Bari Management

I remember renting from this scumbag way back in 1995 – 96 and clearly he’s had no personal epiphany regarding his narcissistic megalomania. Hard to believe that 15+ years later he’s still the same vulgar, condescending wanker he was then. I recall having a water heater that was so full of lime scale that it held about 50% of its rated capacity. I offered to replace it – at my own cost!!! – and he had a thrombo of epic proportions and I decided to sublet. One prospective tenant walked in, asked «Is this a Bari Management Property?», to which I replied, «Yes.» and she did a 180 and walked out the door. Enough said. Karma will take care of this lunatic.

So upset I had to give them one star, Bari management deserves NONE. DO NOT RENT HERE REPEAT DO NOT RENT HERE!!! Jeff Tessler is the DEVIL! He raised our rent $ 100 a month because I called twice in 5 days about a clogged bathtub. The bathroom was/​Im sure it still is, falling into the basement and he REFUSED to fix it! Bari Management is the WORST NIGHTMARE I have ever experienced! NEVER NEVER NEVER RENT THERE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Jeff Tessler needs to be stopped!!!

If I could give less than 1 star I would. I don’t even rent from them and know I would never want to do business with them. Most unprofessional management company I’ve ever dealt with!

I just came across an old rental agreement from Jeff Tessler and Bari Management from 12 years ago, and decided to see if he was still in the business today.
I laughed out load to see that not much has changed since my wife and I rented from him in 1998 – 99. The reviews I have read, pretty much sum up our experience. I think that it says a lot that after 12 years, I still remember his yelling and condescending tone like it was yesterday.
Our entire building dreaded calling him for any reason. True story, one of our neighbor’s was locked in her bedroom because the door to her room jammed, which could happen with an old building. She yelled for help from her 2^rd story window and asked if I could try and climb up the side of the building to help her open her door because she was afraid to call Jeff. That is how afraid she was of Jeff…
The only positive to our experience is that our rent at the time was fairly priced and Jeff treated us OK when we had to break the lease due to a business transfer.

It makes me so happy to see Bari Management get the sucky reviews and low rating it deserves. The owner, Jeff Tessler is a nightmare to deal with… I have had some crazy landlords in the past but he is by FAR the worst I’ve ever met. He is nasty and condescending, no matter what the context of the conversation. His baseline tone of voice is yelling. It’s almost like he thinks you’re constantly trying to pull something over on him, so he’s always on the offensive.
My first really negative interaction with him was when I moved in. His wife, Sue, asked me to make a list of things that needed repair, so I did just that. Then a day later I get a call from Jeff berating me for asking for things that were apparently too cosmetic. He told me that I am not paying rent for a renovated apartment, and that he is not my interior decorator. Just to give an example, one item on my repair list was the bathroom door, since the lock wasn’t working. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize a lock on the bathroom door was a luxury. Apparently to Jeff Tessler, it is: «you live by yourself anyway, so what difference does it make?» Um, what about when I have guests over?!
I got by during my ten months of living there by avoiding him wherever possible. When I needed repairs done (like when the tub was slow to drain) he would take his sweet time in getting them processed (always over a week, sometimes 2 weeks). He claims he prioritizes the «emergency» cases first, but from reading these other reviews, it doesn’t sound like he takes care of those all that quickly either.
When I had a person sublet my apartment because I had to move out 2 months early, Jeff not only made the subletter jump through all sorts of hoops to get the place (he really does not like subletters, even though it clearly states in the lease that they are allowed). Jeff also made the subletter pay his own exorbitantly high security deposit… and on top of that, Jeff KEPT MINE AS WELL. So he basically had 3 months of rent that he insisted he needed, which makes NO SENSE. Any other landlord would just swap out the security. Or not even ask for a security from the new guy, seeing as how he still was holding on to mine until the lease was up. But of course, Jeff did it simply because he could — he’s an ass on a power trip.
Getting that deposit back was another nightmare. First of all, they lumped both of our security deposits together, which was completely idiotic since we paid them separately. And of course, they wait their full 45 days before sending back the deposit, and then somehow, magically, it disappears in the mail and never shows up in my mailbox. When I call to ask about it, Sue tells me she sent it and asks me to wait a week. So I wait, nothing shows up, and I call again. Then she mentions, completely casually like it’s no big deal, that there is a $ 32 stop-​check fee that I’ll have to pay if I want them to re-​send the check. Apparently they have had issues in the past with people keeping the original check, claiming they never got one, and then cashing both checks. Then I tell her, well how do I know she even sent it out at all, seeing as how they did not send it with any sort of tracking info? And she starts up with me about how this is all in good faith, and that we have to trust each other. This is right after she basically tells me she thinks I’m lying to her about not receiving the first check. Well anyway, I tell her there’s no way I was paying for any fee, and that the easiest way to resolve this would be to call the bank and find out if the fee can be waived. In this conversation we also decided it would be best for me to come by the office and pick up the new check in person, since I still live in the Chicago area. So she took down my number and was supposed to call me back that afternoon, but of course, she never did. I call her back just before 4 and left a message asking her to call me back for a status update. Next morning comes and goes, and by noon I still hadn’t heard from her, so I called her again. Her response: «Oh yeah I didn’t get a chance to call, but I talked to the bank, they waived the fee, so I mailed out the second check.» I don’t understand how in her pea brain she decided to mail it out again, seeing as how we had explicitly discussed my picking it up from the office. She also decides to mention to me that the bank told her the first check hadn’t been cashed. No S**T it hadn’t been cashed — thanks for telling me you thought I was lying to you about it this whole time! Eventually, THANKFULLY, the second check did arrive in the mail, and you better believe I went to the bank that very same day and cashed it, so I could finally be done with these people!
Bottom line: don’t be fooled by the cheap rent! If you think you’ve found your apartment with them, think again. Keep looking! I only WISH I had thought to check reviews beforehand…

I HAVE TO GIVE THEM ONE?
jeff T is like a zombie… an emotionless zombie. he hung up on me several times when i called to ask a question and once yelled (literally YELLED) on the phone with me because i told him i used drano in my bath tub b/​c the fix it guy didn’t respond to my request in a week.
the emergency line also didn’t respond to my 4 messages a day when i was locked out of my apt, had to spend one night in my car until my friend came home and i could stay with her… luckily i left my keys at work, so i got back in on monday– i still haven’t got a call back about those messages.
my favorite jeff T story is… i walked over to the offic one day to give them a heads up that i may be away for a while, donating a kidney to my mom. we didn’t know when the surgery was going to take place, i was waiting for a phone call and would have to go to MI ASAP… i was interupted with this response…” surgery? what does your work say about this? how are you going to pay rent?” now mind you, i wasn’t planning on fleeing or breaking my lease… i just wanted them to know i may be gone for up to a month… they were concerned about rent…
when i attempted to resign the lease (why, i don’t know) the copy of my pay stub reflected a full time pay for 3 months b/​c i was a full time freelancer the 5 months before… so it looked like i made alot less… instead of asking for clarification, jeff leaves me a 20 min vm… «well looks like you make x amount a year… so you lied to me when you said you make x amount and thats unacceptable… you must have to borrow lots of money from your friends and family and you must be really in debt. and we don’t want these kind of people in our buildings… blah blah blah…» now… i have NEVER been late with rent… so why this was all a big deal was beyond me… i probably make more in a year than he does…
anyone looking to rent with bari mg… be warned your in for one HELL of a year!