Apartment Review for Chase Oakes - Jacksonville, FL

This place is by far the worst individual apartment AND overall complex I've ever lived in, anywhere. The ONLY thing to recommend it is sq footage: the 2 bdrm has a townhouse layout & more space for the $$ than other apt.'s in the area. The buildings are at least 30 years old & suffer MANY plumbing problems, small & large. The day I moved in my downstairs toilet, kitchen sink, and dishwasher were all BROKEN: yes, that was day #1 in my new apartment. Toilets backup & overflow constantly, and sometimes spontaneously -- the one upstairs overflowed while I was at work & ran for hours ... came home to water dripping from living room ceiling!! Shower tiles caved in 3 times because of a leak in plumbing; plumber who finally fixed it told me plumbing was ALL ORIGINAL!! All drains also stop up constantly; washing machine upstairs has caused overflow in kitchen sink in MANY apartments, not just mine. Dishwashers often flood kitchen/dining area. I've even heard of a woman's entire living room ceiling caving in due to water issues! Even if your apartment doesn't have problems, you can bet that your neighbor's apartment does & that it'll affect you! If you're not scared yet: I haven't even mentioned the broken folding doors on closets, drawers falling off their tracks, poor A/C systems, etc. OR the fact that maintenance is VERY slow, which seems to be the fault of office staffe, & not particularly knowledgable -- I happened to be home during one of many repairs & the repairman called ME for help!! If I hadn't been home more damage, instead of repair, would've happened. I've since requested to be present during ANY maintenance visit. What "repair" is done seems to deteriorate quickly; I've had to make another call only days later for more repair. Office staff changes frequently; they all seem incompetent -- they don't know correct move-in dates, can't make call-backs, forget them knowing your name. Many are unfriendly & they're usually unwilling to help w/maintenance issues -- I'm assuming it's because there are so many. And the complex itself? Well, the "2 sparkling pools" are often dirty or closed; ditto the laundry center. The fitness center is only open during office hours. An apartment close to the main pool (near the front) is sure to mean SEVERE bug problems, as everyone in my building has, not to mention noise long after the pool has supposedly "closed". There have been 4 or 5 home burglaries in the past 2 months; not to mention several rashes of car burglaries over the years. There is ALWAYS much late-night activity; not just cars (the speed bumps, close quarters, and loud radios mean you'll ALWAYS hear them) but pedestrians too, groups of people wandering around at ALL hours. As a single woman living here you will NEVER feel safe; I've been approached by a car driving on the main road as I entered my apartment (great, they know where I live) and even when I was out on my upstairs balcony (yep, they definitely know where I live) -- and not in a nice, polite, friendly way, but in an agressive, scary way. Vacant apartments are often left unlocked. The day we signed our lease, as I was leaving the office a woman driving by called out to me "Don't do it" -- I'd stand outside the office all day telling people this if I could.