Today I’ll continue the story of my 92 year old mother Jeanne and her bedbug-infested studio apartment #232 at Brookdale Folsom Assisted Living.
Here’s the story so far.
A Video of the Room
I wrote previously about the chaos in her room. Here’s a video that I took of her room on June 29. Brookdale was charging my mom rent for this room and have ignored our attempts for a rent refund. The cherished furniture, clothing, and personal items you see among the rubble were loved by my mom. Brookdale promised to pay for her destroyed property. To date, no compensation has been received. The white powder? Its toxic chemical dust.
Compensation for Destroyed Property? Think Again!
Let’s play a game. Guess the answer to these questions.
Q. Did Brookdale Folsom reimburse my mom for her destroyed property?
A. Nope.
As of the time of this writing, Brookdale has paid Jeanne NOTHING!
On June 24, I sent the Brookdale Folsom Director S an accounting of all of the property that was in my mom’s room. I still didn’t have access to the room, so I had to go by memory. I’m sure I forgot a lot of what was lost and therefore not accounted for.
It was clear that Brookdale didn’t want to deal with her belongings after the assorted fumigation treatments, so they offered to pay for everything at fair market value. The problem was the bed. It was purchased less than 2 years ago and was a fancy one where you can raise and lower the top and bottom of the bed. The cost was about $2000. The TV was also new and barely used. Same with the dresser and extra set of bedding. The compensation that we would get for these fairly new items would be minimal compared to their original cost. That was a shame, but we agreed to it anyway.
Her personal items and clothing had a low resale cost, but high value to my mom. I learned later that bedbug-exposed clothing was pretty easy to clean in a commercial washer and dryer at high heat. Nevertheless, I worked with Jeanne to come up with a spreadsheet showing all of her property and a reasonable value for each item. As you can imagine, it was devastating for her. She had lost a lot in the past few years and this was the last thing she needed.
Like other nonagenarians, my 92 year old mom is super sensitive about her obligations. She worried that she was somehow responsible for the bedbugs in her room. Even though I explained to her that the bugs came from a neighboring room, she felt the need to discuss her fears with Brookdale’s director S.
Next Question.
Q. When I asked Brookdale’s director S to call my heartbroken mom to discuss the bedbug situation, did she call?
A. Nope.
You guessed it. She didn’t call. In fact, she didn’t respond to my inquiry at all. She didn’t ask how Jeanne was doing and SHE DIDN’T APOLOGIZE. Concern for my mom was never demonstrated. Not once.
S did, however, talk about how hard it was on her. She didn’t worry about Jeanne, but she did complain about how she was forced to dress in the garage each day since the whole bedbug thing happened.
Q. I asked Brookdale’s corporate office in Tennessee to send a letter to my mother to explain that she didn’t owe them anything. Did they respond?
A. Nope.
On July 1 I received a letter in my mailbox from Brookdale. I was excited. I thought it was the property reimbursement check that they promised. It wasn’t. It was a bill demanding payment of $3505 and a statement saying “Failure to pay could result in reporting this delinquency to credit reporting agencies . . . “.
I quickly responded with an overnight certified letter sent to Brookdale’s Tennessee corporate office. I provided them proof that Jeanne’s rent was paid in full. Knowing that my mom would worry about not meeting her obligations, I asked them to send a letter addressed to Jeanne to document that she owed nothing and that her commitments to Brookdale were complete.
To date, they have not responded. As of now, there has been NO communication between Brookdale and my mother Jeanne after 3 requests for them to do so.
We paid for a room that was Quarantined
You might think that a company like Brookdale would consider the vast inconvenience that a bedbug infestation would have on our most vunerable population. Certainly you would not require them to pay for a room that was not safe. Certainly you would not require them to pay for a room that was not usable. Would you?
Yup you would. Brookdale denied my rent refund request for a room that they denied access to. Jeanne paid for rent even though the room was infested with bedbugs. She was not there May 15 to June 30! During this time, she used no assisted living services. The room was a biohazard and yet she was required to pay their overpriced rent.
S told me verbally that my refund request was denied by the Brookdale Corporate Office in Tennessee. I overnighted Brookdale’s corporate office a certified letter on June 30 asking for an explanation of their refund denial.
Guess what? THEY HAVEN’T RESPONDED!
Update: July 9
Sent follow up email asking for our requested compensation and consideration of my mom’s needs. Did they respond?
NO!
More from the July 9 email.
Update: July 20
Received a check from Brookdale for $1975. I’m guessing that it is a check for Jeanne’s damaged property, but the amount does not match any of the amounts that Brookdale Folsom’s director promised. I have still not received any communication from Brookdale despite 4 different emails and registered letters that I have sent them.
No explanation was given except for this letter that was included in the envelope. It only states that the amount issued was the result of a credit balance on her statement. This letter conflicts with the “demand for payment” letter that I received on July 1 (see above).
About The Brookdale Corporation
Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) is the largest operator of senior living communities in the United States, managing hundreds of locations across the country. The publicly traded company focuses on independent living, assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities. The company is worth 3.4 Billion. CEO Nick Stengle gets a yearly salary of $950,000. (source https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/brookdale-senior-living-names-new-ceo-nick-stengle/).
Their mission statement includes words like “compassion, respect, excellence and integrity”.
Perhaps they should rethink their mission statement. I am not sure if any of the above words are reflective of my mom’s Brookdale experience. I have resorted to call then Crookdale.
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