Apartment Showed Me A Renovated Unit, Put A Different One On My Lease, Now Keeping My $600 Deposit

In mid October, I toured an apartment complex. The leasing agent (let’s call him Jim) showed me several units, but one renovated unit really stood out — brand new, no previous tenants, and priced around $2100. I asked multiple times why it was cheaper than similar units, and he said “that’s just how the market is.” At the office afterward, he printed out the info packet for what I believed was that same renovated unit — the price and layout matched. I didn’t think to double-check the exact unit number since we’d looked at so many. A few days later, I put down a $600 deposit and signed the lease.

Move-in day (Nov 2): I pick up my keys and walk into a completely different unit — same layout, but not remodeled at all. Everything was old, which is not what I had signed up or had planned on paying $2100/mo for. (Also, there are no pictures of this unremodeled version online, so I had no idea it existed)! That’s when I realized the unit number on the lease wasn’t the renovated one I toured. I went back to the office. After a while in the back with his co-workers, Jim wouldn’t admit anything until I showed him a video I took of the renovated unit that day, that he had said was okay to film btw. Then he finally said: Yes, this was his mistake. He never showed me an unrenovated unit. He apologized and said they could offer me a renovated unit — but it would be $200–$300 more per month. They showed it to me and again it wasn’t the same unit I was promised by Jim. I didn’t feel comfortable moving forward. Jim told me verbally that because this was their mistake, I’d “very likely” get my $600 deposit back in about 21 days.

Fast-forward to now: I just got a letter saying they’re not refunding my deposit because I “canceled after the 72-hour cancellation period.” But the only reason I didn’t cancel within 72 hours is because they put the wrong unit on the lease. If I’d known, I never would’ve applied in the first place. The manager is now also claiming she “came out and told me on Nov 2” that I wouldn’t get my deposit back — which absolutely never happened. Yesterday, I went in to talk to them again. Jim wasn’t there, but I brought up that he had told me over the phone that I should be getting my deposit back. I asked if I could listen to the recorded call, and they said no. They told me they’d “wait for Jim to come back to get his side of the story,” which makes no sense — if the manager was supposedly there that day, shouldn’t she already know what happened? She was extremely defensive and borderline arguing with me. She kept circling back to the fact that they “showed me another renovated unit,” but even that one wasn’t the same one I applied for, and it was more expensive. Same layout or not — it wasn’t the unit I was promised.

To make things worse, this complex has tons of bad reviews, and looking back, I shouldn’t have ignored the red flags. At this point, the whole situation feels sketchy and dishonest, and it feels like they’re just keeping my money. Do I have any options here? Should I contact corporate, file a complaint, dispute the deposit, or take another route? I will also be posting in r/tenant Location: CA