Benson Hills is located in the best spot in Haslett for access to just about anything. The location is the only true saving grace for this dismal apartment complex.

The office manager is discriminatory and selects tenants to harrass - particulary those who have brought her errors to the attention of the management company. She is terribly unfriendly, although she appears just the opposite when you are a prospective renter. BE WARE!! Today I came home and discovered property removed from my porch that they had deemed were being "stored" there and were "not appropriate". I received a letter stating that the patio area was only for "patio furniture" and that the small outdoor table I use to put my plants on in the spring and summer and the coolers I use to keep water and soda in year round because the refrigerators are so small, were not considered to be "patio furniture". The letter was dated for 4 days prior to the removal date, postmarked 4 days prior to the removal date and was mailed at a time that the management knew I wasn't home. It will cost me $50 to get my property back. Seriously' One quick glance around the complex showed that I was the only one who had property removed (my neighbor has a weight bench on her porch and didn't hear a word). In December, I reported the office manager to her bosses because of her delay in, and complete lack of communication, regarding my need to renew my lease, and to report Angela's unprofessionalism.

The pool is not a benefit to renters with children. There are 2 guests PER APARTMENT which means that my 3 children can't all have a friend come over to go swimming. This rule is in place because the owner's daughter (who doesn't even live in the complex herself, and therefore would be considered a "guest") comes to the pool and brings her 3 children, and I guess she doesn't want too much company' I discovered this last summer when my children had guests over (who happened to be ------- American) and their mom and I were sitting beside the pool talking. The pool was nearly empty except for 2 other renters who also had 4 guests (who were white). The little pool boy stopped me and questioned me, but not the other guests - even though that was the first time all year I had been to the pool. Angela unceremoniously tossed us from the pool, and didn't even notice the other party until I pointed out that of the 6 of them, 4 were guests also. Out of "duty" she asked them to leave also, but apparently it didn't stick because I drove by later in the week and saw them all there again.

The construction of the apartments is horrendous. I am on the ground floor, and everything slants. The bathtub doesn't drain - even after numerous calls to maintainence. A 10 minutes shower will have you standing in nearly a foot of water. The toilet also plugs on a regular basis (at least twice a week) and has to be plunged. There is no insulation, so during the winter months, don't touch the walls, they are ice cold, and your heating bills will run you nearly $200 a month to get them THAT warm. The heater is so loud, you have to constantly be turning the TV up every time it kicks on and down every time it kicks off. Seriously, it's a huge joke. The screen doors don't stay on the tracks, no matter how many times you put them back on. There are major problems with earwigs and ants and spiders, no matter how much you clean (and I'm a freak about that). The kitchen appliances and cupboards are awful, don't work properly (on the lowest temp, the refrigerator freezes everything, and it will take at least 30 minutes to heat the burners to medium heat) and falling apart. The light fixtures and electrical outlets are such poor quality that you can expect to replace all of your lightbulbs at least every other month. I can hear the neighbors, both upstairs and next door cough in the night and walk across the floor. They hear my alarm clock go off every morning at 5:30 which I'm sure is thrilling to them as well. The noise is really bad. The laundry facilities are also poor. There are 3 washers and 3 dryers for about 20 apartments, and they are extremely expensive and don't wash or dry as well as the laundry facilities 2 blocks away.

So, unless you have bunches of money to dump into keeping warm, like to take "shower-baths", enjoy walking across the parking lot on frigid mornings to get to your one covered parking space, have an irresistable urge to plunge toilets, can't tolerate milk unless it has ice in it, hate cooking on a hot stove, and really enjoy being treated like you are something nasty the management stepped in, I would definately stay far, far away from Benson Hills Apartment complex.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/12/2009
Wow, sounds like you had a run-in with the infamous Angela. I'm surprised she still has a job after all the complaints and lawsuits against her/Benson Hills. She must be doing something to keep the owner happy with her if you know what I mean.
From: Anonymous	Date: 03/12/2009
oh Yes!! we are all familiar with little Angela. Had some simular issues where I lived on the bottem floor as well. (the track story is funny because I was ready to throw that thing out in the street). There was this odor... and I mean it was so bad.... it was in the hallway and you could smell it as soon as you opened the door to the downstairs... I could not get to the smell and it just smelled up the apartments so bad. I had gone next door to get a hammer at another apartment and they opened the door and OOOHHH!!! there was the smell. they had their power turned off and there was venison that had spoiled and since the apartments share walls and vents... i could not get the smell out. I applied to get a townhouse,(which you have to be on a waiting list if you live there, but if you come off the street and there is one, she will rent it to you and they are insanely expensive and you can go down the street and rent a nicer one for about oh... 200 dollars cheaper) and they do an insepction.... and she told me that there was an odor in my apartment. I reminded her of the complaint i had about the other apartment and her response was "well, they got their place cleaned up". Yeah. well they got evicted and new carpet was put in. I spent over 300.00 buying cleaning supplies and bought a capret steam cleaner and the smell would not go away. And the carpet!! I have pix of where they just patched it up with squares and called it good. They allow animals there and should have carpet that can tolerate the animals that can live there. the winter!! I could not have my children in the bedrooms. We all slept in the living room on the couch bed because my son kept getting sick from being frozen. I lived there in the late 90's and had no problem at all living there. It is a pit hole now. I agree... stay away!! go to nemoke trails down the street or ANYWHERE ELSE. And i have bi-racial children, and had the same thoughts that you do. very interesting, huh???
From: Darren32	Date: 04/02/2009
Reading this review and responses remind me just how ignorant some people can be on websites like this. Honestly, this is slander to the management. Some of your comments made me chuckle. I feel a committment to Benson Hills because I was treated with nothing but respect for the 2 years I lived there. I think we can rule out the racist joke because I'm black myself and I never encountered any instances at Benson Hills in which I felt I was treated unfairly. I was late one time on my rent and I was treated just as everyone else. I lived on a bottom floor as well and I understood that only patio furniture was allowed as do all the other residents. As far as the pool goes I'm glad there is a 2 guest limit because Benson Hills isn't a public place if you want to have a group of 8 children then go to the aquatic center down the road I'm sure your children would enjoy that more than the pool at Benson Hills. I'm going to have to disagree with you in the sense that Benson Hills is built poorly. Yes they're older than some apartments but they are built with quality. My toliet clogged once and it was my fault because I used too much toliet paper, I'm assuming this is the same problem with you. When using thicker nicer toliet paper you should use less or it will clog easier than the cheap stuff. My carport was about 20 steps from the front door to my building I thought they were pretty convienent myself. The apartment I'm living in right now in Austin, TX is about 100 steps which is a little annoying but the weather is always wonderful down here. I didn't consider $1.25 very expensive for washing my clothes at the convenience of my own building ($.75 washer, $.50 dryer) or is it different in your building? The price is a quite a bit more across the street by Taco Bell. Anyways, I just wanted to share with you three that this review and responses are very juvenile and I'm sure I'll recieve a response because there's no possible way that anyway could think Benson Hills is a great community. In all honesty, its you people who make it a less pleasant place to live there, I'm glad I never had any run-ins with you because my building felt like a nice neighborhood and I doubt it would've felt that way with all your complaining and pointing fingers.

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