We moved in Nov. 2008 as a starter place since we just moved to San Marcos. We needed something pretty cheap till we could find something better. They were eager to get us in, the model townhome was in good shape, and we were excited.
First day we moved in, there's a pile of dog crap in the grass in front of the door. We complained, and they said they'd do something about it, but we ended up washing it away. Next week, more dog crap, every day until there were ten piles of it within 10 feet of our door. We repeatedly complained, and they always said they'd do something about it, but they never did. When they DID "clean" it, their method was to wait till it dried up and use a leaf blower to blow it under the bushes. We complained and complained and complained, and the only reason there's not crap there now is that those neighbors moved out.
It's noisy as heck, too. Not only does I-35 roar so loud at night that we have to run a fan AND a humidifier AND white noise to drown it out, but the weekend Jerry Springer show in the parking lots, gunshots, and fighting neighbors make sleeping a difficult proposition.
The maintenance is sketchy. When we moved in, we hooked up our full-sized washer and dryer and the vent didn't work. We complained, they came to blow it out, and it still didn't work. We complained again, they took a week to show up, and pulled three sparrow's nests out. It STILL didn't work. We complained again, they protested but after another week came out again, and it STILL didn't work. We gave up and ran our own hose out the bedroom door... which really DOES work. Then our upstairs toilet innards broke, and after ANOTHER week they finally came and "fixed" it - only partially, it still runs - but they did it while we were sleeping (we work nights) and did not leave so much as a note saying they'd shown up (they're supposed to!). The only reason we knew they'd been there is that the bag of garbage in front of the door we were going to take out had been moved because they opened the door. The bathroom downstairs outlet doesn't work, the upstairs bedroom fan wobbles so bad we are afraid to run it, and there's a giant crack running across the wall from the shower that looks like they've repaired it a dozen times (it's the shower enclosure that's leaking and causing it, and they haven't fixed that). The thermostat is broken and we have a hard time controlling the temperature when we're not here to babysit it. The stove has a missing brace under the burner but they don't seem too keen on fixing that, either, even though the element rests right on the stove top and makes the whole thing hot enough to burn you.
If you have anything bigger than a twin bed, you have to go through the upstairs patio doors to get it inside - you can't do it through the house. The plumbing rattles and creaks and moans, the faucets leak, the toilets run, and they don't seem to be doing much about it.
They told us when we moved in that they were going to have a lot of construction, repairing old units and stuff, but since January I haven't seen any sign of work being done.
Our water bill has gone up every month since we moved in, the last one was $75 and we are huge water conservationists. We don't waste water, and we certainly haven't been using more water every month. When we spoke to them about it this month, they nodded and said yeah, we're trying to figure that out. The water bill is shared with others in the building, too. When our bill started going up, I questioned the office, and the girl was so rude she refused to answer my question: "So if anyone in this building has a leak and doesn't fix it or report it, we have to pay for it too'" She just told me I had to come down to the office and talk to them. And whatever water softener they use here is so bad the water tastes horrible. Several times it smelled just like a pool, the chlorine was so strong. We had to buy a water filter just to make it palatable.
The company that owns the complex sent out a survey, which we filled out. They seemed pretty responsive to the survey and emailed us back immediately, but that was over a month ago and we still haven't gotten anything fixed.
Sure, it's cheaper than most apartments, but it's cramped and noisy and they don't care about people's safety or peace of mind. We won't be renewing when this lease is up.

User Responses
From: imabearcat	Date: 06/14/2009
I'm glad someone else hates this place as much as I do. our water bill keeps increasing and she does nothing about it, can't explain the bill, and when you call the billing ocmpany they can't explain the waterbill either. If it makes you feel any better, the damn cover to the fan (that covers the lightbulb) fell on my head while I was in bed on night and actually knocked me out for awhile. as for the dog crap, no amount of complaing changes anything. they are now bootlegging peoples power when they clean an empty apartment. I saw the cleaning compnay hook up extension cords and run it through someones sliding door downstaris while the person wasn't home. I went over & told him about it, and he had no idea.

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