This review does touch upon some of the few good things I have encountered with Trends/JLB and the bad things as well.
The good. Even though the front door doesn't lock unless you pull it shut (making it difficult to then open) I feel very safe when in the building and outside. It is also difficult to find buildings that allow pets and to keep your rent under $700 for a 1 bedroom, so that's nice too. Also, in my building at least, the only utility I had to pay was electric. Not bad.
The bad. Well, the whole "pay online" feature is a farce. Yeah, you can pay online if you want to pay a 7% of your rent fee to do it. Maybe that has changed, but when the service started that was the policy.
Second, any time you request maintenance, either by phone or on the site, you have no idea when they are going to show. They'll either leave a note on your door that says they couldn't do it because your dog was there or they just come in and don't tell you. Granted, I want the problem fixed, but professionalism should dictate a call before they enter your unit. This is assuming they come to fix a hole in your wall before you need to call the health department to report them.
Third, the landscaping is atrocious. Just because I don't own my own house yet does not mean I deserve to live in a run-down looking building. The grass only gets cut when you ask and when they do it, they don't trim the weeds around the trees or shrubs. Speaking of the shrubs, they don't get trimmed, leaving vines growing over everything. And don't tell me that's just something that happens when you live in an apartment building because this is the only place I've ever lived where I see that happen. Not to mention the only building in the neighborhood where it happens.
Last winter, when we had the terrible ice storm. Granted, the city did shut down for almost 3 days. But, when things started to thaw out, did Trends / JLB ever send anyone over to shovel or salt? No. I would call and leave a message every day and never received calls back. I would file complaints with the city and nothing would be done. It was up to me and my 70 year old neighbor to by salt and shovel the driveway so other people could get out. But, what about everyone else in the neighborhood? Their landlords had people and remove the snow and ice like a good human being treats people that rent from them.
Bottom line, I challenge anyone whom has lived their whole lease with them to say this was a good company to rent from. That's assuming the reviewer isn't Jason, Meredith, or Erica. Any positive review of these people just isn't true. It's sad to say but these are just not nice people.