RentCafe Resident Reviews

by Noemi719

We called last Friday the 17th for a work order about our toilet! We were told that because we have a second bathroom it is not considered a priority right now! I kind of understand that if they are busy but in the same time we are paying for a two bedroom two bathroom with my husband! I saw this morning that someone from the office I assume went ahead and canceled our work order! I took screen shot of it! I went on our app and put in a new work order! This time it says that the work has been completed, we have not left the apartment with my husband all day and no one came to fix anything so I don’t understand how is a work completed when no one came and did anything with it! That toilet has been clogged and we brought it to their attention the day that we moved in, who ever was cleaning the apartment was flushing all kinds of stuff and she told us that our toilet is clogged! I just want to talk to the manager Kim or be contacted and have our work order finally done! The only reason that I gave a one start is for the poor communication skills, I work in customer service as well and if anyone is paying for the service that I provide, I work for a restaurant then I am going to make sure that everything is well done! Thank you and hope to hear back soon!

by Cobalt Wraith

Besides a mandatory change from an all white theme to an all black them, the latest update does seem to have added quick links to a number of helpful features. Still hoping for an iPad version of RentCafeResident so I can use a real keyboard when making reports. If development ever moves forward on that an expanded events/community view would be nice as well.

Edit: So I went to use the “Give Feedback” link on RentCafeResident to suggest the aforementioned iPad improvements and another feature. All I got in response was a dialogue that said “Was our app helpful?” with thumbs up and thumbs down options and not so much as a “we got your response”, much less a place to leave comments, after clicking one of them. Really? You should look at the AppStore as an example of how to do feedback, as even just clicking the 1-5 star rating bar provides a brief visual response. Hopefully you take comments more seriously than that, but all I have at this point is the option to reduce my rating and hope somebody cares. The suggestion I attempted to leave through RentCafeResident was an option to sync upcoming community events to a personal calendar. I now have to add the suggestion of implementing an actual feedback feature, since the one currently in place might as well not be there.

by Who Would If Thought

Received letter of renewal or not on Wednesday May 27,2020 and had up until Sunday May 31, 2020 (office closed) to notify if I will be renewing my lease that will expired July 31,2020. I took notification letter on June 3rd 2020 to notify and I was charged $198 to be deducted from my deposit. I felt that was not enough time to decide to stay after reviewing my finances to see if I can afford to continue to live there. No I cold not. Note : one year my rent went up $200 to meet location amount for the area and still living on one of the original not remodeled apts. To transfer to a remodeled apt was another charge. I Took keys to office to do final inspection for my exit and was told No One was available and was to give them a 2 day in advance notice to schedule a walkthrough. Me having rented before elsewhere that a walkthrough was mandatory at the time you return keys to exit and no notice was ever given. I was given a paper to sign over the keys and was told that’s it. I asked when to expect my deposit she said it will take up to 30 days and I will be notified about the exit when they do the walk through in 15 days. My 6 yrs of being a resident was on the Balcony with the water view is where I found Peace for my stay. So Long Apt C407.

by BEWARE - BEWARE

Maintenance Team is horrible. During the hottest days we’ve had this summer, above 93 degrees my A/C unit has been broken. First time I called maintenance manager was very unprofessional, rude, and didn’t provide any assistance. Waited overnight which my apartment literally felt like hell- I was miserable. Maintenance team didn’t provide any alternatives (fan, portable A/C) or anything. Three days later A/C stopped working again and the other maintenance individual was just as rude they have more units than mine and complex is big. I attempted to contact the rental office at 5:15 which office hours are 9am-5:30pm and they always leave office early so no resolution can be given. I filled a complaint with BBB and after this will file a complaint with PG County housing commission. During this weird time in society my rent is paid on time and I have to suffer through hot days because of the incompetence of maintenance and office staff. I am requesting the contact information for corporate to further my complaint.
PLEASE BEWARE IF YOU THINK ABOUT RENTING HERE......,.......

by Ldesilv

I use to be able to put work orders in. I just went to the Apple Store to see if I need a new or update my Rent Cafe App. I can no longer put a work in! The A/C in my daughters room, and the central AC that is in the living room and my bedroom does not work, the master bedroom toilet is not working, The hall light is not working, they just finished cleaning outside of my windows as I’m on the bottom floor in the decay on the top of the bathroom in the master bedroom was letting Rivermoor and chowder House by the hundreds, that is not fixed, it flooded because it’s essentially see in the apartment and the rug is not back inside of the mask bedroom the entranceway and The closet doors slide they were taken off to put in stuff to fix the flood now and cannot use any of the doors in both bedrooms in the hallway there is approximately 10 hours, so I am living in the house that Jack built nothing is fixed and I have no way to put it in the rain to Café should contact me and explain to me how to use it because I can’t figure it out I need to get my two friends, I asked the maintenance guy that works here how do use it he had no clue that. I don’t know what happened this out east to be good now piece of junk.

by Dragons Reign Strongest

So Bellevue apartments now has new ownership which no one was notified about last January when they took over with no usual way for renters to pay their rent so ppl were left scrambling to adapt to pay their rent then they charged late fees for that since I was now late paying rent knowing that I had never paid my rent late before in all the months prior to me living here, my lease is now up and new offer is with a mandatory charge of $25. Cable which I have my own full package cable and mandatory renters insurance of $15. Of which I also have my own personal renters insurance with my insurance company now this I find extremely ridiculous and unfair since I cannot have 2 insurances nor can I bill 2 different companies should something god forbids happens so why will I pay 2 different companies that’s not even legal to begin with and a waste of hard earned money this to me is not ok at all and quite disappointing and as a good renter who not only takes care of their apartment as if it was my own but pays rent without lag and the people around me I find and have to come to the conclusion that good renters are not valued at Bellevue towers at all

by Chris_beckham

So my apartments were bought by a new management company who decided to not accept any form of payment except through RentCafeResident. The old app had security features where it verified that your bank account was added successfully by charging you a penny and refunding it back. RentCafeResident has nothing if the sort. There was an issue with my bank account and all I was sent was an email saying it had been added successfully. I paid rent through RentCafeResident and got a notice and email from rentcafe saying thank you for payment from RentCafeResident and thought nothing of it until I received a call from my apartments 5 days later asking if I intended to pay rent. I told them I had and had a receipt only to find out that RentCafeResident had bounced my check due to the bank account issue and charged me a late fee and bounced check fee. All of this despite the receipt of payment it gave me and the messages of successfully adding account.
TLDR: RentCafeResident needs security features and I learned the hard way that it didn’t and lost $180 in fees on payments it said were successful.

by Rktca

One of the big problems with RentCafeResident is that it is enforced by landlords rather than requested by renters.

There’s a service fee every time I pay my rent. This fee is in addition to saving the landlord money that they would spend processing stuff manually. So basically I am paying for the privilege of saving my landlord money. What? When I was having my banks send a check automatically every month I never had any fees. I don’t have any options here so why am I paying a fee?

The interface to make a service call is awful and doesn’t allow for any sort of updates or communication with the landlord. I have repeatedly been forced to email my landlord in addition to creating the rent café request because the communication is so poor. Again this is required by the landlord but provides absolutely no value to me as a renter. In fact it reduces value because I have to manage the crappy app and the poor communications which I didn’t previously have to do.

Looking at the ratings on RentCafeResident Store I notice that they have nothing to do with RentCafeResident , but with rental property and landlords.

I feel like the company that makes RentCafeResident should stop pretending like there’s a community of users who really like using RentCafeResident . It’s nonsense. Your customer is the landlords not the end-users. We are simply forced to use this thing with no other option. If I had an option I would choose not to use rent cafe.

by Trace.mr

You’ve got to be joking with the speed performance of RentCafeResident. I ran a stopwatch to test exactly how long RentCafeResident takes to load. After putting in my credentials and hitting the sign in button, it takes OVER A MINUTE just to load the contents of home page, both on my wifi and on cellular. But then, I’m stuck with a loading icon next to my settings page, so I can’t even access my settings for god knows how long. So I have to close RentCafeResident and open it again because the settings won’t load, and then I’m sitting there for another 3 minutes just waiting to be able to use RentCafeResident . It’s ridiculous. Other than this serious issue, RentCafeResident is good, but for the love of god please optimize your app. I’m just trying to pay my rent here.
UPDATE: Lord don’t even get me started on once you try to actually PAY the rent, I’ve still been sitting here for minutes with a loading icon on the “make a payment” page.
UPDATE #2: “Application error. An error has occurred, please try again later.” If the support response is going to be “We’re sorry! A lot of people are currently using RentCafeResident to pay rent at the moment, so the system is a bit congested!” Then maybe this company shouldn’t be trying to run an app that thousands of people are trying to use to pay their rent if their systems aren’t even ready for it.

by Taner.K.30

I want to like RentCafeResident, but I’m giving it a ”below average“ rating because there’s no way to schedule automatic payments, and I see no way to get in contact with tech support. The interface is nice and simple, and the features are nice, except for these two issues I mentioned. Unfortunately, setting up autopay is one of the main reasons to use RentCafeResident, so I give it 2 stars. If they had a way to log a bug in RentCafeResident , I’d give RentCafeResident 3 stars, and if it had a functioning autopay, I’d give it 5.

Description of autopay bug:

I open RentCafeResident using touch id and then click the “Autopay” button. I click the “+” button and then click “Share with roommates.” I click the “Add” button to add my portion of rent, and then enter all details. I enter a start date in the future and an end date a few days after my lease is up. I click “confirm setup” and then review and click “Setup Autopay.” When I do this, it return an error saying “please enter a start date,” despite already doing so. The information tab at the bottom of the page even displays the first time the payment would go through.

by SaveTrees,NoMorePaperNotesPlz!

The resident app is certainly useful for maintenance request however it is extremely under utilized. For example, there should be a direct messaging feature or at least a notification feature that lets the resident know that a maintenance provider has started the requested maintenance and likewise a follow up message to confirm the issue is completed or still in progress (I.e.- updates on progress) further more there should be a direct message feature that allows the maintenance provider to let the resident know that he/she is at the home to initiate a review of the issue as these homes have no door bells and it is next to impossible to be clear of a knock on the door when upstairs. Additionally, office notifications should be sent via RentCafeResident as opposed to the ridiculous paper notes that are left on the front door. I for one rarely use my front door, thus can easily miss the notification letter whereas if the message was sent directly to my phone via RentCafeResident notification feature, it would just be more efficient and less annoying. I really hope that my feedback is taken into consideration. Thank you.

by 2780Y

Well, Here I am back writing another review, this time for te maintenace guys. I have to say big thanks to the head of the maintenance; last week found that my water heater was not working in the hard way, ready to take a shower before bed... the water was cold😬, so next day I called the office and ask for somebody to come out and check, new guys came in (it was the first time I see them in the community)and foud the tank was broken... he nicely explained it to me and mention "problably I will have to wait until they can get a new one, a day maybe?"... they left and the maintenance boss came in checked it and say, " just let me see what I can do"... he left my apt and after what?, 10, 15 min they were back with a NEW ONE ready to install!. In less than an hour they resolved my situation! I want to say, Thank you for being so diligent and helping me with that matter. I am very satisfy with my comunity and the service of the maintenace team, thanks to the new guy, they knew what they were doing, and the boss, Thank you, thank you!. Like always Kim helping me if any problemm and every body else there, Jenny, Cedrick, Thank you from my heart for keeping me loving my place....MY HOME!!.

by Kikinina

Funny how these low star people are reviewing the apartments they live in and not the functionality of RentCafeResident that is used by many different properties. 🍎 & 🍊people! Those complaints should go to the property management as well as the praise for maintenance and their employees. Not on an APP review where they won’t see it. 🤦‍♀️ I just can’t anymore with people having NO Common Sense. Rant over.
Back to RentCafeResident review.
Requesting service through RentCafeResident has been easy. Paying rent through RentCafeResident has been a breeze. First of the month, Wake up. Open app. Pay rent. Done ✅
Yes, RentCafeResident has had a hiccup or two with connectivity, but what app hasn’t in this ever evolving world of technology. Management of my specific building was aware and sent out acknowledgment. ✌️

by ACmcool

Honestly, whatever I need to have done for maintenance, gets addressed pretty quickly. They have called before even when they needed clarification on something for any work order I’ve put. The transition of information from posting your own bulletins for whatever personal use, to addressing any common area needs are pretty reliable. It’s an easy app and all the need to know numbers are there too. So it’s not bad. I can’t give a reason not to give 5 stars. So it’s pretty good. Although I could say that the documents section for the resident could be a little more user friendly. At times if you need to sign any amendments to
your contracts or anything else, sometimes it redirects you to the site through a web browser, and sometimes the information that you sign doesn’t update right away so it makes you have to redo it again at a later time for whatever reason. But other than that, it does what it’s intended for.

by C Shabazz

Rental agents Celeste, Sterling, and the other lady...oops can’t think of her name at the moment are all warm and accommodating professionals always courteous and genuine✅
Despite the dense population of residents, vehicles and construction it is a tranquil quiet community✅
Maintenance requests are responded to same day or next day. The head of maintenance is like a southern military man: top flight, clean cut, and hands on.✅
Package deliveries are placed in individually secured boxes so there’s no missed items✅
Soundproofing is on point. I do not hear neighbors anything: walking, talking, loud movies or music, dogs etc. It’s uber quiet.✅
The move in special is terrific. I got 3 month concession so I treated myself to new luxurious furnishings/rugs for this new beautiful unit and paid my renewal auto policy in full✅
After touring my friends to the luxurious clubhouse and fitness area and pool, My friends teens want to leave their homes and live with me✅
Mailboxes are inside building so no going out in bad weather to get the mail✅
Valet trash is Sunday thru Thursdays✅
Now parking is roomy but the spaces fill quickly.
I seriously dislike High Efficiency washing machines but it beats going out to do the wash.
With the cold weather setting in you can probably get a nice promotion.
Tell the agent C Shabazz recommended a tour.

by MP Resident

As a resident of the Residences of Springfield Station I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Ms Gisele Thema, Asst. Comm. Mgr. I had the pleasure of interacting with Ms Thema on my recent lease renewal. My interactions with other apartment mgmt staff at other apartments were cold, unapproachable and/or just lacked the willingness to talk to or assist you. My experience with Ms Thema was just the opposite. I found Ms Thema to be extremely professional, communicative, and very customer friendly. During my lease renewal Ms Thema routinely kept me informed via email as to the status of my request. In a matter of days Ms Thema provided me a favorable response to my renewal request and personally handled and expedited my lease renewal. To this day when I see Ms Thema in the lease office she always personable, greets with a smile and pleasantly answers any questions about community renovation projects. Ms Thema, you’re the best and keep up the great customer service.

Resident@MP

by Tortuga Viking

I have been having issues with setting up my residential portal and auto pay for two months since they upgraded their system. All of the staff have been helpful but have been unsuccessful with figuring this issue out and has caused me much frustration and financial problems due to to this problem. For the past week Kait at the front desk has been amazing with the amount of time and effort she has put into solving this problem and was very professional and and I could tell she was happy to work there and sincerely wanted to help. Over the past week she has tried everything and managed to figure out the glitch. Kait remembers the names of the residents after one introduction and greets you with a happy and honest; “ How My I Help you”. All of the staff here is great. But I would highly recommend that you ask for Kait at the front desk if you have any issues.

by Anai Martinez

I absolutely love everyone in the office. Super helpful and considerate, especially with everything going on with covid. They were flexible with getting me into an apartment. The property is always clean and Oscar in maintenance is always on top of things. I had a couple of things in my apartment that needed to be fixed and it was done and ready for me to use when I got home from work. The parking anywhere with a permit is wonderful especially in my area of the complex. I work two jobs and don’t have to worry about coming home to my personal space taken up and possibly having to take someone else spot. I never have issues parking here. Again, working two jobs is hard to get in the office to make my monthly payment, so it’s super convenient that everything is online! Definitely recommend living here. The Bolero team really made my apartment feel like home!!

by JakenNC

I think some people are confused about what RentCafeResident is for. RentCafeResident is a service that your management company subscribes to. This is not exclusive to your neighborhood or apartment complex. This is a nationwide service open to any landlords or property management services. The property managers decide what options are turned on or not. For example my community here in North Carolina does not use the maintenance request option that everyone keeps talking about and they say so in RentCafeResident . My group also only has a set time of the month you can use RentCafeResident to pay your rent. RentCafeResident is not exclusive to your home so know that RentCafeResident developers can’t do anything about how your property is managed they just create the useful tool that allows you to reach your property manager and pay your rent. Please know the difference before bashing RentCafeResident . If you want other services in RentCafeResident that your neighborhood has turned off tell your manager.

by Granady1300

My family and I are going on 7 months living here and we could not be more satisfied with the customer service, maintenance of the property, and management. We have lived in peace and tranquility know that security is passing through late at night to assure that everyone and everything on property is safe and maintained. Neighbors are so kind and considerate all around. My husband and I have never been happier and we will be here for a while, I appreciate managements working all around the clock (what it seems like) attending to any issues that occur. I appreciate the great customer service even on busy and chaotic days, not once have we been mistreated or disrespected in any way, shape, or form. The office and managements are quick and respectful attending to all our needs. It's complexes like this one that need more recognition! Thank you once again for making this feel like home. We are very content, we shall continue to spread the word. God bless!

by Nikgo2705

I usually pay rent via check. A few months back property management enrolled in RentCafeResident and asked us to check out different payment options. While exploring different options, I clicked on Apple payment icon and then instead of showing me a summary of charges and asking for confirmation, RentCafeResident directly charge on the first card that was saved in my wallet. No message was shown about 2.5% fee on a debit card. I tried to find out a way to cancel the payment but strangely there was no option, I contacted Apple and they asked me to reach out to RentCafeResident developer team. I sent a couple of emails to the team but I haven’t received any responses till date. My leasing office contacted rentcafe customer service department and they were told payment can’t be canceled. If you can’t provide a payment cancellation feature then at least a confirmation window should be displayed showing the various charges that will be made on the card.

by Brace_Bear

I am reviewing RentCafeResident on behalf of a friend, who lives in an apartment complex whose management company has forced my friend to use RentCafeResident to pay their rent. In April 2019, RentCafeResident DIDN’T notify her that a payment had already been deducted from her checking account, and she used RentCafeResident to make a payment, and suddenly she had made a DOUBLE payment for the month, and nothing was refunded. Luckily, this didn’t cause her bank account to go to a negative balance and subsequently bounce checks, which would have been disastrous. Now for May 2019, RentCafeResident notified her that a payment was pending (for several days), her bank confirmed that was NOT the case, and the apartment complex has charged her $85 for a late payment, because no payment had actually been taken out. RentCafeResident has caused my friend an INCREDIBLE amount of stress related to her finances, and, I feel any agency should think twice about using it, because it has caused her nothing but headaches since she has been forced by her apartment management to use it.

by Handyman9497

My feeling is that there is no way in hell that these Silicon Valley jack holes talked Weidner Apt Homes into a $4.95 charge per resident per complex, that is without getting an add-on fee (kickback)to them. I am a man of my word and when I signed a year lease, I agreed to a price. Now, the only way I can pay my rent is through RentCafeResident. I was told the office doesn’t accept cash so I’m stuck paying this ~$55 charge over the term of my lease just to pay my rent. I want to register a complaint and go in file with it please. Again, I truly can’t believe that an organization as large as Weidner and their legal team couldn’t negotiate a better deal for its residents. That is just plain GREED! I invite a response if the subject is an open discussion but I have to inform you that where I am from, when emergencies happen, like hurricanes and such, those who employ tactics to capitalize on those effected, in this case, a shortage of housing and exploding real estate prices without an affordable ownership option are prosecuted for price gouging. Shameful business practices my friends.

by Espo_Chi

I don’t know if RentCafeResident is terrible or the management company or both. The most used feature (rent payment) doesn’t work correctly, if you’d like to use auto pay you have to make the date beyond the first of the month even though that’s when the rent is due or it wont pull any money from your account. You do not receive notifications when your rent is due, when the money is being draw from your account or when new charges are being places on your account, they just show up (and often inaccurate).

The maintenance portion is equally bad. RentCafeResident allows you to upload pictures of the situation however the maintenance people continue to tell me they don’t receive them, so why are you collecting them?

Elevator reservations can’t be made in RentCafeResident nor workouts, there is a different app for that. I don't need to be managing 3 different apps all for my apt building.

by Anna18kitty

Not only has multiple times has the Resident Care Center deleted my maintenance request & marked my work orders as completed (when know one ever showed up, or called me “as instructed on ALL work orders I place. Along with my phone number to currently call.) there for I find that along with issues left remaining & maintenance never showing up I fixed things on my own. When Maintenance has shown up there are not leaving my copy as they should of the work order(s) done.
Another big is issue I found out is Management blow off my work orders being deleted by saying the did not have my correct number which is untruthful as I type it in when I ask for a call before showing up every single time.
another thing none of my lease documents are available for me on Muellerflates site or this rentcafe app. When I called & asked resident care (new) hirer she informed me if I wanted copies of my lease I’d have to come to get them.
Lastly the fee to make a credit card payment on Muellerflates site or the rentcafe app is over expensive while in store payments have a $3 fee. So making a online payment is more costly than in store which DOSN’T make it simpler.

In closing there’s issues that should be fixed ASAP!! New management & better Quality service when it comes to work orders.. please

by Splash Artist

I’ve been here for 20 years now and I’ve seen owners come and go! The Place has changed the look a few times and now they’re remodeling apartments left and right. The reason for my long stay is the ladies in the office are great! Elaine makes the place shine working at her desk helping everyone with their business The other ladies also make the place work like a well oiled Clock!! The rent keeps on going up every year that’s what I don’t like! With me being on Disability and collecting SSI each Month! I stretch the dollar as far as I can! I would like to give the maintenance crew a hand for all their hard work each and every day. All the renters have to do is pick up after themselves! “If you drop something pick it up!” Don’t just drop it and walk away .the crew works very hard for all of us! Thank You Very Much!

by JMS23608

I am a first time renter, I love the location and the office staff, I have had no problems with maintenance they have always fixed any problem ive had and have always been very friendly. I moved here in March and have had no problems with bugs of any kind. my only issue is that i can here my neighbors thru the walls. I can here my one neighbor thru my bedroom wall so I had to move my bed to the inside wall to give us both little more privacy and i can hear my other neighbor in the bathroom. I can also hear people on the street talking like they were standing outside my bedroom window. Im sure some of the noise is because I've never lived with people so close to me in an apartment setting. I like it here and I just try to remember there are no perfect people me included.

by Thetruthiswhsatitis

I'm a frequent business traveler and rarely home went rent day arrives so RentCafeResident is great for paying the rent. You can also enter maintenance requests and see details on your costs like rent breakdown, water, trash, pet fees, etc. It's a great app and reliable. They have done a good job but technology and smartphone apps have raised the bar so this EXPECTED feature and functionality nowadays! If your apartment is not using this and you have to bank draft or pay with check or some other old-school method then thats just archaic. So yes EXPECTED technology but not to take away from Resident Cafe. Its a fine app, simple clear and reilable...2+ years and no failure and very convenient. Good job and please keep it as reliable and functional for the future.

by Ms Everest

It’s the first time since I’ve moved to Texas, that I am enjoying such a peaceful & beautiful community’s environment,I love nature & this community has plenty of trees, & well manicured landscapes & yards around, it is a family oriented place, & the staff is so professional, I have been at Broadstone for almost 6 months, and, so far I don’t have a single complaint.I could be hours talking about how awesome is to live in these apartments homes, but you should see for yourself.
just give yourself a chance to enjoy the stunning sunsets, the beautiful walking trails next to this community, you will be able to see some baby deers, eagles, white egrets, singing birds and much more. And if you want to make broadstone your future home; make sure you talk to Raul Recinos, he is simply awesome!

by Michael Robert Dolgon

I don’t understand how anyone could rate RentCafeResident less than a 5 star rating unless they are taking out their personal grievances they have with their individual apartment/condo management on the rating for RentCafeResident the leasing company uses.

Anyway, RentCafeResident works great for the times I need to submit a maintenance request, and I like that I can add in as much information as needed including photographs and voice memos. It shows me all the prior maintenance requests as well as all the payments made on my account and allows me to easily manage everything I need, no more unnecessary trips down to the leasing office or having to mess around with the old website that wasn’t too great.

by TyJoe1993

I do like this feature. I makes a busy person such as myself easy to pay rent. For instance, if a payment is made and does not go through. There is no alert telling you or the office that a mistake was made. I Paid my rent and five days later it’s still in my account. That is not usual, I called the office several times inquiring about this. All they can see is I have a $0 balance. Had I went with that and assumed all was fine my rent would have stayed unpaid for the month of April. After talking to my bank, they tracked down the problem and told me what happened. Which of course was user err. I was short $.20 so the ACH was declined.

I do like RentCafeResident but feeling it could be improved upon.