In January of 2008, my husband and I moved into the Majestic for the second time. We had lived there for 6 horrible months in 2006-2007. Because the ratings had gone up, we concluded that there must have been some major improvements. We were wrong.

When we inquired into the availability of 3rd floor, two bedroom units, we were told that all available two bedroom apartments were on the 2nd floor. We made multiple requests on this point, just to be sure. After moving in, we learned that there were actually several two bedroom units available apartments that had been vacant at the time we asked about them. I can only speculate about the reason we were given inaccurate information. I will not list my suspicions here because they are only a guess. In any case, we were given horribly inaccurate information.

As we prepared to move in, we found that our air conditioner was not working because it had frozen. It was supposedly fixed, but one week later, it froze again. Our apartment was crawling with giant roaches and there was no electricity in the second bedroom. Knowing that our apartment was unlivable in its condition, we expressed our concern to the property manager, who assured us that the problems would be rectified before we moved in. She also promised to call us to update us on the progress. When she failed to call as promised, my husband called twice and left voice messages. She did not return the calls. We saw her at a resident get-together, where she said she would not tell us anything about the status of our apartment because she was off the clock. She again promised to call us first thing in the morning. She never called. We found out through maintenance that the problems had supposedly been rectified. We were uneasy, but because we had already made address changes and scheduled movers (prior to discovery of the numerous problems), we moved anyway. Big mistake.

The day we moved in was the coldest day of the year, but our apartment was warm during the day because of the sun. Once the sun set, however, we discovered that we had no heat.

Several days later, after a moderate amount of rain, we returned home to find that water had dripped through our dining light fixture onto our dining table. When maintenance came the next day to look into the problem, they found that the water was coming in from the upstairs doors (that would be one those 3rd floor, 2 bedroom units leased after we moved in, even though we had been told that it had already been leased when we asked about it). Moreover, there was a crack in our ceiling. Someone came to see if there was water damage to our carpet. Keep in mind that the water that came through the light fixture landed on our dining table, so we were hopeful that there would be no water in the carpet. Wrong again. The water in the carpet, however, came not from the doors upstairs but from our own French doors. At this point, we had to move our dining table and chairs out of the way so that our carpet could be pulled up and a fan placed in the dining area.

Several days later, during a bad storm, water again came in through our French doors (all three sets). As we placed towels along the thresholds of the doors to prevent water intrusion, I felt water dripping on my head. When I looked up, I found that water was also coming in through the windows above the French doors again, through all three sets of windows. We could literally wring water from the towels. When one set was soaked, we replaced them with another set. That evening, one of the office staff stated that our apartment was unlivable and that we would have to move to another unit. She also stated that the property owners would have to pay for our move.

The following day, someone came to check for water damage again. Despite our efforts to minimize the water intrusion, water had come in quite far and had begun damaging our bookshelves. The worker installed an additional fan and a dehumidifier, with a draining hose running from the dehumidifier in our living room into the kitchen sink. Moreover, the worker told us that he could see that the water intrusion had been going on for quite a while. Who knows what was growing in there' The worker also said that he sometimes had to show up at the Majestic with 20 blowers and that he was going to get rich from this property alone.

We were shown another 2 bedroom apartment (on the 3rd floor. Remember how there were not supposed to have been any available'). It was the same floorplan as the one we were living in, but without any window whatsoever in the master bedroom. Plus, when we felt along the doors, the carpet was wet. There was also some substance growing along the baseboards. The real kicker is they wanted to charge us $400 more per month because we were existing residents (for all of 2 horrible weeks!), and the move-in special was only for new residents. Keep in mind that we were moving not because we thought it would be fun to move twice in less than three weeks but because our apartment was, per their admission, unlivable.

Nineteen days after moving into the Majestic, we moved out (and by this time, there was no electricity in the second bedroom again). No, they did not pay for our move. We should have learned from our first horrendous experience at the Majestic, but we foolishly chose to believe the reviews that were apparently based on nothing more than a popularity contest. Please be advised that office staff can be as nice as they want to be to get you to sign that lease; that does not mean that you are getting a quality place to live.

I have left out part of the horror. Yes, there is more. But hopefully, you get the picture.

On the one and only bright side to this place, the maintenance staff is wonderful. They do what they can, but they cannot rebuild the place. Also, Kenni in the office is a true professional.

There is a happy ending to this tale. We moved to another apartment community in Baldwin Park, and our experience here has been nothing but pleasant. Had we not experienced the hell that is the Majestic, we would not appreciate our new home nearly as much.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/27/2008
That is absolutely awful! I cannot believe what I have just read. I think I know who you are and I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you. I too feel mislead and ripped off for some of the same reasons. I asked for a smaller 1 bedroom, was told none were available. I did not receive a move-in special, but the day after I moved in, they ran tons of move in specials. Then I find out that there were plenty of vacancies (most of them being the smaller one bedrooms that I requested and was told were unavailable). My air conditioning also froze and had to be repaired. I moved in here when the reviews were still terrible and I came to check it out and it did not seem nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I did keep in mind the reviews about leaky french doors and mold (which terrifies me) and have not experienced any of that. I am shocked to here that it is still ocurring here and am a little concerned for my health and the health of my pets. Overall I enjoy living at the Majestic and must be fortunate to not have had to endure all the problems you had to deal with. If you are who I think you are I will miss saying hello occasionally to you guys and your adorable dog! Good luck with the new place!
From: The_Majestic	Date: 05/05/2008
In response, as the manager, to the final response from the anonymous individual, this matter was handled in the management office and by the police. Management can not be blamed for theft by tenant's friends. This manner was handled in the management office. To the tenants who have responded, please contact the management office with further questions.
From: NeverEnuf81	Date: 05/06/2008
I just noticed this email in my old email account. I haven't posted anything on here for 4 years. That absolutely was not me posting the "anonymous" comment, even though it is apparently linked to my old email account. I would not post something this hateful with obvious ties to me that people could recognize so easily. It is an obvious attempt to cause problems after I confronted the guilty party in this matter, and this is a just retaliation. I have now changed my default email account and password to assure this will not happen again. For the record, I have not blamed the apartment or its staff in this problem. For people thinking about moving here, the maintenance staff are trustworthy individuals that I did not suspect. My minor complaints over the course of my stay here were well known by the person responsible for the break-in, because I knew him and was close friends with him for many years before his recent problems, and was even his roommate for many years. I have taken this opportunity to change all of my passwords because I made no effort to hide them during our years as roommates.
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/15/2008
all the positive reviews are the management. they are non existent. They destroyed my friends credit when she moved out due to the fact that they never would fix the doors leaking. she had mold under her carpet and it made her sick. she moved out and they destroyued her dreidt after months of trying to get it corrected. rp baldwin is in California and only builds the units. they could care less if the have credible management in place for the astranomical rates they charge. you get nothing in return

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