Camden Shadow Brook

I really enjoy the complex as a whole. Never dirty and maintenance is amazing! BUT OH MY GOSH. What kind of apartment complex is going to not allow packages to be delivered? This is our HOME. The reason? It inconvenienced the front desk when they would receive packages. Now every time I get a package I have to wait in line for an hour at USPS. It’s just insane to me because I lived at Camden prior to when they enforced this and had no complaints. It’s not a small problem when receiving packages weekly or even daily is part of your job. Can’t get out of here any sooner.

Writing here because I am moving out in July after a 15-​month lease. Now I have not gone through the actual move out process (which I hear isnt fun), so I cant speak about anything there. Overall I am pretty satisfied with my experience here. The staff is exceptional and always extremely friendly. My apartment was nice and on par if not a little better than most I have been inside of. The complex is generally well kept and clean. Overall its a good place to be. It is defiantly not perfect though.
In the summer the pools are always super crowded with families I have never seen, which is hard to control, but very frustrating. The thing I HATE about this place is their refusal to accept packages from USPS that do not fit into your box. I pay over 1,000 dollars in rent and I think it is ridiculous that the office will not accept packages. I feel like I am a dollar figure to them here and not a person. Nothing like spending my lunch break in the post office line. The gates are normally broken, which inst a huge deal for me, if someone wants in they will find a way. My other big complaint is the pet «fee» and deposit. It will cost you nearly 500 bucks to have a pet here, in addition to the extra pet rent you pay every month. I have no problem with a deposit, that is standard. But a «fee» of 250ish dollars that is not refundable is RIDICULOUS. As mentioned below, I know when my neighbors are home and what they are doing, but I feel thin walls is apartment living.
Like said, I have been happy here but chose to not renew. My rate has increased upon renewal and I can not justify staying at the higher rate. It is not a horrible place in the slightest.

Everything was all good about a week ago.
On 4.20.2016 I took my dog to the pet park inside the complex to play. My dog is very friendly and has never expressed any aggression towards anyone or anything. There was a man with a black dog inside the park already and a woman who was sitting outside of it with her dog. I didn’t really pay attention but now I feel like she was waiting for the black dog and his owner to leave. My pup and I walked in and I let him off the leash. Within 2 minutes the black dog was on top of my dog and my dog was Unilocaling. The owner got his dog and I motioned mine to come back to me and saw he was bleeding. I couldn’t see the extent of his wounds due to his fur so I just decided to leave and check them out at home. We ended up spending about 7 hours at the emergency vet getting him cleaned up which cost about 650 dollars. I didn’t get the guy’s name or the pets name, but I knew what they looked like.
I went to the office in the morning to discuss the incident with the office management. Here’s where it gets ugly. As soon as I explained what happened the night before the girl automatically shut down and said there’s nothing they can do. That they weren’t there and there are two sides to every story. She also said there are tons of animals not on the lease that live at the complex (I guess I should have gone that way instead of paying 500 deposit and monthly pet rent) And that they can’t release any info to me. First of all, I never asked for any information on this person, I was simply going there to advise them that there is an aggressive dog in the complex and hopefully they would want to get to the bottom of it. I’ve been mauled by a dog as a child and honestly was lucky that my dog was’t severely injured. Again, I was told there’s nothing they can do. It wasn’t until I brought up the ridiculous emails we get from them asking us to be Poop Police and provide descriptions of owners and dogs who don’t pick up their dog poop that they finally started to do their job. I had to get emotionally upset and ask for the property manager in order to get any action from this team of ppl. Finally she asked me for a description and they’d look into it. I still requested follow up from the manager.
About two hours later I got a call from the assistant manager. Who honestly made matters worse. He told me he overheard the conversation between me and his coworker and she’s doing everything she can and that’s what she was telling me she was going to do when we were talking. He told me how the conversation went and basically tried to make me feel like I overreacted. It wasn’t until I stopped him and explained that my biggest issue is with the beginning of the conversation and the lack of empathy and also the amount of work and argument I had to go through to get her to WANT to do her job that he admitted he didn’t hear the beginning of the conversation, only the end. Well now, don’t tell me how a conversation went if you weren’t there for the whole thing. You’re simply making matters much worse for everyone by upsetting me even more.
I had also contacted corporate who referred me to someone over the region named Sergio and the assistant manager said Sergio is a nobody and can’t do anything about the situation. Glad you think about your superiors that way because it honestly speaks volumes to how you treat your residents.
Still waiting to callback the actual manager of the property. I’m expecting the same terrible service and contact I’ve now gotten from both of his employees who work in the Camden Shadowbrook office. But we’ll see.

Because I have gotten about 10 emails from them asking to write a review, I finally decided to write one. Hope it helps!
I initially picked Camden because of their large name. Horrible idea. You are just another source of income to them, not a person.
The biggest issue that upset me was over the holidays. I had always paid rent on time and in full every month, but during Christmas, I traveled to see my family. Travel plans got rearranged to where I was one day late in returning, and one day late paying rent. Camden slapped me in the face with a huge fine, and made me pay with a cashiers check or money order, as if couldn’t be trusted with my personal check. Thanks for understanding Camden!
Other issues:
The front gate is always broken.
The gym equipment is always broken.
There was a broken down car with all flat tires right outside my front door for the entire lease — multiple complaints, and it was never taken care of.
Thin walls and ceiling — you can literally hear the neighbors conversations, and I’m pretty sure my upstairs neighbor was breeding elephants.
One of my neighbors obviously smoked marijuana, because it smelled like it in my apartment every single day.
Large Hispanic families (10−20+) that didn’t live at the complex would frequently use the pool.
The noise in the complex is unbelievable — car stereos, car alarms, people honking and yelling, etc.
Dog feces EVERYWHERE!
The cops showed up on multiple occasions. It really does not feel safe.
I was nickel and dimed on move out for another outrageous move out fee even though I cleaned the apartment with a fine tooth comb.
If you enjoy the ghetto, and want to live somewhere that will steal your money, pick Camden!
Here’s that review you won’t quit asking me for Camden Shadow Brook! Please stop emailing me
Update after reading Camden’s reply:
I called the office about multiple issues, and I know my neighbors did also. Your staff must have purposely chose to not document or address these issues. Also, I was never informed of this «walk through» that you offer. Please let people know the things you offer so that we can utilize them. Makes sense not to though, if you are able to charge such an outrageous move out fee…

I lived in Camden for just over a year and recently moved due to the high rent increase.
The good:
–Location. Close to I-​35, Southpark Meadows, HEB, Mary Moore Searight park, and more
–Maintenance requests are resolved quickly and done right the first time
–Clean grounds, well maintained for the most part although the groundskeepers occasionally forget to trim a set of shrubs here and there
–Washers and dryers included at no extra charge
–Somewhat updated interiors with cherry cabinets and nice laminate countertops
–You can typically park in front of your apartment
–Water is metered for your actual use
The bad:
–Noise. I lived on the first floor and could hear everything from the upstairs neighbors, even if they spoke at a normal voice volume. Unfortunately, I lived beneath a couple with two young children and the couple liked to argue. Sometimes it was fun to listen to because it made me feel better about my non-​dramatic relationship with my BF, but mostly I just wanted peace and quiet. A young man who lived two doors down had constant traffic going in and out along with loud stereos going in his car, his apartment, and his guest’s cars. I suspected drug activity, but the office personnel didn’t seem to care much after I reported it… several times.
–The complex has a compliance officer to call for after hours issues like the above mentioned noise. I called many times to complain about the noise from two doors down but the officer was never once available. I was told by the after hours employees to then call the police, who of course have more important things to do, so I ended up having a lot of sleepless nights.
–No patios, so nowhere to keep your bicycle, patio furniture, etc. You’ll either have to get rid of it or keep it inside the apartment.
–No coat closets, so you have to find somewhere else to keep your coats, jackets, and shoes.
–No entry (I lived in the Haynes floor plan), so you walk right into the living room, which is pretty tight space-​wise.
–You are forced into paying $ 35/​month for valet trash, even though the dumpster and recycling bin are mere steps from your door.
–Gym equipment constantly broken. I put in several work orders for a broken treadmill in one of the two fitness centers over many months, and it was never fixed (and that fitness center only had two treadmills in the first place, so one out of order is a big deal). I don’t blame maintenance for that as I’m sure a third party services fitness equipment. The cable machine had some parts missing for many weeks, but they were eventually replaced.
–Second floor apartments have interior carpeted stairs, which I imagine are a real PITA to have to vacuum.
–Tiny pantry in the kitchen
–No linen closet in the bathroom, just one small cabinet above the toilet
When I found out how much it would be to renew my lease, I reviewed my options. I moved up the street two miles and got an apartment with 140 more square feet, including a second bathroom, patio with storage, coat closet, a storage closet in the breezeway, and an entry. It costs me $ 40/​month less than what the rent increase would have been at Camden and it’s sound proofed much better than what Shadowbrook was. I’m not a fan of the breezeway (leaf catcher) and I miss being around the corner from the park which was great for bike rides, but overall it’s a great value for the money and I got to stay in the same area which is a big hit with me (keep the same dentist, vet for the cats, etc.).

The apartment they showed us was nice and clean and backed up to a park. On move in day they put us into an apartment that smelled like smoke. They did gave us a new one that, although they said was the same square footage, had less closet space. As soon as we moved in, we realized that the toilet leaked and there was very little water pressure in the shower. They fixed it right away, though. The nice big tub was kind of useless. Water took for ever to fill up due to low water pressure, and the hot water ran out before it was a quarter full. Also, the stopper leaked, so what hot water I did have was short lived. On a positive note, the rest of the apartment is clean and very cozy and the campus is nice. Very nice workout gyms, but they get crowded fast. Looking forward to using the nice pools in the summer, I think.

Ok, I want to write an update and give an overall grade to Shadow Brook. The problem of very loud people seems to be almost eliminated, plus fall has started, finally, so no one hangs by the pool anymore. Aside from the noise problem I want to say that Shadow Brook is a pretty nice complex to live at, service requests are being paid attention to, personnel is friendly and nice. There are some issues but all of them seem to be average apartment complex issues.

Great place to live. I have had a few small problems with valet trash/​recycling, pest control, and package delivery, but overall the management staff, maintenence, and amenities are great. It’s a bit expensive, especially if you pay for pet rent, but it’s an Austin apartment and it’s a relatively new, quality neighborhood. Definitely one of the best apartment complexes I have ever lived in!

Do not live here at all! Their service is a nightmare! Super late, like weeks late. Recently, we were robbed of $ 400 in cash the week after some people came to «fix our dryer». They don’t ever give notifications about changes in gate codes or cards. To wrap it up, they do not care about the customer, only your money!!!

I just moved into my new apartment at Camden Shadow Brook. Amanda Black was my leasing agent and she was wonderful, so sweet and polite and very helpful. She helped me decide between the two floor plans I was considering and was very consultative with me going over the pros and cons of each floor plan to help me choose which one would work best for me. The application process was the easiest and fastest experience that I had ever had at a new apartment.
I love the location the most about this new place. I love living right behind the Southpark Meadows shopping center. That shopping center has absolutely everything I would need. All my favorite restaurants, stores like Wal-​Mart, ROSS, Best Buy, Target, PetsMart, Twin Liquors, fast food, casual dining, and even a few bars like Third Base and Little Woodrows. It is also only a 20 minute drive for me to get to the Texas State University Campus in San Marcos which is great because I will be in graduate school there for the next 3 years. It is only a 15 minute drive (sometimes less, depending on traffic) to get into the heart of downtown Austin. So the location is perfect.
My layout of my apartment is great. I am in a one bedroom called «The Nelson.» I am on the second floor so I have vaulted ceilings which makes the apartment feel huge. I have an island kitchen, large bathroom, a computer desk built into the master bedroom, and a large walk-​in closet. I am so happy with the floor plan, the W/​D is included and it was super clean when I moved in.
I love the community. There is a fenced dog park where I have been taking my dog every day to play. There are also 3 miles or so of hike and bike trails that can be accessed through an gate at the back of the complex that leads to those trails. There are 2 resort style pools with charcoal grills. My family and I relaxed by the pool on Sunday and had a BBQ and it was a great time.
I have submitted two maintenance requests since I’ve lived there for a few weeks and both were responded to within 2 days and the problems were resolved.
Overall I am so glad that I moved here I really am loving it!

The staff there are very racist and they only care about to get the application fee and the service fee … My credit is perfect my documents … And they said my credo was bad.
Sorry guys but if your service is like this I can imagine the maintenance and the quality of your units.
Regards

After living in «student living» apartments for the last 3 years in Austin I was determined to find a place that feels like home, has a sense of community, and is appealing to eye (which can make a big difference after a long day of work.) I went apartment hunting three months ago and desired to live in south Austin, but wasn’t sure which place would be a great fit for me. I looked at eight apartments in one day, the third was the Camden Shawdow Brook and I knew after the first five minutes of visiting the property this would soon be my new home.
Colette LaPorte was the leasing consultant that gave me a tour of the property and made this experience real smooth, answering all the questioned I had, and I had a lot with this being my first «real apartment». I’m pretty new here but so far the 3 things I really love about my new place is first my kitchen with all new appliances, a huge island and counter space. Second my bathrooms which are big with soaking tubs in both of them. And the third thing I love about my place is the high powered ceiling fans which are in the bed rooms and living room. It’s been 90 – 100 degrees and without my a/​c being on just my it felt like 65 – 70 degrees in my room. Immediately when waking up this morning I cut the fan off because I was freezing and I thought to myself, I will save a lot of money by not having to use my a/​c. But like I said I’m pretty new here so in a few months I’ll give you an update!
P.s there’s a nice sized dog park and they really welcome and cater to pets so much I thought I about get a dog which I’ve never had before. Well that’s all for now. Cheers to a new beginning

Best place I’ve lived in. Sarah, Amanda, Coulette, and Chase are completely awesome and always helpful. Only had 1 maintenance request at the end of my lease. Everything always worked. Apartment was really spacious. The residents are cool and welcoming. Top of the line! Great stay! If I ever need an apartment again in Austin Camden will be it! Love you all.

Before you ignore reading this because its a novel… consider reading it if you really care about where you’re going to live and customer service.
My husband, daughter and I looked at these apartments in person as well as many others in the area. We were initially impressed by the model apartment, 2 pools and 2 gyms. Nick (who no longer works at this Camden location) was the one who showed us around and gave us the current rates. We decided we liked it and filled out an application. The apartment we would be moving into was not going to be ready for a week or so, but I asked if we could look inside of it prior to moving in. The answer was «its having its carpet replaced and being cleaned.» Fair enough. To get to the moral of this portion of the review, when we got the keys, my daughter and I went in to check it out. ITS NOTHING LIKE THE MODEL. And just to let you know, it was the exact same floorplan as the model. Nick assured me that our apartment would have the same appliances, accent painting, countertops, etc. WRONG. Our apartment was stark white, the carpet HAD NOT been replaced, the dining room wall was a huge mirrior (it was painted a nice accent color in the model) the countertops were an atrocious pink color and the kitchen cabinets were also not the same. They were an outdated cherry wood finish. Okay okay. Not that this is such a huge deal, but I don’t like being lied to when I’m forking over 1,300 for 1,000 sq ft apartment. If you tell me its going to be the same, it should be. And I should also be able to look in the apartment before I move in or else it appears that you’re hiding something.
The same day as receiving the keys, I instantly heard 2 dogs barking and tromping across the ceiling above us. I thought maybe the owners were just playing with them. Again, wrong. Little did I know this would be a huge ongoing problem during my entire lease. My daughters room was directly underneath the above tenants stairs and woke her up every single day and night when she was asleep because they would haul a** down the stairs anytime someone would walk by outside and bark their crazy tails off. We approached the office staff very respectfully to let them know of the situation. Nick says «Yes, we’ve had problems with these tenants in the past». That was so shocking to me that I’m not the first person to complain and yet nothing has been done about these peoples dogs. Bottom line is– the 2 college kids were always gone, even until 3am most nights and thats why the dogs were barking. We called animal control, the police, etc and nothing could be done because the owners werent home.
Okay, those were the 2 biggest problems.
Gym equipment was often broken.
There is not near enough parking spots. (I know this isn’t really their problem, just a poor planning issue), but just so you know.
Main gates were always broken.
The people in the office ARE SO RUDE. They think they are so much better than the people who live there. Amanda Black was the only remotely courteous person.
We lived there for almost a year, and then decided we couldn’t take it anymore and broke our lease. There was NO leniency on the lease termination fee, even considering the dog problems we had. I asked to have the manager call me to discuss it, was told he would call me, and never did. We ended up paying $ 3,000 dollars to break our lease, and trust me, they don’t give you any options as far as paying it. Its either in full, or 3 equal payments of $ 1,000.
Needless to say, I would not recommend living here, especially for the price. If you can rent a house, do it. Its so much better!

Update of a review I had written prior.
First off: Amanda Black is wonderful. She’s should honestly be working at one of those swanky high rises downtown she’s so amazing. I came in in desperate need of an apartment that day and she dropped everything she was doing and showed me what I could get with such little notice. I signed my lease and moved in that day.
So here’s the kicker, I move out. Leave the apartment in immaculate condition only to be charged $ 75 and told they’re keeping my deposit for damages. I call in and ask what for. Chase tells me, there were two red splashes on the stairs that they would have to treat. (My bad ill admit that) BUT said that to the naked eye everything else was fine. Well their eyes didn’t stay naked for long because they whipped out a BLACKLIGHT. You heard that right kids, apparently they call in CSI Miami when you move out. Said there were pet related stains that glowed. Here’s what else glows under a blacklight that can’t be seen to the naked eye; tonic water, laundry detergent, Mr. Clean, Irish Spring soap, insulin, rock salt, olive oil, canola oil, postage stamps, ketchup, and honey. I’d hate to see what they charge a single guy living alone when he moves out…
I loved the community. I always felt safe walking to my car and never worried about being alone. It’s a quite place with mostly young couples or young families living there.
Maintenance gets the job done with the exception of a giant wasp nest I requested to be removed from outside my window. It wasn’t a big deal in the winter but when it got hot the wasps were out and my dog and I were stung multiple times by the wasps from the same nest I requested to be removed. Do you know how much wasp stings hurt? Do you know how much 5 wasp stings hurt? A lot.
So to complete my review, I’m happy I lived here I want to build a high rise just so I can hire Amanda Black to run it and I’m left with a bitter taste at the fact that they took a black light to my carpet when they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. So even if you clean something you spill with Resolve, the resolve will show up in a black light and they’ll charge you for it. So don’t spill anything containing anything listed above or even use a cleaning product. All in all, decent living experience, my favorite floor plan ever, glad I bought a house and will never have to deal with a CSI move out again.

I love the staff here! Every Time I needed absolutely anything, they were very quick to respond and handle it for me. After moving out, they were still so helpful especially Case Critchlow, the Assistant Manager! He has gone above and beyond to make sure that I was taken care of even though I am no longer a resident. If I ever move back to Austin, I’m coming back to live here.

If there was an option to leave zero stars, trust me I would of left one. From move in to move out this place takes the cake on worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. (And being in the service industry Ive experienced the 7^th level of hell of bad customer service) Which is too bad because I really liked the apartment layout. God forbid for any of the sales people to have a smile on their face. Constantly broken gates, broken gym equipment, unsafe levels of chlorine in the pool without a ‘closed’ sign, and last but not least my apartment smelling like a meat locker through no fault of my own. I’ll spare you all the talk of hidden fees and ‘lost’ rent checks on a regular basis, and just beg you to live anywhere else but here. I wouldn’t move back in if someone offered me a million bucks

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! I’m a resident right now. First it was a broken smoke detector that kept ringing all hours during the night and took FOREVER for them to fix. Now my dryer breaks, I call their «customer service» hotline, the lady says oh this is not an emergency, I’ll see what I can do. They might be out there to fix it in about 4 days. Pretty sure that this lack of service is in breach of my lease. I have laundry to do for work and it’s «not an emergency?» This place is horrible! Thank god I’ll be leaving soon.

I’m not a resident yet, but my top choice! I’ve never experienced great customer service at an apartment complex before. I’m new to Austin and it’s been a struggle but walking in and being treated like a friend rather than just another client was refreshing. Amanda Black is the best loved the entire staff!
I have a handicap sister and it’s important that I be on the first floor. Amanda has been very understanding about my situation and has helped me look for the perfect apartment. I can’t wait to call this place home!

It is with regret that I have to write this review after living happily at Camden Shadowbrook for two years from 2012 – 2014. During my time at this property I did not experience any hiccups with rent, mail, office staff or general grounds issues. The office staff was always helpful and quick to resolve issues. I will say the maintenance staff deserves 10 stars. They were always polite, on-​time and quick to fix whatever the problem should be.
It is important to note that my roommate and I renewed a second year even when rent prices significantly increased because we loved the property so much.
The reason I am leaving one star and discouraging future renters is due to my move out experience. Upon move out we gave the adequate notice (even gave advance notice) and had the apartment professionally cleaned. There were no carpet stains to begin with but the office charged us a high fee for normal wear and tear on the carpets from previous tenants. We were told on different occasions multiple stories from different office staff ranging from there being a «contractual» cleaning fee upon move out for 2-​bedrooms to us being wrong for not noting the normal wear and tear on the move-​in inventory form. This was disappointing.
Furthermore, I was charged for not returning a set of keys. These keys were turned in and even documented but due to changes internally the keys were somehow lost and I was in turn charged despite multiple attempts to work with the office and track down where my keys ended up. According to the office the inidivudal that took my keys had transferred or was working temporarially at another sister property. I have no idea how an apartment with this reputation could stoop to this level and cause this type of review.
I hope this review is helpful and hope the internal staff issues are resolved given that the property truly is a lovely place for working profesionals.