Avalon Bay Review -Experience Avalon- Avalon Calabasas

Oxidation on mirror goes further than this across bottom and top.

My community was recently taken over by Avalon Bay Communities and I am unhappy with the way they do business.   The community used be owned by Archstone apartments.  Archstone made me feel like I mattered.  Avalon on the other hand do not care about the residents.  All they want is for you to pay your rent.

My leasing office is so robotic it is rediculous.  They are just glorified paper shufflers that stand in the office, show units and tell you it is out of my hand when something goes wrong.  They are quick to direct you to the Avalon call center to speak to someone that is scripted and does not deal with anything on a case by case basis.  

I recently moved from one unit to another.  I was excited until the day I moved into my new unit.  I had been in my old unit for 5 years and I left in great condition.  I was told I was moving into an upgraded unit.  I was coming from an upgraded unit.  I was given the opportunity to see the new unit one  day prior to my move in date.  I was told that if there was anything I did not like it would be fixed.  The day of the walk through, I was told that there was oxidation on the guest bathroom mirror.  I told them that was not acceptable.  When I did my walk through, I was upset.  Yes, there was oxidation, a lot of it.  I told the maintenance manger, Travis, this was not acceptable and he began to tell me, it would cost Avalon $300 to replace it and it was not in the budget.  I did not need to hear about a budget.  I needed this replaced I do pay to live here!  Let's not leave out his arrogance when telling me.  

Next, I noticed the unit was not fully upgraded.  Mind you, what is considered an upgraded unit, is not an upgrade in today's time. Avalon Calabasas, surprisingly is one of the older style communities. These apartments are old and really need to be upgraded.    The counter tops in the kitchen are slightly newer than the bathroom, the bathroom has the old counter tops.  They glazed the master bathroom tub, but when you are in it, you feel lumps and scratches underneath.  The dishwasher needs to be replaced.  The sink kept dripping.  The overhead part of the stove had to have been as old as this building.  Travis was kind enough to replace that, (he balked about that).   I was moving from an upgraded unit, so I knew what to look for.  The bathrooms usually have extra cabinet space.  These did not.  I asked Travis to place cabinets in both bathrooms.  He then told me he could only replace one, because they cost $30.  Was he kidding me?  I told him to put it in the master bath.  The day I moved in, it was in the guest bathroom.  I tried cramming everything in one space in the master and a couple of days later, there was a link under the sink and my things were ruined.  I had maintenance switch it out.  When I told Travis he made a mistake, he stood in my face and basically told me I was lying,  He said, "I know what we agreed, where you not there?"  Was this kid really talking to me like this.  I must mention, he says this to me in the managers office.  She was not in there when he said it, but I did inform her.  It seems to me he just gets a slap on the wrist and she has to answer to him, because I did not have my mirror replaced with the oxidation.  I have been told other units have it and we just have to deal with it.  This definitely not what Avalon Calabasas displays on their site.  they should post the real photos of their luxury apartments.  Oh, Travis told me to put decals over the oxidation.  As for the partially upgraded unit, he told me, he has a one bedroom apartment, here on the property, with the old wood inside and he pays more than I do.  So, basically I guess I should be happy with what I have.  I do not need to know any of the things he was telling me, he is lacking in professionalism.  Now, my family all uses the master bath, because the guest bathroom grosses them out.  Why am I paying to live somewhere I am not comfortable?

It does not end there.  The day I moved into this unit I was sick, I had just gotten out of the hospital.  A couple of days later I found out I was a victim of fraud.  I had written a check for my deposit.  I panicked and called the office, of course the on site accounting is not useful, I have to call customer service.  I call and explain everything.  I have never bounced a check in all of the years I have lived here.  The representative explains to me that if I do a card payment I would have an additional $38 fee, a bounce check fee and something else.  We then decided I would let the check bounce and then submit another check from another account.  She said she would notate the account and ask that they not penalize me for this.  Last week, I made a mistake on my account.  I was short by $1 on my account and the payment was returned.  I called Avalon the moment I recognized the error.  They had not yet been informed and the representative told me to resubmit on line.  I did and the check was processed a couple of days later.  She did tell me that I may be penalized for 2 returned checks and would not be able to write checks for 6 months.  I explained the circumstances regarding the first check, she said it was in the notes, but Avalon automatically does this even if it was something out of my control.  This could not be so.  A few days later, I received an email from Avalon stating that I could not submit payments in the form of a check.  I have tried calling the corporate and local office and am unable to reach anyone.  I left a message on the corporate line and no one has called me back.  The local office no one answers, even when you hit zero for the receptionist.  My concern is that I am not in a position to pay days before the rent is due with a cashiers check and I am not able to pay the additional $38 for processing my payment on the due date.  I most certainly not go into the leasing office, because they will give the same speech that it is out of there control.  

My account needs to be properly reviewed and I should be allowed to pay just as I always have done so.  My mirror needs to be replaced.  Can you believe they had the nerve to ask me write a positive yelp review.  I did, write the review.  I need to update it with this review.  As a matter of fact I need to place this post on my other blog Free and For Me that has higher ranking.  

The residents do not matter to Avalon Bay.  They advertise this is as a luxury apartment building.  I beg to differ.