Caution re: Advanced Management & Caton/Stratford Owners Corp.

This is by way of FYI regarding Advanced Management (26 Court St.); who administer 1110 Caton Ave (among, I assume, other buildings). My wife and I attempted to buy a unit in 1110 Caton in 2010; after a 9-month process in which our bid was accepted by the seller and the management company, we were ultimately rejected, in February 2011, by the co-op board. Disappointing, but what are you going to do. But part of the application was a $500 move-in deposit, refundable whether we moved in or not. When by April we hadn’t received a refund, I repeatedly requested one via our broker. When by August, we hadn’t received one, I got the address of the management company from the broker and went to the office. When several visits and unreturned emails proved fruitless, I filed a small-claims case, which we won when no representative of the company showed up. When I presented the judgment at the Advanced Management office, they made a copy of it and said they’d cut a check when the co-signer was in the office (this was in mid-September). Five weeks of stalling, promises that the check was in the mail, and unreturned messages followed. I finally received the refund today, 9 months and a legal judgment after the fact. Maybe small potatoes, but still. Just thought I’d share.