We (my Wife, Daughter and I) moved in here the first week of January of '09. It's now close to the first of June '09 and we will be breaking our lease to get out. I had lived here in the past ('06-'07) before I was married and loved this place. The owners, managers, and maintenance were the best I've eyer seen. This is not the case anymore.
I had the privilege of meeting the maintenance man the day we move in. The parking here is tight and bad. We had a Uhaul and were unloading it. W had asked the manager where to park and she told us. We parked where she had told us, parallel with the road to be out of the way. Without introducing himself he very forcibly told us to move the truck. We tried explaining to him the manager told us to park there but he was insistent we move it. He explained to us he was in charge of the parking lots and we needed to clear they way. Rather than argue with a menacing looking man we drove around to the manager and talked with her about where to park the truck. She told us we needed to ask him and park where he says, we did and unloaded the truck several hundred feet farther away from our apartment. It made unloading very difficult and took hours longer than it should have.
Within an few weeks of moving in we got to know the maintenance man and women in the office very well. I was at the office paying rent and when I went out my car had a scratch and small dent on the drivers side rear behind the door. It hadn't been there earlier and the maintenance man was walking between my car and another car carrying a ladder as I walked into the office. I went back into the office to tell them what had happened. They called in the maintenance man and asked him, he said it wasn't him. He told her he wasn't anywhere near there all day, I had just seen him and she must have since he walked right by the office. They both got very defensive and rude. I was told it was their word against mine.
Last month we had maintenance issues with the plumbing in our master bath. We called and asked for repair. We were told it would be taken care of ASAP. Two weeks later it was not. We called back and were told several stories of why it wasn't repaired. We set a date and time for the repair, my wife stayed home to wait for the maintenance guy, he never showed. She called the office several times and was told (very rudely) he would be there, he never showed.
The next day, when I got home from work I noticed the work had been done. I also noticed several small things missing and our all our stuff had been gone through. I called the Police (office was closed) and made a report. They found no forced entry and agreed that keys must have been used to enter. They said they would check into it but not to expect too much, nothing was ever done, no proof. The next morning I called the office and was told the maintenance man never came into our apartment, even though the repair had been obviously completed.
We called they company that provides the Property Management and Maintenance to tell them what had occurred. They were indifferent and told us they fully support their employees. They informed us if we thought their maintenance man was involved to call the police and file a civil case against him. They took no action and implied we were liars in order to get something from them. We asked for nothing but security for our place of residence.
Within two days of filing the complaint the tired on both our cars were slashed. No others in the area seemed to have been vandalized so we asked our neighbors if they had seen anything. Two neighbors told us they say the maintenance man with another man near our car around 11pm the night our tires were slashed. I reported it to the Police, the office and the maintenance company. Without witnesses the Police could do nothing and the office and maintenance company said the maintenance man denied being there that night.
We never raised our voices to anyone here. We have tried to show respect to everyone here. We did our best to get along with all the staff. Nothing here seems to work with them or the company they work for. We have been told by neighbors the maintenance man has a bad attitude and the office staff never want to hear anything but kudos.
If you decide to live here we suggest you make friends with the staff no matter what it takes. I would suggest never calling the office for repairs. The best thing you could do is rent somewhere else but if you want to chance it be VERY nice to the staff there. We've heard that acknowledging the staffs birthdays with gifts and money works well. Also make sure to give them Christmas bonuses/gifts.
A couple of the older residents, that don't work apparently, said to make sure to stop when you see them and engage them in conversation (this never worked for us all we got was a hi if any acknowledgment). Having lived in apartments since I was a child I've never seen anything it here. It seems they believe they are doing us a favor living here and we should be grateful to them for allowing us to stay.
We no longer feel safe, secure or that this is our home. We feel like unwanted guests at someones house. I sure miss the kindness, caring, security and pride of workmanship from the old staff/owners here. They were good people all around and made you feel at home. If you can find them working at a property today rent there. An older grey haired lady, younger pretty dark haired lady and the maintenance man was married to the dark haired lady.
I wish you luck if you rent at Somersett Hills Apartments

User Responses
From: somersett	Date: 06/10/2009
I am the Community Director of Somersett Hills and know for a fact that not one piece of this story is true. I know this property like the back of my hand and know everyone of my residents here. We take pride in our community just as the residents do. Our Maintenance Supervisor is the best I've ever worked with in over 11 years of my management career. Either this person has posted on the wrong site or someone is upset that they were evicted for non-payment.
From: pbob60	Date: 07/01/2009
My family has lived here for over 4 yrs. We have been through the change in ownership and while no place is perfect, this place is better than most. The person who wrote this review is not being honest, especially about the maint. man. He is not intimidating and is nothing but helpful and polite. He is soft spoken and somewhat reserved. I think some folks have a bad experience and blow it out of proportion or else they just like to be mean. They also are not representing the office staff. They are always polite and responsive to needs.
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/17/2009
I agree with the later two posts. I have lived here since April and have been treated with nothing but respect and kindness. I have had two small maintenenace issues and both were fixed the same day asked. As a matter of fact within hours. When I moved in, Jorge welcomed me, shook my hand, and told me to call whenever I had a problem. Sure there has been some construction the past few weeks, but I was notified and there were was not a problem. The office actually called me to let me know. I came this site to get the office phone number to ask a simple question, and I am confident that the women who run the office will get back to ASAP. I have enjoyed my time here.

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