From the lesbians who lived in left E:

This place still blows. The management is still ghastly, and it's changed more times than I can count since we've lived here. The top person--in this case, Amy--is generally polite and responsive, but you can't count on reaching them, especially if you have to go through the other idiots in the front office, who are completely unhelpful. The partying, frankly, doesn't bother me, because I live on the back of the building--but my roommates can't sleep, three-plus nights a week. For anyone who doesn't care enough to go back and read our last complaint: we had to move across the apartment complex nine months after we moved in, because management refused to evict the guys living near us who had dozens of noise complaints and police reports filed against them for their screaming drunken parties. Now it's started again, with new guys, and they're still doing nothing.

Most of the amenities that are listed here are nothing like the way they sound--the "track" is a narrow dirt trail that intersects with drives in several places; the pool and hot-tub usually have beer cans and other debris floating in them; at any given time, only about half of the washers and dryers work. The "study room" is a narrow closet between the laundry room and the management office.

The front gate is regularly left unsupervised and open--or, late at night, unsupervised and closed, which leaves you no way to get in if you happen to forget your opener. Security is minimal. Lighting is poor at night, and the parking is a nightmare, with residents regularly parking their trucks across two or three spaces--which, predictably, management does nothing about.

We had enormous cockroaches and complained about them three times; nothing changed and finally we had to take care of it ourselves. We have bathroom and kitchen fixtures that regularly fall off the walls, which no one has come to repair despite our maintenance requests. We have--twice in one week--had outside maintenance workers (electricians, etc.) let into our apartment with no supervision from management and no prior notice. The first time, the guy pulled everything out of my roommate's closet and scattered it all over her bed to get access to the attic. He didn't ask anyone for permission and didn't put it back when he left--nor did he bother to let us know he was leaving so we could lock up behind him. The second time, my roommate was home but had to leave for a graduate school interview and asked him to come back an hour later. He came back thirty minutes later, demanded access to the apartment--specifically, her room--and barged in to start working while she was still standing naked in a towel, unable to get to any of her clothing so she could get dressed and leave.

The only real plus at Arlington Farms is the on-site maintenance staff. You can never count on reaching them through the front office, but if one of them happens to be there when you walk down, they are always prompt and courteous, and always get the job done well the first time.

Most recently, we received an eviction notice after all of us had paid rent. We were not given any prior notice about rent being late which, though not in our contract, has been standard practice. The notice was slid into the crack outside of our door, not mailed, delivered to a resident, or attached to the inside of the door as our contract stipulates. When we went to the front office to ask for an explanation, we were told "not to get attitudes," that this was how they "always" do it (which doesn't make them right; it just means they regularly violate EVERYONE's contract), and that it was the fault of the newest new management. We were also told that it was being used as a warning, and they didn't really MEAN that we had to be out of our apartment by midnight tonight--as specified in the notice--they just wanted to make sure we got our rent paid. To save us any more pain, one of my roommates just had her father write a new check and stop payment on the last one.

Incidentally, we've never been notified of changes in management, either.

Clearly, the owners of Arlington Farms don't give a damn about hiring anyone well-trained or professional for their on-site staff. That isn't going to change, even if the current management does. Stay far, far away--it's worth the extra rent.

User Responses
From: amyharris	Date: 05/10/2005
Dear Prospective Tenants at A.F., As you peruse this site, you will see some negative reports and some positive ones. The anonymous negative reports have little value?the authors are too ashamed of what they are saying to reveal names. These I won?t address. The extremely negative screed written by the ?two lesbians who live in left E,? on the other hand, is worthy of comment because 1) the author does identify herself (more or less), and 2) although much of what she says is false, not everything is. Ibgirl17 (a.k.a. ------- in left E) is absolutely right to say that over the three years she has lived at A.F., on-site management has changed several times. Her mistake is thinking this is bad. Au contraire, it is good. It shows that we, the owners, do care. Each time an on-site manager has proved herself to be incompetent, she has been fired. (These fired managers, I suspect, are the principal source of the anonymous hate letters.) Now, at last, we have a very nice, very effective, and very professional manager, Miss Amy Hartstack. All of the valid complaints in the ?two lesbians? litany are being, or already have been, addressed. If there ever were cockroaches, they are no longer. The gate is always closed when patrol officers are not at the gates. At night, the patrol officers walk the property as well as manning the gate. Consequently, the gate is sometimes shut. This is not a problem. It?s a virtue. It means we are patrolling the grounds! These closed gates and security patrols may partially explain why we haven?t had car break-ins as most apartment complexes have. It may explain why we won an award for our safety record at Arlington Farms. Some of the ?two lesbians? complaints are puerile, even vacuous: ?The track is too narrow.? Well, two people can run side-by-side. What do ?two lesbians? want?the Champs-Elyss?es? ?The library is too small.? Compared to what? The Baylor library? It is certainly not a closet. That?s a flat-out lie. Her long paragraph complaining, essentially, 1) that management expected her to pay rent and 2) that management put the notice in the wrong spot might seem hysterical to some. Frankly, I think she missed the point of what we are doing. We have a huge, beautiful clubhouse with ping-pong, pool, and a large screen TV. We have a pretty swimming pool and hot tub. We are getting all brand-new washers and dryers in the laundry room and redecorating it. Our maintenance staff (even she admits) is superb. We have a work-out room, a running track, a Frisbee golf course, a tennis court, sand volleyball, and basketball?all at incredibly low rates. We have large apartments with good carpets, good stoves, and refrigerators. There is lots of closet space. Everything is spiffed up and clean. Of course we?re not perfect, but we have lots of greenery, lots of open space, and?for the most part?very nice and considerate residents. We are doing our best. Come and see for yourself. Sincerely yours, Amy Harris, co-owner (415) 332-3104
From: gonzaler	Date: 05/11/2005
I have spoken to Amy on the phone and she has been very helpful to me in my apartment hunt. I am relocating to Waco with my children from Midland and look forward to giving the apartment complex and it's staff a chance. I am a college graduate and know about partying and noise. I hope that any concerns that I may have will be addressed quickly when I do move in in July 2005. E.Gonzales

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