So my brother and I looked at a few apartment communities, and we decided upon the Grove because of its location, amenities, as well as the price being within budget. Everyone seemed really friendly, the gates were annoying but I am usually pretty laid back so the annoyance of them and the frequency with which someone broke them didnt really bother me. In fact, months ago, I probably would have recommended these apartments to friends. Then came the end of the lease. I was moving in with my girlfriend and my brother was going his own way so we weren't going to be renewing. No problem. My brother thinks you have to only give 30 days notice (he isnt the brightest at times) so he neglects to turn in a 60 days notification. I do it when I find out, so now we have to stay an extra month at the month to month price, plus a few days into the next month. No big deal, I should have handled it myself and turned in the 60 day notice long before it was due. So we are now all set to move out. One of the office staff and I talked and discussed how our last month rent would be prorated since we were only there 8 days, and we would pay all that upon move-out. A day or two before we move out my brother is contacted by the manager and she tells him the pro-rated amount of about $250 and tells him to just pay that when we turn our keys and gate pass in. So moveout day I go to pay my final rent/turn in keys and do the walkthrough. I am told that my check is late and I owe around $320. I tell them that the manager had just told us the amount we owed and that we were told to pay when we dropped off our keys; that since we were only going to be there 8 days into the month we could just hand in everything at once. I was about to say ok, fine, I just want to get this over with, when I am informed that they also will not accept my check, that since it is late I must go get a money order or cashier's check. This is when my blood pressure skyrocketed. After arguing and getting nowhere I left a check for the prorated amount some extra for the AUM bill plus our keys in the drop box and went on to my new home. They had mine and my brother's phone numbers, so they could call us if they had any dispute. We never got a call. it is almost 2 months later now and I have been contacted by a collection agency because they still want to charge us a late fee, plus since the staff would prefer arguing over the late fee to doing the walk through they are now charging us for a ton of cleanup they say they had to do. Amusing since we had moved all of our things out of the apartment 3 days before move out day and had spent the remaining days cleaning the apartment. The few things we may have missed should have been covered by the deposit. We were never late with a payment, never had any complaints against us; so its not like we were some slackers looking to put one over on them. I have no problem with paying for my mistakes, we ended up staying a month a few days longer then we planned to for one such (and that $1200 month to month price hurts). In my brother's defense this was his first time living away from home so he didnt know much better and of course I was already pretty much living with the girlfriend so I was rarely around. Sure I am just a bitter ex-tenant. I could have been less bitter if they had tried to work with us at all. Heck I could have been out singing their praises if things hadn't been messed up on moveout. Instead I am sitting here steaming because ive been told by collections that what an employee said 2 months before and what the manager had said just a day or two before moveout(when the rent would have already been late) was not legally binding like the contract/lease (which expired a month and change prior) we signed on move-in so we'd have to deal with it. So take my experience for what it is. Who knows, the staff may suddenly grow a heart tomorrow and say, "you were great tenants, there was some miscommunication and we arent sure who said what but we are about taking care of our tenants so we can work a comprimise." I wont be holding my breath.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/03/2008
I am at these apartments currently as temporary housing until I find a permanent place. I had considered moving into a 3BR and staying in this community, but I changed my mind after dealing with the staff. You can only pay rent in person (the drop box is sealed shut), which does not make paying rent easy for those of us that work downtown. So, I either have to go to work late by 1.5 hrs or leave work early, again, by another 1.5 hr to pay it. AND they never answer their phone nor return messages so that I can coordinate with them. While the location is great, my experience over the past month has been nothing but negative. I will elaborate on this once I move in a couple of weeks because I am sure there will be more discontent during the move-out process. Overall, a resounding NO NO NO for living in this community.
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/30/2008
The rent drop box has been fixed and was shut down becuase the office staff felt that the rent drop box wasn't secure enough.

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