Review History for anonymous

Valley Bend Apartments


Review Author Icon

anonymous

Resident 2010 - 2012

5/16/2012

Nice facilities and location, terrible management.

The bulk of this review is negative; however, the end is positive. If you tend to interact with management a lot, I hope my review will be worth your time. If you tend just pay rent and not care for much else, skip to the end. I have been a resident of Oxford Townhomes (formerly Valley Bend) for nearly two years now, and during that time I've had the worst experiences I've ever had when living in apartments. I have a neighbor that refuses to turn his loud rap music down during the "quiet hours" defined by Huntsville's noise ordnance (10pm-8am, I think). At any point during the day you can hear his loud music literally shaking our walls, and you can hear it from any room in our townhome. However, the neighbor has been dealt with, so he's not the reason I'm writing this review. When we first moved in, we asked about their noise complaint policy. They told us that we should call the "courtesy officer" and that he'll look into the situation. Then, typically after 3 complaints, the resident is called in for a lease review (basically, to threaten to kick him out). After three of those, the resident is evicted. During the time I've lived here, I cannot count the number of calls I've made to the courtesy officer. I don't know if he's just not reporting it, or if Oxford just doesn't care. They say they need "proof," but how can I provide proof when the courtesy officer doesn't actually look into the situation? I've taken to just calling the police on the neighbor instead, and fortunately he's stopped blasting his music after the SECOND police call. He got the hint. Oxford didn't. Additionally, a rotted tree fell on my truck and crushed it one weekend. Oxford's lease states that they are not responsible for property damage to vehicles. However, the tree was very clearly rotted from the inside, which tells me that they don't perform any kind of regular in-depth property maintenance. They really only have the grass cut. This incident should have been their fault - not properly maintaining their own property is neglect, and therefore not providing a safe environment. What if I was in my truck? Or what if someone was under that tree? There are plenty of elderly residents that like to take walks, and I'm sure they're not all spry enough to move out of the way in time. Regardless of legal fault, my insurance covered me enough to get a new vehicle. But thanks to Oxford's property neglect, I now have a car payment (before the incident, I didn't). They didn't even send me a letter telling me their sorry for the incident, and they haven't even spoken to me in person about it. That's so cowardly on their part. Very disrespectful. VERY VERY disrespectful. Furthermore, this year they have decided to just all-of-a-sudden increase the rent of the residents living in non-upgraded apartments to make it more "fair" for the residents living in upgraded apartments. The rent spike is not in line with any lease period (which would be the proper period to do so, according to the lease), and doesn't even seem to fit their own rent schema (upgraded apartments have more and better features, hence the higher rent; non-upgraded apartments have older and fewer features, and lower rent). So the spike is to just make it fair? Really? What do those other residents care? They chose which apartment style to live in, that's their problem, not mine. I have other, very minor complaints (parking, lawn maintenance, etc.), but nearly all the major problems I have with Oxford is with their management. Nearly every issue I've had could have been resolved by the management alone. Aside from dealing with management (which, admittedly, is rare), I like living here enough to stay at least another year while I look for a house. The facilities are wonderful. I'm currently paying an average of $150 LESS than what most pay for a 2-bedroom apartment, and I'm in a 3-bedroom townhome. For a new professional right out of college, the price can't be beat for the space you get. The apartments are very spacious, as we basically took two apartments' worth of furnishings and put it into our townhome, and we still have a comfortable amount of space. If you work in or otherwise regularly occupy the downtown area, the location is really nice.

    Review 4 out of 5

    Share This Review

    Check Availability

    Valley Bend Apartments

    March 2024

    Sun
    Mon
    Tue
    Wed
    Thu
    Fri
    Sat
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    13
    14
    15
    16
    17
    18
    19
    20
    21
    22
    23
    24
    25
    26
    27
    28
    29
    30
    Beds

    0

    Baths

    0

    Share This Review