Just Keep Walking
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
12/19/2007
Years at this apartment:
2006
-
2007
I lived at the Bowie Town Center Apartments for one year, and let me tell you, I could not get away fast enough! I can honestly say that I am overwhelmingly happy to be leaving this apartment, the rising crime rate, the insufficient maintenance, and the unreliable management. When I first moved to the Bowie Town Center Apartments, the first couple months living there was wonderful, a bit expensive, but my roommate and I thought it was a decent enough living environment.
The start of our maintenance nightmares started in the middle of the winter when our pilot light wouldn't stay lit. We had someone from the maintenance team over nearly every day for 2 months before they finally replaced it, just in time for spring weather. On one occasion the emergency maintenance operator had to call in someone that worked outside of the complex to fix it, that man stayed at my apartment for over 4 hours in the middle of the night trying to keep it lit. I am sure you understand how cold Maryland 's winters can get, and how uncomfortable it is to go without heat and hot/warm water for days on end.
Then, in the beginning of the spring, we had our first flood. Over half the apartment was engulfed in freezing cold water pouring out of the water line behind the fridge that hooked up to the icemaker. I came home from a night shift at 7:00am to find it, and immediately called the emergency maintenance team to come fix it. The dispatch person on the phone refused to tell me how to shut off the water and I was unable to move the fridge to try to figure it out. My neighbor finally came over asking me if he could help by moving the fridge, turning off the water, and offering the use of his wet vacuum. My neighbor also informed me that he noticed water seeping into his kitchen (which shared a wall with our kitchen) around 1:00am that morning, and had been cleaning water since then. Six hours later I was still using my neighbor's wet vacuum to try to get rid of as much of the water as I could, and had no sign that anyone from the maintenance team was on their way. The maintenance team didn't show up until late that afternoon with a large vacuum in a van to try to clear out the rest of the water. They ripped up the carpet in the hallway, living room, and dining room, pulled out the carpet pads, and left three huge dryers in our apartment to dry out the carpet they refused to replace. I asked them to at least do the same in two of the bedrooms, which were also affected by the flood, and they refused to, informing me that there was no water damage, which I knew was incorrect because we could physically see the water stagnant in the carpet, and had to move furniture to prevent them from being ruined. After looking around after the cleanup we noticed that the cabinets were starting to warp, tiles were starting to come up, and the lower parts of a few walls were bowing out. My main concern was mold. I contacted the leasing management and was told to deal with it and that there was nothing they could do. After calling to complain to the corporate office, our leasing manager called me back to work out the issue letting me know that the maintenance team would be back to conduct a "mold treatment", which never happened.
A month after the first flood, we experienced a second flood caused by the same thing... the water line leading to the ice-maker in the fridge once again cracked. This time it had started shortly before we got home, so the water had not spread outside the kitchen and hallway. My roommate and I were able to move the fridge together to get to the water valve to shut it off. This time it happened while the management was still in the office, so we called the office to let them know about the flood. Again, it took until the end of their working day for someone from maintenance to get to our apartment, only this time they only took part of the hallway carpet pad, but never came back to finish cleaning up the water, nor did any "mold treatments" nor did they replace the carpet pad or secure the carpet to the floor creating a tripping hazard. After calling the leasing office multiple times a week for a month with no results, I gave up trying.
Then the spring rain season started, and we noticed mold forming on the windowsills. We contacted the leasing office to inform them and were told that it was fine, the windows had been treated for mold prior to us moving in, and that someone from the maintenance team would be over by the end of the day to check it out. A week later I called the front office again, and was told that they did do an assessment and it was determined that there was nothing to worry about.
Then Meridian took over the management for the apartments.
That fall I returned to the apartment after being in Virginia for a week to find the master closet carpet soaked. My roommate and I were preparing everything to be moved so we could start moving the next day. I called the emergency maintenance dispatch and was told that they would call someone to come over as soon as possible. Thirteen hours after my initial call no one had responded, so I called the leasing office (20 minutes after they opened) to have them contact the maintenance team, and was told that they saw my first call on file, and that someone should have already stopped by, but they would call the maintenance team again to make sure someone comes over. At this time my roommate had packed up most of his room and found mold saturating the carpet under his bookshelf, which because of the water damage and the stale sitting water still in the floors and wall from our first two floods, his bookshelf was brittle and full of bugs and spiders... needless to say had to be thrown out. Four hours later someone from the maintenance team finally came out to take a look at what was going on. He decided that there was something wrong with the AC unit, and that the water had backed up all the way outside and that was why my closet was flooded. He took out the carpet and the carpet pads, turned off the AC and left the apartment, leaving the AC inoperable, the dirty AC filter on the floor, and the maintenance door to the AC open. I was told that he would be back shortly by the end of the day to put it all back together. The next day there was no sign from the maintenance team so I walked down to the office and insisted to speak personally with the leasing office manager. I told her that we were dealing with the third flood, and about the water damage to the walls and cabinets, and informed her about the carpet pads never being replaced, and the mold from the floods. I informed her that it took a day for the maintenance team to come over to take care of it, and they neglected to take the wood pieces used to secure the carpet, nor did they remove the water from my closet, and that those wood pieces are molding and rotting. She, the leasing office manager, informed me that the head of the maintenance team would be over to assess my apartment by the end of the day and that she noted all my concerns. It took them 5 working days to get someone over to clean up their mess.
Before I moved to this apartment I had suffered from a form of exercise induced asthma. Beginning of the summer started experiencing random fainting, which my medical facility informed me that it could have been due to the mold, and after 4 months of being out of there, my health issues are finally starting to improve. I informed the leasing office of these problems hoping that would help motivate them to fix the discrepancies at a more appropriate rate, and in return was shown no sympathy and was told that they did a walk through and found no evidence of what I was talking about... they refused to look in the walls, and refused to look in the wood of the cabinets. I fear for the health of the next tenet. I do not wish to see anyone living in such a health hazardous environment, especially since they will not know about what mold and rot is sustained in the walls and floor.
Aside from the maintenance problems, we are experiencing an increased crime rate. There have been multiple automobile break-ins inside the complex. There also have been multiple complaints from other tenets who found two males engaging in sexual acts on the carport used as a car wash. And there was a recent armed robbery the leasing office neglected to inform the other residents about. The way the leasing office has handled these issues is by raising the rent. There have been no increased police patrols, and no security other than a gate that breaks down (and is left open) nearly every week. Plus the Bowie Town Center Apartments are advertised as being a "gated community", however, the fence does not fully enclose the complex, allowing anyone to walk in from practically any angle. The walls are thin, so if your bedroom is near a stairwell, forget being able to sleep through the night... you'll hear each set of feet walking up and down the steps.
There are also constant complaints from just about all the tenets (or at least all the ones I've talked with) about the trash compactor, which the management office cannot seem to keep up with. The trash compactor, the only trash receptacle in the area located right next to one of the apartment buildings, randomly becomes inoperable, forcing the tenets to leave their trash on the sidewalk in front of it. The smell is absolutely horrible, as is the stray cat population. There is a recycling center behind the trash compactor, but is rarely cleared out, and is infested with huge spiders and other critters influencing most people to not use it.
And if all of that didn't leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth, I had received notice that I'm being sued by this complex for not paying rent months after my lease had expired and I had properly moved out.
This complex is a nightmare in itself, I truly regret living there, and would not recommend it to anyone. For the price of the rent plus having to pay your own utilities, you would expect higher quality living. If dealing with these problems didn't bother me, I'd live in Baltimore or DC! The only thing I can say for the staff is that they are polite and eager to hear problems, and show that they are eager to help, but then you don't see any results.
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