I'm going to start off by saying I do not write Yelp reviews! But Bell is so bad that I need to warn any college kids about it! A cheap-ish rental close to campus seemed super nice to a naive young me who worked full-time to support herself going to school full-time, but I'd rather work 4 jobs and sell feet pictures to live at 2125 than rent with Bell. Now that I'm just about ready to move out of my shitty campus rental I can finally write a review about Bell. Bell is the absolute worst rental company I have ever rented from (and probably ever will rent from). My first warning should have been when the person supposed to be showing me the unit I am currently renting was an hour late. There is no communication between the people in the office. I will get a text, call, or email about something, like getting an additional parking space, go into the office and explain why I'm there, get looked at like I'm stupid, told something COMPLETELY different, and get shooed away.
My apartment was absolutely filthy when I moved into it 2 years ago! We're talking mold on the bathroom ceiling, a grimy tub and toilet, stove drip pans that look like they've collected 5 years worth of ramen broth and broken dreams, and literal dirt flying out of the carpet. Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with just cleaning it myself if Bell hadn't strung along the moving process for about a month by telling me they were, "waiting on the professional cleaning crew to finish up the apartment." Marie Kondo would never!
The property manager of my specific complex leaves the rudest notes around. "DON'T DUMP YOUR SHIT HERE OR YOU WILL GET FINED." I understand managing a complex of college kids is probably really shitty. Trust me my dude, I have had neighbors that START throwing parties at 3am and yak on my doorstep, but there are so many nicer ways to tell people not to leave furniture they are getting rid of by the dumpster. Not to mention they are shady as hell!
Originally my unit offered free cable and internet and all utilities were included except electric. The second year, they taped a letter on our door that said if we would renew by a certain date they would give us 2 weeks free rent. That's super cool! Except they had taped those on everyone's doors AFTER the certain date listed on the letter. They also increased rent $30, stopped including cable, and then said, "We still are including water/sewer/garbage...but there's a $15/person charge to offset utilities." ??? Sick! So they aren't included, you could just say that! There's no incentive to renew with Bell at all. Honestly, I don't care about being entered to win a TV or getting a free $100 gift card if I renew like all the luxury apartments around Eugene do to try to keep tenants, but Bell let us know so late about the increases and changes to the lease that it was already too late to find another place.
My last gripe with Bell is the maintenance! I've had two ongoing problems since moving in two years ago that I've put several maintenance requests in for, one being our dishwasher not working, and the other being our literal FRONT DOOR not closing/locking! For the dishwasher I was told the first time, "Well looks like we will have to get a new dishwasher for this unit!" Heard nothing for about a month. Put in another request, heard nothing. I can wash dishes by hand, but a dishwasher is something that is promised in my lease. Emailed the office to say, "A dishwasher is promised in my lease and mine has not been working for the past month or so. After multiple maintenance requests, if this issue does not get resolved I would like my rent to be lowered for a nonfunctional amenity." The maintenance guy came over the next day with the property manager and said, "Oh did they never come to install the new dishwasher?" I said no. The property manager said, "I replaced all these dishwashers in 2005, I'm not going to replace this one." It's 2019! If this dishwasher was a person it would be a freshman in high school. Maintenance guy says, "Ok I guess I will have to find a part, but it will be kind of hard since the dishwasher is so old." Comes back 2 weeks or so later with the part! However my dishwasher is white and the part he found is black so it looks a little jank, but at least it works now! I don't blame the maintenance guy because he did what he could! And I appreciate him for it!
The next is my front door. I came home one day from the grocery store and my door was wide open! I thought someone had broken in, but upon further inspection, the lock on my door was broken! My boyfriend checked it out and noticed the door is literally hung crooked and unfortunately when it gets warm outside the door does not latch all the way and you cannot lock it properly. I put in an urgent maintenance request because ??? my front door should close and lock. Maintenance guy comes over the next day and no joke like kind of hits the hinges with a hammer a lil and is like, "It's not broken!" LOLLLL read more