I am a college student at WMU and lived in the dorms for one year, and then at The Pointe for the next two. I lived in a 4/2 which we chose because it is a nice looking property and competitively priced. We wanted to live in a college community, we all enjoy the weekend activities. The overall quality of living here has steadily fell as the rates increase. In my first year, we experienced problems with the quality of the apartment construction and upkeep. The issues we had were over the winter, but none of us lived there in the summer as we all had jobs back home.

The first issue, somehow the buildings water heater pilot light kept blowing out overnight, leaving us to freezing showers when we woke up in the morning. This happened about 2-3 times a week for at least 3 weeks. We would call maintenance, and they would come re-light it relatively quickly, but this is a stretch, because when you get up to go to class you want a hot shower now, not three hours later when you get back from class. I put the phone number on speed dial because of this (big, annoying hassle).

The second issue arose from people in our building flushing the wrong things down the toilet, which clogged the sewer drain, and gave us a foot of sewage in our tubs. We were obviously unable to use the bathroom or shower for 3 days, because this happened over a weekend and apparently maintenance was also on vacation. Disgusting and unacceptable.

On a related note, the drain for the pressure release on the water heater froze over. My room was on the first floor and right next to the maintenance closet, so I got to experience the overflow first hand, with a small pond in my room. Squishy wet carpet in mid winter is just as exciting as you might think it would be. Another nice surprise when you hop out of bed in the morning. Then they tried to charge me for the stain left by this puddle 4 months after we moved out.

Don't be fooled by their inciting "free" internet. We suffered through frequent loss of service and dismal download rates the whole year. Try writing a research paper only to find out suddenly that you have no internet. Expect frequent trips to the library. And don't expect to do any sort of online gaming. Our second year here, we just bought Charter 10Meg cable internet, which we split 4 ways for 52$ a month, and is amazing.

I get the feeling that the management is trying very hard to improve, but they are trying too hard. We recently got new staircases, wood instead of metal and cement. I was unable to get an answer on whether they just wanted a new look, or if the old ones were unsafe. The inconvenience of walking to the other end of the building wasn't an issue, just the incessant pounding, sawing, and welding noise from 8-6 monday-saturday. My favorite part is that they chose to do this on exam week, in a college appartment complex. Grate timing ther fellahs! Apparently, "They can't work the construction around everyone's schedule." At least they didn't use the excuse that they didn't realize it was exam week, they did provide us with some free "exam week" pizza that we paid a 75$ "Activity Fee" for at the beginning of the year.

Another improvement they made is to replace the friendly security staff that walked around with a new one that they tell us has the ability to fine us for speeding, littering, noise, or "other". This is not in our lease. Good luck in court.

Last year there were very few issues with parking, even for visitors, but now, whenever you come back from a late class or the gym, expect to park at another building. They are trying to fix this by frequent towings, but it doesn't seem to be working. There is a car outside my building with a flat tire, with one windows rolled down and a foot of snow in it that has been sitting there for 2-3 months. Is this a junkyard or a upscale college apartment complex'

A year ago I would have recommended this complex and gave a wink while describing the scenery at the pool during the summer. Now, all I can say is "You can do much better."

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