Country Club Towers
140 Hepburn Road, Clifton, NJ 07012
973-777-1400  save favorite
AVERAGE RATING
recommended by:
19%

overall rating:
2.0
2.7
2.66 Parking:
1.9
1.9 Maintenance:
2.0
2.0 Construction:
2.5
2.45 Noise:
2.9
2.93 Grounds:
3.0
3.03 Safety:
1.7
1.72 Office Staff:
< | >

Pros and Cons

From: -Anonymous-
Date posted: 7/6/2006
Years at this apartment: 2003 - 2006
 
I'm a current resident, living here for the last 3.5 years. Here is my experience:

Pros:
Apartment layouts are very "open." Most have the walkthrough kitchen right into the dining room. (It makes things look bigger). I can accomodate 10-15 people for small parties.

It is very quiet inside the building. Most residents are very courteous to one another. The walls let very little noise escape.

The building is kept clean, hallways swept often, occasional rug shampooing.

Parking is a non-issue. You can pay to park in the garage (110/mo). I've always found a spot. They used to have a service where an employee could pick you up at your car and drive you to the building, but the area isn't dangerous.

They include heat/AC/electricity in your rent at a flat rate. Plenty of heat in the winter.

They have two elevators per "side" of the building. They are almost always operational. Since they only let people move in/out during the morning and early afternoon on weekdays, the wait for the elevator is normally short.

Most of my neighbors are very friendly or do not bother me (also a good thing). Of course, this could vary based on what unit you live in.

They provide some handcarts in the lobby that you can use to bring up groceries (or other items).

They have a doorperson present almost all the time. I've never used their services, yet they tend to be friendly and helpful to others. They help some people take groceries, etc from their trunk and put them into the cart. I assume these people tip the doorman/woman though.

Cons:
The AC is horrendous. Your contract forbids you to have your own AC. This wouldn't be a problem if the AC they provided actually worked. Even when the AC is running, it is not what I would deem adequate. If the bedroom door is kept closed with the AC running, it is cool. However, the small unit in the dining room/living room does not help much at all. If I situate a large fan at the unit and point it towards the dining room or rest of the living room, it helps. Don't expect the AC to be as great as the management makes it out to be.

In the 3 summers I have lived here, the situation has gotten progressively worse. The first year, the AC was turned on late (after Memorial Day, after it was already 90 degrees out). The second year, the AC unit went down three times for 4 days. This year, the AC unit has been out for a total of 14 days since May 20th and its only July 6th. Not very luxurious, in my opinion.

I face the North side of the building, where I get less direct sunlight, and with no AC, it is still unbearable.

Also, there is the constant din of highway noise on the North Side of the building (Route 3 and the GSP intersect behind the building). It might bother some people.

The dishwasher in some units (my own and a few friends' units) is very poor. Loads must be moderately light to properly clean.

The hot water can be spotty. This might be due to the number of units, but there are times around noon to 4pm when there has been no hot water suitable for showering.

On a few occasions the building has lost power (no fault of the management company). However, the emergency lights in the hallway and stairwells did not come on. This was very disturbing.

There is a tennis court, however the chain link fence was broken for a year. I believe a resident fixed it himself so he could play since the management company took too long to fix it.

I'm not pleased with management in the building. Some of them are nice, but some get very defensive when you inquire about why things like the AC units are broken (and for so long) or when they plan to fix the tennis courts. I don't feel that some of them act very professionally.

A few other notes after reading reviews by fellow tenants:
A side-view mirror on one of my vehicles was damaged. But this was on the passenger side, away from the street. I think it was just an accident. It was nothing serious, yet I guess I shouldn't expect a fellow tenant to own up to it and help foot a $25 or $50 bill to fix it.

The management is also selective in which rules they enforce. At some point before 2003 when I lived there, tenants could have pets (dogs, cats, etc). They changed the rule to "no pets at all" but they must have grandfathered the current pets (which makes sense). However, the super of the building buys a puppy and no one bothers him about it.

There are people with their own ACs even though the contract forbids this. They turn a blind eye to some people having ACs, but not others.

Snow removal is also spotty. They could do better in some aspects. Parking can be difficult to get out of after the plow comes, but that's not something management can control. However, there have been days after a snowfall when the walkways are not cleared till after 9am. And after they clear it once, if a snow drift covers the walkway again, the management must be hounded to have it cleared again.

Recommended: NO
Overall Rating
2 out of 5
Parking:
5 of 5
Maintenance:
2 of 5
Construction: 4 of 5
Noise:
4 of 5
Grounds: 3 of 5
Safety: 4 of 5
Office Staff:
2 of 5
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