Grapevine Twenty Four 99

So I have lived in this apartment for a little over a year, I renewed my lease right when the new management (Lincoln Properties) took over. I wish I hadn’t stayed. The apartments are just too over priced for what they are offering. The office staff is nice, but they are all new and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. The maintenance crew (while ten times better than their predecessors) are not very thorough, and leave a mess when they come in. The new management is trying to nickel and dime everyone here with trash violation fees etc. I work 1 – 9 every day and am not home to put out my trash in the allotted 6 – 8 time schedule, so I asked the office if that exempts me from the $ 25 monthly trash fee… but no. I have to pay them $ 25 a month to take my own trash to the dump.
Another issue I have with this complex is the parking. The neighbors are very rude when it comes to this. There is very limited free parking in front of the buildings because most spots are rented out. Most of my neighbors pay for parking spots that may not be directly in front of their building, but if they get home and there is a closer free spot available they will disregard the spot they are paying for and park up front so I constantly have to park in visitor parking up by the leasing office.
People don’t pick up after their dogs, the equipment in the gym have been out of order for the entire length of my lease, the laundry room has over priced and poorly functioning machines, the gates up front were stuck open for 6 consecutive months, and the painters that they hired recently completely destroyed my patio. And lets not forget to mention that the location is something to consider… If you love traffic, construction noise at 3 am, and airplanes flying above you 24÷7… this is the place for you.
If your looking for a place to live where you are just another $$ in the bank, this is the place to be.

My husband and I moved in at the end of September 2014 and couldn’t have been happier with our apartment, office staff, maintenance crew members, and neighbors. The construction was a headache and a half, but everything around us made up for it. I wish I could say that same today. This past fall, we moved from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom in the building across from where were. The 3 bedroom we were in had a lot of upgrades so going to an un-​renovated apartment was a HUGE letdown, but what could we do– we signed a contract before being able to see the place.
Strike #1: We were told that it had a fireplace– which it does not. When my husband called the office on moving day, they said that all first floor units don’t have fireplaces. Basically sounds like we should have known better. Of course, no other units were available, so we had to settle on this one.
Strike #2: When we moved in, the master tub had stains all on the floor of the tub and still does; no matter what bleach or other products I’ve tried nothing has worked. The master sink has rust and mildew buildup that is impossible to remove or even look clean. There is paint on parts of the carpet in the living room. It looks like the paint crew disposed of the paint in our kitchen sink because there was paint everywhere. Our washer and dryer are standard size and it was near impossible to get them installed. We had to go to Home Depot to buy a new part for the dryer hook-​up because the maintenance crew couldn’t help us. We have had our doors broken for pretty much the entire time we’ve lived in our apartment because of this.
Strike # 3: Where are the upgrades? We were promised upgrades back in October when we moved in and we are yet to see this happen. I received a call from the office asking if the cabinet crew could upgrade our kitchen cabinets the week of Thanksgiving. Seriously, who does that?! We had family coming in town, so we had delay them a week. A guy came and replaced the doors of our cabinets, only to be replaced a couple of weeks later because the wrong ones were installed. Somehow that was our fault– though we had no idea what type of cabinets we were supposed to have. When the second sets of cabinets were installed, they didn’t have glass on the face of them. We assumed they were coming back out to install the glass, but never heard an update. I called 4 times to the front office and each time I spoke with someone different, each of them saying something completely different. I finally gave up during the holidays and have recently been trying to get in contact with the office, yet no answer or response. I have left 3 voicemails and finally heard back from someone, only because the contractor was in the front office needing to get into our apartment. She asked if they could enter my apartment to take a look at the cabinets; I had them call my husband since he was home that day. The contractor went to our apartment and told my husband that the office told him a different set of cabinets were installed, yet again, they will need to replace them. He said that the glass should have been installed same-​day of when the cabinets were put in, though the office told me months ago that the glass had to be ordered and they were just waiting for it to come in, then the job would be done. By now, I don’t care what cabinets are installed– I am sick and tired of looking at ½ put together cabinets. It’s just embarrassing.
Strike #4: Lack of communication. I am tired of empty promises and it is beyond frustrating trying to call and no one ever picks up. I have requested an itinerary of some-​sort as to what upgrades we are getting and when we can anticipate them to be completed. I understand that it may change, but it would be nice to know ahead of time. I have a feeling that we will never see these cabinets completed, or anything else for that matter. One day, my husband was at home for lunch and noticed a crew knocking down our back patio fence. He went outside to ask what they were doing– they were extending the patio into the grass. We never received a note from the office, nor a phone call or even email about this. My husband called the office immediately and the only response was that they «forgot to notify us.»
Strike #5: Trash policy. We have received two trash violations and have asked the office why we got them. The only information they have told my husband when he called is that the trash vendor has the pictures of the violation and they don’t have access to that data at the moment. This is ludicrous. If you are going to be assessing fines to your tenants, you should have more information than this. We were not given any notification about what would cause violation. We are always very aware of when we put our trash outside in our receptacle. The only thing I can think of that would cause a violation is that we left our receptacle by our door. This has never been an issue in the past, so why is it such an enormous deal now?

To review or not to review, that is the question.
Apartment life is… sticky. Management changes so quickly, there are additional fees to every little thing and you end up loving it or hating it.
I signed a lease back in late March/​early April, sight unseen. I was moving back from Louisiana and was familiar with the area so I wasn’t too worried about what the apartment looked liked. I inquired via email and was told to apply online after a few emails. The person I was speaking with seemed friendly.
I was drawn to this apartment because the price and location were on point. Little did I know, they’d take $ 255 from me that I will not fully see ever again.
Crystal seemed nice. I asked her to send over some pictures of the apartments they had. She sent over some camera phone pics… I guess her own personal apartment? It was fully furnished and… cluttered…with a cat walking around?
I was taken aback but decided to apply online as suggested. I felt a pit in my stomach afterward and looked up reviews online via social media sites. Boy did I find some interesting ish.
Within one day I emailed Crystal and told her I wanted to cancel my application. No response. I called and left a message two days later. She finally returned my phone call and email, apologizing for not getting back to me sooner. She said my application fee and deposit would be refunded to me. I received a handful of emails (after inquiring) promising to refund my money. I found a new apartment complex and signed the lease.
A week before I move into my new apartment I receive a call from Mustang Ridge asking about my move in date. Uh… what? Still having not heard a peep or seen a refund I kinda laid into the person on the phone. She claimed to not have any info about me but somehow had my name and phone number and supposed apartment number. They called again on the move in date. I had to re-​tell my story.
Long story short, the property was purchased by another company and although the previous company took my money and promised to refund it they refused once I contacted their corporate office. They said the new company took the bank account with them and I’d have to deal with them.
Amy, the apartment manager now, was sweet. She was empathetic. But unfortunately all they could refund was $ 100 of the $ 255. (The application fee was supposed to be refunded anyway because my boyfriend is former military but I guess that’s how they make their money). I had contacted both companies and they played the blame game instead, leaving a sour taste in my mouth. The worst part is that they had a handful of cases similar to mine.
After the $ 100 check in the mail a few months ago, I haven’t heard back. I got tired of contacting them to see if I’d ever get my money.
Like I said, apartment living can be sticky and I never even moved into this place.

Been here for a month. Apartment is very spacious, looks fairly new. Easy access to major highways which is very convenient. Apartment is quiet and feels safe. I really do like these apartments, the only complaint is if you get a garage, be prepared to be blocked by inconsiderate neighbors when trying to get into your own garage.

Apartments are nice and the most affordable around. However, staff is not the best. While living there they’ve had two separate owners and both times staff has not been the best – I do think it’s better now though. Make sure and stay on top of every payment you’ve made so that it doesn’t get lost in their records, that was a problem we had with the apartment staff from before. Also, the construction around the apartment is a NIGHTMARE. It makes trips that should take 15 min to about an hour. Also, stay informed on if streets have randomly been shut down due to weather or construction on the City of Grapevine’s website, because if not you won’t be notified and have to sit in traffic for a couple more hours. The apartments were nice and the trees are gorgeous, just keep in mind that you’re getting what you’re paying for.

Nice place to live and the prices are some of the best you’ll find for an apartment in Grapevine!