Just a terrible terrible place. I lived there for most of 2011, and truly regret it. The rent is high, the location is boring, the staff is at best useless, and most, but not all, people around there unfriendly. You can do much better in Chapel Hill, and certainly Durham or Raleigh if those are options.
The apartments are fairly big. I had a 1 bedroom, and had plenty of space. They are terribly maintained however. I had to bother the leasing office every week for over 3 months to get a window fixed. The appliances are old, light fixtures work sometimes. The buildings reek of mold, but nobody will do anything about it if you complain.
The leasing office will promise you free utilities if you negotiate with them, but even if you get it in writing, don't count on it. I received water bills, which they explicitly told me they would cover, but then denied it. They paid my electricity, but then invoiced me after I moved out, and refused to send me the bills. This is the biggest problem really: THE MANAGEMENT ARE LIARS! After a few months I decided I wanted to move, found a subletter and came to an agreement about when I would move out. The leasing office, which is open maybe 10% of the hours they claim, approved the subletter, and we all signed a contract we were happy with. This all occurred 2 months prior to the agreed-on move out date. So, on the move date I drop my keys off at the rental office and drive off. Two weeks later, I get near-incomprehensible emails from the leasing manager demanding double rent from me, telling me she had never heard of the sublease agreement.
Here's the situation:
Ronni - leasing manager - completely batshit insane, and incompetent. Never in the leasing office, will never sign anything
Eric - assistant - Sometimes in the leasing office, very agreeable, will say anything to get you to leave him alone
Their deal is that Eric agrees to everything, signs everything, reassures you. Then, when it comes time for them to hold up their end of the bargain, Eric disappears, Ronni claims she never knew anything, and that Eric has no authority. If you call the company (GSC corporation) they refuse to help you, directing you only to Ronni, who never answers phone calls or emails. GSC will go as far as to tell you that Ronni owns the entire property, and is the final authority on anything. So unless you want to employ a lawyer, stay the hell away from Franklin Woods.
Some other miscellaneous goodies about Franklin Woods:
1) My neighbor started a fire in our building at 3 a.m.. Firefighters take an ax to the outside wall of my apartment and rip out my window. The whole apartment stinks of smoke. Ronni refuses to do any repairs or have the apartment cleaned until the fire investigation is complete, which took 2 months. When my wall was finally patched (there was a hole to outside the size of a softball), she refuses to paint over it.
2) The parking lot doubles as a pinball machine weekend nights. I don't know if drunk driving is a local tradition, but if you park your car there, I hope you have good insurance.
3) The pool is filthy and never open.
4) The "gym" they advertise is at another GSC property on the other side of town.
5) They don't believe in advance notice for entering your apartment.
DO NOT RENT THERE! read more
