Review for River Market Apartments

I lived at River Market for a year and a half. What I first liked about it was the location and the spacious apartments for very reasonable rates. Plus, the fact that it was built in 2000 made it a very clean place to be. All was well until the new management took over. The old management werent great, but at least they took care of you and werent unreasonable. The new people are totally ridiculous and arent willing to reason at all.

Here is what I had to deal with while living there and even after I moved out:

1.) LATE RENT. I am not one to be late on rent. This place even has a 5 day grace period. There were 2 months in the summer where I lived w/ my parents while I worked a summer job. I would still come back every now and again and I would mail my rent checks in. After mailing my rent for July into them, with plenty of time for them to get it, I get a bill saying I own a late fee of $25. Late fee? What? I call them and they inform me that they got it more than 5 days after it was due. I told them to check the post mark and the date on the check and that I had left plenty of time. There response: It doesnt matter what the post mark says or what your check says. We stamp the checks when we open them, and if we open them after the due date, it will be considered late. What in the world? Does this make sense to anyone?

2.) PARKING. Originally, residents could park anywhere in the back lot. Anywhere. Parking lot was almost never crowded and there were never any problems. As soon as the new management took over they made almost every parking space close to the building reserved for businesses. My roommate came home from work late one night and there werent any spots available so he parks in a newly reserved spot. Yeah, I know it said reserved. But this was past 11pm all the businesses were closed and those spots were the only ones open&unless he wanted to walk a half mile to get to the front door. He even planned on moving it in the morning. The next day he goes out to his car and its gone. Those bastards tow him. No warning at all. Tow him from his own lot. Ridiculous. He goes into the office to find out what is up and they simply say, Well, you should not have parked there.
Ever since they added the reserved spots JR Towing has been watching that parking lot like a hawk. If you have a friend come visit, he or she better not park there¬ even for a minute&unless you want to go to JR to pick up you car. Yeah sure they have visitor parking but those spots are always taken up by residents b/c most of those are closer to the building than the resident parking. Before all of this towing crap, I would have friend come visit for the whole weekend without a problem. Not anymore. I have even seen parents in the office outraged that their cars were towed as they came to visit their son or daughter at school. Insane. River Market has a deal with the devil and the devil is JR Towing. Beware.

3.) FIRE ALARMS. The stinking fire alarm goes off at least once a week. No not at 2:00pm when you are at class, but 5:00am when you are trying to sleep. Every time has been a false alarm. You always know its going to be a false alarm, but you dont want to roll over and ignore it because of that slim chance that this one is not false. Oh yeah, and its REALLY REALLY LOUD and REALLY REALLY ANNOYING.

4.) B.S. EVEN AFTER YOU MOVE OUT. This one takes the cake. I move out of River Market in December of 2004 and in late March of 2005 I receive a forwarded sewage bill saying I owe $45.00 and that my last bill is 60 days over-due. I havent lived there since December and this bill was for January and February. Before moving out, we asked them about canceling utilities like sewage, water, and electricity and they told us not to worry about it, because they would need to get into the apartment and work on it and that they would have it roll over to the next renters or they would take care of it. So why a bill for Jan and Feb? I call them to ask this and they say, Oh no, we dont do that. If we need the water or electric on, then we will call and have it turned on. That is definitely not what they told us. Another thing, why do they wait until the bill says I am 60 days over-due to forward it to me? Why did they not forward me the first bill for $13.00 Had I seen that one, I would have called the water department earlier and cancelled way before it escalated to $45.00.
Throughout this same experience we learned that when moving out you not only have to give the apartment a forwarding address, but you also have to go and register your forwarding address with the post office. Im not sure if this is true or not, but I do know that I have lived in other apartments in past and I have never had to register with the post office. Ever. I have always just left my forwarding address when leaving the keys and never had a problem. Why do these people have to keep being annoying? Why wont they just go away?

On a scale of 1 to 10, (1 being worst on the planet, 10 being the best experience ever.) I give this place a -600!