Dealing with The Lodge of Overland Park apartment complex has been an absolute nightmare. It may not be a 5-star worthy complex, but that does not constitute the behavior by the staff. As a former tenant, I had the unfortunate experience of being talked to in a demeaning and condescending manner on every occasion involving a staff member, with the exceptions of our complex tour and our lease-signing day. My roommate and I are pleasant, kind, respectful people who always paid our bills on time, and yet somehow the staff seemed to think we deserved a rude response to every question we had.

The month we were to move out, December 2009, we paid rent on December 1. In this complex, tenants go into the main office to hand over a check combined with rent and the previous month's utility bill. Upon arriving and asking what amount we should pay that month, the woman working gave us a number that was astronomically higher than anything we previously had. Asking about it, she corrected herself, and gave us a more reasonable number. I then mentioned we were moving out on December 15 and asked if rent was supposed to be prorated. The woman working said yes, and gave us that number. I wrote the check, handed it to her, and it was later cashed. When I inquired about December 1-15's utility bill, she said it would be sent to our forwarding address for us to pay.

Fast forward to the beginning of January. We had yet to get a utilities bill, and to be on the safe side since we were aware of the complex's problems with disorganization, made repeated attempts to contact any staff member to inquire about it. The phone would either ring and ring, or we would leave a message only to have no response. Finally, after six weeks, we succeeded in speaking with C. She rudely told us we owed $1, 000+. After asking her to double-check, she then said we owed $420 because we had only paid some of December's rent.

My roommate and I had to travel back to Overland Park (we now live 7 and 4 hours away, respectively) to get this straightened out. We explained that when we paid December's rent, the woman working at the time assured us the last month's rent was to be prorated, and we had just been waiting for a utilities bill (that never came.) This current woman, C, said the first woman was wrong, and now we owed $125 in late fees, in addition to the rest of December's rent plus utilities.

This complaint isn't about the money; it's about the unprofessional staff. If someone is working for you and is handling tenant money, he/she should know the proper procedures, no exceptions. I realize we should have gotten the supposed prorated go-ahead in writing, but when you move into a place, you are trusting the staff knows what they're doing. The fact that they broke that trust and never once apologized for the mistake, never once tried to make it right, STILL charged us $95 in late fees, just goes to prove how they really don't care about customer service and their tenants. It really is a shame; I will no longer recommend this apartment complex to anyone.