The apartments seemed great when you moved in; spacious, decent Kitchen, wonderful Golf Course back drop and a nice area(Reston Town Center). Then you actually move in. Where do I start...The lack of general maintenance workers who can't keep up with the calls(we had a Broken dryer, broken AC/Heater for first three months in the dead of summer, Broken Toilet, horrible screens with holes that were never replaced, poor tiling job where they left patches not done in our Kitchen, Grease all over walls in kitchen from last tennant), the managements constant loss of maintenance orders, their lack of understanding that a broken toilet(your only toilet is a serious problem), bad ground keeping(The front entrance its the only place flowers and other pretty foliage are planted), poor use of funds, rude managers, rude staff in general, bad parking, lack of notice of work being done on property(were cutting off the water today at 12:00 btw it's 11:30), etc...When you first arrive at Charter Oak you think you have just found a great deal for the size and location, but once you move in you are forgotten, the management can't seem to help and is always eager to lie to get you out the door. Also, the staff doesn't communicate well with each other which requires you to talk to several people about the same problem and contrary to what they may tell you there is no community programs or associations (difficult to get to know your neighbors unless your an extravert.) Oh and not to mention we noticed a large number of people leaving their apartments, come to find out when we were trying to renew our lease they asked for a increase in rent which is not acceptable by any standards. Last but definitely not all of it is the fact that the utilities for a 1200 square foot apartment are running you about $200 a month which is pretty bad because all the windows are old single pane glass and holes in the frams. Now if I was using all of that electricity it would be no problem, but since the utilities are broken up evenly for the whole community I found it unfair that a place that has 4 people living in it is paying the same amount that my wife and I are because they never told the management that they had additional people. For the location and price there are many better places, they might not be as big but Definitely have more amenities(there are absolutely NONE at Archstone Charter Oak)and are better at maintaining their property. STAY AWAY!

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/05/2009
My understanding is that utilities weren't just evenly split. They get broken down by building, square feet, and people in the apartment. Myself and my wife lived in a one bedroom apartment and our friends lived in a different one bedroom apartment, and we never paid the same utility bill, so I don't understand all the complaints people have about utilities. I agree the notice given when work is being done isn't fantastic though, certainly something that could use improvement.

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