Personally, I was not pleased living at Pfister's Maryland School property for numerous reasons…read more
1.) We had several issues with the tenants who moved into the apartment below ours. The individuals who lived below would literally blast music so loudly that we could feel the floor vibrating in my second-story apartment. I made numerous calls to Pfister, as did my neighbors, but Pfister just told me to call the police, which I did not feel comfortable in doing. These tenants continued to live below me and play ridiculously loud music literally all night (from about 10pm-4am). Although these people were eventually evicted, we had to deal with this problem an average of once or twice a week for many months. As an individual who likes to actually sleep, this was unacceptable.
2.) The inside of each and every window molded over in the winter! Ew! My roommate and I left our apartment for several days over the winter, and because the windows are so so thin, the condensation inside the windows when it was cold outside molded over if we did not regularly wash and bleach both the windows and inside paint around the windows. I called Pfister and they said this happened to every apartment and to just wash regularly (as if this is very common and acceptable in apartments!) The first time I called, Pfister offered to sent maintenance over to bleach the windows and I accepted. However, the maintenance worker ended up spilling bleach droplets on our comforter, so I would not recommend calling about this problem. Instead, expect to bleach regularly and have the paint around your windows mold and chip off throughout the winter months.
3.) Essentially, we only called maintenance for two issues, neither of which was ever fixed properly over the course of our 2-year stay. First, when we moved in, there was a lot of smelly, stale water sitting in the dishwasher. We called maintenance, and this issue was 'resolved.' A few weeks later, we called again because our dishwasher still wasn't working properly. Although maintenance worked on the dishwasher, it was not properly fixed and we washed our dishes by hand. In addition, we had a kitchen drawer fixed and after it was worked on, we couldn't open it again without pulling with much force, so essentially, this drawer was useless to us.
4.) Perhaps what was the most frustrating issue with Pfister was the way in which our move-out was handled with this company. Initially, we moved into the apartment in August, and in February, we were told we had to renew our lease during this month if we wanted to continue living there (via mail from Pfister). Although it was early, we decided to stay. Well, fast-forward to the following February, we expected a lease to be mailed to us and it never came. I contacted Pfister and was told the previous lease had been mailed out too early by mistake, but that it would be taken care of soon. I did not receive a lease in March, April, May, June, or even July! I called several times over the course of this time period to let office staff know, but they said it was 'handled.' Essentially my roommate and I did not want to renew when our lease ended on July 31. Low and behold, when I called on July 1st to ask when I would receive a move-out checklist, I was told that because I hadn't turned in a hand-written note saying I wanted my lease to end that it was automatically renewed!! And keep in mind I had called no less than 3 times and told the office of this intent, and was never once told of this policy! Nor had I signed any binding paperwork, as my previous signed lease said in writing that I was off the hook as of July 31! After much discussion, this was dropped and I did not have to renew, but I believe this is because Pfister had no legal grounds to hold me to the lease as I had followed protocol and they had made the error of never sending out renewals with the option to decline renewing.
5.) Lastly, I did not get back a penny of the deposit, and in fact, Pfister actually wanted me to pay them more money for things such as a 'dirty shower curtain rod' (it was rusty!!), air vents (again, they were rusted!) and burnt-out lightbulbs which resulted in a 'cleaning' charge of well over $100 dollars. I was present for inspection and the form I received said much of the apartment was okay, so I am not sure how I owe so much money for these tiny, inexpensive, and frivolous things, many of which occur naturally over time (again, it was ridiculous in my opinion to be responsible for rusted air vents!).
Overall, we renewed our lease for a second year because it was too inconvenient to move; however, I wish I had considered living in another apartment because I was not pleased with the way many issues were handled over the course of our stay. I never heard any of my friends in the area complaining of such issues in their respective non-Pfister owned apartment and rental properties.
