Pros: convenience, price



Cons: safety, community, upkeep, staff



Duke Manor looks great on paper. They have apartments for under $350/mo, they?re within walking distance of Duke, there?s shuttle service to Duke, and they have two pools and a weight room. That?s all true. But just about everything else there is bad.



My earliest complaint about Duke Manor was the staff. It took them two months -- with frequent prodding by me -- to process my rent application. I had a flawless tenancy record and great credit -- they just sat on my application for two months.



The building I moved into had burned just months before I moved in, a fact that the staff didn?t share with me. On the plus side, that meant all new carpets and paint (though not new appliances). On the down side, it meant that we had no phone lines. It took me several days just to secure staff permission to get a phone line running in through my living room window, and weeks more to get the inside wiring fixed. Even once the phone lines were fixed, they were noisy: I couldn?t get DSL, and my modem never worked above 14.4K.



Safety is a pretty significant concern at Duke Manor, too. It?s in a fairly bad part of Durham, so there are frequent thefts and occasional gunshots. There was a homocide not long after I moved out. The parking lots are lit, there?s a fence around the whole community, and a security guy drives by occasionally, but it?s somehow not enough. I never really felt safe outside at night. Strangers knocked on my door at all hours. I ended up putting in a peep-hole (which Duke Manor should have provided, but didn?t) so that I could avoid opening the door for strangers.



The maintenance staff was OK. They usually came within a few days (except for the phone wiring), and they only refused to fix one problem with the drier.



After an unusually severe snowstorm, our gutter broke. They still hadn't fixed it properly when I moved out six months later.



Construction was OK. The walls were thin, so I could hear my annoying neighbor's music, but that has happened in nearly every apartment I've rented. There was some sort of hole under my kitchen sink leading to the apartment next door -- I could smell it every time my neighbor smoked.



Parking is plentiful. Some people I know (not Duke Manor residents) even park at Duke Manor to walk to Duke when the Duke parking lots are full.



I didn't have pest (roach or mouse) problems. Living on the third floor probably helped.



I got my entire security deposit back, but not quickly.



Duke Manor allows small pets but charges hundreds of dollars in non-refundable deposits and extra rent. Most people just don't tell the staff when they have pets, to avoid the charges.



You?ll survive a year at Duke Manor, but it?s not a nice place. There are plenty of better options in Durham.

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