Review History for anonymous

The Aura Apartments


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anonymous

Resident 2006 - 2008

9/19/2008

Getting better, I think

I moved here in July 2006, impressed by the gated community, helpful office staff, competent maintenance, huge apartment, and beautiful grounds, and great pool. Within 6 months, new management had taken over and the wonderful office manager had left due to ill treatment by management, the maintenance technician left for the same reason, a budget landscape company was hired to half-heartedly mow the lawn occassionally and all the flowers were ripped out, the pool was in disrepair, the gates were frequently broken, and the rigorous requirements to move in had apparently been reduced dramatically. Trash was all over the sidewalks - actual bags of trash. This summer people were throwing trash into the bushes, there were used condoms on the ground in beside the front steps and on the parking lot, another budget company was hired to repair the parking lots and took 5 weeks to do the job, and dirty diapers were stuffed under the stairs inside the building. For 2 years we had only one maintenance technician most of the time, with a turnover rate of about 3 months. Weekend maintenance does not exist, and emergency maintenance is only done if something is flooding or on fire. A leak in the apartment above mine left stains on my ceiling that were not painted for 2 months, despite my calling weekly. My air conditioning went out on a Friday, and I left a message during business hours, as no one was in the office. No one called back. Saturday I waited until noon to call again, and was told that no one had checked the messages yet. Since I only needed a filter replacement, the woman in the office offered to change it herself rather than disturb maintenance. She then got busy and ended up doing it on her own time after work - at 6:30pm. The temp was 94F, but despite this, she never considered it an "emergency." Last Friday after work I found my bathtub drain to be clogged, and again left a message. On Saturday, after no response, called again, and was told again that no one had listened to the messages. I was informed that a clogged draim is not an emergency because it's not life threatening. While this is true, it is also not like I was calling about a loose hinge or a leaky window (which I've been asking them to replace for 2 years). It was Monday afternoon before my family was able to use our bathtub. As for the comments regarding snow removal, last winter I was told that only half the sidewalk needed to be cleaned because "people only walk on that end." What?? I had to walk on the un-cleaned end, because my car was on that end. Repeatedly they were informed of icing in the early mornings, but never bothered to treat the lot and sidewalks at night to prevent the problem. As for the office staff being unable to get to work, that is a pitiful excuse, because the maintenance techs who would do this kind of work live on site. If someone is injured on this property, it is the responsibility of the property owner. Also last year, 4 cars were broken into, inside the gates, and this summer there was a rash of racially-oriented vandalism and several problems caused by unattended minors, including severe vandalism of several cars. The overall caliber of the current crop of residents is represented by the fact that 2 and 3 year old children often are riding tricycles unattended, directly inside the gate in the path of traffic. Right beside this is the fenced pool, and this summer the gate to the pool was left wide open all day and night, every day. While I agree parking did get better due to removal of unoperational cars, they got a tad overzealous and slapped "Tow" stickers on my car because my license plate sticker was one day late. This was last March, when every news paper and other form of media were stating that the BMV was not even mailing the March stickers on time due to the weather, and that they would not be considered "expired" until the next month. And in the past few months, parking has again become impossible due to the influx of residents who seem to own 3 hooptees each but no one ever seems to go to work. I no longer feel safe walking my dog after dark. The last month or so, some improvements have been made, including adding a 2nd maintenance tech, increasing housekeeping to each week instead of every 2 weeks (it used to be every week until the current management reduced it; now they want a pat on the back for putting it back to the way it was), and new carpet has been installed in the hallways. They also had the nerve to send out a memo stating that any patio furniture or flowers have to be approved by the office so that they fit the "theme" of the community - which seems to be trash and grafiti. I hope that they do turn it around, because it's a beautiful location with great apartments. The office staff does the best they can, but the management company is not doing their job.
    Manager

    5/3/2019

    The Aura Apartments
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    Review 27 out of 34

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    The Aura Apartments

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