Background

I moved into Countryside Apartments in June 2008 without doing my research of the area! I moved to Ohio from another state to take a local job and did not have the time to research the area or the apartment complex. My first mistake was choosing the Westside of Columbus! If you do your research on Columbus crime maps you will quickly see that Sullevant Avenue isn’t the safest area in town. My advice is to stay away from the Westside, Sullevant Avenue and anywhere around Georgesville Road.

Move-in Special

When I first moved into the apartment at 587station rd apt 4, I noticed the hallway and downstairs smelled horrible. My first night in the apartment was horrible. My allergies were going crazy from what I thought was pollen but was a lot more. I will address what had my allergies so fired up later on.

Looking around in the apartment, I noticed that the wood trim on the French patio door was split in half and was nailed together. I asked the Countryside representative to fix that immediately. She told me she would. The repair never got done. The split in the doorframe looked as if someone had tried to break into the apartment at one point. This concerned me because a nail was not going to keep buglers from breaking into the unit again.

Phantom security guard and cleaning crew (don't be fooled)

When I was signing my lease, the Countryside representative told me that they had a security guard that would go through the parking lots. She also told me that they had a professional cleaning crew that cleaned the common areas in each unit. I have lived here a year and have yet to see either of these services. I was speaking with my neighbor and she was promised the same services and said she had yet to see them as well. If they tell you that have these services get it in writing in your lease!

Incident Number ONE!

On December 22, 2008, I was awakened to the sound of rain in my apartment. I was quite groggy so I stumbled out into the living room and saw water pouring from the ceiling onto my couch. I opened up my door and water had flooded the common area, was running through the ceiling, through the electrical room, through the walls, and had soaked through the ceiling. I immediately called maintenance and after about 10 minutes received a phone call back. I told them what the problem was and he told me he was on his way. Ten additional minutes later maintenance was standing there telling me, this was not a problem, and that they would just suck up all of the water with shop vacs. I threw a fit because everywhere it was wet mold has a high chance of growing.

The complex manager, at the time, met me at my unit around 9:00 AM and proceeded to scream at me while I was on the phone with work telling them that my apartment was flooded and that I was not able to come to work. After she was done calling me everything but a white man, she stomped off. A half an hour later, as I was beginning my first round of phone calls to the health department, state fire marshal’s office, and the local fire department, she called me back and offered me a third floor apartment. I took the third floor unit and got to spend my first Christmas in Columbus moving from the first floor to the third floor.
Countryside apartments did not offer to pay to have my moved nor did they help. The cause of the water break was THEIR frozen laundry room pipe, which resulted from THEM being too cheap to heat the common area. I realize now why apartment 4 and the common area smelled so musty. It was most likely not the first time that the building had flooded!

They never tore down the walls, checked the wiring, or pulled up the carpet, that I know of. They fixed the flood by putting fans in the room, which circulated air under the carpet. I would have to assume that by now there is a large amount of mold growing in the walls. Every place that was wet should have been torn down and replaced.

Incident TWO (oh yeah it gets better)

Columbus seems to breed serial rapists for some strange reason. Nonetheless, there was a serial rapist at large, which attacked a woman at the apartment complex across the diversion ditch from Countryside Apartments. Approximately eight days later, we received written notice about what had happened! At this point, the incident was no longer in the local news! Eight days later the rapist could have taken advantage of a whole host of other people! Eight days later is unacceptable. I pay 535 dollars a month to be notified as quick as possible not eight days later!

Incident THREE (office staff’s professionalism skyrockets)

Around the month of March or April I was browsing the Columbus crime maps, which I stopped doing because the area scared me so much, and saw that an apartment had been broken into as well as someone’s car. I called the office staff and asked them what had happened. The lady laughed at me and said that it wasn’t their job to monitor the crime maps'!' Again, I pay you 535 dollars to do what' In today’s economy it is a shame that we still have to deal with people who have zero customer skills while there are large amounts of people with those skills looking for a job!

Incident FOUR (is this an apartment complex or thief central')

Countryside Apartments being the reputable renting firm that they are, has a near perfect mail system in each unit. You see you can receive mail in the mailbox but to send mail out you have three options. Option one: you can sit it on top of the mailbox out in the open and hope that no one steals it. Option 2: you can drive your letter over to the office to be mailed however, the office closes at six so unless you have an early job or your are unemployed, this option is not available to you. Or option three: you can place the 535-dollar rent in the offering plate and get off your butt and take it to the post office yourself. God forbid Countryside Apartments would actually have an outgoing mail system!

Needless to say, I choose option 1, which worked, for me for a long time. However, in May, my luck ran out and I noticed that Netflix was no longer receiving my returned DVDs. At first, I thought they had been lost in the mail so I reported it to Netflix and had two more sent to me. I then noticed that my second batch of DVDs was not returned to Netflix. I immediately called Netflix to see what the problem was. After getting off the phone with them, I called Columbus Police and reported the incident.

The next day I called the wonderful staff at Countryside Apartments and my three options were again reiterated to me. I told the woman on the phone that this was ridiculous and asked her what I pay rent for. She laughed at me again and told me sorry about your luck! Again she is employed why'''' I guess the outgoing mailbox is an upgrade option that she forgot to tell me about.

Incident Fi.. Oh who cares I lost count!

July 2009 my car was broken into in the parking lot of Countryside Apartments. My vehicle is among the many, which have been broken into throughout my year with Countryside Apartments! I again talked to that lovely little woman with all of those bubbly customer service skills. This time she was extremely nice to me until she saw my name. Then she had the nerve to look at me and say, “Oh it’s you I should have guessed.” I know because I asked to have my car broken into right!'! Again, she is employed WHY'!'

The only person who said he was sorry to hear about my car was Mark who is the one of the maintenance men. If you should decided to move into this slum palace and something goes wrong in your unit ask for Mark he will get you squared away. He is an exceptional guy and I wish I could bring him to my next apartment because he does such a wonderful job. Kudos to you Mark you are the only hope Countryside Apartments has!

A Quick Look At My Year With Countryside Apartments:
1. Apartment flooded

2. Had to move to another apartment over Christmas while my parents drove over 7 hours to spend the holiday with me.

3. Was screamed at by the old manager, she has since left praise Jesus, for my unit flooding and not accepting their non-code compliant offer of vacuuming up the water

4. Area buzzing with crime so if you are a criminal your family is here

5. Police chopper is always flying around the area. And no they aren’t looking for lost puppies!

6. Mail stolen by neighbors…..Grrrrrrrrrr

7. Car broken into among many others. Where is that security guard I was promised again' Oh that’s right he is Countryside’s imaginary security guard.

8. Office staff won’t return phone calls. I would hate to think that they don’t like me. I thought my rent would at a minimum get me a returned phone call!

9. The lease will try to charge you for normal wear and tear on the unit. This is illegal so don’t pay it!

10. They are trying to raise my rent without a 60 day notice like it states in my lease.

11. They told me I would receive a letter from them telling me when my 60 days was up. Don’t look for this letter. I got mine on June 14th and my lease ends in July. Maybe they meant well they just can’t count!'!

12. If you have allergies stay away from 587 station road complex! I can’t speak for the other units

13. I wrote you four pages of problems, if you still want to rent here, may the rental Gods be with you and watch over you. If you have any sense you’ll make like a breeze day and blow by this slum lord palace.

14. The previous reviews sound like the Countryside Staff have been on this site. I’ve noticed similar reviews on other apartment review sites. Don’t be fooled; their a cunning and slippery group!

Ending Remarks:
Check the area out on the Columbus Crime maps, send me two pennies for my thoughts, and do not rent from these jokesters. Please do not put yourself through the hell I went through over this last year. Columbus is a nice place to live so take advantage of the area and find a place where they will treat you like a human and with some respect.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/22/2009
I AGREE with you. Sorry you had to deal with such a nightmare. I can relate. Thank you for taking the time to share your story. Reading it, prompted me to present my story to.

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