I will preface this review by saying that I have lived in luxury apartments my entire adult life since graduating from university and I have had nothing but amazing experiences at every other apartment except for this one. I felt like I was getting what I was paying for while at my previous complexes. Most of my previous complexes were managed by Greystar and they do an amazing job with managing their buildings and providing their residents with amazing customer service and a luxury experience.
When I moved down to North Carolina, I toured a few places and ended up choosing the Trilogy Cary. I liked the location, the amenities and the staff (at that time) were attentive, provided great customer service and were overall amazing. It was a great place to live. Cortland took over the management of the building and the experience has literally been night and day. At first the change was slow but then it progressively got worse (unfortunately after I renewed my lease). I should have gone with my gut and moved instead.
1. Management does not effectively communicate. They will send out emails about the same things multiple times; they will send out emails and have to send a follow up email because their first email was not clear; or they will send an email out saying that something will be happening , that thing doesn't happen and you (as the confused tenant) have to be the one to send an email to try to figure out what is happening (and possible get a condescending response from the property manager, Donald Hawthorne). EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS ONE OF THE BASICS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE.
2. The complex is filthy (based on my personal perception of what clean is). There is overflowing trash at times, dog waste everywhere, the floors smell, the staircases smell and there are remnants of pet vomit in the staircase that will be there for days. It can be very reminiscent of a college frat house.
3. The package situation is still a mess. We had a package room process, which was working well. One day, I went to pick up a package to see that all the shelves were gone and packages were just scattered everywhere (I think someone posted a picture in another review). This happened with no email nor communication from management. I ended up emailing management (in August) and never received a response. About a month later, they sent an email to all the tenants explaining the situation with the package room and that this occurred because the property would be getting Amazon lockers. To this day, the package situation is still chaotic (still no functioning Amazon lockers) and people have had packages gone missing or lost. I've been having my packages held at UPS, FEDEX or USPS in order to avoid lost packages. I should not have to do that and take extra time to make extra trips from work. Changing a process is not bad, but there should have been more thought and consideration in how to make this a smooth transition (with actual deadlines). Instead of taking responsibility for the mess they created due to poor planning, they are now going to put the onus on the delivery drivers by having them deliver packages directly to the doors of tenants. In other words, don't order anything expensive because it may or may not be at your door when you get home from work. We'll see how well that works out.
4. Overall, staff and customer service is pretty much non-existent for the old Trilogy tenants. Cortland's sole focus is on the old Solis tenants and it's blatantly obvious. Courtland should not have combined the two communities if they are unable to effectively manage them BOTH. Management here needs an overhaul. The old Cortland Property Manager was replaced with a new one and so far, nothing has changed. Maybe the issue is Cortland as a whole.
As someone who studied business and works in business, I tend to look at things from a different lens and I'm quite critical when I feel like a company is not holding up their end of the bargain when a contract (i.e lease) is signed. This company's response to tenants (if there is any) seems to just be lip service as opposed to action.
My lease ends fairly soon and I can not wait. If I had to do it over again, I would not have renewed my lease after Cortland took over. Your home should be a place of peace, not aggravation. Don't waste your time, money or peace on this place. read more