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,