Avalon at South Coast
  (formerly Mill Creek)

Not worth it - go somewhere else From: -Anonymous- Date posted: 6/21/2006 Years at this apartment: 2005 - 2006 3 responses   The complex is ok and there are plenty of nice people living here. The grounds are visually beautiful, but they're covered with huge spiders - frighteningly huge. And about 1/4 cup of termite eggs fell from the porch above ours last week. There are giant roaches (we're talking over an inch) around here but I've never seen one in my apartment - just around the grounds and the parking lot. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get anyone to ever answer the phone at the office - you always have to leave a message. Then they never call you back. I finally had to go into their office with a list of 10 things written down that needed to be fixed in our apartment and they sent someone to fix them who left a note that they were "ordering parts" and would be back the next week. After two months, we had to walk back into the office with his note and explain that not only were those things not taken care of, but there were now more things to be fixed. We've lived here a year and have complained about a dishwasher that doesn't work at least 7 times - and it still doesn't work - we've given up. The other reviews are right about security - the gate always seems to be broken and I've had several neighbors lose thier cars or have things stolen out of them. The pool is only usable about 3 months out of the year since it's unheated and usually freezing. The hot tub was out of commission all of last month. The workout room isn't worth entering unless you want to ride an antiquated bike or walk on a treadmill. Parking is a joke. You pay $25 a month for a parking spot that isn't guaranteed. There are 6 parking spots in front of my building and a total of 20 for my half of the complex which holds about 100 apartments. Even if you have a parking permit, there is no way you'd find a spot if you come home later than 8pm. And heaven forbid you have a friend over for a few hours in the evening - not only can they not find a spot, no one is allowed to park near the building after 6pm. There is no street parking around the complex either, so there is no possible way to have friends come over after 6 without the chance of them getting towed. But the biggest complaint I have is how underhanded they are with their charges. My "base rent" (as they put it) is $1400, but after all the fees they add on our rent has been $1580 since we moved in. OK Fine. But when our lease was up, they wanted to raise our rent by $150. They told us that if we decided to not sign a lease and stay mtm (which is what we have to do because we're moving out of state in a month) our rent would go up to $1850. We thought that the almost $300 included the fees, so that's what we paid, $1850. Then that week we got a three day "pay or quit" notice because they said we still owed $350. Apparently the $1850 didn't include the fees and they expect us to pay $1980 for our apartment. They raised the rent about $450 for us to stay month to month. And while they did notify us, it was done very underhanded and they never notified us of what our actual amout due was. In addition, we were charged a late fee of $75 for paying the amount they wrote on the renewal letter instead of some amount we were never told about. When I went down to the office to talk to them about it, they told me that there were some other fees that we had owed since the day we moved in - a year ago. They never told us about the fees when we moved in AND in a year, they have never told us we had an outstanding balance. They weren't too interested in us paying the fees, because they then charged us a late fee every month for not paying that fee. THAT is why they never told us we had an outstanding balance that kept growing every month. They're very underhanded. After talking to an attorney we found out that it was ILLEGAL for them to give us a 3 day pay or quit notice without attempting to contact us at least three times and letting us know that we owed them money and why. The office never tried to contact us or let us know we owed money - they just continued to collect late fees and then illegally serve us notice once they reached $300 (on a $14 charge and a $75 fee). When my friend moved out of their apartment, they did the same thing to them - said they had paid rent late 7 times and owed them a ton of $$. But unlike me, my friend had paid in person and demanded a receipt each time so they were able to prove they didn't owe the fees and they let them off the hook. Not so with me. I'm out a lot of money. Look, I liked my neighbors a lot, and this place is really pretty. My dog is happy here and the dog owners around here are great. But there is no way it's worth the high prices (even before they raised the rate) and it's not worth putting up with this type of management. So, keep looking if you can.

Recommended: NO Overall Rating

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