Bonnie Ridge seemed too good to be true. Lovely apartment complex with a pool and fitness room...... decent apartments, good parking, proximity to major highways......Caveat Emptor.

When I first moved to BR I was impressed. The staff was attentive and willing to help you find a good apartment from you. As soon as you sign that lease, the wolf in sheeps clothing appears. We have had countless problems with our apartment from the day we moved in. First it was the roaches. BR blamed the downstairs neighbors. The sprayed and the roaches came back. After spraying 4 more times, BR declared there was nothing more they could do and would not be spraying again. We still have roaches.

Next came the ants. About 3 months ago a trail of ants found their way into the kitchen. BR said that we should set out ant traps. Duh. We said they are responsible for bugs. After endless phone calls we gave up. Now the roaches have company and we have extra protein.

Next on the pathway to hell....the storage room. When we found the apartment we wanted, our leasing agent stated "each apartment comes with a storage unit." Lovely, I've always wanted storage. Low and behold when we take possession of the property we don't get a storage unit. What the leasing agent should have said was "each apartment comes with a storage unit, which may be located in another building....it depends on if you can find one that is open." So no storage unit. We went to 5 different buildings, with varying proximity from ours, looking for a open unit and of course there wasn't one. Leasing office refused to address this problem, even after many, many phone calls.



The last straw was in December. We noticed an incredible hike in our natural gas bill. After calling the company that BR signed us up with, we were told that we have ratio utility billing. Now, this may seem a bit naive, but when we signed the lease I specifically asked our leasing agent if BR participated in RUB. He emphatically state "No" and added that each unit has its own meter. Great, sign me up. They did.

After speaking with the company which we are forced to do business with, it became clear to me that we are participating in RUB. Not only that, but there is no way for anyone to find out the terms of the agreement in which we are forced to participate. After going back and checking the lease the only referral to RUB I could find was "this complex retains the right to use ratio billing where not prohibited by law". That is the most meaningless phrase ever written in a leasing agreement.

Looking back over my tenancy at BR, I feel like I have been duped. It seems like Home Properties takes every opportunity to screw over the consumer. needless to say, it does not inspire loyalty or long term tenants. We are out of here as soon as our lease is up, hopefully a little wiser.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/18/2008
I agree that if you're thinking about moving to BR that you read the lease carefully. When I moved in, the lease was placed in front of me and the leasing agent went off to do something else. I was on my lunch break so I read briefly through it. Thank God I work for another apartment complex so I knew what to look for. My biggest problem was that some of the leasing agents didn't give me all the information I needed or the correct information for that matter. I never had a mice or bug problem, but I could never find a parking spot after 8 pm and I could hear everything my neighbors were doing. I couldn't wait to get out of my lease.........
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/18/2008
RE>donniewil "...be glad it not BGE charging you..Gotta pay for what you use." well with Bonnie Ridge you pay for what everyone ELSE uses. so even if you freeze your ass off all winter to save some money, you still gotta shell out that extra dough to keep everyone nice and toasty.
From: misslady77	Date: 08/26/2008
I'm glad somebody has said it for me. Its still nice and warm outside so I think about turning my air off...then I quickly jump to my senses and say heck, all my neighbors have theirs on so I'm gonna be paying for it anyway. This is definitely my biggest problem with Bonnie Ridge you share BGE electric bill, Water, Gas and heat with all your neighbors, so guess what If your neighbor has three kids be nice and ask them to cut down little Johnny and Mikeys shower time....asnd your reasoning can be - hey I'm paying for it too. LOL...I gotta laugh if not I'll continue to be pissed off. I love when units are empty in my building...I say hooray cheaper utility bills. :)
From: donniewil	Date: 08/27/2008
get it right. You do not share the electric with anyone else. Just the water and gas. Once again the community recieves one bill and it is based off square footage and occupancy. Here is an example: I lived in a one bedroom unit in a full building and my ISTA bill was around 60.00 per month. Now I live in a 2 bed 2 bath and my bill is up to 80.00 I am very conservative and have had conversations with my neighbors and we all work together to try and keep the bill down. if everyone in the community would get with the occupants of their building and talk about it, then the whole community will go down. Illegal occupants affect the bill also. If you know of an over occupied unit, call the office. I used to work in the community and can't beleive that people are such jerks when comes to their house bills. Remedy it and don't renew and move to a place where its all actuall usage. Bonnie Ridge is the nicest in the area for a fair price. If you didn't think so, then why did you move in? Just my opinion1
From: ton77	Date: 01/22/2009
--------, Even if all my neighbors spoke english how stupid would I look going to all 5 of them and saying can we all learn to cut our lights out at night and unplug appliances we don't use. Seriously - You are a quack, I thought you moved on to another property.. why are you on here. And I seriously doubt that your utility bill was 80 bucks. Maybe every other apartment in your building was vacant.. this sounds suspect... very suspect. Find something else to do with your time. You can't counteract every complaint that tenants have.. Your starting to make the Leasing office look desperate, not to mention stupid. If Bonnie Ridge was honestly that great I would be spending my evening doing something more enjoyable, but somebody needs to be warned. Bonnie Ridge is like a 80 yr old woman who's had plastic surgery. You pull up and your like WOW, sign me up.. but beware the whole place is falling apart.

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