease, a few bigger issues started popping up, and maintenance wasn’t as quick to respond.
The first major issue -- the AC unit went out. The system was down a few days before a maintenance worker was able to fix it.
The system seemed to be working fine but after returning from a trip, McCormick realized it had broken again.
“It was 92 degrees outside and 82 degrees in the apartment,” McCormick said.
The repairs apparently were not done properly. McCormick tells News 2 the maintenance team used a sealant on one of the pipes that eventually gave way.
“I had called and asked them to send a licensed air conditioning repair person instead of the typical unit maintenance person,” McCormick said.
The office manager was apparently unable to get authorization to have a licensed technician come out to repair it. About five days went by until the maintenance person again tried to make the necessary repairs.
“I was not happy about that,” McCormick said.
Ant infestation, water leaking from ceiling, hole in the shower
It seemed to be a snowball of problems after that. There was an ant infestation despite paying for pest control. Water started to leak from the ceiling in one of the rooms and a pipe behind their shower needed fixing. Once fixed, a sizeable hole was left in the shower just below the faucet where they accessed the faulty pipe.
“I wanted to terminate the lease, I wanted out of the lease,” McCormick said.
To terminate the lease, McCormick was told she would have to give 60 days’ notice and pay a $1,000 early termination fee. After being given the news by the property manager, McCormick reached out to the corporate office.
“That led to a phone tree that didn’t pick up,” McCormick said.
Call For Action steps in
She also contacted News 2. Our Call for Action Team tried to reach the corporate office as well. We were able to speak with a representative at the corporate office and explain the situation. The representative told us it would investigate and get back with us shortly.
It didn’t take long before we were notified by the corporate office that it would allow McCormick to break the lease and only pay a partial termination fee.
“I really appreciate all you did and all WFMY did to help,” McCormick said.
After moving from the apartment, McCormick and her boyfriend bought a house, so now, they don’t have to wait on an apartment maintenance person if something breaks.