Apartment Review for Avalon At Cameron Court - Alexandria, VA

I have been here over two years and I like the location and the people here. When I say "people" I mean the residents. I am less pleased with the office staff. More on that later. While it is close to the Metro (Eisenhower) and a Metro maintenance yard I don't find the noise a problem. If you are a light sleeper, then you might. The convenience to Metro is a huge plus. The units are about what you expect in a place that's not your own. Expect cheap workmanship on almost everything, but especially annoying is watching laminate blister and peel from kitchen cabinets on units that are about 10 years old. If you expect the office staff to solve any issue you might have then plan on calling them for follow-up 2-3 times to get something done. It's not hard to keep a "to do" list for follow-up of resident issues, but evidently it is asking the office staff way, way, too much to do so. They are nice enough, it's just that there is no sense of urgency and a laid-back attitude about any problem or issue you might have. Maintenance folks are great and they hop on problems as soon as they know about them (with one exception). The problem is the office seems to have an issue passing on the fact that you actually have a problem. This isn't a one-time thing, it has happened every single time (4 times total) I have called for maintenance in the last 2 1/2 years. Every. Single. Time. The one exception to maintenance being responsive to a problem was when I first moved in. The refrigerator wasn't keeping anything cold, so I called maintenance. After three visits where nothing much was done I told them the problem was that the unit needed a recharge of refrigerant. (I used to work in the restaurant industry). The maintenance staff told me they couldn't do that. So what DID they do? Nothing. No call to an outside repair service to charge the unit. No replacement of the refrigerator. No offer to do ANYTHING. I ended up paying Sears to come out and give the thing a shot of R-34. Problem solved. Now really, why should I have had to do that? I did it because it is just so much easier than spending an hour of my day convincing the office staff that I really do know what I am talking about. I should not HAVE to do anything. I mean the decision-making process in the office should go something like: (1) Refrigerator broken (2) Maintenance cannot fix (3) Replace refrigerator. Not hard, right? This wasn't the fault of maintenance but I once had a stove go out on me on a Friday. That meant I couldn't cook all weekend. The office didn't seem to think me ordering take-out all weekend was an issue. So maintenance came on Monday to fix it. Of course, by Saturday afternoon when I figured out this wasn't a high priority for our stalwart rental office staff, I called an appliance repair shop and had them repair it at my cost. The problem was a faulty valve and it took 20 minutes to fix. When maintenance came on Monday they left me a note to tell me there wasn't a problem. Gee, thanks. There isn't a problem NOW. If you get a lot of packages don't expect the office to call you to tell you that you have one. Evidently they think UPS and FedEx always leave a receipt at the door to tell you that you have a package at the office (they don't do this all the time). So the staff, thinking that, don't feel the need to call you to tell you your package is sitting in the rental office. When I first moved here they rendered this simple courtesy. Then a new manager came in (we're on our third in 2 years) and all that stopped. This is a dog-friendly community so, if you don't like dogs, don't come here. As a dog owner, I expect to have to put up with the occasional moronic owner who won't pick up after their pet. You might not find it so much fun. I rated this community high on safety because it's a gated community. While this isn't a foolproof system (we did have one break-in since I've been here) it does seem to keep most of the "problem children" out looking for easier targets. Parking is a real pet peeve of mine here. There is PLENTY of parking. But the only reason there is plenty of parking is that they paint the lane markers closer together than "standard" spacing calls for. Therefore, if you are lucky enough to park next to someone who can't seem to understand that their car needs to be EXACTLY (and I mean EXACTLY) between the lines then you can expect to have to pry yourself out of your car with the assistance of a crowbar while you simultaneously scratch both your car and that of the offending party. Enjoy. I am forced into this drill 4-5 times a week. With all that is wrong why am I here? Well, this is close to Old Town which is great, it is a mile from both a Whole Foods and a Giant; it is right on a Metro line, it is one of the few dog friendly communities around, with all the new construction in the area more restaurants and a movie theater are within walking distance, and the residents are great. I think if the office staff understood the meaning of the term "customer service" then it would be far easier to take everything else in stride.