I have lived in Gables Walk for 2.5 years. When I moved into this complex, I thought that I was getting a very good deal on a 3-bedroom 2-bath apartment with a garage where I lived with two of my college buddies. While the experience has been reasonably good, I now question why I would pay extra money to live in a Gables complex which is supposed to be "luxury apartment homes" when I could pay less and live in an unaffiliated, no brand name complex.

Here are the negatives that I?ve experienced:

- The gate is a huge POS. It works maybe half the time. News flash to anyone who thinks these things keep them safe: they only keep out the honest people. I never want to live in a complex or neighborhood with a gate again.

- My apartment was also flooded by an above tenant whose toilet malfunctioned (I may have lived above another reviewer, small world). They made a half-ass carpet repair job, basically replacing about 10 sq feet of carpet pad and moving on. You can still see where the water seeped through the walls in my bedroom and in the common areas. No one ever offered to repaint or even came by later to see if I was satisfied. That?s the least they could have done considering the time I lost from work in dealing with the problem.

- In retrospect, the carpet should have been replaced before I moved in. Gables has this thing called "Great Rewards" where you can earn free interior painting, carpet, door decoration, late fee forgiveness, etc. for a period of years as a tenant. So, if I were to live in this apartment with this substandard carpet, I would have to stay something like another 4 years before I had enough "Great Reward" points for them to replace my carpet. So much for "Luxury Apartment Homes"

- When I went to negotiate my lease at the end of year 2, the management team claimed that they could not lower my rent or give me any kind of deal because my apartment would go for $1550 per month if I moved out and someone new came in (I pay $1365). I looked on the Gables Walk website and saw units like mine advertised at $1220 per month. I can?t believe the woman who helped me lied to my face about how much I could renew for. That, ultimately, cost them a new lease.

- For some reason, there is often bags of trashed piled outside the compactor. I suppose that the compactor fills up, so people just put there bags there. Still, I?ve seen this happen several times and it is a huge health hazard.

- For the longest time, management refused to enforce the pet droppings policy. It was very embarrassing to tell guests to watch their feet when they walk on the grass. About a year ago, they did put up signs around the complex with dog refuse bags but I rarely see people using them. The problem is better now, but I think that is a result of there being fewer dogs in my area than when I moved in.

- Whenever the staff tries to do nice things for the tenants, I feel like its pretty half-ass. Once a quarter or so, they have breakfast at the gate for those who leave for work between 7:30 and 9. It usually consists of a carton of apple juice and an Otis Spunkmeyer vending machine style muffin in a plastic wrapper. Would it have been so hard to go to Einstein?s and get us a few dozen hot fresh bagels'

There are some positives:

- The management staff that was in place when I moved in was very friendly, they knew my name, who my roommates were, what kind of car I drove, etc. I don?t particularly care for those that are there now, in fact, I actually dislike a few of them.

- The maintenance staff is top notch. I?ve never had a problem that wasn?t fixed within a few hours. Those guys are fantastic, and they are pretty friendly and nice guys.

- I?ve had an unattached garage that I haven?t paid for in 1.5 years. This was never my attention, but we asked them about getting this garage for several months and when they finally determined that it was, in fact, empty (like we?d told them it was for months) one of the maintenance guys gave us the garage door opener and we continued on our merry way. Management never seemed to figure out that we had possession of it, nor did they ever get with us and tell us what the charge was, so my roommate has been squatting in it since. They did an audit about a year ago on all of the unattached garages and we answered honestly, and they still have never figured out that we needed to pay.

- They inadvertantly lowered my rent by $20 by sending me a notice after my lease ran out that I would have to now pay the "off-lease" month rent of $1345 a month. I guess no one bothered to check that my normal rent was actually $1365 a month, so they were, in fact, lowering my rent. This is very typical of management; they don?t seem to have any grasp of such things. I think if I just stopping paying rent, it?d probably take them 3 months to figure it out.

UPDATE: When I went to hand in my keys and gate clickers, I specifically asked when I would received my deposit for the gate clickers. I was told that it would be mailed to me from Gables Corporate. A few weeks later an associate told me that I would not receive a refund of the money my roommates and I received for gate clickers. I'm very sure that that money was for a "deposit" rather than as "rent" for the gate clickers. But, of course, none of the associates that worked here when I moved in are still here, and I don't have anything in writing. I've heard from another tenant that they no longer have gate clickers at all here, only key cards. Have fun getting rained on, suckers!!

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