I was unlucky enough to pick this place and move in before seeing it (I wanted to have the place ready for when my husband came home from Iraq and I coming from another state). I had trouble from the start with the office staff. I worked with a girl who had communication problems not only with me but with her coworkers which often left me to explain to them where I was in the paper work and it would take days to hear a response.
When I showed up to the complex on moving day, she greeted me shortly and disappeared for half an hour leaving me alone in the waiting area. Late I learned she had to run over to our apartment, turn on the AC and do whatever else she had to do to make the place presentable. When we finally saw the place it was NOT what we saw in the pictures and we didn't have a washer and dryer like she told us we would. We had to talk to her manager because we felt she had some sort of attitude with us and we had to ask for a tour of the place. The small problems we asked them to fix took forever to get done. We were gone for 3 weeks and they still weren't done when we came back.
The apartment is dark despite huge sliding glass doors in the living room. The kitchen and bathroom are completely dark in the daytime and we have to turn on the lights to see anything. Our front door would make a horrendous sound every time we opened it. It would scare company. Maintenance "fixed" it twice by beating it with a mallet. The door is old and should have been replaced. It doesn't even fit snugly in the jam. At night light floods through the gaps. We can also hear everything on the other side of the door.
We did have a reliable valet trash company but since we got this new recently they haven't been picking it up on a regular basis and it stinks! Living on the first floor we have to walk past the containers all the time.
Our dishwasher doesn't work. I've had to wash everything by hand. There is scarce storage space in the kitchen. I don't even have a drawer big enough to put our silverware. Half of a closet they deem pantry/linen is housing the AC unit.
But the worst thing of all are the COCKROACHES. I know people in Florida like to call them Palmetto bugs but it's just GROSS. We've had the pest guy come in twice and we are still infested with them. I've found roach feces and their egg cases in my cupboards. The cupboards smell from their urine. I've resorted to not using those cupboards and putting food in the fridge and pots in pans in other locations.
Our next door neighbors have the same problems and have moved their appliances to find large gaps in the walls. The pest control people can spray and leave bait all they want but the roaches are going to come back again and again through those holes! And what's really insane is that WE have to pay for the pest control to come!
I knew when we moved in here that we wouldn't be staying more than 6 months and it's actually only been 3 months so we've been telling ourselves that we can live with it. But if we had to live in Jacksonville any longer I would have taken any penalty to getting out of this lease. This apartment is disgusting. The roaches will probably hitch a ride in our moving boxes to our new home.

They need to tear down these apartments and start over. Very old buildings.

Any pluses this complex has are the grounds and location in Jacksonville. Lot's of nice swimming pools and fitness classes offered. Random abandoned golf course in center of complex has a long walking trail that many people walk for exercise and with their dogs. Close to grocery stores and Avenues mall.

User Responses
From: oceandudejax	Date: 10/15/2009
bold faced lies, pest control comes on monday's and they do not liv in cabonets unless ur dirty people
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/15/2009
I have had many of the same probelms that you had. Just wait until your apartment is broken into and everything you owned is stolen. You will truly see how disconnected the staff is then!
From: kimberlystar212	Date: 10/15/2009
how many times is oceandudejax going to defend villages of baymeadows? typically up north, cockroaches are found in dirty environments, but here in florida, they live in warm, moist climates, such as the drains and walls of poorly built apartments. unfortunately, even if you keep a clean house, there is nothing you can do about the decaying plumbing that villages of baymeadows offers, and therefore, the cockroaches will stay. i'm sure it doesn't help these people that the door doesn't fit the frame, because cockroaches can slip through cracks much smaller than their bodies. villages of baymeadows is a scam complex content with doing just enough to get you to sign a lease, and then letting you find out on your own how shabby the complex really is. it's too bad, because until the entire place is renovated from the foundation up, not just the asthetics, it will never be a quality place to live.
From: renter4bliving	Date: 10/15/2009
can anyone have the power to go to the housing department and report Villages of Baymeadows. I would participate for any court days that the attorney will schedule for us. The only problem I have, I can't contribute with attorney fees or whatever is money related. But if someone knows a lawyer I think we have a case here.
From: rolph	Date: 10/16/2009
Hey, oceandudejax, are you purposefully stupid or does it just come naturally to you? Here's a challenge...anyone believing this oceandudjax moron can go live in this dump. They'll find out who's making the 'bold face lies'. Anyone else can page through the negative reviews about BayGhetto and believe those instead.
From: imrenter67	Date: 10/20/2009
Oceandude has to be a manager at VOB. Biggest issue of VOB is an ancient sewage system. Horrendous drainage issue. Apartment fixtures are cheap & low quality. Maintenance staff overworked. Roto-Rooter a constant fixture everyday. Ripped me at end of lease since I forgot to fill move-out form & the staff assured me not necessary. VOB SUCKS BIG TIME!!

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