Apartment Review for Herbert Halsband - Pittsburgh, PA

517 Semple Street-- I feel like the title can sum up exactly what Herbert Halsband Properties is like. I've had many nasty expierences with them, and they're all just covered up. I'll start by letting you know that I once had a RAT INFESTATION (they ate through 3 rolls of paper towels, sponges, and toilet paper).. I found this out after returning from a weekend away. I called them on Monday evening around 7PM, was told by the answering service this qualified as an emergency, and that a maintenence man would call me within a half an hour. Needless to say, by 9:30PM I was worried about disease and rats attacking when I used the bathroom. I called the service, and had a man call me around 10PM. He SCREAMED at me, said I was being immature, and told me to "put a book infrnot of the hole" ... this was a GAPING hole, mind you, that was in our cupboard and we never noticed. I tried to explain the degree of bad that this hole was, expanding almost a foot and extremely gross. The next morning, I called after they were late by 2 hours and let them know I would be calling the health department. The man told me, literally, that I "couldn't" do that and they wouldn't help. I let him know I would try and see if I didn't see someone in 30 minutes. Within 20 minutes, a man with a bucket came to "cover the hole," took one look at it, and told me that the main service man said he HAD BEEN OVER LAST NIGHT (LIES, LIES, LIES) and he couldn't believe he didn't let them know they needed more than a bucket and patch to fix the problem. THEY LEFT MY TOILET DISCONNECTED FOR 2 ENTIRE DAYS AS THEY FIXED THE PROBLEM. It was in the middle of the bathroom, unhooked. The last lovely exierence I have had with them was that there was a miscommunication on my rent. INSTEAD OF CALLING ME, EVER, (and I mean they did not contact me once to let me know any information) they called my roommate and her parents and let them know WE WOULD BOTH BE EVICTED IF I DIDN'T PAY THE 2 MONTHS RENT WITHIN A DAY BY 12pm. When I went to pay, the lady working HAD NO IDEA what I was there for, and told m e she would "let me know" if everything was OK with our account later. FIRST OFF, when we moved in we were assured that we would be on seperate leases. Now, if there is a discrepency with her rent, THEY CALL MY MOM, if there is a problem with mine, THEY CALL HERS. And let me tell you -- it's not us that are causing the problems. They were literally threatening to evict me for supposedly not paying two months of rent, without a written notice or call. When we put the deposit down for our apartment, we were promised an apartment on the second floor, with a new kitchen and bathroom. We were promised a clean carpet. They gave us one on the third floor and promised that if reason arose for a new kitchen they would replace it (IF WE WANT A NEW ONE, IT'S $30 EXTRA A MONTH) and ours is falling apart. The fridge light is permenantly broken, one burner on the stove doesn't work, and our cabinets are gross. We called and complained that our apartment wasn't going above 80 degrees and we had it set to 50 (YOU PAY YOUR OWN ELECTRIC, MIND YOU) and the man said that that was just how it was, it wasn't getting any better. If I could move out now, I would, but I don't want to pay them money they don't deserve. I am leaving AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.