annoyedThat being said, I emailed a few local apartment leasing services requesting additional information on buildings and what they generally have available. No where in the original email(s) did I say "I want this apartment" or anything to that effect; in fact, at the service in question it was a form email and in the comments section I made it a point to comment with the same information as above...that I wanted to see if my price range with that area was something they could even assist me with (for the most part).
Here is the email response I received (despite me requesting a phone call from them):
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Hi Nicole,
Thanks for contacting the Chicago Apartment Finders for your apartment search. Our goal is to make the experience of finding your next apartment as hassle-free as possible.
Given your desired move-in date of May 1st, the most ideal time to begin your apartment search is between 30-45 days prior to your move-in date. It is at this point that we have our largest range of available listings to show you. In the event that you need to look for an apartment sooner, we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
In the meantime, please feel free to view listings on our website at:
www.chicagoapartmentfinders.com
We look forward to working with you soon,
Sincerely,
Adam Blue
Chicago Apartment Finders
www.chicagoapartmentfinders.com
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Where do I even begin with this? For starters, I'm male and my name is definitely not Nicole, so I'm not even sure what to make of that except he might have been using an old email copy and paste routine since he didn't have the answer I wanted.
Second, he obviously didn't read my comments since looking that close to my move date would end up in me strangling someone. It took me a lot longer than that to find my current apartment, and I know from experience that I'll need to cushion my search period to make sure I'm not still filling out an application the week I am due to move. The catch all 'in the event' sentence was the closest this email came to decent service.
Lastly, I felt almost put off when he told me to go to their website. It negates the prior paragraph where he tells me not to look yet! Aside from that, I actually did look and found five companies that possibly matched my criteria...hence the email inquiring about more information (as their site instructed me to do). The question of whether those results are typical was all I wanted to really know.
It's not glaringly awful service, but at the same time they're probably not going to receive my business anytime soon.