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Truly awful experience, would not recommend to even my worst enemy
From:
MathewJ
Date posted:
6/22/2004
Years at this apartment:
2002
-
2003
Truth be told, my wife and I really liked the idea (Townhouse style apartments) and the setting of Windsor ridge in Westborough, we still love the area even though we moved away as it is rather quaint and a very comfortable town to live in. We had only hoped the Windsor Ridge community and management had lived up to our expectations, or at least been up to the standard that we were promised.
My wife and I began looking for an apartment in Massachusetts in the spring of 2002 when rates were high and pickings were slim. We had looked at numerous apartments in the surrounding area (Framingham, Southborough, Marlborough, Shrewsbury) and found that prices were high across the board and either you got a horrible apartment for cheap of a marginally decent apartment for a lot of money. Both She and I were working north on 495, so while there were other options we could have pursued we wanted to keep options open should opportunities arise in or near the city, which is why these towns seemed ideal due to their location and also the commuter rail options. Ultimately we settled on Windsor ridge in Westborough due to the price, location relative to major highways (Convenient to 495 and the Mass Pike), and the fact that Westborough has a near new commuter rail station with ample parking. It is also adjacent to other towns with large rail stations and Westborough was up and coming with new restaurants and stores being built, plus it is very close to Worcester and all that has to offer.
The fact that community as a whole seemed nice was only an added bonus, and while the rents were higher than we had desired, they were still rather reasonable at the time when compared to other similar communities in the area especially the Avalon communities which while very nice were grossly overpriced. Windsor was also pet friendly (Cats only at the time we moved in), which was very important to us.
We spoke with the leasing agent at the time and were told of the various "features" of the community, which in reality amounted to nothing more than a roof, all utilities short of electric, and twenty-four hour maintenance. They also have a tennis court and pool on the premises, however you had to pay an additional cost per season. At the time we were renting I believe the cost was upwards of $200 for the both, you could opt to buy just a pool or tennis "membership" for about half the cost, however it still wasn't something we felt was worth it given the inflated cost on top of the inflated rent, and also the rather short summer season. If you waited until halfway through the season they would drop the price to about half, but it was still not enough to make the "deal" seem more appealing, at least not to us.
Unfortunately due to my work arrangement at the time I was unable to view the unit thus my wife had to go it alone and make the decision for the two of us, she has great taste and is very picky so I had full confidence we would get something nice, however I hadn't counted on a less than trustworthy leasing agent. I had dealt with the office over the phone as I was the one who set up the viewing appointment and gathered information about the community, before you rent they seem great, very eager to help, very courteous. It is after you actually move in when you notice the change in service. My wife was shown the unit, it was an end unit in the far back corner, the selling points were that it was an end unit, had its own private deck whereas all the others had patios, and was near the maintenance garage so should something go wrong help was close at hand. The size of the unit was nice, and they said they would deal with the cosmetic issues on the inside (paint, buff hardwood floors, clean... etc). The one noted downside was that the unit was within sight of a large trash area where old furniture and appliances were dumped, however since we were only renting and considering it was an end unit we felt that was a small inconvenience that could be dealt with. We agreed on the unit, paid the fees and began preparing to move in.
Upon our arrival we noticed that nothing other than the paint that was promised to us had been done. The floors were not buffed, the blinds were not hung, and the place was filthy. We called the office to complain, but since it was Sunday they were on a skeleton crew and busy showing apartments the whole day. Eventually it took them over a month to assist, and in the end the only thing that was done was that a large blind was hung over the sliding glass door that led to the porch.
Soon after moving in we realized just how close we were to the maintenance facility, in fact we were right above it. The problem with this was that whoever designed the unit/complex never thought to build a standard door access to the maintenance garage, the only way to enter was via the electric garage door, which was an older unit and would shake our entire apartment whenever it was opened. This was something that they conveniently neglected to tell us before signing the lease. Whenever someone needed maintenance that required something from the garage the door would have to be opened. During the day throughout the workweek this was not as much of a problem as we were not home, however nights and weekends it was unbearable. Plus it scared the living heck out of our cats. On top of that the maintenance crew would smoke in the garage in the winter and run their two cycle engines for line painting and landscaping in the summer, which would royally foul up the smell in our house for hours if not days. Another concern was that whenever a large delivery had to be made tractor trailer trucks would navigate their way back to the maintenance garage, constantly blocking in our vehicles making it so we cannot leave until the trucks were done with their business, also the various contractors would constantly park in the spots near our building making finding a convenient sport that much more of a chore.
The garage was our biggest complaint and was voiced to office constantly. Yet after countless calling and complaining nothing was done even though they promised to look into the situation. Ultimately we were told that there was nothing they could do about it and we should have expected this as we were over the garage even though we were never told this before renting. We were also told that there was little to no noise between the units as the walls between them were solid concrete yet this was a fallacy as well, we could clearly hear virtually everything our neighbors said or did. The trash dump at first was fine, but once they began renovating the units it became a major eyesore as it filled with washing machines, stoves, refrigerators, dryers and other various appliances and furniture that people left behind. Not to mention that the kids in the community would constantly play in the trash area jumping in and around dangerous appliances and such.
The community was a mixed lot, with many families and younger children about, great if you have a family and need temporary living accommodations as your kids will be able to socialize, however not so great as many of the parents would not watch their children and you would constantly have groups of kids running about, riding their bicycles in the middle of the street and hitting your car with their toys and what not. There was also the issue of groups of families or relatives all cramming into one unit to conserve money that would add congestion to the community, this made parking rather difficult as you would have some units with four or five cars and since spots were not assigned there were a few occasions when one would have to park a good distance away from their unit. As I said before when we first moved in the only pets were allowed were cats and you had to pay a pet fee, however when people started migrating out of Mass due to the tech slump Windsor modified their policy to allow dogs into the communities, and not small ones either but very large Dobermans and other types, not something one would want with all of the children in the area and also not something we had wanted when originally looking at a community. In addition to the dogs, refuse stations were set up all around for collection of the doggie waste, something which added to the scenery in a not so positive way.
We were told that maintenance was twenty-four hours and on site but in reality it was contracted out. There was no on site "handy man" to tend to issues late at night, rather you called a bulk mailbox and a few hours later a contractor was dispatched to your unit. The two times we dealt with maintenance were less than stellar as both had horrible attitudes and in one instance the man made a complete mess of our house. We also had one occasion where we thought someone had entered into our place during the day to use the facilities which we felt was disgusting, again we complained about it and nothing was done.
The last four major things to note about the community was that they sold some of their parking spaces to a local cable or telecom company so that they could park their large trucks there. While this was not near our unit it was something we saw every day that we entered the complex and truly did wonders for the charming atmosphere of the community. Also the laundry facility was horrid, always dirty, very expensive for the low quality equipment, kids would hang out in the facility late at night and do whatever, machines never worked and when you complained about having money eaten by the machine you were questioned. The office help/leasing agents/community managers had a quicker turnaround than anything I have ever seen. In our year and a half there they went though probably ten people, they hire rather inexperienced younger people who just didn't seem to care, and none of them ever lived on the property, which to us generally says a lot about the quality of living as it wasnęt even good enough for their agents. Finally as others have said there were more than a few malicious attacks on the women in the surrounding area, one of which in this specific community by a serial rapist, the intruder was breaking into local units and assaulting women. Management was rather slow to respond and only did so after they were instructed by police, they installed flimsy bars on the sliding glass doors and nothing more, we don't know if anything further was done as we left before we could find out.
Even though everything was as horrible as it was we were considering renewing for another short term as nothing else we looked at was appealing and was still very expensive, however when we approached them about extending they said that since our lease was up we would have to pay the current rate plus extension fees (approximately $200 more per month), it wasn't until after we had found a new place somewhere else that they offered to give us a fully renovated unit for the same cost as we were paying now along with the pool and tennis free to which we told them no as we were rather disgusted with the level of service that we received and the audacity they had asking us for more money given twenty percent of their units were empty.
All in all Windsor Ridge in Westborough was the worst renting experience we have ever had and we would not recommend it to our worst enemies. If you are considering Windsor Ridge our advice is to keep looking. Also be wary of the Anon reviews of this place, as others have said there is a good chance it is the management sugarcoating the place instead of being an actual tennant.
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