Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/18/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  SMS Property Management company oversees hundreds of properties in and around ***************,myself and some family members have rented from them. Our biggest complaint is maintenance, repairs of property,being unsafe. I'm a licensed contractor in *************** since 1999,,this company does not use licensed contractors to do work required to have a license,,he has maintenance guys start working then yank them to another property to get it ready for a fast rental for the quick dollar,leaving other people's homes half done or not even started. I came home from work after we had been complaining for weeks we had no heat,this was in November,,the maintenance guy had three gas line sections unhooked,thinking it was a gas issue he was putting it back together and used **** duct tape over the threads instead of gas line tape! I kicked him out ,called the office,,your not allowed to talk to the owner only the rude girls in the office,I said I waited 4 weeks in November to get someone to look at my furnace and you send over a unlicensed crack head looking guy with liquor on his breath,could have killed my family,,another maintenance guy brought two electric heaters over and left them on our porch,,keep in mind I had a 4 bedroom two story house,,I called several more times and complained,,I was finally told if I call again I will be evicted,,after 8 weeks we moved out. My sister had a house with them,they tore the roof off on a Saturday,,to avoid Building Code Enforcement from shutting them down for no permit,no license,they finished it on a Sunday,filled all her trash cans with shingles,and left nails everywhere,they also changed a electric panel to a newer one because it kept blowing breakers,it was terrible,wasn't done to code and still blows breakers,when she complained she got a eviction notice three days later,,she's never been late on a payment,she was told they would stop eviction for $200 dollars,,she moved out. This place needs investigated by The Attorney General

  Business Response

  Date: 01/27/2025

  Without an address where Mr. ******* rented, we looked up by name and did not find anyone by that name as a past tenant.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/11/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I rented from sms property from August of 2023 until August 2024, during this time the house was in horrible condition. We had spiders, earwigs, ants and termites all because of the moisture and leaks in the home. I believe there was a squirrel or mouse living in the attic. This place was horrible. The last straw was when the electrical fire started because of how faulty the wiring was. We also had cracks in the foundation, a moldy mattress that was jn the backyard and that they did. It remove although we told them about it 5 times. I wrote every complaint down, when they sent someone to repair they were always so incompetent. We had a water leak from The washer and it leaked into the kitchen and bathroom and made the house smell HORRID, they sent someone out to fix it and it STILL didnt work correct and kept leaking. The ladies are rude, and lazy and the property manager doesnt speak with the residents, he only sends out his secretaries or leasing consultants. I have never and will never recommend anyone to rent from sms. Youre better off living in a cardboard box.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/21/2024

  The tenant is saying that we did not fix anything while she was living at the property.  If this is the case, we had a new tenant move into the property and has had no problems with any of the things she is claiming we did not fix.  Also, tenants in ******* are required to give a 30 day notice before moving out.  Tenants need to do 4 things in order to properly move out of a house.  1) 30 day notice 2) have a zero balance 3) provide forwarding address and 4) turn in keys to the property.  The tenant in this case did only 1 of the 4 needed.  If tenant would have done all 4, then she would have most likely been entitled to a return of some of the deposit that was paid.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/01/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They are slum lords they are an exploitative property management group we lived in an add on to a house they charged $945 after the first year lease they tried to raise our rent to $975 and in that year we had so many problems with the house that is almost guaranteed to not be up to code the water pump would go out and they would have to send someone (and they can only do that on business days) they would always cover up the problem we would have to twist their arm to actually get the pump fixed so it wouldnt shut off every couple of weeks which one time resulted in us not having water for 3 days when my girlfriend was pregnant its has mold we had fungus growing out of the floor in the bathroom the wiring is dangerous the two garages are powered by extension chords the windows are not sealed and one window has broken shards of glass on it from poor repair

  Business Response

  Date: 09/11/2024

  Tenant moved out of home on Aug 31, 2024. Did not provide 30 day notice, did not leave forwarding address to return any possible deposit.  Per request, will have no further contact with tenants.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/02/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My son and I moved into a home on 12/17/2023. Before and after the lease signing we noticed a horrible gas smell and brought it to the attention of the property manager, ***********************************. She dismissed it as the smell from the Bluffton River. We believed her as we are not from the area. As each day passed, me, my son, and our 3 dogs continued to get sicker! I contacted ******* and told her how sick weve been and that something needed to be done. Because I called to complain, she began cursing at me and calling me names. She said if I didnt like it that she could issue an eviction. I asked how she could evict us for something that isnt our doing. She told me that she can do whatever the f*** she wants and didnt care how sick we were! She said we were dumb f***s for moving into the house! She said since I complained, she wont do s*** for us! I was advised to call the fire **** to see if they could detect gas. When they came out they detected a high level of methane gas. They had us stay out while they cleared the house and then said the house isnt safe to be in. Even though it had been cleared,. He told us that it would build right back up if not dealt with. We couldnt leave the house because we have nowhere else to go. After I called to make a complaint with the health department, about the situation. She then came to our house to harass us and proceeded to make many threats. I called the police and made a report. Just a little while later her maintenance man, not a certified plumber came out to temporarily fix some of the situation. He half assed plugged a pipe and said well I did what I could. Itll hold for now but not for good! The methane is now coming up through many other routes. We are still in the house and getting sicker by the day and nothing else has been done to remedy the problem. *** talked with many others that have dealt with this company and all have horrible stories! *********************************** and SMS Property Management HAS to be stopped!!

  Business Response

  Date: 01/12/2024

  Had appointment with tenant and tenant cancelled appointment.  Maintenance went over a few days later and tenant refused to allow maintenance into the house.  ****** then called ******************* and she was informed that she needed to let us in to fix the problem.  Once let in, the problem was taken care of.  If tenant would like to get out of the lease, we could have that discussion.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/15/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I rented a home from SMS in January and eviction was filed the beginning of July for non payment according to the office. Payment was in fact made but I forgot to put the address on the money order. When I called to speak with them to find out what was going on I informed the office staff that I in fact did make a payment and that I had the receipt for proof. When I went into the office they showed me my money order and I confirmed that was my payment. They refused to drop the eviction and told me that if I payed $700 before the scheduled court date then they would have the court date pushed back to allow time for rental assistance to be approved. I applied for rental assistance in June 2022. By the time the rescheduled court date came around rental assistance was not approved yet but was in process and I did inform the office of this. When I went in to pay the $700 I was informed that I needed to pay $1665 before September 22nd and then they would drop the eviction. I went into the office on September 20th with a $1665 money order and I was told they could not accept the money order because it did not include October rent and informed me that I needed an extra $1069 for October rent before they would stop eviction. I asked numerous times for a ledger so I could have an explanation of charges and wanted to see where my payments were being applied and I never received the ledger. Rental assistance was finally approved 10/4 and a few days later I received a check for $2760 which stated it was for Oct, Nov and Dec rent, I took this check into the office and they informed me that I still owed $965 for October rent, which is a different amount for October rent that they previously told me. So in short they filed eviction and still accepted over $4000.00 from me between what I payed and what was received from rental assistance and I now am unable to find housing for me and my 2 children due to their shady practices and wrongfully filing an eviction.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/26/2022

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hole in bathroom floor. Been trying to get fixed since April and even had them sent a warning from neighborhood code. Nothing is being done. If the floor continues to rot there is a very heave old iron tub that is going to fall thru the floor into the apartment below.