Over the new few days, 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.
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 (the early morning hours of July 11), 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 one of the fancy ones where your could raise and lower the top and bottom of the bed. It cost about $2000. The TV was also new and barely used. Same with the dresser and bedding. The compensation that we would get for these new items would be minimal compared to what we could sell them for now. That was a shame, but we agreed to it anyway.
Her personal items and clothing had a low resale cost, but high value. 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. No concern for my mom was demonstrated. Not once.
She did, however talk about how hard it was on her. S apparently was forced to dress in the garage 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 a 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.
Paying for a room that is 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 denyed my rent refund request for a room that they denied access to. Jeanne paid for rent when the room was infested with bedbugs. She was not there May to June 30! During this time, she used no assisted living services. 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!
Is Brookdale Trustworthy?
Let’s revisit the question that I asked in my previous posts, “Can you trust Brookdale?” That’s a chilling question considering we are trusting them to keep our loved ones healthy and safe.
They didn’t notify the us when bedbugs were found in my mom’s room.
They didn’t show respect to my mom’s property.
They didn’t commuicate.
They didn’t pay.
They didn’t CARE.
Can you trust Brookdale?
Nope!
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