When I first moved in, I thought everything was great. Unfortunately, the problems started only a…read morefew nights after moving in.
The first major issue was the fire alarm. There are alarms directly above each bed, and one went off at 6 AM even though I work night shifts. I woke up, went downstairs to make sure there wasn't an immediate danger, and was met by a bunch of other residents who were just as confused. Two of the girls who run the front desk and handle most of the property were calling the fire department so everyone could eventually return to their rooms and the alarms could be shut off.
It took around 20 minutes for the fire department to arrive, only for us to be told that someone had vaped in the elevator. This happens probably once a month, sometimes twice, and every time they send an email reminding everyone how serious it is and that we need to leave the building and get somewhere safe. I completely understand the importance of taking a fire alarm seriously, but it makes me wonder how difficult this must be for families with young babies, elderly residents, or anyone who has difficulty leaving the building quickly. Everyone is expected to evacuate every time.
And then there are the alarms inside the apartments. If you cook for yourself, be prepared for them to go off constantly. Using the toaster, air fryer, oven, or stove can set them off. Sometimes you'll turn the alarm off 10-20 times a day, depending on how much you're cooking. If you don't open your front door to let the air out, you can end up setting off the alarm for the entire building. For elderly residents who may not even be able to safely stand on a chair to reach the alarm, I hope they have someone around who can help them.
They also have maintenance requests, which is less serious because some of these things are explained in the lease. However, I was specifically misled during my tour. I asked about replacing the light bulbs, and the person giving me the tour told me that residents should not change them themselves and that we could simply submit a maintenance request and have them replaced. I later found out that this wasn't actually the case. The same thing happened with the refrigerator filter. They do replace AC filters, so I assumed the information I was given about the other items was accurate.
The bigger issue is their maintenance response system. There are supposedly two options: a regular maintenance request for normal issues and an emergency maintenance line for serious problems. The problem is that the emergency number is the exact same number as the regular maintenance number. Nine times out of ten, you end up at the same voicemail where you leave your name and number and wait until someone gets to it the next morning. At that point, it doesn't feel any different from submitting a regular maintenance request.
We've had the AC go out twice in the eight months we've lived here. Both times, we waited hours for someone to come out. When I called to ask for an estimated time, I received a nasty response and was hung up on while I was simply trying to figure out how long we were going to be sitting in an apartment that was around 85 degrees. When maintenance finally arrived, I was told that I had caused the problem even though I hadn't touched the thermostat.
The trash valet is another frustrating issue. You have no choice but to pay for the service, so to get the most out of my money, I tried to actually use it as much as possible. The service runs five nights a week, but realistically, about once a week my trash is still sitting outside when I wake up. If you leave extra trash out the following night to make up for it, they can charge you $50 for leaving out more than 15 pounds or more than two bags. No cardboard boxes, nothing even slightly heavy, or you'll potentially end up paying the equivalent of two months of the service. We eventually stopped using it altogether, but we're still paying $38 a month to take our own garbage out.
They also send review emails supposedly to "check up on you," but nobody actually responds when you give them feedback.
As much as I enjoy the luxury of having a food truck show up every couple of nights, they also failed to mention that they host their own "pool parties." During these events, they have broken their own volume rules and brought in a DJ who plays for several hours. The music was loud enough that I could hear it clearly through my walls, and personally, I found the music pretty distasteful. There have also been multiple occasions where residents themselves have brought speakers outside and blasted music with seemingly no regard for anyone around them. From my experience, nobody does anything about it.
In summary, I don't expect much, but I do expect to get what I was told I was paying for. That's the biggest problem I have with this place. What seemed great during the tour has turned into a frustrating experience after actually living here. Full of broken promises...
