Apartment Review for Corona Pointe Apartments

*Formally called Pinnacle Riverwalk but is now back to being called *Corona Pointe at Riverwalk* and is owned by AMC LLC and is no longer owned by BRE Properties. The property Community manager was Sandra McMurray... but some how she got promoted to Regional Manager. *They currently do not have a Property manager.
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Some of the reasons my boyfriend and I chose this complex:
1. The layout of the apartment...i.e. the bathroom was separate from the bedroom (1 bedroom & 1 bathroom)
2. Unit came with a washer, dryer and other appliances.
3. The amount of money for rent (per month) and security deposit was reasonable. (Utilities not included*)
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We went into the leasing office to get more information about what the Pinnacle Riverwalk had to offer us. After a few minutes of learning about the property we went on a tour of a one bedroom one bathroom apartment. We were shown the one bedroom and one bathroom show unit *NOT our actual apartment* after taking a tour of the show unit we asked if we would be able to see our actual unit before we moved in. Amanda said "Maintenance is working on the unit, so we are unable to show it to you, as of right now.
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WE had to wait a month in order to move in according to the leasing office due to maintenance:
- Repainting the apartment
- New carpet
- New appliances *Stove, Dishwasher and Fridge *they were changing them from white to the black appliances*
- New counter tops in the kitchen
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We moved in a month later and got the keys to the apartment at 9AM Saturday and we went to our apartment (Again this is the 1st time seeing OUR actual apartment)... we opened the door to our (what we think is going to be clean and new- as expected) instead we walked into dirty apartment with old carpet and it smelling like cat urine... we reported it to the leasing office and asked to speak to Sandra McMurray Community Manager (at the time) and we were told she was unavailable so the girl said "We only replace carpet after 4-5 years and it shows in our records that the carpet in your apartment is only 2-3 years old", I replied Well we were promised new carpet before we moved in and that was the reason why we had to wait a month before we could move in, She said "Sorry if you guy's want new carpet we can do it and we will add on $20 more dollars onto your rent each month... We declined that offer.
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After being there about a month we started to decorate our patio accordance to our lease agreement.
We went with a beach theme:
- Tiki torches *just for decoration not to be used* -which we put on the outer area of the porch about 2 inches above the porch fence*
- potted flowers
- Beach signs - 2 wind chime(s)
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We got a notice from the front office saying we cannot have tiki torches due to fire hazard, (Our tiki torches were for decoration only and have never been lit or have any fluids in them) and also that nothing can be above the fence line. The notice also stated we needed to remove our wind chime and 2 signs that were above our fence line and if we did not remove them within 24 hours maintenance will and we will be charged a fee for having maintenance remove them. We then brought our tiki torches right below the fence line and left our 2 wind chimes up. Our lease said we were aloud 3-5 wind chimes, so I don't see why this is an issue and our 2 signs they wanted removed were below our 1 out of 2 fence lines. It seems like the nicer your patio is the more notices you’re going to get. (You should see some of the other tenets dumpy patios (i.e. Trash, cig. butts, couches etc) but you never see the front office do anything about that.
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Maintenance has came on our porch without a 24 hour notice and they removed one of our wind chimes (which is allowed according to our lease agreement) and a few other signs...We contacted the front office and requested to speak with the property manager and still till this day (February 2011) waiting for Miss Sandra or I should now say Erin English (the new community Manager) to call us back but of course she is always busy in a "meeting". We called the front office back and spoke to Jenny and she said "they gave you a notice regarding maintenance coming on our property to remove the 1 wind chime, and 2 other misc. signs above the fence line, if you didn't within 24 hours". We got a notice about 3 months prior regarding a sign and wind chime that we needed to remove or they would come remove them in 24 hours- which they never did. (Our one wind chime and our sign s are within our leasing terms)
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In front of our patio we were missing shrubs and put in a request with Sandra to maybe have landscaping put in like in front of there show units (which are by the main pool and office) which include: palm trees and bright flowers etc. Sandra declined and said "The landscaping in front of our show units do not go with the landscaping in the back of the property (where our apartment is) she said she will put in a request for 2 shrubs and that took about 4 months to finally have them arrive and another month for the scrubs to be put in.
(The landscaping company the property has a contract with did a nice job with the front of property but when it comes to the back and in between they do a poor job. The shrubs are over grown and cover majority of the side walks, there is leaves everywhere just built up, and the side walks are also covered with dirt partials ETC).
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We have had multiple issues with our parking space. There was one incident in particular that I would like to bring up on here. It was a Friday night we came home around 9pm to find an unknown vehicle parked in our assigned space and also noticed there was no guest parking available - The property claims they have 24 hour security which they are contracted with (Platinum Security) and a recommended/contract with a Tow Company (Cortez Towing) (Talk about BullSh**). We call Cortez towing about 67 more times LITERALLY... and no answer. We try several other tow companies in the area but they cannot do anything about it because the property has a contract with Cortez towing. We then try and call Platinum security and they pick up the phone and then immediately hang up on us. We try calling again and no one answers...about 20 minutes later a security vehicle drives past us as were standing by our car in the middle of the parking lot around 10:30pm... and they don't stop or turn around or anything to see if there was a problem. So we ended up waiting up until around 3am when the driver of the vehicle finally comes out of someone’s apartment near by and at this point the police were involved.
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When we signed our lease at the beginning of the year (2010) BBQ's were allowed on patios, about 4 months later every tenet got a notice saying all BBQ's need to be removed from patios/balcony's per fire code and they cannot be stored anywhere in unit/property-garages etc. The notice also said "We have Bbqs by the main office for your convenience." (There is only 4 BBQs for 700 plus apartments to SHARE and they are NOT conveniently located for all 700 plus units) and the property is not going to reimburse any tenet for any barbeques.
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I went to use our dryer one evening and it wouldn’t turn on... We had to call the 800 number to put in a request to have maintenance come and fix it. 3 days later maintenance came and replaced a fuse and said "it works fine now". That same night I went to use it and the dryer got so hot, you could burn yourself trying to even open the dryer door. I waited until the next morning to try and use it again and it wouldn't turn on again (2nd time). I had to put in another request by calling the 800 number and 3 days later the maintenance guy came and switched out our dryer for another one (which was dirty and scratched) the maintenance guy said "it should work fine now". Later on that day I went to use the dryer again and what do you know it didn't start (3rd time). I called up to the front office on a Sunday and talked to Jenny and she said "Well I'm sorry, Did you put in a request by calling the 800 number' I said "This will be the 4th request for the same exact issue I have been having" and she said "Ok well I'll put in another request for you because maintenance cannot come fix it unless there is a work order and I'll also leave a message for the maintenance supervisor". It's been about 4 days since the maintenance request was called in and a message was left for the maintenance supervisor. After about 5 days we finally had maintenance guy come to our apartment to try and fix our dryer he replaced another fuse and he also said "It should work now". We tried to use it that same night and again it didn’t t even turn on. It was about 2 weeks since we have HAD a working dryer. Management finally bought a new one and had our "loner one" replaced.
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The apartment complex bills us for our water and trash. I have noticed on our new water/trash bill(s) from Corona Pointe they are ripping us off and over charging us for our water usage... They are charging us separately for COLD water & HOT water.
I have contacted the front office *ERIN ENGLISH-Community Manager (No longer with the property 4/12/11)* numerous times regarding our new water and trash bill. Corona Pointe is making everyone pay separately for COLD water & HOT water... which does not make any since what so ever... we also pay for our gas bill which the ONLY thing in our apartment that uses gas is the WATER HEATER!!! The complex is ripping us off. I am still waiting for an email and phone call back regarding being reimbursed for being over charged. ****AND NOT TO MENTION WE HAVE HAD A TOTAL OF 3 DAYS WITHIN THE LAST FEW MONTHS WITH NO WATER FOR THE ENTIRE DAY!!!!!!! - WE WERE NOT REMBURSTED**
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There are garages available to residents for $100 dollars a month and are available on a 1st come 1st serve basis. (They could end up being on the other side of the complex) The garages are supposed to be used for a vehicle only, NOT STORAGE. Well about 99% of these garages are used for STORAGE... or my favorite a drug dealer… yes that’s right a DRUG DEALER and probably the person that’s been breaking into cars/apartments. *There is a bum/drug dealer/trash digger renting out this garage from a resident. He has cars come and go all hours of the day & night… Again complex seems too careless about this problem.
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My most current problem with this complex is cars are being broken into along with apartments (And patios)- I had a few things stolen off my patio...(3 cars and 2 apartments within 1 week) But no worries people they have 24 hour security (BULLSH**) – This so called “Security Company” called Platinum Security is such a JOKE… I have seen them a total of 2 times the whole time I have lived in this complex – once when they drove by when I had someone in my assigned parking and the other time was at 10pm and they were kicking residents out of the pool and spa. I do not feel safe living here at all. When this is brought up to the front office they just seem to brush it off their shoulders.

I just wanted to share some of my experiences that I have came across as a renter here at Corona Pointe apartments... and hopefully save a renter from this nightmare.