Apartment Review for Archstone Newport Village - Alexandria, VA

Below par apartments. If I could give this apartment living experience a minus 5 stars, I would. This experience has been the worst I have encountered. I have lived in 4 states and this has been the worst. When I gave my deposit, I was promised one size apartment and given the number of the apartment. When I came to get the key, I was given a bigger more expensive apartment. The first week in the apartment, the air conditioner broke and the ceiling fan in the bedroom was not working properly. I had to have the maintenance people come in twice to fix the ceiling fan. Maintenance stated that they had fix the air conditioner. When I walked in the hall way, there was water running from the closet underneath the rug. The air conditioner (the kind that cools water) never cooled. I have to place 4 requests and have a person who worked in air conditioning/heating explained to the maintenance personnel on how to fix the problem. I found out later that the third floor and second floor apartments above me had also had their air conditioners replace. There was flooding from the third floor down to the first floor. When the air conditioners was finally fix, workers left mud on the carpet and the walls leading from the air conditioning closet to the front door. Also the pipes in the shower squeal when taking a shower. The dryer takes 2 hours to dry clothes. Apartment did not replace it since it was working. Also watch out for the utilities. The company often send the same bill 2x in a row. I would pay the office the amount on the bill, the office would claim that it was another price. Also set up your account to watch that the office charge your account on time. I gave my rent 5 days early once, they did not charge the account until a week later. Also the office workers don't know much. During the first week, I kept complaining about the air conditioning, the young African American man seemed like he was on something and just vaguely answered questions. I no longer see him. I guess he does not work there any more. I signed up for a 7 month short term lease. I gave the office notice when I signed the lease. Upon giving a verbal and yet another written notice to management, the apartment complex charged me an extra fee for breaking a lease that was ending.