Apartment Review for University Village - Columbus, OH

I just wanted to post on here because I've had a great experience here so far (5 months into my lease). I've called/emailed maintenance several times for different issues, and here's how they helped: 1) girl above us flooding her bathroom and ours - they came on three different occasions (she did this several times in a row), even at 11pm, and they cleaned up the mess, repaired the ceiling and came back to spackle and paint 2) clogged bathroom sink due to neighbor - they came and cleaned the drains 3) refrigerator made awful noise - they replaced it 4) the obsolete vent fan in kitchen ceiling was full of old grease and leaking onto stove - they replaced the fan cover completely 5) I accidentally clogged the drain from kitchen sink due to putting food peels in garbage disposal (totally my fault) - they came on THANKSGIVING to repair it. I didn't expect it fixed until they were not on holiday. 6) I emailed them about abandoned bikes taking up space on the bike racks, and they (within a couple months) sent out a notice to everyone to remove bikes for a certain time period so they could remove abandoned bikes. 7) I emailed them because someone was pouring stinky GREASE/OIL right outside the back door onto the lawn by the steps, and (within a month or so), they covered it with sand. 8) I emailed them about re-adjusting the levels (it was on an incline) of the treadmills after they moved them within the fitness center, and they fixed them immediately. They always come quickly, and they usually leave a little tag saying they've been there. They always fix it the first time. They are usually here when I am not, but we haven't had any problems with that. They also replaced my apartment key (for free, though I think it's normally $5) when I lost in within the abyss of my car console. They inspected our apartments once already, and they are always sending emails. Other notes: There are only two A/Cs in our 2 bedroom apartment: one in the living room wall and one is the larger of the two bedrooms. I don't mind not having A/C, so it wasn't a big problem. I was more worried about the heat, being that it's a boiler system, but it's been VERY warm, almost hot, even though the temperatures have recently dipped to below freezing. We have our thermostat set to the lowest setting. I can understand if people have their windows open in the winter! We recently got notice that the utilities are going up in January (over a month's notice) to $108 from $88 because their costs last year were greater than payments received from tenants. I can understand this for 2 reasons: 1) utility prices are rising in general and 2) when it's a blanket/budget payment, people are more wasteful because it doesn't affect them right now, and most people don't look ahead to effects on future rates. Sometimes I cannot park in the closest spots to my building, but I've never not been able to find parking. There is always a spot within a short walk. My signifigant other visits frequently and always finds either street parking or visitor parking available. The busses are great, except that the first stop is right in front of my bedroom window, and they like to sit there for 5-10 minutes before they leave, running their loud diesel engines. They also regularly leave 3-5 minutes early, but they say on their schedule that times may vary by plus/minus 5 min. HOWEVER, if they are just sitting there, I don't see why they can't wait until the time they are supposed to leave. It's not as if they are city busses. The 9am bus gets really packed, but they accomodate this by running THREE busses at that time. Sometimes you have to stand, but that's alright because it's not all the time. At least we have a shuttle! Good news is that there's also a COTA stop nearby that runs almost the same route to campus. Take #7 or #18 to/from campus. My apartment has a very nice oven--the best I've come across in any apartment I've lived in. It actually has a window, oven light, timer, clock, etc...like normal ovens have! It looks brand new. Cabinet and counter space is very limited. There's only one large sink and no dishwasher. A major downer, but we've been dealing with it. The galley kitchen set up is nice. I know not all apartments have it, but the 2-bedroom "C" style does. If you sign up for cable, the installation is a little more intensive because the wiring in these old buildings isn't ideal. It seems to all run through the bedroom closest to the box outside, through the walls, closets, etc, and some of the wiring doesn't work anymore because it's from an older company. Make sure you tell the cable guy every TV in the apartment so he can wire it right! The bedrooms come with lights fixtures, which is nice. I noticed that the lights in the hallways do not have efficient bulbs, and they are on all the time. It would probably save them money in the end if they switched them out as they replaced the burnt out ones. Also, they didn't have recycling when we moved in in June. In October, they announced they had recycling bins (in very inconvenient locations), but they soon removed them saying they were not what they wanted and were expecting the right ones in November, which would be more centrally located. However, it's the very end of November, and there's still no recycling bins. The lawn is kept very nice, and I see a guy picking up trash around the complex every morning. When the big wind storm hit in September, they had the trees cleared right after it was over, and everything was cleaned up perfectly the next day. The fitness center recently got two new ellipticals because one broke, but now a treadmill (1 of 2) is not working correctly as far as the speed it says you're going, but it's been like that for awhile now. The gym is small, but it works. They have Power Blocks and a bench/pulley machine for weight-lifting. I've spoken with the staff on a few occasions, and everyone is always very helpful. They have a no pet policy, which is nice because even though some people still have pets, they wouldn't dare leave their droppings outside for people to walk on! I actually love that there are no pets allowed for this reason. I know for a fact that the girl below me has a cat, so if you have allergies, be aware that someone may have had an animal before you, and because it's not allowed, the apartment complex probably doesn't disinfect or specially treat those apartments. About the mail: The mailboxes suck. They really don't have an outgoing mail slot anywhere. I tried leaving it in the box, which didn't work, so I end up leaving outgoing mail on top of the box; otherwise, it won't get picked up. I once ordered textbooks online. The books never arrived. They had delivery confirmation, and it turns out they got returned over 2 weeks later because they said the address didn't exist' I've never had that happen anywhere else. I guess you get that living within the limits of a large city like Columbus.