Plumer & Associates, Inc.

DO NOT RENT THROUGH THEM! They are crooks! We left our townhouse spotless when we moved out, and they claimed we did not clean and that we left the place a mess. We spent an entire day cleaning. They only reimbursed us for half of what we owed, only after months of fighting it because they originally were not going to reimburse us at all. This was pretty ironic, because when we moved in, the place was a mess (they probably didn’t even rent a cleaning service after withholding the lasts tenant’s deposit). Also, there were these ugly stains on the carpet which they said they would have cleaned for us when we signed the lease, and of course they never did clean them. They actually tried to charge us for these same stains when we moved out, but luckily we had an email saved in which we asked when they would be cleaned. Besides this, getting anything fixed in the house seemed to take weeks.
Please save yourselves the trouble and do not rent through them — at least not in Philadelphia.

My experience is with regards to Plumer’s Real Estate division, and it appears their Real Estate is as poor as their rentals.
My experience with my realtor was full of negative interactions. She was difficult to communicate with and did not respond to many requests to communicate in my preferred style. She was also condescending and stubborn. My neighbors reported disparaging remarks from her in regards to my neighborhood — this does not help to sell a house! I moved away before my house sold, and Isabelle agreed to watch over it for me. Under her watch, my toilet started running and ran for an entire month straight without her notice — this cost me over $ 1,000 water bill. Her solution to compensate me was to reduce the commission for the house from 6% to 5%, though she neglected to inform me that this decreases the commission for the buyer’s realtor as well, decreasing the incentive to view my house. She also supervised some work done to the house, and all of the work was less than satisfactory. She was unresponsive to my requests. After reviewing the listing for my house and requesting updated, clear pictures (the previous ones were blurry!), she did nothing to remedy this situation. My experience with her ended after 11 months of the house being on the market, and her constant pressure to drop the price to ridiculously low levels. I proceeded to find a new agent who sold the house in 6 days, at a price higher than my realtor even wanted to list my house for. Needless to say, my experience with her was terrible and a waste of time and money!

I moved to Philadelphia from California and Plumber has been extremely on point and easy to deal with. During my stay in their Queen Village house, I’ve only had to call them twice: when the washer broke down and when I couldn’t figure out how to work the heater. The washer was immediately replaced and the maintenance man came over to walk me through the heating unit.
I’m only speaking from my personal experiences with: Robert (realtor), who made my moving process so quick and smooth, Trisha (property manager) who is always on the ball and responsive, and Michael (maintenance man) who is AWESOME.
Be nice, say please and thank you, and treat the property with care and they’ll return the favor. Hope this helps!

Well, I’d wanted to say Plumer was fine, and I was almost holding my breath for something bad to happen because of these scathing reviews — and guess what, it did! We received a notice of rent increase 4 days before the lease automatically renewed! (They make you give 60 days notice if you don’t want to renew lease, making it legal but very scammy). It’s a shame — we’ve otherwise had pretty positive experiences with them!

I’ve never really written a review before, but this company has been so TERRIBLE that I really don’t want others to have to go through what we have. The maintenance department is completely irresponsible and unresponsive. We have waited hours for them to arrive and in the end they never show up. This has occurred so often it is embarrassing. We had a leak in the basement and mold was pretty apparent on the walls. Instead of doing any real work they just painted over the mold so that it wouldn’t show up. They also busted a light bulb in the basement and left glass on the floor. I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN!!!

Avoid renting with Plumer.
Maintenance problems were dealt with late (if ever) and only after many, many phone calls placed by one or all three of us.
But worse than that, they withheld our security deposit for months. When we finally received it, they reimbursed only half of what we were owed, claiming that we left the place a wreck.
$ 220 for «carpet cleaning» — to treat the filthy, stained carpets they promised to clean before we moved in (they never did).
$ 200 for «cleaning» — they sent a detailed list of cleaning instructions, which we followed precisely (we actually enjoy cleaning and took off work to thoroughly do so).
$ 45 for light bulbs — we repeatedly asked to have bulbs replaced because we couldn’t do so ourselves (the lighting is inset and some of the ceilings are 10+ feet high). And isn’t $ 45 pretty steep for light bulbs?
A few other charges…
Basically just complete nonsense. All of us are experienced renters and have never incurred any charges.
Then for months we had to email them weekly (by this time we knew to keep written records of our conversations) in order to get charges lifted or even simple answers regarding the charges (what hardware? what closets?). We regained some but not all of the money. We tried to fight all of the baseless charges but eventually just gave up after weeks and weeks of unanswered emails and voicemails. Infuriating.
They are thieves, unprofessional, neglectful and immoral.

To anyone skimming: DO NOT RENT FROM THEM. I PROMISE. NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE DEAL SEEMS, IT IS NOT WORTH IT.
If i was able to give this realtor company 0 stars, I would no doubt. I have rented through previous companies before and have never in my life dealt with such rude, inefficient, and ILLEGAL handling’s in my life.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many maintenance issues I have had with my apartment that have required multiple persistent emails and/​or going into the office personally to get a response. This doesn’t mean I necessarily got it fixed either, because John Regan is terrible managing the maintenance department. My roommate and I had a mouse, he’s still here. We have multiple light fixings that are outdated and impossible to change ourselves, no lightbulbs there. A hole in the cracked floor? Yup still there. No hot water. Took 2 WEEKS to fix. Can you imagine cold showers for 2 weeks? Oh and to top it off, the apartment was sold to us under the pretense that there would be central air. NOPE. It miraculously broke and John said «they were looking for different contractors.» From JUNE 2013-​until currently (DEC2013) and we still do not have air conditioner which will be nearly unbearable come May when we will definitely NOT be renewing our lease and moving out of this 3^rd floor apartment. But to «appease» us, they gave us ONE air conditioning unit for our rather spacious 2 bedroom apartment.
Don’t even get me started on the amount of times that we would come home to find some random person who apparently works for Plumer in our apartment without ANY notice. One time, (I wish i was making these up I shit you not) my roommate and I were on our way out and we were stopped by some woman on the street. She asks us «Do you ladies live in the 3^rd rear?» and we answer…“Yes.?” So she responds «Oh we were trying to look in your apartment because we are selling the building but it seems you had something blocking the door that we weren’t able to get in»
At this point my roommate and I are so confused because 1. we had no idea anyone was looking at the building for it to be sold 2. we were DEFINITELY not aware that anyone was supposed to be going into our apartment to view. So we tell the woman that we had no idea that it was being looked at and that we were never told. She gets snippy with us and insists someone called. LIES. So we explain that we have a bar that we will use as a door stopper when we are sleeping/​home alone etc. So clearly they tried getting in and when we asked about how they are going to come in without any notice, she was rude with us and said they had to show the apartment. Like OKAY fine then give us a fucking heads up.
Also the current situation: there is a huge leak out in the hallway of the building. We have a huge trashcan and a bucket yet it’s basically raining in the hallway with the carpets absolutely saturated and the ceiling is starting to wilt. We called 3 days ago and still haven’t heard a thing.
Rant over. Moral of the story, please don’t give this company your business.

unprofessional; unresponsive; rude; awful. I could keep going, but I think you get the point.
Do not rent any apartment managed by this company.

I work in property management. I understand it is not the easiest job in the world and it is generally thankless.
However, after 2 years I would have to say I would probably not rent from Plumer again. In the last year I had to nag and call and email several times to get things done. The owner of my property preferred to fix things and generally took his time and often did a poor job.
I would not have updated my review, but I really lost respect for this company when both the owner of the property and someone from Plumer lied to me. To get my last month of rent and deposit I had to write several emails and leave voicemails that went unanswered. Then when I was told the check would be ready the next day when I arrived at the office it was not. I simply planted myself in the office and said I was not leaving without a check. Ten minutes later I had a check.
Save yourself the hassles. Rent from any other company.

Robert has been absolutely wonderful!!! He was always readily available to answer questions day/​night & was very helpful to myself & the new tenants that will occupy my previous apartment. If you need help finding a place to rent or buy, definitely call Robert! You will NOT be disappointed

I wish I could leave these people zero stars. This is one of the worst experiences I have every had. They are dishonest, unprofessional, and impossible to work with. We vacated our property on time and left it clean and empty and returned the keys. Six weeks later, after multiple attempts to via phone, email, and mail, they did not respond to any of our messages or send out a final statement, let alone return our security deposit. After we threatened to sue, they finally sent an email a week ago saying they mailed out the statement and there were «deductions» (unspecified in the message; no mention of a check). We are only a few blocks away from the office, and needless to say the «final statement» has not arrived. I doubt we will ever get our deposit back. We paid our rent on time every month, had the place cleaned every week, did maintenance. No reason to withhold our deposit. They are just awful!

I am a current renter with Plumer and have been for five years, but it is only because the actual owners of the property I rent will step in when things get out of hand.
Plumer’s maintenance department is incredibly inefficient, rude, and uncommunicative. I have been told several time that «I must have not left a voicemail because they would have gotten back to me. «They don’t. Ever. Their maintenance dept head «doesn’t do e-​mail.» It is possible to contact them via FAX — which might be the best way to reach them. They have a figurehead girl who takes e-​mails for the maintenance man who can’t, and she is really good at writing a response that includes lots of happiness, smiles, cute fonts, and other related crap — but absolutely no information.
I have never worked with a group of such ineffective, ignorant people in one business.
My advice? DO NOT RENT FROM PLUMER!

This company is very unprofessional. If you are a renter, please, save yourself the headache and find an apartment where you can communicate and work with the owner of the apartment. Their leasing agents do not care about you and are only looking for a quick move in. Trust me, they are more concerned with the profit of selling homes then dealing with lease signings and renters. It is not a priority to them then and when your finally moved, you are no longer their problem.
Also, unless you move into a brand new renovated unit, I promise you there will be problems. No matter ho convenient one system may be, you will run into an issue with your apartment, and when you do, you better document everything because they’re not going to make it easy for you. There is no clear manager, therefore management is very unorganized. You will most likely have to make an angry phone call (most likely 2 or 3 times) before they will even entertain your problem. It’s all around a headache for renters. You have been warned. Rent elsewhere.

I’m writing this review in hopes to better humanity, even if it’s in the smallest way.
I was wondering why my seemingly perfect first floor, parkay wood, bi-​level, Society Hill apartment was only $ 800 dollars a month. It had so much «character».
Well, since move-​in my kitchen has STUNK of gasoline.
Since September there’s been a hole in my floor. That’s right, a hole. From plainly sitting in a chair, the leg just punctured through. Now, just to clarify, I am by no means obese nor does my chair have spikes for legs.
Since November my «Leave it to Beaver» limited edition oven has been out of service.
Every time I try to vacuum the BATHROOM CARPETING it comes off of the floor.
My windows aren’t sealed inviting about 500 new roommates a day who enjoy adding cobwebs and carcasses to my décor.
The garbage disposal has been broken for about a month, so subsequently my apartment smells like I have a dead person in my closet.
They’ve also come into my apartment without notifying me, which is extremely illegal. I realized this because they locked my door differently then I usually do and called them because I thought an intruder had come in.
Plumer has made my life difficult beyond any kind of verbal description I can give. I find myself dreading coming home. They are reluctant to return calls and have NEVER attempted to fix any of my maintenance issues. It is broken promise after broken promise. Answering machine after answering machine.
Needless to say I will NOT be renewing my lease or EVER renting from them again!
They should be reported to the BBB!

Plumer is the WORST! 3 of us rent a house from plumer in cc. We have general maintenance issues. It always takes us at least 5 phone calls to John for him to return our calls, if he ever does. Our roof on the 2^nd floor leaked like crazy in the snow this past Feb, the ceiling in the sun room and bathroom has holes and is stained brown. It is now almost May and plumer has not fixed the roof which needs to be patched or the ceiling. We have called at least 30 times with out much response. I hate them, I have not met one professional person that works there. How are they still in business? Do not rent from them! if you have a problem they will ignore you! DOWN WITH PLUMER!

John Regan seems to think that bullying tenants is a good way to keep business.
I rarely say this, but man, if the apartment of your dreams is through Plumer, just settle for something else. I’ve had some rental horror stories, but none were as bad as the drama we went through trying to end a lease with these unprofessional people.
I stared at a copy of the lease. My boyfriend stared at a copy of the lease. His mother, a co-​signer, stared at a copy of the lease. We all came to the conclusion that once the lease was over, it did not renew. This was clear as day in the lease, but not in John Regan’s mind. He claims that «all of [his] leases renew annually!»
This was despite the fact that there was no indication on the original of the lease that we were holding. There was no rider, no addendum, nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. You get the drift. My boyfriend called Regan several times during November 2009 to get clarifications on the lease and to make sure that our understanding of the lease was correct. Trying to get a response out of this guy was pointless, until about three weeks AFTER a notice to vacate had been sent out.
At that time, Regan contacted us in a tizzy, claiming that the lease renewed and my boyfriend (one of the leaseholders) would be responsible for all fees connected to breaking the lease. I’d like to also mention that this was about a week before rent was due (around the third week of December 2009). Thanks, dude! It was an inconvenience for us, as we had the money to pay (well, had it as much as anyone in our position «has» the money), but I can’t even imagine what would have happened had we been working on a much stricter budget.
There is a ton of BS back story with the roommate, but I’m not going to crap all over this review with that back story. Suffice it to say that the roommate went back on the notice to vacate, pulled a bunch of back door deal making bull, and Regan simply took his word for various things. I don’t know what realtor in their right mind would accept any sort of verbal agreements after a WRITTEN notice was sent via certified mail.
Regan let us out once we had the pleasure (HA!) of finding a new tenant to take over our half of the lease. Yeah, we could have sued, but would you really want to have to tie up money on a lawyer, wait for years for your case to be heard, and run the risk of having a pro-​slumlord judge find your case in favor of the realtor? Didn’t think so.
I’m going to echo Kristine. If you’ve lost your marbles enough to rent from Plumer, have a trusted lawyer go through your lease with a fine toothed comb and get everything in writing. Don’t expect any contact from Plumer unless it’s to find out a new and exciting way that you’re going to get screwed by them.
Or, you know, do the sensible thing and avoid them at all costs.

I hate this place. My rental time with them was nothing but difficult. If you are going to rent from them, make sure to have a lawyer look over your lease. Kelly Ann and the entire team here are terrible, terrible people.