Apartment Review for Mercer Square

This is probably the worst apartment complex I've lived in. It seems nice at first with their "luxury" theme but its actually all for show. The apartments are designed to look like quality at first glance but the cheap fixtures and fake laminate wood flooring will be apparent within the first month and laughable.

If that wasn't enough, the parking situation at Mercer Square is downright HORRIBLE! The apartment owners didn't even create one parking spot per unit! Parking is impossible, not a single spot available in the entire complex and the side streets all taken too! They will sticker your car if you park in an unapproved spot.

But perhaps what is the most awful about this complex is their fake electric company, APL (American Light & Power http://www.electricapl.com). They are an unlicensed electrical reseller with a less than stellar BBB rating. They charge a huge, yet unknown rate for their electric service, which includes a charge for the community center, leasing office and lights throughout the complex. I lived in a one bedroom, 700 sq ft and was gone most of the time at work. My electric bills topped $450 a month in the winter! I took drastic measures like keeping the heat on 60 when I was at home and unscrewing light bulbs, and still the bills continued. I believe to this day I was being charged for heating their office areas and the model units/property manager's home. Water is also billed similar, I paid over $40/month for the same one bedroom. At other apartments my utility bills have been less than $150/mo max all together!!

The first month I moved in, the doors broke on the cabinets. The fuse kept blowing in my living room, and it took them over a month to fix it, so I could either watch TV or have one light on. The hose for the drier is in the ceiling, so my clothes never get dry and have to be run through an additional cycle. I once was locked in the apartment because the lock on the front door broke, and it took "emergency" maintenance over three hours to respond, making me late. The complex trash compactor unit was down once for a week, making it impossible to dispose of trash. These events all occurred within the span of a single year.

It may just sound like bad luck, but my friend who also rents here has had a similar laundry list of problems. They just sent me an offer to renew my lease at $200 more than what I am paying now monthly, with a threat if I don't I will be automatically renewed for the $200 more + $50 a month. This place is a joke. For the prices you pay, better off to go somewhere else and rent an actual nice place, not one that just looks it.