Review History for anonymous

Olde Londontowne


Review Author Icon

anonymous

Resident 2006 - 2008

10/16/2008

There is one thing to remember when renting an apartment: High rent usually keeps the trash away. I moved in on June 1st, 2006. Everything went very well except that my air conditioner didn't have a front plate or vents. It never got fixed until I decided to install a new one myself. The property managers themselves have been great, but they are only pawns controlled by the corrupt corporate office. There have been six managers since I moved in. Some may have been leasing agents only, though. Here's the trick: Every time a new manager arrives, the computer that keeps track of rents seems to crash, and people get late notices when they're actually paid in full. My air conditioner flooded part of the kitchen in April 2007. Twice my hot water sprang a leak, and twice it was repaired. I put in four work orders for the AC, one of them in the dead of winter when they wouldn't be swamped with AC calls. I got little to no response until... Fast forward to May 2007. They put out notices on all the doors that McSha was seeking maintenance personnel. I got an interview and ultimately got hired to work another McSha property. The maintenance man here took one look at my aging air unit and recommended a new one. He got fired less than month later, but the new AC was ordered. The next month, I got transferred to work Olde Londontowne as his replacement. Let me tell you, that is when the nightmare began. With the transfer comes a 50% discount in rent. they also try to force you to sign a lease addendum that says you agree to move out within 48 hours if you are terminated or quit. I was approved for the discount, but despite asking for something in writing, I was never told about any addendum until a month later. I planned to turn the signed addendum in with August's rent, but I was fired without cause from McSha on August 2nd. I found out on August 1st they were planning to fire me, so I paid without the addendum. I worked a total of two months with Olde Londontowne, so I paid two months' discounted rent. Now the fun begins: During my time, I watched as apartments were leased with some major things missing. One was leased without a refrigerator. One was leased with the full knowledge it would flood during the heavy rain we had in June. Three were leased without electricity. One was leased without a bathroom sink or working hot water. I thought my AC problem was bad, but read on: While I worked the complex, I had at least two residents who were without AC since they had moved in LAST SUMMER. Another air unit had been flooding the apartment since last summer as well. Also while I was there, I was told several ways to avoid having to do the work requested, yet still close out the resident's work order. I watched and listened as a regional director told one manager to close out close to 100 work orders without contacting the residents who filed them. I closed many of them myself after doing the work first. I watched that same director enter an apartment on eminent domain without giving the tenant any verbal notice he was going to enter (I was at the door when he did, he tapped very lightly and mumbled "management"). On top of that, the resident has asked not to be disturbed that day since she was sick. On another occasion, I was asked to clean up the mold from a flooded apartment after hours so that it would pass the housing inspection the next day. I asked if we were going to address the flood that caused it, and I was told "It's not raining anymore". During the two months, I personally stopped half the flooding problems on the complex. I had help with the pool, but I did most of the work in bringing it from a leaf green color to well within the health department standards. It hasn't been in standards since I moved here. I got it crystal clear. Now that I'm no longer working it, it's cloudy again. And don't get me started, the pump should have been replaced last year. It went out recently, and they had the junk pile rebuilt instead of throwing it out and spending the $800 on a new one. I was on 90% of the AC calls, and a team of us restored AC to every single apartment in the place for the first time in over a year. Mine was the second AC replaced, and I had to go behind the original group and do it over. Finally, with my lease payments all current, I am now getting delinquent notices on my door. the same thing happened to a former manager, and I was told to lock her out of her apartment before the court gave us permission to do so. Parking: There's a lot of it, but there's a lot of potholes out there, too. they don't tow derelict vehicles away, either, and McSha will not enforce their policy of not allowing tenants to work on their vehicles in the parking lots. I tried, and they wouldn't help me enforce it, either. Noise: It's not bad, usually, but there have been times when it took an act of Congress to get the neighbors to quiet their kids down and stop climbing up to my door to scream at the top of their lungs. When I became the on site maintenance, I had tenants coming to my door at whatever hours they wanted and baning on it for simple stuff. I drew weapons on two of them, afraid they would try to attack me. Grounds: It's got a pretty landscape, but every once in a while, McSha corporate "forgets" to pay the trash bill and the dumpsters spill over into the parking lots. Safety: Two bullets were found in the pool, 7-Eleven right next door has been shot up at least once, people have been getting mugged nearby, and two electric meters were destroyed during a domestic dispute. Enough said. Construction: Not bad, but they need to install central heat and air, and get rid of the ducted in window units and baseboard heaters. I hear the heat is almost as problematic as the air units are. They also need to re plumb all the drains to a more normal fashion so they can actually be unclogged when they back up. Most of the cabinet work is falling down, and what's new gets oversprayed by the painters between tenants. To be honest, when the units are painted, everything gets sprayed--and ruined. No, it doesn't get fixed before the next tenant moves in, either. Maintenance: I don't even want to go here... The last three days I worked here, I was the only person who even touched the stack of work orders in our office. The two guys they sent to work with me are still here. They also sent a plumber one day, who opened up a drain in the office and released hydrogen sulfide into the air. He left it open like that, and it also flooded the office. There were over 30 work orders to be completed, and the maintenance staff is told to skip those and do make readies. The other day, despite the work load, they were cleaning the gutters out. What about the leaky plumbing that's going to destroy stuff in two apartments? I don't know these guys, so maybe they're just doing what they are told to. But seriously, nothing's been getting done (unless it has something to do with leasing) since I left. I'll give them credit for fixing the office door, and that's about it. Staff: the on site managers are great, but like I said, they are just pawns. Staff at the corporate level has some corrupt people in the wrong places. On top of that, many of them I spoke to were rude and bossy. Others are dishonest. Most of the time, I was wise and kept my mouth shut around them. Overall: The complex itself is great. It's up for sale, and hopefully the new owner will kick McSha to the curb so some real improvement can be made. McSha, on the other hand, is a different matter. Don't rent here at all while they manage it, and don't rent at ANY other place they manage. If they take over the complex you live in, MOVE OUT ASAP. They seem all right at first, but if you stay long enough, you WILL regret it. Don't swim in their pools, either--they do not meet the guidelines set forth by our Department of Health. Aside from that, you never know what chemicals were just added recently. Swim in the pools only if you like swimming in a ton of Trichloro or soda ash. I'm serious, they add chemicals and open the pools right away before the chemicals can dilute into the water I work with a different management company now. While they, too could improve, they actually require us to check with the tenant when stuff is done to make sure the tenant's happy. Did I mention this before? DON'T stay or work with McSha. I promise, you will regret the outcome. UPDATE: October 2008 Right in time for Halloween, the nightmares started again. My bathroom sink clogged up tight. It's plumbed in with the neighbor's sink (this is actually pretty common), and the water from his sink backed up into mine when he used it. I plunged it with some success and when I called the office the manager yelled at me for putting chemicals down it. I guess if she'd actually taken time to learn English she would have known that "I plunged the sink" does not mean "I poured Drano in the sink." It stopped up like cheese turds a week later. I called the emergency maintenance number and waited over an hour for any kind of response. It's OK with me if they're busy as long as they call back and tell me that, but they didn't. With the threat of flooding due to the clogged drain, opened the pipes and added a rubber stopper to keep the water from my neighbor's sink from running up into my own. I ran to Wal Mart and bought a snake to unclog the drain. When I got back, the maintenance man was in my apartment. He had removed the stopper and broken the pipes in the process. He said he would get the parts he needed from a different property tomorrow, which I think was a lie. He came back the next day and said he'd get the parts on Monday. I never saw him again. I called the management on Wednesday, and she said they didn't have any keys. I called the maintenance man Saturday when the bathroom flooded and he tells me I have to go tell my neighbor not to use his sink. I never was able to get hold of my neighbor that weekend, so we left a note. I sent notices to the Oklahoma Housing Authority, the Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority (Section 8, in other words), the Better Business Bureau, and the State Attorney General. Sunday I slept in and woke up to a flooded bathroom that afternoon. I went to the Home Depot and purchased new pipes for the bathroom sink. I fixed the sink without actually needing the new pipes, and that's when I realized the maintenance man hadn't unclogged my drain a week earlier like he'd said he did. I unclogged it and then the bath tub backed up! I snaked that and repaired the overflow port. A week later on Saturday, the BBB sent me a letter that explained that they had sent the property manager, McSha, a copy of my complaint. The following Monday, I came home and could not get my keys to work in the door. Either someone had tried to bump the lock open, which jammed it, or it had been changed by McSha. I broke the lock and entered my apartment. Luckily nothing seems to have been messed with, although right after the flood, some stains magically appeared on my carpet. I replaced the lock and no, McSha does not have keys to the new one. They will only ever come in here again either if I am here with them or after I have moved out. Now what's really over the top is that I got a late notice for October. When I went to clear it up, the maintenance man was sitting on his @$$ in the back office where no one could see him. That's why he didn't get my work orders done--I guess morning coffee is more important than property damage! Oh, yeah, they've been "cool" with me for "paying my rent late." I've paid on time every month except two, and during the time above when they lied about the reduced rent. I've paid them back all the court fees and I paid late fees without question when I was late the two other times. They've been keeping a $10 balance on my rental ledger, though, which is mysteriously just under the limit one can keep without having late notices put on their door. I went to the corporate office and was told they had no idea where the $10 balance came from. It's still on my record with McSha, though, and I'm sure it's going to cause problems when I go to move next month. My lease is up, and I am glad. I hate McSha. I actually like Olde Londontowne, the property (when it's not trashed), and most of the neighbors who have been here since McKinley had it. But ya know, when you get used to living in a place that consistently earns an 0.0% referral rating on this site, even moving to some place that has 8.0% would be a step up, right? McSha, if you are reading this, fire the manager, fire the maintenance man, and get the **ll out of Oklahoma City! And they say there are WORSE property management companies? I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT'S EVEN POSSIBLE!!

    Review 6 out of 9

    Share This Review

    Check Availability

    Olde Londontowne

    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