In response to the "disclaimer" by the anonymous member of this complex's management, I'd like to state right at the beginning: I am not a disgruntled resident. I've never been late with my rent. I've never been evicted. I HAVE lived at Wood Gardens since 1999, and since I've been here, I think there have been at least FIVE (but probably more) changes in property management. The most recent management change that occurred this summer was the most jarring -- every familiar face but one (maintenance AND office personnel) simply vanished one day without a 'it's been real, but we're being transferred' and replaced with a obviously smaller staff -- and it shows in the worst way. Up until this past summer (2007), if I made a simple maintenance call, it was done within 24 hours. The current management company is the most inefficient I've ever seen, at least when it comes to maintenance. It's running the gamut from weird to inexplicable.

First, the weird: Sometime last summer (at about the same time as the management change), a family of raccoons took up residence in the attic. I live on the top floor of a 3-story building and late one night, I actually heard the mama raccoon literally tearing her own private entrance in the gable end of the roof -- right through aluminum siding and all. I reported this to maintenance the very next day. I told them I could even SEE the private entrance that mama raccoon had made on the OUTSIDE of the building (I wasn't about to stick my head up into the crawlspace to get a look at it from inside). I was assured that one of the maintenance guys would set a trap in the attic and fix the hole. They apparently never got around to it. A few nights later, I heard the "precious" sounds of baby raccoons demanding dinner from mama. Now, I like animals -- and I wouldn't have minded these so much, but the nest was apparently directly above my bedroom ceiling, and they began waking me up every night at 2:00 a.m. As the summer wore on and the babies got older, you could actually hear them digging around inside the walls. I continued to report the presence of the raccoons at least a dozen times over the summer. Once, they even got into the chimney and if not for the fact that I keep the damper closed, they would have made it into the apartment itself. I would now be the proud owner of some hand-crafted coonskin caps if they had. To this day, there is still raccoon activity in the attic. The custom-made entrance they made is still there, too.

Next, the aggravating. My dishwasher stopped draining one day. I promptly reported it to leasing office and they in turn passed it on to maintenance. I was cautioned that it might take them a day or two to get to it because it was the height of a VERY hot, dry summer and air conditioners all over the complex were apparently not keeping up with the demands. Okay, fine, I know how to wash dishes the old-fashioned way. Except I ended up washing dishes the old-fashioned way for nearly a MONTH. After the first week of getting NO apparent attention to the problem, I started calling every single day, practically begging someone to at least come LOOK at it.
That NEVER would have happened with the previous maintenance team.

And finally, the inexplicable. In early December, the refrigerator abruptly stopped getting cold. This happened on a Friday night. The maintenance people apparently don't work on Saturday unless it's something "major". Luckily I hadn't bought groceries yet, so losses weren't great. Luckily I have a decent sized ice chest. Monday, I reported the refrigerator was kaput. By Tuesday, I received a call that the refrigerator needed a part and it would be fixed by Wednesday. By Wednesday, the word was that the refrigerator was unfixable and would be completely replaced. For some bizarre reason, instead of going to Lowes or Mazers or Home Depot and getting one cash-and-carry THAT SAME DAY, they actually ORDERED one. I didn't have a refrigerator until FRIDAY.
To ice the cake, the new refrigerator has doors that open THE WRONG WAY for the space it's in and I have to stand up against the wall to get anything out or put anything IN. There is also no icemaker. Not so much an inconvenience to ME, but the apartment description in all the brochures list "refrigerator with ice-maker". Well, not in 623.

It DOES have one of the nicest pools of any apartment complex I've seen in the area. There's a large deck with picnic tables and grills that residents are free to use --- but don't be surprised if it's being used by NON-residents. The pool area is so nice, people from adjoining apartment complexes regularly trespass and use it. A few years ago, management attempted to remedy this situation by issuing residents with pool passes -- it didn't work and I believe it's since discontinued. The building I live in sits on the edge of the Wood Gardens property -- during the summer, I have sat in my apartment (with a view of the parking lot) and watched residents from those next-door apartment complexes coming onto the Wood Gardens property, towels, boomboxes and coolers in hand, obviously headed for the pool.

My lease is up in March. I will not be renewing.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/05/2008
I completely agree with you and know first hand about all of the problems that you are describing!! If the management would spend more time addressing problems and less time typing false "disclaimers" on this site, then they coulld probabaly find a lot of room for improvement. Maintenence is a joke. They showed up at my door at 8pm in the middle of the week because the vacant apt below me had a water leak. Then a week and a half later on a Saturday morning, they showed back up ready to address the problem. They pulled everything out from under my kitchen sink (cleaning chemicals included) and tore down the shelf that was under my sink. After about 45 minutes of going in and out and in and out they decided that they should call a real plumber. They informed me that he should be there before dark (they hoped), left the cleaning chemicals strowed on my kitchen floor (in reach of my puppy, no less) and left. So, my fiance and I had to postpone our plans for the day and wait on a plumber for a problem that didn''t even concern us. Once he got there(about two hours later) they prceeded to make an even bigger mess. My cabinet was floooded, there were mud prints and gunk all over the floor and they never put the shelf back up, actually they tore it down in such a way that I dont think it can be reattached. Also, my "nice wooded view" has become the designated dumpster for our neigbors
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/15/2008
Ooooh-weeeee heavens heavens meeeee!! I am the manager of one of those new fancy dancy Beverly Hills type apartment complexes over on Hwy 280 in Birmingham, I am soooooooooooo sorry that all of you are having these terrible problems at your complex. We, over here are a happy happy happy happy community :-))) and nothing EVER goes wrong with anything and if we see a raccoon we just say shu shu shu little masked poo poo poo and pooof they are gone. We never have any crime either and none of our buildings ever ever ever ever leak. In fact, even when it does rain, the exterior of our buildings don't even get wet!! In fact, one time when it rained, it rained candy canes, lolli pops and ice cream!! YUMMMIEEEE!! :-)) HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!! We look forward to seeing you soon!!! 1br 1ba Start at $995.00 (no water, no trash, no utilitiy included) 2br 2ba Start at $1275.00 (no water, no trash, no utility included) 3br 2ba Start at $1525.00 (no water, no trash, no utility included)
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/20/2008
I love the person who posted the comment on 2/15/08. This is classic!
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/12/2009
The person who commented on 2-15-08 is what you should expect from management...

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