Echelon Glen Apartments

Not Worth It From: lndsydms@yahoo.com Date posted: 4/11/2007 Years at this apartment: 2005 - 2007   Pros: Concrete floors for noise reduction Laundry facility on 2nd floor of each building Nice play areas Replaced all windows and sliding glass doors in 2007 Pets (up to 2) allowed (although for another full month's rent security deposit and a monthly fee of $25) Pretty spacious floor plan Park, small lake (with ducks and geese), grocery store nearby Cons: Office staff is overwhelmed and arrogant and rude (unless you are applying for residence of course) I have many instances, but a recent one is where I asked the staff to open the windows in the work-out room but the lady who has the window handle in the office refused because a man had complained about them being open a few days earlier and had yelled at her. She said it was not her job to run back and forth to open and close the windows and she wouldn't do it any more. She said they might get fans sometime in the future. Many people wanted the windows open of course but one man threw a fit and got his way because she didn't want to do it anyway. This is typical. They are extremely rude if you send your children to the office to ask a question. They don't like children. But in their defense, there are many children who live here who are reckless and take advantage of anything they can because their parents aren't watching them. I caught a staff member literally yelling at my son for taking a cookie from their lobby that I said he could have. When she realized I was standing around the corner, she explained that children come in the lobby often and steal cookies regularly and that the cookies were for prospective tenants. Like I said, they're overwhelmed and resultingly spastic and rude. The pool would be nice except if you have children that visit you (i.e. grandchildren or non-custodial children) you must pay $5 PER VISIT for a pool pass for them to swim. No swimming toys are allowed and the contracted lifeguards do whatever they like (talk on the phone, sleep, etc.) Any children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult to swim. No guests or anyone under 18 are allowed in the fitness room. Fitness room is not 24 hours. No parking. If I get home after 10:00pm, I have to park about 300 yards away. There are reserved parking spaces that are nearly always open so I am sure that people who have reserved spaces are parking in non-reserved places to keep their reserved spots open in case they need them for someone else. Maintenance has one of these spaces and rarely parks in it. It's really frustrating to get home at 10pm with some groceries or holiday shopping and have to park all the way across the lot when there are open reserved spaces. Maintenance is not qualified. I have many examples but one example is that I have had a leak under my sink in the kitchen for nearly 2 years and the maintenance man does not know how to fix it I guess. He tries to tell me that the water seeps under the tiny space between the sink and the counter and that I need to be more careful when I wipe my counter. You can see the water leaking from the "O" ring at the faucet for one and I am sure there is a leak underneath too, because the cabinet floor directly under the garbage disposal is wet all the time. Once my "water alarm" was going off in the locked closet on my patio (very loud alarm). It signals there is excess water in the closet. Since it was 11pm, I had to call emergency maintenance. The guy was upset that he had to come because he lived 45 minutes away. After calling again an hour later, he did come and turn off the alarm (about 1am). I asked him why he lived so far away. He informed me that many of the maintenance staff do not live on-sight because they will not get paid for "after hours" work unless they live off sight. I think the staff and tenants alike are getting screwed by the ownership of this complex. The ownership or managing contractors don't know what they're doing or don't care as long as the money is rolling in for now. The staff do sometimes try to make the complex a friendly community and it seems like they would really like to. They hosted a pool party for the teens one year out of their own pockets to try to induce a safe and involved atmosphere for the kids and parents. They paid for tons of pizza and soda and even let kids from neighboring complexes come. It was very nice. But a lot of hoodlem kids came and were in and out and loud and obnoxious. The staff had to call the police to come and make the kids leave at midnight because some of the troublemakers refused. The complex did have plans to host parties a few times a year but after that (pool parties, movie parties in the clubhouse, etc.), there has not been another party. The floor plans, while spacious, are not at all consistent or practical. In neighboring apartments, the plans are very different, kitchens are very different, lighting is different, etc. Our apartment has an entry in which you can either enter the living area through a hallway or through the kitchen/dining room. The hall is total wasted space and I have fabric shower curtains hanging at it's beginning and end so I can store the kid's bikes and such there. There is no place for bikes. Bikes get stolen quickly here. A maintenance man told us to keep our bikes inside or they would be stolen. My son forgot and left his bike on the porch a couple of weeks after we moved in for about an hour with the living room sliding glass door blinds open and we were home. Someone took the bike from the porch in that time right off our porch and we never saw it again. You are not allowed to chain them in the outside corridors and the only bike rack is by the office about 300-400 yards away. There are no overhead lights in our apartment in the living area or bedrooms, but there are visible patches on the ceiling where they used to be. This is an example of how maintenance works. If the lights keep getting broken, remove them and patch the area where they hung instead of finding a sturdier fixture at a higher price. I could say more, but I think I've made the point. Hope this helps.

Recommended: NO Overall Rating

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