The Enclave at Potomac Club Apartments

I wrote this review to help others make informed choices based on my opinions and experiences.
I almost wish I would have rented from somewhere else. There are so many reasons for this I couldn’t even count them all using my fingers and toes. Before I get started, let me tell you that the people that work here at The Enclave at Potomac Club are sweet and nice. They smile and say please and thank you. I don’t know why, but some of them have told lies to my face and I think that shows a lack of professionalism. The maintenance people, cleaning person, and the porter have been the exceptions.
Customer Service
In my experience, only one of the leasing office people has not failed at basic customer service skills like returning phone calls, following up on communications, and fulfilling simple requests. In my opinion, their greatest customer service failing is that they seem like their main concern is getting more and more people into the apartments, while forgetting that they already have customers that need them to be better. Every event, most fliers, and the newsletters asks for more referrals… they will even pay us if we refer you and you come live here. If renters were VERY excited about The Enclave then the referrals would come without the kickbacks.
Facility
I have two favorite failures concerning this place. First, the elevator locations are inconvenient. One whole section of the first building is hundreds of steps away from the elevator AND the parking garage door to get into the building. Have you tried to carry groceries across a football field? Well, be ready for that kind of experience if you rent an apartment too far from the parking garage door. (Suggestion: buy a grocery cart and keep it in your car.) Moreover, when you move in be sure to hire moving helpers (DON’T ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO HELP OR THEY MAY HATE YOU). If you get an apartment near the first elevator it is easy to move in. You can get a small moving van into the garage, BUT forget about trying to get a moving truck in there. Second, there is ONE trash chute by the garage entrance on each floor. From my apartment it is a 4 minute round trip walking AND I am healthy. A few of my neighbors put their garbage on a cart and wheel it down to the chute. For me, it is easier to take my garbage to the car and drop it off on the way out of the building than it is to walk it to the trash chute.
Community Amenities
Lastly, even the marketing of the amenities is off. Example number one: there are NO walking and jogging trails here… there are sidewalks. For anyone who is into the outdoors life the sidewalk is a poor substitute for the mental image/​reality of «walking and jogging trails». Example number two: the VRE’s Rippon Station is THREE miles (not two miles) from The Enclave. This makes a big difference for commuters that walk or ride to the station.
There you have it… just a few examples of the things that were MOST upsetting to me… customer service, the facility, and the marketing.
My suggestion: Worth looking into, once you’re well informed.

The Enclave at Potomac Apts. are beautiful in terms of the details inside the apartment themselves. However, this is how this apartment falls short. The customer service from the leasing staff is absolutely un-​exceptable. Our leasing consultant was Kristina Newcomb and she fell short in every way possible. She was incredibly dismissive and rude. She gave us a piss poor tour of the apartment by cutting corners in every which way she could. She was trying to sell us a 4^th fl pool view apartment and didn’t feel the need to show us the pool area (even after we asked) or talk about any of the amenities that the apartment complex had to offer. While showing us an apartment my roommate and I felt extremely rushed. She asked numerous times «are you done» with an attitude. In my mind I’m thinking where are you in a hurry to go? This is your job to sell this place not to ask me if «I’m done» no matter how long it takes. Also whenever we asked questions it was almost as if she did not want to answer them by giving back snarky responses or by making rude facial expressions. The hallways of the Enclave were not well maintained at all. They were very dark, low lighting, missing lights and dirty carpets. There were dings in the walls, paint stripping, and random furniture sitting out in the hallway. The mailroom and gym were disgusting!!! We were originally interested in these apartments because it was in a beautiful gated community, but after the way we were treated by Kristina, and saw the low maintenance of the apartment grounds, and saw how she treated other residents currently living at the Enclave the decision to choose the Kensington Place apartments became very easy for us! Also, the floor plans are very limited and I think they are poorly constructed. Lastly, it is a stretch for me to give them one star. I usually never do reviews but I HAD TO share my experience at the Enclave and trust me when I say there are better places out in Woodbridge.

Pros:
The place is beautiful and the inside of our apartment was impeccable at move in.
The outside was nicely furnished and well designed.
It WAS very quiet and we hardly ever hear our neighbors.
Up until recently maintenance was fast and knowledgeable.
Cons:
The outside chairs and furniture have either been stolen or moved.
There is dog poop everywhere and it is a disgusting mess.
The gates to the garage have been broken (I kid you not) all but 3 weeks since we have lived here.
There is garbage everywhere. The one guy in charge of disposing of it hasn’t been seen in awhile.
I step in dog poop just to get to the doggie doo station.
People pile up full garbage bags on their porch and it stinks like a dump when it gets even slightly warm.
The entry gate system is a joke.
While this really is one of the quietest places I have ever lived… the road construction and traffic can get annoying as hell.
They make it nearly impossible to pay your rent. There is a fee associated with almost every type of payment. I would simply pay cash but they don’t accept CASH.
We will be moving out as soon as our lease is up. The place we are renting is a 2 bedroom 2 bath for 1800 dollars. I begged my boyfriend to pay a little more because this place seemed so perfect… needless to say he is picking the next place. Ugh.

There is dog poop everywhere. I complained and nothing was ever enforced. Elevators are always nasty and vomit was in stairway to parking deck. Had to walk 300 yards to trash chute. So many people leaving trash in parking deck. Several junk cars sitting on each parking level with flat tires and have been there for over a year and no one does anything about them. No snow removal from parking deck to enter building on every level and it caused the doors to remain open. Lights in stairway to parking deck out for over a year and never fixed. Kids running up and down elevators and knocking on doors and running away. Kids fighting and cursing in front of building almost everyday. Other than all of this it’s a fairly nice place. haha

1. First impression: beautiful property in the summer. Enclosed wide halls make moving nice. The halls smell like a shoe box. Unlike the office which smells all clean and homey. The public areas are nicely furnished.
2. Parking garage: The lights on my level are out most of the time. The door to the building that requires a key fob is always broke. The garage is filthy. It needs to be power washed twice a year. I think my vehicle would stay cleaner parked outside. The trash/​rubbish chutes are always over flowing on Sundays. The management blames the residents. Obviously, property maintenance is the housings job. Hire a guy to clear the chutes on Sunday mornings.
3. A false sense of security: The property is gated. When I moved in the gate was always open during the day. After 8 a security guard ensures that only tenets and approved guests enter. That’s great. But if you are going to keep the gates closed 24/​7, then the gate security guard should be there ²⁴⁄₇. There has also got to be a better way to put a guest on a list to enter the property. Calling daily is a pain and the phone is always busy. Bottom line, if you can’t get in just wait until a tent comes buy and follow them in.
4. Maintenance work orders: poor poor poor. Common sense is at a total loss here!
5. The front office: They have all good intensions. But rarely follow through. Communication is horrible between employees.
6. What is missing: An area to wash your vehicle would be nice since the garage is so dusty. General upkeep of common areas like the halls would be nice. The hall carpet should be vacuumed weekly at least and cleaned quarterly.
7. Tenet retention: I most likely will not be renewing my lease.

I’m just now moving in, and I initially had high hopes for this apartment complex. I just moved in 3 days ago, and I’m having a slew of problems.
I’m disabled, so I requested for some handicap accessible things for the apartment. I even paid out of pocket for my handicap needs, and I gave those items to the leasing consultant, and she «promised» me that those items will be installed today. They didn’t do anything. I spoke to a different consultant, and she discussed that I need to submit a work order to have the items installed, and since it’s the weekend now, nothing can be done until Monday because the maintenance person on call is nowhere to be found.
A little later, I spoke with a different consultant, and that guy looks like he’s just lazy, rude, interrupts, and has a bad attitude. I talked to him about pro-​rating since my place is nowhere near move in ready for me, and he just interrupts and raised his voice at me.
Overall, I just feel like moving in this complex was a bad mistake. I want to just leave this state, but I wouldn’t be able to afford it. Potomac Club is not meant for the disabled.

Where to begin… I am one of the very first tenants of Enclave (I moved in the first week they opened.) My wife and I fell in love with the apartments. The appliances were all stainless steel and brand new, the floor plans were very spacious and comfortable and the move-​in specials were outstanding. Our positive impressions pretty much stopped there.
First, the fire alarms went off on an almost daily basis for weeks, sometimes for hours on end. When I went down and talked to management about it, they just passed the buck to the construction company/​fire marshal/​anyone but them, and seemed annoyed I bothered them.
Second, the construction all around us is absolutely awful. The other buildings are still being built, thus there have been trucks backing up with the obnoxious beeping, construction workers yelling, power tools going off. This doesn’t stop on weekends, instead we wake up to racket at 7:30−8am on Saturday. One Saturday morning my wife and I woke up at 8am with two workers on a scissor lift outside our bedroom window, looking in at us. Again, the management was no help whatsoever.
Third, the tenants the move in specials attracted are really sub-​par. People leave bags of garbage laying around in the parking garage, mattresses get left just laying in the hallways, garbage is literally left RIGHT NEXT to the garbage chute for days on end. I’m not a «nose in the air» stuck up guy, but my wife and I expected to live in a upscale apartment complex. Instead we moved into a place that is cosmetically appealing, but filled with crummy tenants that seem intent on trashing the place.
Fourth, the management CONSISTENTLY over promises/​under delivers and is essentially useless when it comes to correcting an issue. From move-​in up until yesterday the management has been making promises about everything from the security gate, the hot tub, the gym opening, etc… You can pretty much be assured that any promise/​commitment they make will be wildly over promised. Add at least a month (probably two) to any expected date they give you. They are really friendly if you just want to say «hi». But don’t bother approaching them about something wrong; they treat you like a pain in the ass, give you a lot of attitude and instead of solving the problem will give you a line about why it isn’t their fault or nothing can be done. You’ll also leave with the distinct impression they are just annoyed you’re «wasting their time.»
Lastly, parking is going to be a pain in the ass. The entrances from the garage are TERRIBLY placed. Depending on your apartment you may be walking a LONG way from the entrance to your door. It isn’t much of an issue yet because there are so few people in the complex. If and when this place fills up it will be a real annoyance.
All in all, this place gets two stars ONLY because the apartments themselves are nice. Everything else that makes you actually want to live somewhere is seriously lacking.