Going downhill faster than a speeding bullet...
From:
avoider99@hotmail.com
Date posted:
3/21/2004
Years at this apartment:
2002
-
2004
I moved here about two years ago. I was greeted with an apartment that wasn't properly prepared (rotting bathroom vanity cabinet, a new ceramic kitchen tile floor where the tiles cracked as you walked on it, bedroom doors not cut to clear the carpeting, filthy windows, dirty bathroom tile grout, broken electric recepticles, a freezer that did not cool and spoiled my food on the first night, paint that was actually peeling off the walls! not one of these is an embelishment in any way). It took a letter, several verbal inquiries and a call to the management company corporate office to get someone to the apartment to address the problems.
Empirian suckers people in with illusion. they do a good job I may add. Front gates, a gorgeous lobby and hotel style front circle, and actually pretty nice apartments. my kitchen was recently remodeled and when I was looking to rent they were running a special you couln't resist - a normally $895/month apartment for $750/month (word to the wise, when apartment communities run too good to be true specials and rental discounts, they are doing for a reason - low occupancy, there's a reason for that too). they had me. Little did I know that I would have to deal with the following as the years went on:
1. Depsite what another reviewer stated, pitiful curb appeal - the curbs in fact are crumbling! no lie!
- crumbling curbs
- deteriorated asphault - there are actually potholes under each gate! each year they try to put a speedbump in at the top of the hill which gets torn up. its currently sitting thrown to the side of the parking lot. the entire lot is cracking and has potholes in most areas. lines haven't been painted since I moved here. the lot is dark in some areas as well. a large section in front of my side of the building doesn't even have lighting.
- trees unpruned
- dirt paths through grass that are unaddressed, ghetto looking
- garbage throughough the wooded areas surrounding the parking lots and complex itself
- a pool area that has not had a dime dropped into it besides a new stairway railing for a decade. I went there once in two years, I'd not be paid to step foot in there again. I felt dirty. Its got abaondoned cabannas and a snack bar that kids could get into and get hurt, not to mention the enitre are just looks aweful - and this is LUXURY!!!
- an ununifored summer landscaping crew that is unprofessional looking to say the least.
Laundry - smells, they repainted the floor a year ago and the paint started peeling in a month, the coin changer hasn't worked - ever, management rufuses to move into this century and put card access in (no local stores give out quarters and one has to either go to the bank or a supermarket over a mile away to get quarters for the machiens). i know for a fact their laundry vendor has this availalble.
Fitness room - so-so but has peeling wallpaper, missing ceilng tiles, and no tv. they replaced the carpet recently so it looks a little better.
Ground floor - drab and depressing. smells like a garbage dump in the summer months because the dumpsters are out in the open on the ground floor under the trash chutes. the loading dock doors are left open all day and night at times so anyone, including mice, can have free access inside, mismatched filthy floor tiles, wall patch jobs that weren't finished, filthy elevators, broken doors, dirty light fixtures, etc. its gross, trust me.
Security - like others commented, laughable security. here is what you do -if you don't live here, you drive up to the visitors gate. either a) wait and the gate will open for you, sometimes immediately or B) dial the front desk and ask them to open it, wallah! your allowed in. then, you go into the lobby and walk towards the basement door which gives you access to the entire building. the front desk staff then buzzes the door no matter who you are. this, in the neighborhood that is plauged with armed robberies on Morris and price street. management has no handle on the parking lot. there are currently about 10 cars with large orange stickers on them because they are abandoned. they'll put these on and then let them sit there for months. they're probably too cheap to get them towed. residents regularly blocked travel lanes by parking illegally on the ends of lanes or on corners, and management does nothing. I can't tell you how many times I've almost hit a car. the security gates are vandalized or damaged on a regular basis, which then literally takes months to be replaced. the last time was the resident entry gate, which stood up for a month. before that the exit gate was disabled for about two months - yet they pay a guy to sit in a booth - oh, he's the best. anyone who drives up to him just gets the gate lifted up no matter if you have a empirian sticker or not. its a total complete joke.
Windows - despite several written requests, management refuses to wash windows. i've lived here since august 2002 and the builidng windows haven't been cleaned once. the views are nice in teh apartment above the 5th floor, but they are distored by the dull gray haze and spots. when I first moved here the leasing agent actually gave me the name of someone to do them for me - for $100! i think for $18000 in rent per year that they could budget for such a basic service.
Poor management overall - my roommate and I have written four major letters to the manager since we've been here. all polite and in an attempt to logde disatisfaction and get a dialogue going. each one was blantantly, flatly ignored - no phone call, no response, nothing.
Empirian Luxury Towers has done a bang up job in dissapointing most residnets here, except for those with no standard of class which accept such shoddy service, disrespect and flat out insulting business practices. While I hate the process of moving and don't look forward to packing up, I count the days till I deliver my notice to vacate to the mystery manager that doesn't exist.
TO ANYONE READING THIS OR CONSIDERING THIS PLACE AS A HOME, HEED MY WARNING - YOU CAN GET A MUCH BETTER COMMUNITY AT OTHER PLACES AROUND PHILADELPHIA - STEER CLEAR OF EMPIRIAN!!!!!!
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