Lodge at Ames Pond

The facilities are great, the maintenance folks are great. However, the leasing company employees probably have a combined IQ of 10, they are unpleasant, and downright rude.
Keep in mind this is just one experience that I have had out of many.
I travel a lot for work and often come home late at night. For the past year when I came home I find that there is no parking space for me outside of my building, even though our lease guarantees one will be waiting for us outside of our building.
I must not have been the only one to complain because they sent out a letter stating the following «It has been brought to our attention that guests have been illegally parking on property. Because of the limited Parking situation, the spaces are for residents only. We are now rolling out mandatory, resident parking permits. Every resident will be required to have a sticker visible at all times. Visitors and guests must park at the clubhouse or by the mailboxes»
I was very excited to hear of this new policy because I assumed it meant that visitors would need to park by the mailboxes or be ticketed and towed because they had no right to part there. However, I was informed that was not the case as there is no plan to enforce the rule. Should I come home and find that someone without a parking sticker is parked outside my building I then will have to go park by the mailboxes instead of enforcing a rule that they recently created.
I mean really? Why do I need a sticker again?
This is just one issue I have had. They also claim that they can enter your apartment at any time without notice. And any time they want to do anything they say it is in your lease. On several occasions I have checked my lease only to find out I was lied to or mislead.
If you can avoid living at a UDR property you should.

The apartments are all very modern & quiet as long as your neighbors respect the common areas & keep the door to each unit closed. (I have previously had neighbors that require their kids to play in the hallways whenever the kids have friends over.) The amenities are well cared for and the staff couldn’t be nicer. Before my last move I looked at all of the local possibilities. The proximity to the highway is awesome (less than 1 mile) and the pool is nice during the weekdays but on the weekends its PACKED. When it comes time for your lease to be renewed, you must renew the lease or terminate it for the next year more than 60 days before your lease expires. I was informed 7 days before the deadline that my lease had increased 8% (approx $ 2K increase per year) so I only had 1 week to agree to the increase or to terminate the renewal. (After speaking w my neighbors I found that this was common.) And after reading other reviews, now I am worrying about the possibility of large fees for cleaning when I leave next year. So, it is a nice place to live with some positives and some negatives… I guess you just need to decide which negatives are simply too much for you…

I have lived at the Lodge for three months and I couldn’t be happier! This is my first apartment out of college, and I’m so comfortable in it. There is ample space, the walls and carpets are clean, and the kitchen is roomy. I love the contemporary, fresh feel of the entire apartment and I wouldn’t change a thing about the layout. I also work remotely for my job and spent the majority of my time here — it’s definitely going to be where I call home for a long time! Not to mention, the leasing staff are very communicative, and the maintenance staff is always speedy with any service requests. I feel very well taken care of in this community!

This place blows it’s the same old response from management all the time I can’t wait to get out of here but all in all it’s probably the nicest section 8 projects around the only problem is I’m not on section 8

Stay away from this apartment community. I had the disservice of living here for one year and let me tell you, for the money, you are better off renting in Boston ! The management is rude, not helpful and will nickel and dime you every chance they get. In addition, they rent to anyone they can regardless of credit. All you have to do is «prove» you can afford the rent (which as it stands now is upwards of $ 2400/​month for a 3 bedroom). In addition, there is an ongoing trash issue in that it overflows weekly. In general, this is probably the worst apartment I have ever lived in.

I would not recommend this place to anyone. I say this for the following reasons: First, are the near daily e-​mails to all residents about problems with trash, animals, property etc.; however, they never actually take any action to resolve the issues. Second, With exception of one person in the office the staff is very rude, and unresponsive to issues. Finally, watch out when you leave, they will nickel and dime you as much as they can. I was hit with $ 390 dollars for a ‘carpet cleaning fee’ when I paid a total of $ 990 between pet rent and deposit over my 2 years (not to mention the carpet is 4 years old, so where did the other $ 600 go?). We were told that the pet rent was to cover wear and tear but that was grossly denied after leaving and getting the outrageous charges. Don’t get me wrong the apartments are nice but it is not worth the cost and difficulty of dealing with UDR. My recommendation is to save your time/​money and look elsewhere.
Thank you for your prompt response below. I did however call several times earlier in the day before posting this to get an understanding of my billing. Obviously you are busy with other billing issues considering I have not heard back from anyone yet. However, I look forward to speaking with you ‘in the next 24 – 48 hours’. Thank you.

I wrote a review earlier in the year, before we moved out. A UDR rep was kind enough to reach out to me via Unilocal about my concerns. However, after the initial contact ( Unilocal posting) no actions were taken to address my concerns. Several weeks later I reached out to them again and I didn’t receive a call back or any correspondence regarding my concerns.
Once we moved we were billed almost $ 400 for carpet cleaning. We were told when we moved in the $ 150 deposit for our cat would cover carpet cleaning services needed when we moved. This was not the case. We moved a few miles up the road, where a few previous Ames hill tenants now live and they had the same difficulty with absurd fees upon moving out. One is currently in small claims court fighting the charges. Overall this company is in it to make money. They do not care about their tenants, they have no customer service and it is most definitely not worth the money.