When I was looking for apartments about 6 months ago, I actually saw some of the comments on this site and thought "meh, only the few people who have had a bad experience post on these things, it's probably fine."

Then I signed a lease and it was a NIGHTMARE from day one. It is, hands down, the absolute worst apartment I've ever lived in. This is going to be a long review, but I really want people to know about the problems I had so they don't make the same mistake.

The day I moved into my apartment, there were several things missing or broken -- there was a drawer missing from the kitchen, the light outside the front door didn't work, there was no shower rod so I couldn't take a shower. The toilet would not flush properly -- it took 2-3 flushes and plunger to flush, a problem which would persist my entire time living in this place. The floors were grimy, and there were pubic hairs actually painted into the bathroom walls.

The next day I checked the back door for the apartment inspection and noticed a pane of glass was missing -- right at the level where anyone from the parking lot could reach in, unlock the door and let themselves in. I reported this to the office immediately, around noon that day. By Texas Apartment Association standards, this is an emergency safety issue that should have been fixed that day...it took them TWO DAYS to replace the glass. I called once an hour and even the after-hours number at night and got nothing. I slept in my apartment for two nights with boxes barricading the door.

So three days into this place, and I already wanted to move out. Then there were more problems. The light outside stayed broken for 6 months...I put in multiple written maintenance requests, and they actually told me they could find nothing wrong with it (except for, I don't know, the fact that it didn't turn on at all').

The toilet continued to have trouble flushing for weeks at a time before going back to normal or having the maintenance come out and say nothing was wrong. The problem came and went and came back for no apparent reason. Buy a good plunger if you're moving in here...nothing makes you feel less at home than being afraid to take a dump in your own bathroom because it might crap up your floor!

Then there were all kinds of problems with the electricity. I had moved into a different unit than the one I was told I was going to get (the other one apparently needed major electrical repairs), so I wasn't able to call the power company in to hook up my service until the day I signed my lease. And since Waco doesn't have its own power utility, it can take up to 5 business days to get service, meaning it can take up to 7 days if there's a weekend. Since it was the busy summer moving season, it was going to take the whole 7 days. But Village Green's apparent policy is that you get power hooked up in 5 days or they cut you off -- and that's exactly what they did to me a few days after moving in. I had no idea what was going on and reported it to the office as a maintenance problem, which they said they'd check out while I stayed elsewhere for the night. I called many times and all I got were assurances that they'd "send someone out"...no one told me for two days that THEY had cut it off!

Several months later, on one of several attempts they made at fixing the nonfunctioning porch light, they turned the power off...AND NEVER TURNED IT BACK ON. I called the office and they said they'd fix it. I went to work and came home 8 hours later, and my power was still off. All the groceries I had just bought were spoiled, and since these people don't answer emergency after hours maintenance calls, I had to go stay elsewhere for the night. It wasn't until the next day that I was actually able to talk to someone in the office who told me some crap about my electrical box being "red tagged" and that I'd have to call the power company. I did that -- they said my payments were up to date, they hadn't sent anyone to my place to turn off power, but they'd come to check on it. The power company guy was there within the hour and said the breaker was just turned off, and they don't mess with breakers, so it was up to the apartment complex to turn it back on. He gave me a written note saying this, which I took to the leasing office. It took ANOTHER 5 HOURS for a maintenance man to come FLIP A F****** SWITCH so I could have electricity. I complained to their management company about this incident and heard nothing back.

If there really was some problem with my power, the management should have called or left a note saying why my power wasn't on...but no, these people don't give a damn about you and are content to let you sit in the dark for days.

Another great thing about the maintenance -- they never leave notes to let you know if they've been in your apartment to fix something or not. So if it's not something readily visible, it's a constant guessing game as to whether or not they've fixed it.

That was the case in the winter, when the main breaker on the apartment would shut itself off if you were using the heater and anything else at the same time (a different problem than before, when the power was cut when I was using almost no electricity and coincided with a maintenance visit). I'd be in the middle of cooking dinner and blip, lights out. Because it's a problem with the breaker and not the power service, it's up to the apartments to fix, not the electric company. I put in a written maintenance request for this and we'd never know it was still broken until the power cut off in the middle of the night and I'd have to go outside and flip the breaker myself. By this point I knew they wouldn't do anything about it and just dealt with it.

In the summer, the little gap between the door and the door frame let out the cool air and let in tons of fruit flies. In the winter, the roaches came in and I saw 3-5 of them a day. One morning I picked up my coffee pot and one ran up my arm.

Then there were the neighbors -- it wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't a bunch of domestic violence crunknecks and moron my-first-big-kid-apartment-omg students who had no idea how to behave living in close quarters. Village Green has very low standards for tenants and doesn't crack down on parties or druggies at all. The girl living above me had screaming fights with friends and her boyfriend all the time, plus parties almost every night of the week. One degenerated into a fight right outside my living room window (I called 9-1-1 on that one and the cops never came). Another night after a screaming match upstairs, someone came and kicked the door in on this skank's apartment, and a miracle happened...a maintenance guy came and hammered a new door up at 4:30 in the morning. She must have been his daughter or something, because that makes no sense...I spent 2 days with a broken window and this crazy chick gets someone out in two hours to fix a door that her friend/boyfriend intentionally broke down' Please.

At least the guy must have noticed how dark it was with all the outdoor lights broken, because they were finally fixed that week.

In short, don't be fooled by the decent outward appearance of these apartments. Sign a lease and you will regret it -- I only stayed for 6 months but I wanted to break my lease every day. I've moved somewhere else and greatly appreciate what it means to live in a place that's kept well and has responsive staff. Village Green is cheap and they have great move-in deals, but it is absolutely worth it to pay a little more and live somewhere better...hell, I bet there are cheaper places that would be better than that rat hole.

And yeah, it looks like the management actively checks out these boards and tries to write good reviews for themselves. I'm sure they can tell who I am from all the details I've provided, and I don't care because every bit of it is the truth. Can't wait to see the desperation as they try spin it, threaten and badmouth negative reviewers. P0MtU6TIdDkM23RTonAS

User Responses
From: twooldmaidscleaning	Date: 02/10/2008
Since I have been a vendor for Villiage Green in the past I believe you about it all. I cleaned so many of their nasty apartments, and dealt with the maint. super. if you want to even call him that that Villiage Green is a joke. They still owe me alot of money, but you can always turn these into The BBB and code enforcement. They will come out and make Villiage Green answer to things not fixed. And if it is a security issue or say the light problem that can be deducted from your rent without recourse on you.
From: funtimes09	Date: 05/24/2009
haha! i love your post! my parents are older and live there until they retire (long story). from being in their apartment I have seen: rats, roaches, bad maintenance, all kinds of things! i have never known them to not have at least one awful neighbor family. the winner: the upstairs neighbor who shot at her boyfriend from the patio. really classy.

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