Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Yes, I won in court in August. I'm glad that's behind me. Patti and Terry Shulman cost me a lot of time and stress. But the judge caught them out in their lies. Life is too short to deal with people like this. Watch out.

Off to Court

Well, I hate dealing with unpleasant things. But its time to go to court to get my security deposit back from Terry and Patti Shulman. It was easy to put off during the school year when I am so busy. It's unfortunate that this is what I have to do. But apparently its their MO. We have a court date for July 26. This is my first experience with the Virginia court system. Will justice prevail? Does good win out over evil?

Get your Money Back!: Patti & Terry Shulman Contact Information

If you are trying to get money back from Patti and Terry Shulman, the Storefront Hotel / B&B in Stuanton, VA, or Shulman Creative, here's all the contact information I have. It's worked for at least one couple. Good luck!

Address

Patti and Terry Shulman
1226 Middle River Road
Staunton, VA 24401

Email

Patti Shulman: patti@shulmancreative.com, pattishulman@gmail.com
Terry Shulman: terrytcs55@aol.com

Phone

Patti Shulman: (804) 426-9396
Terry Shulman: (804) 426-9396

Terry Shulman & the Storefront, III

Terry and Patti Shulman run the Storefront bed and breakfast in Staunton, VA. Thanks to this blog at least one person has gotten their money back from the Shulmans. Yeah for that. This is the conclusion from the email I reported on yesterday. Read on:

The Resolution

Hi Craig this is [the] husband. all went well we got our money back. What i did you may not be able to do were you live. I live in the same town Terry lives in just his luck I found out were he and his wifes farm is . I called him up and told him I was prepared to go to his address and I told him his address and also I had no problem showing up at the Store Front condo and let people know that there is a problem with how Terry conducts his business he agreed to meet me and give me CASH. But he still claimed that he had deposited our money in our account but never showed me any receipts that he claimed he had I was very firm and didn't give a damn what he had to say and demanded he give me cash. [...] because thanks to things I read on your blog and I did mention he will not screw me over like he did the people in Richmond he change him attitude. Best thing be firmer with him and tell him you did chat with me not a problem and that you will go to any lengths to your money and you have to bug that crap out of him. I think he thinks this is a game and he met his match with me. [...] I just think he will continue to take advantage of people but he does not have the balls to face someone like me because of the way I handled it. When I read your blog that just made me pissed about the money [...] good luck brother...

Terry Shulman & the Storefront Hotel, II

Terry and Patti Shulman run the the Storefront Hotel in Staunton, VA. I'm starting to get emails about this place and other people trying to get their money back from the Shulmans. As the author writes, I am not alone.

The Problem

I came across your blog while googling "Terry Shulman" and found it very interesting. While we have never rented from Terry or Patti, we did however make reservations for our one-year anniversary at The Storefront West. That's his newest addition to his conglomeration of scams. He requires a 14 day notice to cancel reservations, I knew this when reserving the loft. I called him 2 days into that 14 day period (2 days too late) to see if there was any way to get out of the reservation because we had found out that our family is planning a cruise and invited us to come along, so we needed to try and save up some spending money. He reminded me of the cancellation policy and I understood but asked if someone else comes along and wants the loft, could we get out of our reservations then. He said yes. He notified me on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 1:04 AM that someone else wants the loft and our reservation is considered cancelled. YES!! We were so happy that this worked out so nicely. I emailed him back thanking him and told him we would most definitely keep The Storefront and/or Storefront West in mind for our future accomodations. I received a response saying "You're welcome. I mistakenly charged your card on the the wrong Monday - last Monday - but will credit the charged amount to your account tomorrow." This email was sent to me at 12:55AM on Thursday morning, May 26th. Keep in mind, he made this "mistake" on MONDAY but is just now coming around to letting me know. My husband and I have been trying to get our money back, money that he had NO RIGHT to take out of our account on that date. He, in essence, stole our money and will not return it! My husband just got off the phone with him and he claimed he credited my card but I see no pending transactions listed from him on my account. I think he's trying to scam us and after reading your blog in its entirety, I feel even more strongly that he's trying to rip us off. I just wanted to email you to let you know that you are not alone in your fight for money that is rightfully your own and trying to get Terry Shulman to do the right thing. This is the shortened version but I have all emails if you want to see them back and forth between me and Terry.

Terry Shulman & the Storefront Hotel

Terry and Patti Shulman run the the Storefront Hotel in Staunton, VA. I happened to come across reviews for it at bedandbreakfast.com. Most of the reviews sound fake to me but, given our experiences with our deposit on the house we rented from them, this review rings very true:

My husband and I were given a gift certificate to bedandbreakfast.com for Christmas from my sisters. We chose to stay at the Storefront because we did not want to stay at your typical bed and breakfast. We had a great time and were actually commenting on how we wanted to come back again; however, when we returned home, we found an unexpected extra charge of $100 on our credit card. When we spoke to the innkeeper, he informed us that we had violated the "no pet" policy. This was impossible, as we had not brought our dog. We did bring a blanket from home, which most likely had dog hair on it (we have a black lab and he tends to shed a lot). When I called the innkeeper to explain what happened, he refunded the money, but rudely told me that I was never welcome back. He told me that he had to wash the comforter because there was dog hair on it (shouldn't he be washing the comforter anyway???) The website clearly states that you don't have to clean before you leave. Had I known how picky they were going to be, we would have washed the sheets ourselves. We were very disappointed in the way this was handled. We were very glad to have the money refunded but were very upset by the rudeness of the innkeeper. Anyone who has a dog knows that a little bit of your dog always travels with you...

Wasps!

I was cleaning out a little chest the other day and found these two little baggies. Each one had a wasp that I had saved from 821 W. 30th. I had brought them to work to see if anyone at the university could tell me any more about them.

These wasps kept appearing in the house for several days. I never figured out where they were coming from. My best guess is that they had a nest in a vent somewhere. I called and emailed Terry and Patti Shulman more than once about this, but they never came out or sent anyone to investigate. Did I mention we had a little baby?!?!? That made me a little nervous... Good luck future renters and homeowners.

Move-In Inspection, II

If you rent, make sure you get a move-in inspection. In Virginia it's the law. Terry and Patti Shulman did not do a move-in inspection at 821 W. 30th St. We were naive, didn't request one, and got burned. As the email in the last post indicates, I wasn't the only renter there to get burned by the Shulmans. I warned the new tenants to get a move-in inspection when they moved in. I hope they got one! Here's another link to a move-in inspection form.

Terry Shulman's Pattern of Behavior

Here's a very interesting email I just received:

Hi Craig,

A friend of mine recently turned me on to your blog about you awful experience with 821 W. 30th. I was a tenant at 821 W. 30th during the year of June'05 to May'06. Many of the experiences you speak of were similar with my experiences with Terry Shulman. In fact some of the house issues mentioned were there during our tenancy and I know friends who lived there before me who created some of the damage mentioned in your blog. It was very frustrating to us but most of my roommates were students and didn't have the drive to go any further with reclaiming our deposit since it was split between 4 of us. I just didn't like the way Terry treated us after all was said and done and consider it a lesson that landlords(just Terry) aren't that nice despite the many good experiences I've had with other landlords.

I don't know how far a long your fight with Terry to reclaim your security deposit has gone, but I'm hunting for a letter Terry sent us about all the damages he was claiming our security deposit with. I can't promise anything due to the passage of time but I will check with my roommate at the time as well. We made the mistake too of not having an initial walkthrough. The letter accuses us of some of the said damages you were accused of and I find it ridiculous he would use that on your family to withhold your deposit.

I will try to email you later this week on the status of said letter. I don't know if any of this helps.

Take care,