This was a very nice place under Avalon's management; pricy yet well worth it with very helpful staff that would go the extra mile, for example watering plants when on vacation. But under the new Archstone management headed up by David Duncan things have gone to hell.

For example, take today. A week ago we got a notice that they would be paining our building, and we needed to move all the patio furniture inside. It was inconvenient to have all the patio furniture in the middle of the living room and not have use of the patio for a week, but ok. Additionally, we couldn't park near the building due to "overspray". Well ok. But then, they didn't even paint anything! And today we got a notice that painting couldn't occur during the last week due to "unforseen delays" and we need to keep stuff inside for the next 2 weeks! That's 3 weeks without use of the patio and a bunch of furniture inside nor being able to park, and no help from them or compensation for this whatsoever!

And this is a frequent occurance, for example a while ago the new management was doing a mold inspection, and sent around notices that next week, 9:00-5:00 every day, Monday-Friday, they may need to enter our apartment to look for mold. In addition, everything must be removed from the cupboards, showers, and cabinets. And no, they could not make arramgements to schedule specific times due to the large number of apartments. So we have to have the place in disarray for an entire week. It turns out that they did come at 9:15 AM one day, when my wife was still in bed. I asked them to come back later, and they said no, they must do the inspection now. I told them this wasn't possible, and the security contractor became very rude with me. I then tried to call the office, but they weren't open to 10:00, while they had contractors insisting on entering our apartment at 9:15.

Then there is the gym. One of the reasons I moved in was because there was a very nice 24 hour gym at the apartment. The first thing new management did was the 24 hour gym, you can now only use it if you happen to be home in the daytime.

Then there is parking, the new management absolutely messed up parking. We have been on various lists to get a second underground parking spot for many many months. Then finally I get a call that a spot is available, I went to the office and filled out paperwork and was assigned a new spot. Then I went and tried to use the spot, and someone was parked there. I went back to the office, and they gave me a notice to place on that car, that asked that driver to contact the office or they would lose their spot. I did so, and evidently that driver did contact the office and was assigned that spot, though I only found out about this after calling the office several times asking about the status of the spot as they never called me. So I did their handiwork, and still no spot! Then I received a call months later informing me that they had a spot, but then found out that this was an outdoor spot and they had put me on the wrong list.

As I mentioned, the previous management took care of our plant when we were on vacation. I asked the new management to do so, only to return home finding all the leaves drooping to the floor.

In spite of all this, new management is really jacking the rents up and milking the tenants, despite offering more of a Costco level of service.

There are some good things about the complex. It has good highway access if you don't mind the noise, and the gym is nice if you're around in the daytime to use it. But stay away from Archstone, terrible management.

User Responses
From: bdogcali	Date: 08/29/2006
Right on the MONEY! David Duncan needs to be fired. This place has gone to hell in a handbasket. The new color... ohh man, it's UGLY! The service has gone waaaay waaay downhill!

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