Positive Apartment Reviews and Ratings
Excellent People to Rent From ( over a year ago )
Reviewed by: Anonymous
I moved into a small, one-bedroom, basement apartment on Aurelia Street. Upon move-in, the apartment was extremely clean and they had just had the carpet cleaned the day before. There was even a welcome package on my countertop with a free coffee mug and some gift cards to various places in the area. I stayed at this apartment for 1 year, and during that time I had little problems in it. Any problems I did have were fixed immediately. I did get a lot of bugs in the apartment because I lived in the basement (mostly spiders and centipedes), but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't handle it, and that's coming from someone who absolutely hates spiders.
The rental staff was extremely nice, both when I called or when I had to visit the office. When I moved out of the apartment, again everyone was very nice and I was not charged for anything extra besides the carpet cleaning, which was $90 dollars. So my entire safety deposit was returned to me, minus the $90.
The apartment was a bit pricey ($790) considering it was a one-bedroom basement apartment, but I considered it worth it based on my location and the amenities provided. I did not have to pay for water, the coin operated laundry machine was right outside my door (wasn't noisy at all), I was 7 blocks away from the shopping district of Walnut Street, and Giant Eagle was literally 200 feet from my apartment.
All in all my experience with Franklin West was wonderful, and I wish I could have stayed with them. If I ever move back to that area, I am definitely going to get an apartment with them.
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Franklin West does try to charge for every little thing particularly when someone moves out. They charge for carpet cleaning even when carpet is do for replacement. Nice apartment and things are fixed immediately. Just don't expect to get your full deposit back or your carpet replaced every seven years as I was told when moving in. Probably still one of the better run apartment co in the burgh.
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Franklin West has beautiful apartments, but parking was very difficult for me. It was on-street, no assigned spaces, and I regularly had to park several streets away. For what I was paying, I was surprised that some little details were overlooked (drafty windows, no drain cover, crooked stove burners, etc.), but the maintenance people were always very friendly. Rent went up every year I lived there.
Reviewed by: Anonymous
I loved Franklin West for the most part. Great, intelligent, friendly, helpful and respectful staff. You can't find a better management company in terms of maintenance, nor can you find a sharper, well-kept apartment in Shadyside.
My only troubles were with the increasing rental expenses and the security deposit. If you are on a budget, you may want to re-think FW. It is standard for rent to increase ~3-6% annually. However, FW started to increase the cost of parking spaces, storage spaces, etc. without notifying us. I was shocked to get a bill for these additional costs. I'm sure they squeezed it in the renewal somewhere, but intentionally never pointed it out. Read the small print & ask questions.
We extended our lease by only 9 months instead of 12, moving out in April instead of July. Before leaving, we followed instructions completely and cleaned thoroughly. Charges to our security deposit were outrageous and insulting. FW hires a cleaning crew who rip them off, and you pay for it. The crew said the floors weren't vacuumed and the bathtub wasn't sufficiently scrubbed, both of which were done thoroughly. For those 2 things, we were charged 10, yes, TEN hours worth of cleaning. To top it off, we were charged a 50% cleaning increase b/c we moved out a different month. Again, read the fine print. We called about 6 times to refute these charges and not a single call was ever returned.
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