I still live at Amberton and will until my lease is up in March of 06. I felt compelled to share with you an email I sent to the property owners, Laramar Group. I sent it yesterday (Aug. 2, 05) and have yet to hear a response. To anyone who lives or lived here, this should come as no suprise. The email is as follows:

To Whom It May Concern,

This e-mail is to inform you of the sub-standard living conditions and attitude of your employees here at Amberton Apartments in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

"Where to start" seems to be the question...

All of the buildings that are near and around the Office are pristine! They are great! Then you get to all the others, the ones that aren't visible from the street. Those are the ones with the gang graffiti all over (pictures of which are attached...please note that the silver is someone painting over old graffiti to put up new filth), the passed out drunk and/or drugged out people sleeping in the stairway (Bolingbrook Police were called out this past Sunday, July 31st to building 305C for that and will have a copy of the call report), and the ones that have dangerous conditions by almost all entrance doors.

For instance, a few buildings around the complex, again in the back, had the gutters hanging dangerously close to windows and even blocking the main doors after a heavy storm that were not fixed for OVER TWO WEEKS! That is two weeks that your company got lucky and no one was hurt and consequently sued. I would if I were the unfortunate that were injured.

Speaking of entrance doors, almost all of them are broken in some way, shape or form. Many of them are broken in a way that is dangerous for those walking through them and for those whom they are supposed to be protecting. These doors are ALWAYS being propped open by gang-bangers who congregate in the stairwell and block the entrance. These people will oftentimes run through the hallways and bang on doors at all hours of the night, frightening the people who actually live (and PAY TO LIVE) in that apartment.

Then there are the apartments themselves...
When I moved into my apartment (which looked NOTHING like the model that we were shown), it was not only filthy but there was NO OVEN! The spot where the stove was supposed to be was open and the place smelled horribly of gas. When I pointed this out to the woman showing us the place (I would like to tell you her name, but it is probably on the lease, which we were never given a copy of), she responded "We'll get that fixed by tomorrow".

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

After calling to the housing authority in this area and the Bolingbrook Police, we had the problem fixed that day. It should NOT take that kind of effort on MY part to fix YOUR problem!

Then there are the small things (if you can call them that). We have already put in a work order on all of them, and they were addressed, by the man telling me that "it was not really a problem". Before I get to that list, let me tell you about the "Work Order" forms. They consist of any scrap piece of paper that happens to be lying around. The back of a menu, the inside of a matchbook, once even on the back of someones copy of their move-in report.

Now for the problems:
- the hot and cold water knobs are reversed (in the rest of America the hot the on the left and the cold is on the right. In Amberton they are H - Right and C - Left.

- When you turn on the fan and the light in the bathroom at the same time, a different fuse blows somewhere in the apartment. This isn't just here, that is in at least 10 different units in this complex.

- The air conditioning hasn't worked since we moved in. After 3 Work Orders (and almost 7 months) they came out and told us we were wrong and weren't turning it on right. I know how to turn a knob, thank you.

- The heat takes about a day and a half to heat the apartment. Even then the bedroom doesn't heat up at all. Again, Work Order. Again, we weren't turning it on right. Again, I don't appreciate being talked down to by a man who can barely speak English.

- Every light bulb that came in the apartment when I moved in was a 75 watt bulb. All of the fixtures can only take a max of 60 watts. THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD! THIS CAN BURN DOWN THE ENTIRE COMPLEX!

- The walls in every room were painted horribly and the patchwork of the walls was done so poorly that we now have paint chipping somewhere on every wall.

- The maintenance people are not trustworthy. I will not allow any of them in my unit until I have one of my neighbors present or, as I have done once, gotten a passing police officer to watch with me.

There are many more problems, but this letter is getting quite lengthy. I can only assume that you receive quite a few of these, and do not have time to address this one in particular. The ignoring wouldn't surprise me, mind you. That is something I have gotten used to in my time here at Amberton. One thing I will not tolerate is the attitude of your employees. They are the rudest and most insulting people I have ever encountered at a rental office. At least pretend to be nice to sell the unit then be rude...but they didn't even do that.

If you need more proof that what I am saying here is true, please go to the following website and read what present and past residents think. I must say that I agree with most of them.

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/IL-Bolingbrook-Amb
I understand that you will never have a problem renting these sub-par apartments to those who can't afford better. As for me, I am leaving this place as soon as my lease is up, but will be spreading the word of how atrocious this place is as soon as I click the send button.

Thank you for your time. A Response would be greatly appreciated, if for no other reason than to be sure you actually read this.

(Name withheld for personal security reasons)


P.S. I will be printing a copy of this for my records as well as giving a copy to the rental office here.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates