Society 865 — Local services in Knoxville

I have lived here for almost 2 years now and I have never seen a more uncoordinated, untrained staff in my entire life.

Let's start December 2022, when, overnight, my entire apartment ended up underwater from a pipe burst due to the sprinkler system. I was not able to sleep that night moving all my stuff to a safe area, effectively moving out of the apartment by myself (my roommates were out of town) on no sleep. At the time there was no number for emergency maintenance present in the lease. At 10 am, I walked promptly to the leasing office to ask what I can even do now. The girl, Amber, there said repairs should be about 2 weeks and to get all my things and start getting it all out of there. Fair enough. Luckily, my mother lives close enough to retreat to.

A week later, I'm charged for rent. I email and ask what do I do? Mind you, I've heard nothing from them since I left. No email or call. They respond and basically say "Rent still due because we have arrangements at the graduate hotel for you to stay.". WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS AT ALL? I responded telling them exactly what I stated in the previous paragraph and said I'm not paying jack because I was told to get out of there and never informed of this. I get a call from a girl saying she doesn't have any idea who I talked to on that morning but she can try to get my rent refunded until we come back. She calls me again later and says that is going to be taken care of, by the way, it was her that I talked to that morning, bye! What a coward pretending you didn't remember the whole time.

Now the repairs took 3 months, not two weeks. December 26th to around March 15th, as far as I know, not their fault due to how busy the restore people were. Who knows how pathetic the leasing office's planning process was for that. During this time, there was NO COMMUNICATION AT ALL. It seemed a different lady was at this point now in charge of this process. I believe her name was Alex, don't quote me on that. I cannot tell you how many times I showed up in person just PLEADING with her to keep us updated. Send out something. Stop making me show up to be updated. She Never. Did. Once. Until it was finished. She had an excel file of all residents impacted. MAKE AN EMAIL LIST for god's sake.

That's the end of that story, but nowhere near the end of my problems with them. That summer, my washer broke. Maintenance request, whatever, they'll deal with it. One week, two weeks, three. I figure out what's wrong myself. The belt is broken so it won't spin. Needs to be replaced. I go to the leasing office and talk to some undertrained college student about it who tells me they probably have one in storage, he'll make some notes from what I said and they'll bring it soon. One week, two weeks, three. Here comes a sole maintenance guy holding a wrench in his hand looking to see what's wrong. ARE YOU SERIOUS? I tell him the story and this guy is just as frustrated as me about the leasing office and even told me he can't stand them as much as me because of how lazy they are. He makes sure a new washer is there within 2 days. Nice guy.

After this whole ordeal, I go to the leasing office and talk to the literal property manager. He apologizes for the guy I talked to there previously clearly doing zero due diligence, says he would speak with him, and promises me and my roommates gift cards for our lack of laundry for 2 months. Guess what never came! Does no one in that godforsaken office write anything down? If the property manager is forgetting promises he made, no wonder nothing is ever done there.

The valet trash sucks. They're even lazier and will find any reason to not take the garbage and leave a note on the door.

Overall, if you live here, just hope you don't have to deal with this office.

Before society replies with the copy paste telling me to go speak with the office about this to resolve it, save it. Other than the friend I know there, if he's not there, I might as well speak to a brick wall. The same level of work...

The WORST experience ever. Stay away from Society 865. Our experience was atrocious, to say the least. Our daughter moved into a unit that was: dirty, disgusting, depressing and dilapidated: upon moving in: existing leak in the bathroom destroying the entire bedroom carpet - it was saturated - the bathroom cabinet loose and falling off its hinges, a dirty torn screen on her bedroom window, flapped/hanging over. The shower water turned ice cold just minutes after running, weak wobbly old wooden chairs, the tub nozzle fell off, the dishwasher didn't work. For any complex to allow a resident to move in like this, is ridiculous. My daughter's roommates in the same suite had multiple issues as well. Upon moving out, there was a 10-page document outlining the cleaning that the occupants were expected to do - so ironic given the fact that they moved into a DUMP, and then they had the audacity to charge us for “damages” not incurred by us. That became a tug-of-war as well. (Not to mention, in all my life, I’ve never seen a check-out list THAT involved from anywhere. Bunch of nonsense. I guess residents are expected to do the cleaning that the property doesn’t!

Aside from the above concerns, the communication at Society was awful. Emails and phone messages went unanswered. We were beyond frustrated. It was miserable living there. Eventually things got fixed - very slowly and it took a lot of nagging, reminding, and questioning. My messages were usually ignored until I hounded the receptionist multiple times. They insisted my messages were passed along, but no response from management. When it came time to end the lease, we were PRE charged for utilities for future dates, and the bill was exceedingly high. I wouldn’t pay until the end, and that resulted in a fiasco - endless emails from upper management - two incorrect charges on the bill and threats that we owed for broken down chairs that were broken when we arrived! CRAZY! The director REFUSED to ever pick up a phone to personally respond to me. I requested a personal call from him multiple times, but he refused. THAT says it all for me. They all hid behind email….they also all work from home - hence, they are uninvolved and far-removed from directly caring enough about residents (or past ones, in our case). It gave the impression of arrogance and detachment....like they are too good or too important to pick up the phone!

Society also threatened to send my bill to collections?! Seriously? I have a stack of emails from their negligent communication AND bank statements showing the error of what they were trying to charge me. Their third party utilities company severed ties with them, too (not surprising). So, upper management won't pick up the phone, BUT they can threaten to ruin our credit via online emails? How this company handles customers is shameful.

Our experience with Society was terrible. It’s also overpriced for what they offer. My advice: there are plenty of other options in Knoxville. Stay away from Society or any apartments owned by Landmark Properties. It was...

itle: Avoid Society 865 at All Costs—They Will Take Advantage of You on Move-Out Review Body:

My son and his roommates were residents at Society 865 for two years. What seemed like a great experience ended in a nightmare of relentless and unjustified move-out charges. Despite being loyal, respectful tenants who left their unit in immaculate condition, Society 865, under the management of De'Erica, has proven to be an aggressive and ruthless business that profits from predatory fees.

Unjustified Charges and a Hostile Process

We were charged hundreds of dollars for items that were either already paid for, pre-existing, or simply not damaged. The management's process for handling disputes is intentionally difficult, forcing you to go through a link rather than engaging in a professional conversation. Even after providing extensive photo evidence and a detailed list of disputes, the charges were not reviewed in good faith.

Excessive and Duplicative Fees: We were charged for a "missing" parking pass that was canceled and paid for a year prior. They also tried to charge us a second time for keys that were already paid for and returned. These charges are either blatant errors or an attempt to double-dip.

Charging for "Upgrades": We installed an upgraded, fully-functional shower head because the original was barely a trickle. Instead of being grateful for the improvement, they charged us a fee to replace it. This is not only unreasonable but feels like a punishment for making the unit better.

Refusal to Acknowledge Pre-Existing Issues: They attempted to charge for a small dent on a pantry door knob that was there when we moved in. It was a minor blemish that didn't affect the function, yet it was used as a reason to penalize us.

Inflated Utilities and Unresponsive Management

The most shocking charge was the final utility bill. For a unit that had minimal occupancy in the last two months, the bill was 129% higher than the historical average. De'Erica, the Resident Services Manager, refused to provide documentation from the utility company to justify the charges. Her communication was cold, dismissive, and ultimately, she declared the matter "closed" on her end, despite the clear overcharges and our reasonable requests for an audit.

This entire experience, and the attitude from De'Erica in particular, shows a company that does not value its customers. The management team is clearly incentivized to find every possible reason to deduct from security deposits and create move-out penalties. They take advantage of their tenants, and their lack of a customer-centric approach is appalling.

Bottom Line: RUN, Don't Walk

Society 865 is a prime example of a business that is friendly during the move-in process but becomes ruthless at move-out. Save yourself the stress, the headache, and the financial exploitation. Do not support this business. There are plenty of other landlords in Knoxville who won't treat you like a profit center...