Apartment Review for The Villas At Oakland Chase - Richmond, VA

I searched forever to find some where close to the city minus the noise, danger, and parking issues. I was so impressed when i found this apartment, it looks gorgeous to start with and everyone seems so nice and helpful, until i paid and moved in. First off when i filled out the sheet stating things wrong with the apt before i moved in they never bothered to fix any of these problems including fixtures falling off the wall. It took me 4 months of constant complaining to get anything fixed. As soon as spring came i found out my air conditioning was broken and just running up my power bill it took me 2 weeks to get anyone to look at it. it was half worked on and i let it be until it got to be 100 degrees outside and it completely died, it was 96 degrees in my apt and was told that wasn't an emergency even though my lease states it is, and to just "open my windows". i had no choice but to stay in a hotel that night. The staff (as usual) were totally dismissive and will treat you as a nuisance for wanting them to do their job. 4 pm the following day they sent someone up. i was told the AC was fixed, yet when i returned they also tell you u have to set it up or down one degree at a time. it was better than nothing. 2 weeks later it broke AGAIN, once again i was ignored at noon that day they "put the work order in" maintenance finally came at 4PM, it needed a new thermostat ($10 at lowes) but no, it had to be ordered and i would just have to deal, so for the 2nd time i was forced to leave my 90 some degree apt to rent a hotel room for the night. I returned the next day around lunch time to find it had still not been fixed. at that point i put in my 60 day notice. The Office workers, even after i much needed staff change some still remained. They are rude and really do not care after you sign a lease. They will try and charge you extra money for every little thing and threaten youe lease multiple times. The Lease you sign is generic with off the wall loop holes for them written in, so be sure to read carefully. Parking seems good because it is a large parking lot but of course there are unseen problems. If you live near the office beware of the nights they rent it out for parties, you will be parking a block away. if anything is out of date or you are parked on a line they will put a large sticker (that must be taken off with a razorblade) over your drivers side window in the middle of the night saying it will be towed in the morning. Be careful not to drop any pieces of that sticker on the ground while scraping it off in the middle of the night, or that will become a whole new issue. Be sure not to have guest stay over a week or their cars will be towed too and your guest will be harassed. You will have no privacy if living near the office, the staff is so busy not doing their job they have plenty of time to do nothing but spy on your comings and goings. And dont forget those "filter changes" they will let you know about the day before but cant give you a time in which it apparently takes 3 staff members to change a filter. as one does his job the others take the opportunity to walk through every room and make comments on your cleaning or decorating, we came to know these as "surprise inspections". Another previously thought perk was it was pet friendly with great areas to walk them. Negative, if your pet touches the grass and is seen by an employee you will be fined. So you better hope you can control your pets when nature calls to be able to walk 20 feet off the property before urinating. Safety wise it is better than most, its well lit..which just means there are bugs EVERYWHERE, in turn spiders everywhere in which they will not spray for, nature is nature but if i cannot walk up the steps without getting spiderwebs or spiders themselves all over me, it becomes an issue. Be sure to look in the corners of every step and along every picket of the railing if you do decide to come visit. Oh but there is a pool! Which is closed on Tuesday's and only open during office hours because god forbid you get any privacy. Oh and be sure not to park anywhere near a sprinkler head or your car will be soaked, since they seem to like to water the parking lot and road more than the grass itself. Good to know my rent money is going to good places like a wet parking lot and fresh balloons every morning. But wait i guess they need more considering rent is going up over $100, as if the rent wasnt high enough even for richmond they are raising it. I refuse to pay them more when they already cant do their job. Run away, there are much better places, youll regret signing a lease here!