Category — bumblefucked rants

This review is my personal opinion based on my experience living at Parkland View Apartments.

I am less than two weeks from finishing serving my one year (13 months to them) lease sentence here at Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville. I have written a few times in the past about my experience here, you can view the following posts if you missed them:

• Parkland View Luxury Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – an initial impression
• Parkland View Luxury Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – a follow-up review
• Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – the problems continue
• Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA Review – The Fun Continues
• Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – more fun with construction workers
• Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – who needs a good roof anyways?
• Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA Review – Safe For Women?

More things have happened that I have not yet written about because I haven’t had the time. I’ll cover those things now as well as highlight some of the comments people have left me about the apartments here.

On 5/4/10, commenter “Shut up” left me a comment that included this:

I’m sorry, but I blame you for not knowing better about what you were gettin yourself into. Don’t you have some kind of free rent concession or move-in special? That’s so you don’t complain about the new construction. Also, you can bet your ass that your renewal will go through the roof. Plan on moving again in six months.

There was no rent concession or move-in special when I moved in. My rent was quoted at $950 for a 1BR. I was told about all of the amenities (pool, fitness center, putting green, etc) and that I was getting the last apartment in the complex. When I arrived, the leasing office was being run out of one of the apartments because construction hadn’t actually finished on the leasing center/pool/fitness center/clubhouse. Yes, I rented sight unseen from 2500+ miles away, but that doesn’t excuse the lies I was told. My renewal offer also did not go through the roof – in fact, I was offered a two-year extension at the same price I currently pay. This is a first for me in 12 years of apartment renting. I assume this has something to do with people constantly moving out here – at least that is my opinion based on the turnover and people I see moving out often.

Here is a comment, in it’s entirety, from a commenter named “Unhappy” from 8/4/10:

I would NOT recommend Parkland View. Since my stay here there have been multiple instances where I was misled or misinformed. Scrutinize your lease. If you’re not careful, you’ll be signed into a 13 month lease even though it is presented as 12. Construction is ongoing and the plans have changed. Do not trust the plans they show you for new construction. The original plans showed no new construction behind the apartment I am in, so assume it will go up right behind your building. Construction noise has started as early as 5am, typically starting at 6-7. This includes Saturday and some Sundays. You will receive many changes to scheduled maintenance leaving you unsure of when individuals are actually entering your apartment (perhaps in the middle of a shower). The move-in quality was poor and I moved into a brand-new unit. I have cracks in my walls, scuffs on my walls, large chipped pieces falling from the ceiling, paint on my shower stalls, scratches on my tub, chips in the baseboard, bubbles in the paint on the walls, unpainted or lightly painted spots on the walls and I just moved in. There was mud on the floor and cracks in the ceiling in multiple rooms. Find yourself another option because interaction with the office does not resolve problems. I have had several apartments in different parts of the state and have never been so dumbfounded at management.

I agree that there have been multiple times that I have been mislead by the staff here at Parkland View. Like how a month ago they sent out a thing saying they were going to be changing the filters in the apartments and never arrived. Later an email came saying it was going to be rescheduled (it hasn’t.) Less than two weeks left of my 13-month lease and the filter has been changed once! My lease was also presented as a one-year lease. I, too, didn’t notice it was for 13 months. Apparently this is a common practice in PA called “concealment” that apartment complexes get away with. I just call it bad math and shady business practices. I don’t know anything about the construction plans, but was told at one point that it would be going on for at least two years.

Construction noise is, in fact, a problem here – at least in my opinion. The work does start early. And even though there is a construction entrance, I see construction vehicles passing my building regularly. Some of them are large and loud, which is annoying. And presently, it seems that the construction workers are hanging out in the area where the trash compactor is located – not ideal if you are a single woman. And yes, there seems to be just one trash compactor for the entire complex and it gets overflowing often.

I also agree that move-in condition was rather piss poor for a brand new “luxury” unit. I also moved into a place with scuffs on the walls, chunks out of the door trim and baseboards, paint spots in the tub, areas of paint on the wall that look like they missed a spot or just painted too lightly and such. When I mentioned these things and putting them on my move-in check list, I was told not to worry about it. Can’t wait to see what happens with my deposit!

I also have cracks in several places throughout the apartment. In the bedroom, there is a corner where it looks like you could fit a roll of dimes in the crack between the baseboards. And out of my five windows, only two of them have locks that function properly. This means that I can only open those two windows – and on one of the windows the locks only work on one side. Mmmm, high quality luxury apartments here are awesome!

As I mentioned, I often take my trash down to the compactor only to discover that it is overflowing. Here’s how it looked on August 29, 2010 -

Now tell me – is this how luxury apartments should look to you?

But, my most recent *favorite* moment of WTF?!? here is waking up before 8 a.m. due to the use of a jackhammer and god knows what else outside my building….they were apparently tearing up the walkway for some reason…

Awesome, yes? Did I mention there was no warming of this super loud noise? Or that I live in a building that is supposedly finished? Speaking of the building that should have been finished when I moved in – on June 2, 2010 there were construction workers going around the buildings putting up the trim above the garages, as seen below.

Just another annoyance of something that should have been completed long ago. Kind of like how the door handle on my bathroom door frequently falls off in your hand. Awesome.

I have also had a bit of an insect problem from the beginning. Now, I do live on the ground floor, so some bugs are to be expected. I’ve never seen bugs like these though. They are very tiny, like small ants only their bodies are almost translucent – and they are everywhere. I always seem them on the bathroom walls. And I frequently find them in pots from the cupboard. Just gross, in my opinion.

And let’s talk about the smell of this place. I have no idea what types of materials and chemicals they used to build this place – but it still have that strong, overpowering, new chemical smell – both in my apartment and in the building hallways. In my opinion, they must have used the cheapest and most toxic stuff the could have found. If you are all sensitive to VOCs or have any type of asthma or breathing issues you will want to avoid this place. The smell is really that bad – at least in my building.

The fitness center here is pretty nice. My only complaint with it is that they direct everyone that is going to the pool to enter through the fitness center. That constant traffic can be annoying when you’re trying to work out. And there is no reason it can’t be a 24 hour fitness center, which is usually standard in luxury apartment complexes (at least in my experience).

I’m currently finishing up the 13th month of my one-year lease here at Parkland View Apartments. Yup, one year = 13 months here, so read your lease carefully before signing. You may have already seen this mentioned by a previous commenter.  On 8/4/10, a commenter named “Unhappy” wrote:

I would NOT recommend Parkland View. Since my stay here there have been multiple instances where I was misled or misinformed. Scrutinize your lease. If you’re not careful, you’ll be signed into a 13 month lease even though it is presented as 12….

You can see the rest of the comment on the Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA Review – The Fun Continues post. But, back to the topic of my post…

A couple of weeks ago I was in the fitness center here at Parkland View when a couple of young women came into the room. It was late, sometime after 9pm, and they were not dressed for working out. They came up to me and one of them asked if I was having problems getting into my apartment because of the lock changes. I didn’t know what she was talking about and told her my locks hadn’t been changed and asked what building she was in. If I remember correctly, she told me that was in building F, to which I replied that I was not in that building and that maybe only her building has the locks changed. She then went on to tell me that someone in her building had been robbed and that they had gotten fliers about the locks getting changed and that she worked late and had no way of getting into her apartment now.

I have no idea if her story was true or not. In my opinion, I think there must be some truth to it as I got the following email yesterday:

The management of Parkland View is in the process of providing an enhanced security system for all our residents. Towards that end we will be replacing all the apartment door locks in the community.

The locks in Building R will be changed Tuesday September 21st , starting at 9am.

The locksmith will be accompanied by a representative of Parkland View management.

You can pick up your new keys at the Clubhouse until 6pm. If that is not convenient for you, please call Diane (484-860-3100) to make alternate arraignments.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you should have any questions, please feel free to call.

Additionally, last night after 5pm the property manager guy was putting fliers on doors in my building that said the same thing. My girlfriend answered the door when he knocked and he went on to tell her how the locks were being changed but that it wouldn’t start until 9 a.m. With that in mind, we set the alarms for 8:45 a.m. to make sure we were awake before they were to arrive.

Imagine my surprise when there was a short knock on the door at 8:17 a.m. today followed by two strange men immediately entering the apartment. There was no wait for anyone to answer the door. And did I mention no one was awake because we were told it was starting at 9 a.m. Note how it was almost 45 minutes BEFORE 9 a.m. In my opinion, this is actually pretty unsafe for women.

When asked “I thought you weren’t starting until 9 a.m. ???” the locksmith guy apologized and said he was told that the apartment was empty. He offered to come back later and apologized several more times. The “representative of Parkland View management” that was accompanying him never said a word. He is really the person that should have been making apologies here.

Ah, so much for “luxury” apartments! The building we live in is almost exactly 6 months old. Just 6 wee months. And right now it appears that there is a problem with the roof of my building. Ah, fine American craftsmanship.

Construction workers with tall ladders and loud equipment are banging on something on the roof. Do I know for sure that they are on the roof? No. I do know that a really long ladder is leaning against the building outside of our window. And in my opinion that ladder goes to the roof. And all that banging I hear – what else could it be? Nevermind the fact that the group of workers were huddled outside the window looking up and pointing before getting the ladder out.

Considering the rain we’ve had the past few days I’m *really* glad to not be on the top floor.

This place really makes our previous luxury apartment seem like the Taj Mahal – except for all the fire alarms we had to deal with there. At least I’m assuming there are not rampant fire alarms going off at all hours at the Taj.

I just signed up and was approved for a new account with TradeKing. I logged into my account and was prompted with “Enchanced Security Registration” where I have to set up my security questions and answers. This is no shock as a lot of websites require it.

What I do hate is that I have to pick three of these and the choices are absolutely horrible.

Do people really remember the name of their college dorm and other stupid questions? I like sites that let me write the question. That makes it so much easier to remember.

I have had a checking account since I was 16 and I have worked at two different banks in the past. I am well aware of the fact that sometimes when you deposit an out of state check that it can get held up a few extra days. What I was not aware of was that Wachovia takes advantage of this in an extreme way.

You see, yesterday we went to the bank to deposit a check for a few thousand that Riley had won in a contest. A contest done by a major magazine. The check was directly from said magazine. Well, as soon as the teller started asking questions I knew the check was going to be subject to a hold policy. The teller, or Sally Do-Gooder as I like to call her, just couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that the check had “prize winner” listed and wanted to know if we had actually entered a contest and such. She told us that she did not know how long of a hold would be put on it.

After getting home I pulled up the account on the Wachovia website to see the funds release date listed as 12/03/09. And yes, I deposited it before the cut-off time yesterday, which was 11/17/09. I hoped that it was just a fluke and that the date would change after midnight processing.

Not only did I get up today to find that 12/03/09 is still the release date, but they have not even made the $100 available from it, which federal law dictates that they do.

We are taking a little trip to speak with the branch manager after lunch and hoping to at least get the hold time shortened.

UPDATE: A calm, friendly conversation with the branch manager got the entire amount of the check available immediately today.

I’ve mentioned before that, in my opinion, they rented out my apartment building here at the Parkland View luxury apartments in the Breingisville / Allentown area far too soon. I say this mostly because of all the things that have needed fixed since I moved in and the fact that they are still readying the parking lot! Yes, it is still not complete. It did get paved but they randomly started painting lines in the lot on Monday without telling anyone. So, we go to our car and there is a note on it that we need to move the car before Tuesday morning so that they can finish. It’s Thursday and they haven’t finished. But, on to today!

Now, on Sept. 28, 2009 I wrote about finding a construction worker with a hot plate on my patio. I was assured that it would not happen again. Well, about 45 minutes ago there was not one, but two construction workers on the patio! And they had a crock pot plugged into my electrical outlet! Riley opened the patio door and they were clearly surprised to see someone was at home. And they showed no signs of getting up until she actually said “can you leave?” to them. Amazing!

They probably just went to someone else’s patio when they left ours. They probably thought we were at work as it is obvious someone is living here since we have a bag of potting soil on the patio.

When you are paying almost $1000 a month to live in a “luxury” apartment this is really unacceptable. Nevermind the fact that is is not exactly a safe situation for women.

I moved into my building at Parkland View the first week of September. It is now the first week of November and the area around my building is still under construction. Here’s what happened in October.

On Thursday, October 17th, we got the following email:

Parkland View tenants:

We are getting the roads repaired and re-paved. They are starting the repairing Monday the 19th and continuing on Tuesday the 20th. They are paving on Wednesday the 21st. They will be doing this in sections. We will let you know when they will be in your section. Please keep checking your email and we will keep you updated! Thank you! If you have any questions please feel free to call at the office!

Now, we never got another email about this whole paving thing. In fact, paving never happened that week. Flyers ended up getting posted on the door to the building only, but then there was some rain and the paving never happened.

On Thursday, October I woke up to a lot of noise outside and looked out to see the paving crew…and my car in the way. Imagine my surprise! I got dressed and ran outside to move the car and noticed a new note on the door that had to have been placed there after 5 p.m. (which was the last time we had entered the building). When I got back inside the phone was ringing….at 8:25 a.m. It was the apartment office asking me to move the car. I told that that I had just moved it and had not seen the note on the door as we had been in the apartment since 5 p.m. Supposedly an email was also sent out but neither of us received that one. Ah, gotta love the incompetence.

Keep in mind that my phone call was at 8:25 a.m. (before telemarketers are allowed to call you) – and the freaking paving didn’t start until after noon!!!!! What the hell? And of course, they stopped promptly at 5 p.m. and didn’t get much finished.

Friday afternoon we got the following email from the apartment office:

Attention Tenants!!! Due to the weather not cooperating with our paving schedule, we are sending out another schedule! Monday night please park your car behind the buildings. Again this is weather permitting! They will begin paving 7 am Tuesday morning! Thank you!

Yesterday, a note appeared on the door to the building telling us that paving would begin on Tuesday and to park behind the building.

Around noon today, I started hearing the paving trucks outside. Yep, they’re here and parked right in front of the building. Joy. So, I was sitting here waiting on a call from the office since my car is in the lot. That call just came.

Now, the story is that the paving for our building will be done tomorrow and that we can no longer park behind the building as they are going to pave that too. Instead, we have to park behind or on the side of the clubhouse. Why there? Because someone had the genius idea to also pave the circle entrance drive tomorrow, which means that the only way out of the complex is by building A, which is way the hell down at the far end of the complex.

Again, I wonder why this apartment complex thought it was a good idea to rent out apartments in buildings that were clearly not ready for habitation. I mean, for Christ’s sake, I’ve been here two months now and my building is still not complete, hence the paving tomorrow. I would advise anyone looking in this area to avoid Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA.

Nevermind that fact that, in my opinion, this place was thrown together quickly and shoddily. The door handle for our bathroom came off by itself yesterday. And the toilet paper holder is so barely attached to the wall that any time you move the roll it wants to fall out of the wall and onto the floor. And those are just the new problems as of this week.

Ah, Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – I’m *so* glad that I have 10 more months left on my lease with you wankers.

First, an update on the intercom/speaker situation here at the Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA. It’s still not working properly. When you press the buzzer for our apartment it still goes next door and vice versa. We have also discovered that even when someone presses the buzzer for next door (to get us) that the button to buzz them in does not actually work. The door stays locked. Last week I was told it would all be corrected by noon on Friday. Apparently I should have asked “which Friday?”

And now, on to today’s drama at Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA….

Less than 30 minutes ago I saw a construction worker walk past the living room windows and turn onto our patio. And he didn’t leave. After peering through the blinds on the patio door it seems that he is eating over a hot plate that is plugged into our electrical socket on the patio. Now, he wasn’t carrying the hot plate when I saw him so there is no telling how long it was plugged in and we were paying for that electricity. Sure, it can’t be too much to heat up a hot plate but that is not the point.

After a call to the apartment maintenance guy, Tim – who seems like an awesome guy that is doing the best he can here at Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA – I learn that this is totally unacceptable (duh) and that he plans on ripping them a new one (the construction guys). Again I left wondering why they moved us and the few other people in to this building when all of this construction stuff is going on. There are six apartments in this side of the building (3 on bottom and 3 on top) and we are the only people on the bottom and there is still one empty unit upstairs. So, clearly there wasn’t a huge rush for everyone and I really wish they had let us move in later. You know, once some of these growing pains were over. Of course, the super helpful and intelligent girl in the office (insert sarcasm here) told us that the construction is expected to last at Parkland View Apartments in Breinigsville, PA for TWO YEARS!!!! As someone that works from home all day, this would have been super helpful information for them to have disclosed upfront. Why? Because I likely would have made a different choice in where to live.

Oh, and the clubhouse still isn’t open. What happened to “It will be open in 2 weeks” that I heard when we moved in? Fortunately, it does look close to being open though.

I have a Roth IRA with Vanguard. I chose a Roth IRA so that I could withdraw my contributions at any time. I looked on the Vanguard site for 20 minutes trying to find out how to do this. Finally, I clicked on the chat button for assistance. Here is the response I got:

Due to the complex nature of your question, it would be best for you to speak to one of our associates by phone. You can reach us at 800-805-0614.

Not helpful at all.

I managed to safely make it through the construction area with no nails in my tires and arrived at the leasing office around 1:30pm. The only person in the office was the girl that checked us in the day that we moved in.

She initially wanted us to write down our maintenance woes on the move-in checklist and bring it back to her. When we asked why no one had notified us of the paving her reply was “Well, they have to pave the roads.” I went on to explain to her how a note on the door of our apt. alerting us to the paving the previous day would have been beneficial so that we could have parked elsewhere and not had to drive through the construction – then I saw the lightbulb go off in her head. Her response: “Oh.”

She ended up writing out a maintenance request and took down our phone number.

No call and no visit from maintenance Thursday afternoon.

No call and no visit from maintenance Friday.

After hours on Friday the maintenance guy is in the building and ask how things are going and I ask him if he got the maintenance requests. He says “no” and asks what the problem is. I tell him about the smoke detector and shower and he comes into the apt. to look. Tells me he will be back on Monday during work hours to take care of things for me.

Sunday at 2am the smoke detector goes off. Twice. For no reason. This angers me as it seems to me, in my opinion, that the girl in the office could have prevented this by giving the maintenance guy the work order on Thursday that he says he never got. I fire off angry email to apartment manager.

Sunday at 11:30am maintenance guy is knocking on the door. Apparently the apt. manager sent him. He takes a look at the smoke detectors and declares that it is faulty and switches it out with another from a nearby empty apartment.

We bake several items and the smoke detector never goes off. Hooray!

Today the maintenance guy returns to fix the shower. At one point he brings in a slip that UPS had left on the door. There is a buzzer/intercom system in this building similar to NYC apartments and our buzzer never rang. This is when I go out and test it to discover that it does not work. Maintenance guy assures me that it will be working by the afternoon as they are turning it on today. I ponder why they moved us in over a week ago if they did not intend to get the speaker system working until today.

It’s now 11:30pm and the speaker/intercom system was never worked on today. I’m not surprised. Just wonder what’s next.