East Bay Viilage Resident Manager    |    Heather Paliotti    |    Middletown    ,    Rhode Island 02842    Landlord Complaint 23-1310

On December 31st 2012, an East Bay Village Rental Office (EB RO) representative/employee verbally notified me that I was granted a Referral Discount on the amount of $250.00 on the basis of having referred a person to live on the Harbor Village premises. This employee also indicated to deduct this amount from the next month's rent payment as the mechanism to receive such discount. On January 2nd 2013 I deducted the referral discount from my monthly rent paycheck as indicated by the EB RO employee. Over six weeks later, I received a letter, dated Feb 16th, from the EB Rental Office indicating that I was carrying a balance of $250.00 and that prompt pay was in order to avoid additional fees/charges. This letter failed to mention the nature of such outstanding balance. Days later, I called the Rental Office and informed them that the outstanding balance must be the referral discount that probably did not make it into their records. The RO employee said he would look into this it. On Friday March 1st, I personally spoke with the Manager Heather Paliotti, who stated that I was misinformed by her employee; that the the reason for the outstanding balance is that the person I had referred does not qualified for the referral discount as this person used to be a previous tenant years ago. As can be seen, ES Management is holding me responsible for their mistake realized at least 6 weeks after the referral discount was granted and verbally communicated to me on Dec 31st 2012. EB Management failed to notify me their intention of not honoring the referral discount. Instead a letter is sent to me that I carry an outstanding balance without revealing its nature; and that urging me to pay as soon as possible to avoid additional fees/charges. A done deal agreed to by both parties cannot be broken. EB RO has poorly handled this matter. Not only is the EB RO holding me responsible for its mistake but also failed to notify me their intention to not honor the Referral Discount. I found out of their intention when took the action of investigating the outstanding balance. Now they urge me to pay ASAP to avoid penalties. Therefore, I disagree with the EB RO that I must return the referral discount on the amount of $250.00.