When I first came to CHatham Hills they showed me a beautiful aprtment with a patio, promised me a reasonable rent amount and no deposit, told me they were located in the Grant school district, and promised me a quiet building with a view of the courtyard were the kids play. All lies.

The day I was supposed to go pick up the keys Valerie called me and said that I would need to pay a $500 deposit because my employer apparently charges a fee for verification. (I paid a decent amount already at this point for administrative fee's for this very purpose one would think). Since I had already told my current landlord we would be out of the apartment the following Monday I had no choice but to come up with the deposit money. When I arrived to get the keys and sign the papers, the rent had also magically went up from the original amount. An up charge. I figured it would be worth it, the kids had a nice area to play in, there is a pool, its in a good part of town, and I thought a good school district. No my children are bussed to the East side of town to Jefferson & Southeast.
Upon entering my new apartment, I knew I just got screwed. They had bent me over and gave it to me a good one. Every carpet was stained, trim was busted and falling off in many places, the oven door didn't work, the cabinets were crappy, I had NO patio at all, the 'wet bar' in the living room is actually a gross looking sink in your living room for no apparent reason. The pipes underneath it looked bad and are covered in some sort of plumbing foam. It was obvious the apartment had not been cleaned or painted, some of the stains looked to be pet stains. I'm sure they charged the previous tenant for the cleaning they never did. I made a long list of everything that was wrong & turned it into the office. They came and fixed the oven and tacked back up one of the pieces of trim. Exactly one year later they came and shampooed the carpets, but it didn't really do any good, they should have just been replaced to begin with. We had been promised washer and dryer hook ups could be added, they never added them & I never asked again figuring they would charge me for it.
The first three months we lived there they charged us twice each month for our utilities. Valerie talked circles around me about it being pro-rated and never fixed the problem herself, the other office girl finally corrected it for me. However they never checked to see if I should have been refunded on any of there MANY fee's due to a back balance because of the over charges. It took about three months for us to get our access card for the Pool as well. The gym is a joke, there equipment looks like its from the 50's or some old horror movies. The hot tub almost never is working properly. The grounds are nice, but they are a land mine of dog feces. It is truly disgusting.
We had a leak in the ceiling of the master bathroom. Maintenance checked the apartment upstairs, came down and caulked our ceiling and spray painted over the water stain. They got paint on my towels in the process.
New Years someone thought it would be funny to set off the fire extinguisher in our building around 2am. They 'cleaned' it the next day. But a few days later there was still powder residue all over the walls and inside the washer and dryer and we had to call and complain about that.
The hot water doesn't last long, unless you try to shower at an odd time of day or around 3am. Shampoo quickly.The windows are insanely drafty, bundle up well at night and expect a high power bill. You have to pay for your power through the power company, plus they charge you for the complexes power.
I had to go out of town for a couple of days, and the children were staying with my father, but still getting off the bus at home until they both arrived and then they called to be picked up. I left to go out of town around 5:30 am Thursday morning and came back Friday night. Apparently the office sent out notices sometime Thursday that the cable company would be doing rewiring on Friday, and that minors could not be in the apartment unattended. Well, I never got that notice. My 11 year old son came home to a strange man in the apartment. This pissed me off greatly. Perhaps because I was out of town for a trial regarding the sexual assault of my teenage step daughter, it made it more of a big deal to me, but I think it still would have upset me either way. The office told me that next time I should tell the children they can wait in the office. So I went home and told my son the next time he comes home and some strange man is in the apartment to go wait in the office. He got a good laugh at least.
When we renewed our lease, even though rent was going down around town, ours was raised. We should have got out of dodge then, now were either stuck here until next March, or stuck with all the fee's they charge for breaking your lease. And I know my deposit is as good as gone no matter what, even though the place was a wreck when we moved in. And if you don't pay them what they think you owe during your time here, or after you move out, not only will they call and harass you at home & at work, they call the relatives you gave them as references. My former manager went rounds with them over that. They claimed he owed some insane amount, he laughed at them, and they called his PARENTS telling them they were going to take legal action against there son.
Another friend of mine from work recently moved out and bought a nice house in Chatham, they over charged her for normal wear and tear cleaning and maintenance issues. This woman and her husband are good, clean & respectable people. They were very angry and wrote a letter that got them no where I'm sure, but said fine and paid it just to be done with them.

So to summarize, they will promise you everything and deliver you nothing. You'll end up paying thousands more than you should and all for a crap hole apartment on nice grounds. And yes, those ladies in the office are every bit as bad as everyone here claims they are. Its not exaggerated or made up. They are there to get your money from you and they have zero respect for you or your family.

I would love to be able to take legal action against these people, and I am going to be looking into it, as I should have from the very beginning. If you want to share your story with me e-mail me at cybereagle07@yahoo.com

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/28/2009
Your right in everything you've said! I wish I could help you as I do know alot more inside info but I cannot. TKD.

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