STAY AWAY FROM PHILLY MANAGEMENT AND ALL AFFILIATES
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
3/22/2007
Years at this apartment:
2006
-
2007
2 responses
I moved into a studio apartment with my girlfriend in the Vida building in November 2006 and have had a horrible experience here. We really only took the apartment because we were short on time to find a place in philly and the price was within our reach. I will definitely not be renewing my lease at this location. Here's why:
Our leasing agent, Erin, always talked down to us and was a scatterbrain, which caused a lot of miscommunications while trying to 'seal the deal' on the lease. She acted like she didn't have time for us and rushed us through the process because our apartment wasn't going to give her a big commission like something at 9 north ninth or another luxury apartment.
Tracy, who is the property manager I believe, has always talked down to my girlfriend and has been unhelpful when we needed something.
They are always testing the fire alarm system, usually early in the morning, or the fire alarms are going off by themselves. they tested the alarms for 3 days straight a few months ago, and then we actually did have a fire and the alarms worked. but then they had to recalibrate the system again and more testing for days.
The electricity in our apartment isn't properly grounded. This may not be a big issue to some, but I am a recording musician and use expensive equipment which could be damaged by this. I constantly get noise/hum in my recordings due to this problem and cannot get any work done here. My guitar amp picks up radio stations loud and clear because of this. Every time we unplug or plug something in we almost get shocked.
Forget about getting your mail here. As soon as we moved in we had a package stolen which was worth over $100. The mailmen / management don't put a lot of items in your box and the door men just let anyone take packages at the front desk.
The apartments themselves are ugly, small, and not maintained very well. It looks like someone just took buckets of paint and splashed them around on the walls. The paint is peeling in a lot of places. Carpet is not laid well. Windows are old and let drafts in. Some electric outlets are painted over and unuseable.
This is a horrible location -- CONSTANT NOISE is always coming from the street below. There are 3 bars within meters of the building, so there are always drunk people smoking out on the street and being obnoxious. Bums are always sitting outside yelling stupid crap and asking for money every time you enter or exit the building. There is also a new condo building being built across the street which is an endless stream of noise. There is a high rise parking garage parallel with the building with car alarms going off constantly. This is a business district, not a residential district. The noise doesn't stop so forget about getting any sleep.
The majority of residents here are college students who are always blasting Jay-Z and partying all night. And, since this is a high rise building, you have to share hallways with them. So unless you miss college dorm life this isn't the building for you.
Most of the door men / women are worthless and are either talking on their cell phone or watching dvds all the time. Most don't speak to you unless they have to.
There is only one elevator in the building, and there are 12 floors and a basement. There is a freight elevator you can use when you move in, but you have to pay someone $35 per hour to operate it for you.
The laundry facility, if you want to call it that, sucks. There are only 3 washers and dryers for all 12 floors of people, and at least one washer and dryer are always broken. The management doesn't have the courtesy to put an out-of-service sign up most of the time either.
Moving in or out, or transporting any amount of goods in or out of the bldg is a nightmare. There is a no parking / no loading zone on the street in front of the building, so expect to get a $40 ticket every time you leave your car there for more than 5 minutes. I got a ticket the day we moved in and the PPA officer didn't care that i was moving after i talked to him, what an -------.
If you drive a car, you are screwed. There are parking facilities nearby, but since this is Rittenhouse Square you will pay at least $120 per month. My $60 lot is in south philly and I walk 10 blocks to get there.
The rent is too expensive for what you get. Our studio is $860 per month and upon signing the lease, you agree that with each lease renewal from that point forward you will pay $100 more. $960/mo for this place next year' I think not.
I will definitely not renew my lease here and will not even consider another Philadelphia Management or affiliate property. The only person who would enjoy living here is someone who goes out to bars every night and is too wasted to care about where they sleep.
Recommended: NO
Overall Rating
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User Responses
From:
phillyfireguy
Date:
07/09/2008
I’m sorry, you are an idiot. Please let me point out the errors and inconsistency in your comments...
"They are always testing the fire alarm system, usually early in the morning”
--Oh, I'm so sorry the rest of the civilized world starts work at 8:00 in the morning. We all can’t sleep in until 1:00 in the afternoon. Next time please send out a mass email to everyone so we know a convenient time FOR YOU to test the alarm system.
“they tested the alarms for 3 days straight a few months ago"
--If you did a little research into Philadelphia Fire Codes you would realize that a 14 story building (there’s a basement and 13th floor in the Vida) with approximately 50 apartments would take a couple of days to fully inspect. Philadelphia Fire Codes REQUIRE sound pressure readings in ALL bedrooms within the building. Why this runs into a two or three day event is because you’ve got stuck-up tenants like yourself who won’t allow access to the apartment. “Can you come back in 20 minutes”, or “Do you have to do this toady/right now, I’m sleeping. I won’t be here at 7:00 pm, can you make a special trip into the city and come back then?” When you test an alarm system, you can’t just sound off the alarm in each apartment one at a time. It goes off in the entire building, throughout the entire day. Yes it’s annoying, but again if you took the time to research this before shooting your mouth, off you would know!
“then we actually did have a fire and the alarms worked. but then they had to recalibrate the system again and more testing for days.”
--Ok, I’m not exactly sure what the problem here is! So you had a fire in the building, the system worked as designed (because someone did their job and preformed an annual test earlier), and you apparently got out of the building safely. So what exactly is your problem?!? But you’re probably one of those people who would also complain because there was a fire and the alarms didn’t work (probably because the tenants tampered with the system). As far as “recalibrating” the system, there is no such thing. Maybe you replace a couple of detectors that were damaged in the fire (and the ones that were broken by the building tenants) but there’s no such thing as “recalibrating a fire alarm system”. Again, do your research...
I’m so sorry that the testing of the fire alarm system was such an inconvenience for you. But I guess we all can’t be stuck-up elitists like you who have never put in a “real” day of work in their life. Your obviously some stuck-up rich kid who’s mommy and daddy pays for 90% of all your expenses. “Recording Musician”, ok, that’s such an important occupation. Let’s all stop what we are doing so you can produce awful music that no one listens to. My advice, get a real job and stop complaining about other people doing their jobs. And DO a little research before you let your lips flap out in the wind like an idiot.
From:
Anonymous
Date:
07/09/2008
that's what i am talking about. you give it to him. get a real job...safty always comes first in my book...
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