I would give a zero if I could, but then I wouldn't be able to leave this review and vent about my recent experience in Altoona. The apartment was dirty when we moved our daughter in and there were water marks on the ceiling starting to turn to mold. I have pictures and video. And lastly, there was a major issue with the management team that was never resolved. These people are atrocious. This was truly a learning experience. Just look at all the other reviews, and run far, far away from The Apartment Store. read more

The woman I spoke with was nothing short of condescending and unprofessional. I called with a problem and she began yelling at me and speaking in a condescending tone. I was not combative or rude until she starting yelling at me and telling me to stop yelling at her! What?? They she hung up on me. Problem was not resolved. Such a horrible experience. I have never been spoken to so rudely. I would give them zero stars if I could. Once again, tami g advantage of college students. read more

They use dirty strategies to tow your car when you have a paid parking permit. Then they laugh at you when your car is towed. They do not try to work thing out or protect students. It is a money grab via towing. They are BAD! Avoid these people. read more

If I could give a zero, I would have. Folks, I am a sublessee and staying at University Terrace. This is but one of the properties managed by this organization, this shitty organization known as The Apartment Store. If you asked me to describe in one word about The Apartment Store as a company, I would state the word "Unprofessional". They care for your money and that is it. They are all about inconviencing the people who live here. If you live here and you aren't the original tenant/sublessor; you will never know when maintenance workers or others enter your place. You could be a naked female coming out of the shower, and if that sublessor didn't forward the email to you- you're screwed. So basically, they come whenever they desire and say that they sent an email to the sublessor but my sublessor never got one. Then their workers will leave a mess behind and not clean any of it whatsoever. Summer parking here, a shit ton of parking spots; but you still gotta have that parking pass. It costs $120 for their shitty little tow truck aquitances to drop your vehicle from their lift. More money needed if they tow it without your knowledge. The parking passes are only three dollars, but they last all day - not all day as in 24 hours, just as in up to 11:59. I talked her into that time, so its's usually only 10:00pm. And if you aren't the original tenant/sublessor; you can't pay with credit card or debit card using their system called Portal. You can't pay with cash either. Only through money order or a check. The workers are rude and disrespectful, and will continue to ignore your complaints or sip their coffee; after-all you are just a paycheck over the summer ( or whichever semester) for them. Why should they care? The apartments themselves are dirty and in new of repairs and renovations, they appear to keep any and everyone's security deposit- just stuffing their own bank accounts but never updating and fixing the place, except while you are already living there. I also stayed in Sutton Court Apartments, which is also owned by The Apartment Store. Yep, I am a glutton for disappointment and punishment because those apartments were trashy as well. They ask for so much money as well, and the places aren't worth half of the amount they ask for. So lets recap - rude employees, inconveniences for the residents, no love for the tenants/ all about their money, dirty trashy apartments, and no communication unless you are the sublessor- and you still won't get the email.... Fuck The Apartment Store. Stay far away! This U.S. Army Veteran does not approve of this company and properties managed by them. This isn't a good option for any student. read more

Many of you will probably be unable to avoid this company since they own so many properties in State College. The workers are friendly but they are incompetent. I leased last year, renewed, and added my sister as a tenant. Called them numerous times to make sure she would have a mattress at the apartment, and they assured us she would. When we get to the apartment: no mattress. I live at Sutton court and today NONE of the washing machines were working. Wasted all this laundry detergent in broken machines. Called the number they have posted on the wall to get some help-- it's the office number and they're closed. Called their "24/7" maintenance-- no one picks up. (Why do they call it 24/7 maintenance??! They have almost never picked up when I called.) So I thought I'd go across the street to the laundromat there since my clothes are now even more disgusting from me putting them in those machines-- BUT THE LAUNDROMAT ACROSS THE STREET WAS TORN DOWN TO BUILD ANOTHER APARTMENT STORE PROPERTY. WTF. read more

We came to State College to see apartments for my son. We had an appointment, arrived at the office 20 minutes ahead of schedule but no one was there. No one answered the phone, they did not call us to say they were not coming. They were to show us 2 properties however now we have fewer choices to consider. They seemed like any other business on the phone but a no-show when you traveled 3 hours to see them is beyond incompetent. read more

You may have noticed that The Apartment Store has received quite a few negative reviews in the past, and I agree they have had their problems, but let me say they have made an incredible effort to rebrand their image and turn things around. This is my second year renting with them and I have always had my maintenance requests attended to rapidly. More recently the apartment store has gone above and beyond to accommodate me. Some examples: 1) I was unable to buy a parking pass before they closed on a Friday and they allowed me to park in the lot for that weekend plus the following Monday 2) they did a promotion that rewarded you with $100 should you refer a friend who rents an apartment with them and had previously gone through another company, and they let me use my roommate to refer my friends to the apartment I was living in the following year so that I received the payout 3) I received my entire security deposit promptly when moved out and my roommates stayed 4) they accidentally overcharged my account an extra month's rent but cut a check immediately to refund the money That being said, there are still a few issues the apartment store needs to fix. I've noticed some of the dryers don't properly dry clothes. Also, My roommates and I were charged about $75 for them to pick up and throw away a slip of paper that had one of my roommates name on it The apartment store has really screwed people over in the past but I think that with their new management they are heading in the right direction read more

I had several problems in just the one year I rented through the apartment store. 1) When we moved in the carpets were already filthy. If you walked around for five minutes barefoot the bottoms of your feet turned completely black. (The people next to us said they found throw up in their room). We put in a complaint and after a few days they eventually paid for our carpets to be cleaned. This is confusing though because in our rent cost they had a few hundred dollar charge for carpet cleaning they claim every apartment gets. Clearly our carpets were not cleaned, so this leads me to believe they charge you for carpet cleaning and then never get them cleaned. This was also inconvenient because the carpets needed to be dried, but our AC was broken and they "couldn't fix it" for the first month of school. At the end of the year we too were charged for carpet cleaning, but this was confusing because they were putting hard wood floors in all of the apartments. I find it hard to believe that they would get our carpets cleaned and then tear them out. 2) One month they charged me for double my rent. When we asked about it they basically said "oops that happens sometimes." Suspicious.... 3) The apartment dumpster wasn't emptied enough, so occasionally the dumpster would be overflowing with trash for a couple days. One day we took out our garbage and put it on top of the other garbage bags piled in the dumpster. The bag must've fallen off the giant pile and onto the ground, and the apartment store workers dug through our trash bag to find receipts so they would know which apartment room it belonged to. We received an email from Justine Miller that our garbage was on the ground and next time we would be fined $100 for it. This was ridiculous because the real problem was that the dumpster was not being emptied. These were just the main issues... read more

Used to rug doctor the carpet every other week, have maids come clean every week and generally kept the place very clean. Not only did not get security deposit back on move out, but was charged an extra ~600 on top of that. Multiplied by total roommates this amounts to ~6000 in "damages" and "cleaning" costs. Multiple calls to their office yielded in one hold indefinitely, one hangup, and one run around call back later. Then this was reported to credit agencies for both resident as well as cosigning(don't get a choice in this) parents. Avoid this place like the plague. read more

We cleaned our apartment for two days before we left it. The dang thing was MUCH cleaner than when we moved in the previous year... STILL, they took most of our security deposit, and refused to give any reason as to why read more

My wallet was stolen from my bedroom when their contractors were let into my apartment to install a sprinkler system. They did nothing and I had to get all new id's and debit/credit cards. Never again. Also, when we moved in, there was a massive stain in the middle of the living room floor and the place smelled awful. We told them and they didn't do anything about it. We then lost our security deposit when moving out because of the stain. read more

The Apartment Store is the WORST. There is literally no accountability. There was a dead bat outside my apartment (yes, a dead bat inside a building) on the weekend. I called to report it and they told me someone would take care of it. Four hours later, it was still there. I called back and was told that this wasn't an "emergency" but would be taken care of "first thing Monday morning." Super cool. Guess what? It's 7:30pm on Monday night and there's STILL A DEAD BAT outside my door. Amazing. I'm paying $200/semester for parking at my building. I called the towing company to come fetch the cars that don't belong there (that don't have a valid pass.) Tow company wouldn't come out because the lot manager (read: The Apartment Store chuckleheads) turned off towing. Apparently, they don't monitor the lots for the first week of the semester (no one told me this) so cars without permits are parked in the lot. I now have no where to park without getting a ticket or towed. Classy. This was not communicated to tenants and when I called to ask about it, the person on the phone had no clue... "I'm just the emergency answering line." Congratulations, let me get you a sticker. In the meantime, I was given no advice on what to do regarding the situation. The suggestion was to wait until the maintenance guys came out to look at the cars and we'll go from there. No time frame was given, either. My guess is the illegally parked cars will be around just as long or longer than the bat. This place is a joke. It's unprofessional, not helpful, a total rip-off, and the office smell like old deep frying fat. If you can avoid them, skip The Apartment Store. read more

OK so far everybody seems nice and I came in to post a good review but my kid has not gotten there yet so we'll see. Reading this it makes me really concerned for my child's experience. I'm the parent I'm paying rent and they're probably going to be less likely to tangle with me than a kid but if anything goes down I will be fine going to small claims court and sort it all out. Any kids reading this, make sure you videotape everything with your phones before you put your own stuff in there & write a punch list of what's wrong and then email it to your representative at the apartment store so there's documented proof that you advised them of what's going on. As the year moves forward write everything down & email everything so you have proof otherwise no one's going to believe you, do not rely on verbal communications if you have a verbal communication then follow up with an email saying it's a recap. Lastly a picture is worth 1000 words use your phone, take a picture or a video and attach it to the email. If the manager ignores you escalate and go to the owner so you have a record of the steps you've taken to try to resolve the issue. Now I'm going to have to have the same dialogue with my child - not thrilled to be starting off the school year wondering if I made a mistake read more

STAY AWAY FROM THEM! YOU WILL THANK ME!! This place is the worst of the wost. I CANNOT emphasize it enough. They lie, they cheat, they will rip you off. They are rude, they are very dishonest, and they are after your money and if you co-sign your parents then your parents money! If I could rate them a -5 I really would. First of all, when you move in. Use your smart phone and record the condition of everything. Take lots of pictures and have them sign on them. The carpets, the floors, the tables, and any other equipment you may have in your apartment. You will be given a document to report all issues. Fill in EVERYTHING. And I REALLY MEAN EVERYTHING. DO NOT BE AFRAID to write that the drawer is scratched. Trust me, you'll PAY FOR IT!!! Hell, if the window rails and slugs are dirty - MARK IT DOWN! They charged me cleaning for that!! Mark any dust on any drawer and any shelf. Mark any missing refrigerator parts (like on the door) or any dirt. Mark any stains on the carpet even they are pin-size. Mark any baseboard molding that's torn or missing - wood or rubber. Mark Mark Mark!!! Trust me, you'll pay for it all. They are very good at getting every dime of that security. And do not forget to get a copy of that file and keep it in safe keeping. Now, once you move in. The key you get in many cases are one of those plastic with holes - they are not your typical key. If the key you get is bad MAKE SURE THEY KNOW IT OR YOU WILL PAY FOR IT. Since it's a special key that a typical locksmith can't make they will charge you an arm and a leg (and your first born child) (A friend of mine was charged $150!). Once living there, they don't keep track of their keys and they have master keys that really gets abused. Repair staff appear to think they have all the right in the world to just come in whenever the heck they want. Outrageous! Overall, they rental prices are simply absurd. They are positioned right on college avenue and they use that fact to lure innocent college students. When you sign a lease, they will try to force you to get your parents to co-sign it. AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS! Trust me, they use that as leverage because they know parents have things to lose. When you sign the lease, they have some extra text that says that if you have carpet in your apartment **THEY WILL** always clean it when you leave and **THEY WILL** deduct the pay from your security deposit. Note that they DO NOT write how much they will charge - so they can make up ANY price they wish. GET THEM TO WRITE OUT THE PRICE OR CROSS IT OUT AND HAVE THEM SIGN IT. Listen to me about that - they will NAIL you on that!! In addition to the lease, they force you to sign an illegal agreement about bedbugs - which in the state of PA they MUST PAY and take care of. DO NOT SIGN IT!! Honestly, you will be WELL off just not dealing with them. Don't let them lure you into what seems like nice housing arrangement. You will pay for it big time. read more

Do not use the rental company! They will take most or all of your security deposit even though you leave the place cleaner and in better shape than it was at the start. Furthermore they will end the lease prior to the last day of Penn State classes, and charge at least $150 per day to stay an extra day. This organization is poorly run with questionable ethics. read more

Don't even think about getting your full security deposit back. I have heard about how horrible the Apartment Store is with security deposits so I hired professional cleaners to avoid the trouble. I had an efficiency so the cost wasn't high. But since they couldn't take any money for the cleanliness they decided they'll take money for a supposed to the walls due to poster putty. Here's the thing, before I moved out they had come and repainted my walls. They decided to not repaint one of the walls because it was inconvenient at the time. When they came to repaint my walls I took down all my posters, all of which I used the same poster putty for. They repainted all but one of the walls without charging me ANYTHING. They didn't say it was damaged or that it cost them a lot of "extra" work and repairing. And now they charged me for a damage fee' When I talked to a staff member he just repeated that the workers said it took extra work the workers said, the workers said. He kept repeating himself and avoided telling me why I wasn't charged before and now I am. Apparently this time in particular it too "extra" work. They had to repaint the walls because it's not like they would have otherwise repainted it anyway. Also worth mentioning is how they totally ignored my request for them to look at the damages before I moved out. They said they would get back to me but never did. When I went to the office for the request they kept on saying they would be too busy because everyone was moving out and they had to do damage checks. I was requesting that they saw me BEFORE this rush. Why did they not get back to me' Because they obviously take my money because after they do the "repair" the evidence is lost and they already "spent" the money to do it. And they don't necessarily hire the best people to do maintenance. I had to get my carpet replaced and the company they worked with were horrible. They the door to my lock and claimed that they reported it to the Apartment Store. Well I come back from winter break it is was broken. So someone could have robbed me during those 3 weeks. Lucky for them everything was fine but that's so irresponsible. It took the company they worked with THREE times before they realized that I wasn't about to put ALL my furniture in the hallway, bathroom and kitchen so they could replace my carpet. Mind you the kitchen leads to the hallway. Putting all my furniture in there would block them from coming in and me going out. My bathroom could barely fit a dresser in there. I was leaving for winter break...and they want me to put everything I can't fit in my bathroom and kitchen in the hallway'' I had called the Apartment Store to explain the situation after the first time and they said they would talk with the company. The 2nd time they come in pissed off that we didn't move the furniture again and leave. It wasn't until the 3rd time that they found people willing to help us move the furniture the day they came so we wouldn't have to risk putting our stuff out there while I was gone. Don't rent from this company. My friends and I have all concluded it isn't worth your time. read more

We called in to the Apartment Store over a month ago to place a work order for a coffee table. After calling back every week to find out the status of the table nothing was happening. Last week when I called they were still unsure of the coffee table status and took down my number and said they would call me the next day. One week later I had heard nothing from the Apartment Store. Today I called again and found out that my apartment would not be getting a coffee table until May...which we will already be out of school. This was unbelievable. Horrible customer service. I pay my rent every month and they can't even get me a coffee table and all they would say is sorry we can't do anything about it. You best believe if I had not paid my rent on time they would have charged me a late fee but do they get penalized for not doing their job...no. read more

been trying to get whopping charge of $7.50 waived as there have been many problems with the apartment (which can happen) but the management company has been rude and obstinant. The women there state no fees can be waived, however, it is done everyday in every business! They did not notice the parking garage falling apart before they charged everyone to park there and then had to move parking further away. Surprisingly were able to refund only small portion of that money charged. Another instance of rules changing. They have captive demand and so not worried about happy tenants. Unfortunate read more

Absolutely horrible. They are one of the worst organizations I have ever had to deal with from parking to maintenance. I currently live in one of their apartments and they have only ever left me with the feeling that they love to squeeze as much money as they can from poor college students. Do not ever think for a second that they will not charge you for something if they have a chance, because they will, no matter what they say to you. Please please PLEASE keep these reviews in mind because I am no where near the only student who thinks it. I have had guests come to drop their things off at my apartment, park for 5 minutes with their blinkers on, and then come out and have a ticket on their car. When the Apartment Store was addressed with the issue they said they couldnt do anything and that was that. Very unfair. And this is just one of the lighter stories that could be told from the many students who have to deal with them. This review is not even out of anger, its just sad and disheartening that these people will grab your money even though most of us barely have a part time job. If I could give them a lower rating I would, they care little of their residents and they do not hide it well. read more