It has been literally years since I've used Yelp, but after today I felt like I needed to get on here and warn people.
I live at their building located at 23-15 30th Avenue in Astoria. They purchased the building at the start of 2015. Over the last month they have been doing MASSIVE gut renovations to each unit that has been vacated -- to no doubt flip them and charge people INSANE amounts of money to live in one-bedroom apartments that SO aren't worth it. (FYI, the building is across the street from one of the city's busiest hospitals, right in front of a loud bus stop, gets non-stop sunlight all day long causing the temperatures to rise in the units dramatically, and sees endless, loud foot traffic 24/7, so enjoy paying $2100 a month for a loud, hot one-bedroom.)
The construction crew they've hired -- Dino's something or other -- has been treating this building like it's completely abandoned. Carelessly demolishing apartments at a rapid pace, leaving garbage in the hallways, and even smoking indoors.
Earlier this week (7/20/15) - a large leak from our bathroom ceiling covered our bathroom with disgusting water and dirt. We cleaned it up. Yesterday, another leak occurred, this time with much more water, again covering the bathroom with disgusting, brown water and dirt. Our super (who is great, by the way), came immediately, cleaned everything up and patched up the cracks in the ceiling caused by the demolition above.
That brings us to today: 7/22/15.
While working from home, I was about to get in the shower when I received a call from my office. Minutes into the call, I heard a loud noise come from my bathroom. To my horror, there was a massive hole in the ceiling. The "work" that they were doing in the apartment above me caused the ceiling to completely collapse.
Had I been in the shower at the time, I could've been seriously injured.
I immediately found the phone number for Westminster's office in NJ and tried to get a hold of our building manager.
It's the usual chain of command BS you get from people like this -- the building manager empathizes with my situation and they're sending someone over, but he's in no position to make any kind of meaningful decision like, you know, refunding me this last month's rent or any other offering that would make them seem like anything even remotely resembling a human being.
Well, this was hours ago and no one from Westminster has bothered to show up. The construction crew they hired -- again, Dino's something or other -- has two people in here working to fix the massive hole in the ceiling. One of the gentleman was kind enough to apologize, capping off his apology with, "These things happen." If I was a cartoon, you would've been able to see the steam coming out of my ears after hearing that.
It's been hours and I still have not heard from anyone at Westminster aside from Yolanda, the very kind administrator who answered the phone. Yossi? Isaac? Still waiting to hear back, fellas.
My wife and I had no choice but to deal with this company as they purchased our building from the previous owners. But you have that choice. Before signing a new lease on what you think might be your new dream apartment, make sure you know who your management company is.
If your new apartment is owned by Westminster, tear that lease in half, light it on fire, and run screaming from your broker's office. You might look crazy, but at least you'll avoid things like your bathroom ceiling almost falling on you only to have no one at your management company care in the slightest about what's going on. read more