11/25/24
Worst mistake ever
First, the violation of privacy that happened when a maintenance worker entered my daughter’s bedroom while we were gone. The air conditioning unit broke, and when we came back, I found out that the maintenance guy had been in my daughter’s room for no reason. What if she was home alone? When I went to the office to ask about it, they gaslit me into thinking it never happened.
Then there's a $500 fine for not picking up after your dog. But I missed ONE small piece, and they hit me with that... outrageous fine. Oh, and the fun part is that they’ll make you pay to DNA test your dog to prove it’s theirs. If you’re lucky enough to hide your dog’s poop from them, more power to you. But if they find one tiny piece? Brace yourself for that $500 fine, no warning.
When we moved in, they didn’t have all these crazy dog rules. We didn’t have a dog then, but I was told it would be fine to have one visit, and that fostering a dog was OK, just let them know if it became long-term. I ended up fostering a three-legged dog, they immediately slapped me with a $300 deposit or threatened to take her away.
Then, after that experience, I ended up adopting a dog, but the poor girl got terribly sick from the pound. She was literally near death, so I didn’t make the payment right away. And guess what? I got another warning, threatening to take the dog unless I paid the deposit. My daughter was devastated thinking they’d take her dog away.
AC broke again, maintenance fixed it, and then the next day, I got a notice saying my apartment was “filthy”. I called the office and they couldn’t give me an explanation. I was given two weeks to clean up something that I still don’t know was ever a real problem. For two weeks, I didn’t really clean anything, because I wanted to see what they would say. When they came to check, they said I had “cleaned it up.” When I told them I hadn’t even cleaned anything, they said they’d talk to the maintenance guy and never followed up. The story changed again when I asked Olivia about it—first it was about filth, then it was about a smell. No one could prove it was dirty, no one could show me any evidence. It was all just a convenient excuse to threaten me with fines.
Honestly, I can’t even explain how much stress and anger this place caused me. They only care about squeezing every last penny out of you. Once you’ve signed the lease, they’ll treat you like garbage. If there’s ever a choice to be made, they make the choice that a jerk would make.
Review from Apartments.com
Property Manager at Somerset at Madison responded to this review
Hello Jen. Thank you for your review. We welcome and value all feedback and concerns and are happy to address. We understand community rules and policies can be very frustrating but these are in place to keep our community well taken care of as it is... a shared space for all. If we do not have these policies in place, items such as pet waste being left all over the property would be an issue. We want our residents to be able to walk and play without the worry of stepping in pet waste. In order to do this, we implement policies such as DNA Testing to identify pet waste that was left behind by the pet owner. This has been a welcomed change by our community that many are extremely grateful for.
In regards to the work order, when a resident enters a work order through the portal, that gives us permission to enter the unit and make the repair. The reason they would need to go into the bedrooms when repairing an HVAC concern is to read the temperature blowing from the vents. We are sorry this upset you but there was no note stating that maintenance could not enter the rooms. We always welcome and respect notes entered by residents.
As far as trash fines, again these are in place to manage the well being of our community. Trash fines are only given to those who refuse to follow the policy after they have been provided these policies at move in as well as received a warning. The reason these polices are in place are to keep pests at a minimum and keep trash from blowing all over the community and on fellow residents patios.
We do require all pets to be registered in the office, this is stated in your lease. Even when fostering, you must register your pet as they are living in the unit. We understand you might disagree with this but again, it is part of the policy and all have to follow this rule and are held accountable when they are not.
Lastly, in regards to the condition of your unit. Yes, you were sent a house keeping notice due to the unfortunate condition of your unit when maintenance entered to complete a work order. As stated in your lease, you are responsible for maintaining your unit and keeping it clean and tidy. Per the photos, several areas were cleaned up when the re-inspection was completed which is why we closed the issue. The reason for this notice is when a resident does not maintain their unit in a clean and tidy way, it can bring in unwanted pests which can impact those around you. Upon move out of your unit, again your unit was left in unacceptable condition and you were charged accordingly as well as sent photographic documentation.
It seems all of your concerns were due to policy not being followed on your end; we are sorry that you disagree with these, but those policies are the reason most choose to live at Somerset, as they appreciate their community being well taken care of and respected. We value our residents and their experience more than anything and work hard to make sure our community is a wonderful place for all to call home.
Again, thank you for your review and we wish you all the best!
