The apartment itself is alright, but nothing special. However my experience with management and service staff has been abysmal and I wish I'd never lived here as a result of their regard for my wife and I.

The front steps to our building cracked, and then the top of the whole 3rd step FELL OFF last winter. The railing then rusted through and couldn't support any pressure against it (so no longer an effective railing). This all happened early last winter. Not only wasn't it fixed in a timely fashion, but the only action they took was to put an orange cone on the step. After repeated calls, and months later, they still hadn't fixed the step. The steps would get covered with ice and I fell down them more than once (fortunately not getting hurt). Spring came and no change. The weather dried up, and it still was not fixed. FINALLY after 6 months, they chose to install a new step on a rainy day. 6 months of hazard, despite phone calls about it frequently. Why am I paying $1200/month if they aren't going to even maintain the steps'

The gym is in a sad state of disrepair. Machines break, and they put a maintenance sign on it to say it will be "fixed soon". Yeah, 3 months later, still broken. There are holes in the seats of some of the benches, the cables on the machines are rusted and fraying (the broken ones the cables have snapped). The ends of the cables are so worn that the handle clips are falling apart. Various weight machines are missing pins or handle clips. I could go on, but suffice it to say that it seems like they like to show the gym on tours, and talk about the view it has of the lake, but not actually care about the quality of the equipment. In my opinion, $10/month at planet fitness is a better deal than using this gym for "free".

In my opinion, parking is horrible. If you aren't parked in the lots before 6pm, then you won't get a spot after work. In fact, my wife came back recently and had to park half a mile away, over at the leasing office, because EVERY spot was taken. The lots are small, and there are not enough of them. I would suggest that they look at how many apartments they have, they could figure out how many spaces they need.

Noise isn't too bad (but I'm on a top floor), however stove venting is shared, so our apartment smells like whatever the people below are cooking. Unfortunately for us, they cook lots of curry, so we have to turn our vent on at least 2-3 times per week to push the smell back down the vent pipe.

Several times per year you wake up to get ready for your day, and get in the shower, only to find that A) The water isn't working, or B) There's no hot water. I'd never taken a cold (and I mean COLD) shower in my life before living here, but now I've had at least 6 or 7.

Highway noise is noticeable, we can see Rt 3 from the living room.

Rent goes up quite a bit per year, and laundry went up by 20% this year.

Something that really bothers me is the heating fees. I have no problem paying for what we use, however that's not how it works here. See, we live on the 3rd floor, and the people below crank their heat in the winter. Great for us, we keep our thermostat set at 60 year round, and never have to use our heat. We may have had it turned on 3 days all of winter 2008/2009 (the coldest days). Guess what though, our heating bill went from $8/month in the fall (you have a minimal fee for it just being on), to over $50/month WHEN WE WEREN'T USING IT. I called about it, and their answer was that the heat bill is split between all the apartments in a building. So if you dont' use any, and another person sets it at 100, you're going to be paying a ton. Seriously, that is deplorable.


We've been perfect tenants, always paid rent on time, are in good standing, keep our apartment meticulously clean and well upkept, and have never had any complaints against us.
This past spring we offered on a house. It was a short sale, so it can take a long time. Months go by, and I contact the leasing office telling them that we'll be moving out, but don't know when. They hit us with a $2200 fee for leaving early (to be expected I guess), but they are ABSOLUTELY UNWILLING to let us make any installments on it. Citing "company policy", they won't help in any way on this. Finally after several emails, someone offers to let us pay it in 2 payments but it's due 1 month after we leave.
Since we're spending every free cent on a house downpayment, we don't really have extra cash on hand for this. Not only that, but when our deal came through, with only 30 days before closing, they're making us pay 60 days worth of rent, plus the $2200. They say there's nothing they can do because it's "policy", but seriously they made no effort to help us out, and are completely unwilling to budge on payment rules, however they get evasive when I discuss the ways they've failed us.

I would never recommend this place to anyone, and am very unhappy with how we've been treated. In fact, I would warn anyone against living here if I heard they were considering it. It doesn't matter if you're the worlds' best tenant, they just want their money, no compromises, no special arrangements, and no coming halfway to help the tenant. In my opinion, to them, you are just a number, and an inconvenience. I feel that if these people could see from our perspective how we've been treated, they would be appalled.

Bottom line, the actual apartment itself was ok, but parking, the gym, and especially the horrid treatment of their customers makes this a place to avoid.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/24/2009
I also have a problem with the water and whenever i call maintence they act as if im crazy they come check it by turning the shower on and telling me its fine. also being 9 months pregnant i am not suppose to be exposed to mildew which is all over our bathroom because our fan has never worked right, i was told 3 months ago they would come and fix it for us. we had rust coming out of our shower and had to call a lawyer, they were extremely rude to us , we are in the process of looking for a new apartment
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/03/2009
I dont' think any resident has pleasant experience with Royal Crest management people. I was flat out when Maintenance dared to tell me "you have to live with it" when my kitchen cabinet was broken & making noise all the time. I doubt even if replacing the whole cabinet would have cost more then $20, but instead they cared to take my dis-satisfaction and finally when they fixed, did a poor job. I an not sure if AIMCO management is aware of increasing dissatisfaction among residents which may affect other good communities they have all over MASS.
From: livetheretoo	Date: 11/06/2009
Issues are issues. What about the lease? If you sign it you own it. You say your buying a house, good luck when you can't pay the mortage. I'm confident your whining will not result in releasing you from your obligation.
From: worried_for_my_life	Date: 11/14/2009
There is no other way to say this....I HATE THIS PLACE!

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