GREENSBORO, N.C. — Kaela Barnes use to dread coming home. The apartment she lived in was smelly, falling apart, and always having issues.
“It was disgusting, I mean disgusting,” Barnes said.
The issues started with a faulty hot water heater and a plumbing problem with one of the toilets. The hot water heater leaked, and the toilet would often overflow.
“Water would get all over here, (hallway) and run down into the living room,” Barnes said.
Management would send a maintenance person to fix the issue and clean up the mess, but it would break a few weeks later. Giant fans were placed in the apartment to dry the carpets, but Barnes said they were never cleaned.
“No matter how often I cleaned there was no bringing this home back to life,” Barnes said.
Water from constant flooding damaged the baseboards and drywall by the bathroom and hot water heater. There was mold around the hot water heater where it continued to leak.
Barnes said she would also have to constantly jiggle the handle on another toilet so it would shut off and not constantly run.
After trying to get management to resolve the issue for a few months with no real success, Barnes reached out to News 2.
Barnes sent us an email explaining the issues and letting us know the carpet had been waiting for the toilet to overflow for 35 days. Barnes said she and her roommate would often have to clean up the water themselves because no one would come out in a reasonable time frame.
“The house had an awful smell regardless of how many candles or anything I used, it smelled awful,” Barnes said.
A few days after Barnes reached out to us, we spoke with a manager on-site and contacted the corporate office. The manager told us he would get someone out to the apartment soon and investigate the ongoing issues. A representative with the corporate office also told us it would speak with the manager on-site and investigate.
It took a few weeks but someone from the corporate office did reach out to us about the issues Barnes was having. They had decided to move Barnes into a newly renovated unit at no extra cost.
“Very satisfied, but it took you (News 2), you did this,” Barnes said.
On this morning, Barnes was making breakfast in her new apartment and the only smell was coming from the kitchen where Barnes was making sausage and eggs.
The new apartment is working out well, Barnes has not had any issues since moving in.