Madison At the Arboretum

Seriously, I have never written a review on an apt before. Thats how bad this was. My ceiling leaked so bad it got my entire living room wet and all they would do is just come patch it up so it would happen again. this went on for around a year. Then the ceiling in my bathroom fell through and water seeped into my closet. Instead of replacing the carpet they just put a fan on it. I am positive the apt is filled with mold because of this. Though the office staff can be nice to your face they are SO disorganized it is ridiculous. My entire apt was infested with spiders even though I am getting charged over $ 100 for my «water bill» (it has pest control charges on it and there was NO pest control or it didn’t work). All of this and I paid over 1K for a tiny one bedroom. If you don’t mind a moldy, bug ridden apt please move here.

1) The walls are paper thin. Not only can you hear your neighbor, sometimes you can hear the neighbors neighbor. Expect to know whats going on in everyone else’s life, whether you like it or not.
2)The dog park got an upgrade in aesthetics, but functionally is still valueless as whatever material they put down has turned to splinters. Imagine walking barefoot on that stuff.
3)The lights spend more time being out due to broken light bulbs or electricity problems (insert other excuse the front office sends out) than they do being on. Expect dark parking lots, stairways, and door steps a large majority of the time.
4)The location is great. Most of the apartments have a good view, and situated right by the arboretum.
5)Do not expect maintenance. On anything. Period. If you want something done, you had better be good at the google and handy with your. well.. hands, and do it yourself. If your thinking you will just be careful and not break anything, just remember that this place is older and will break on its own.
6)The Staff is the worst part of the whole deal, by far. Everything else is just an inconvenience, but Josh and Jay at the front are so unprofessional and abrasive I’m afraid to even walk by the front office. Josh has a habit of just not returning emails, and when he does, it will consist of a copy paste of his last email. This leaves me to believe he thinks me of child intelligence and needs to repeat himself instead of engage in a conversation. Jay displays a similar superiority complex when interacting with him personally via theatrical sighs, repetitive answers, and even blaming tenants for expecting him to know information regarding his companies website and billing systems. Example «I don’t know and it doesn’t matter». Jay and Josh certainly know they work in the service industry, but they place themselves at receiving end of the service, expecting to be feared and catered to.
Final)The staff is not knowledgeable on the contract you sign either, or of the rules and policies of the Madison. Random small charges will appear on your billing statement a few days before rent is due, so when you pay rent on auto pay, its not enough and is kicked back with late fees. If you email them to find out whats going on, you will receive no response, happy that the late fees are adding up. When you confront them about it, you are treated like a convict for paying late. If you are living here now, just pay what they want until you can get out of the lease. If you are looking to live here, its cheaper and the service is better at the local jail.

I recently moved from Madison at the Arboretum after living there 18 months. Overall, it was a fine experience. The complex is situated away from the main roads and the area tends to be quiet in the evenings. There are deer galore and lots of trees, and the units themselves are OK. I never had any issues getting maintenance requests filled or questions answered. If you pay your rent on time, you shouldn’t have any issues whatsoever with management.
I docked the complex a star for two reasons. First, the gym is mediocre, at best. For a complex its size, it should have more than two treadmills. Compounding that problem is that the older of the two machines was broken for half of my stay. If you value a complex’s gym, this one will disappoint you.
Second, perhaps it was the location of my building, but I was constantly killing bugs, mostly spiders. By constantly, I mean I had to kill one or two spiders inside my apartment daily during the summer months. I understand that the place is surrounded by trees, but the units could probably do with a redo of their insulation and sealing to the outside.
One final note: I think the units are priced a little more highly than they are worth. I was paying just over $ 1,000 per month for a one-​bedroom 750 sqr foot unit. Really, the price was the main reason I moved, although I am appreciating the lack of spiders in my new place!

This place is nice on the outside and the apt layout is good but the maintenance service is terrible. It will take at least 3 calls to get them to come out to the apt and they don’t even fix the issue after that. The electrical does not work in the apartments and nothing has been replaced since they opened in 1996. The ‘new countertops’ are the old ones with new paint (the paint looks like something that you see in the toilet after a bad meal — dark brown with spots).

Just wanted to add, since for whatever reason it slipped my mind during the original rant on how much this place sucks and in fear of retaliation.
I had asked the manager about having the grills cleaned on a regular basis, his reply «that is the responsibility of the tenants, staff are not required to clean them». Umm, excuse me? I ripped into him and also sent a letter to their corporate offices just as a reminder to don’t «F» with the hand that feeds you.
The grills were cleaned the following Monday, but I doubt it’s still being done because they were full of used charcoal months before we moved.

DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE!
Finally moved out of what hubby and I are calling «The money pit» on the 1^st of feb. Things were fine, hubby did a great job of cleaning the place, and we put in a 2 months notice. Did that matter? NOOOOOO!
Let’s see, we get popped with a $ 475 fee to replace the entire carpet because less than a square inch of it was damaged by our cat. We were told by the grounds people (upon pre inspection) that it wouldn’t cost much to repair. THAT was BS!
Oh, speaking of pets, it doesn’t matter if the cat/​dog was clean and didn’t leave any stains/​sheds on the carpet, you will STILL get charged a pet fee «for people allergic to pets». It’s a PET FRIENDLY APARTMENT COMPLEX! People with allergies would know to avoid this place if they were concerned about dander!
Did I mention a «Deep cleaning fee» too, even though my husband scrubbed our place top to bottom?!
To say I am angry is an understatement. After all that we have paid in rent and how we DID abide by the rules of our 2 month notice/​cleaning the place, we are stuck paying nearly $ 2,000 just to leave.
DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE! DO NOT RENT HERE!
Look, if you want to pay nearly a $ 1,000 a month for a one bedroom with NONE of the utilities covered, you are better off renting somewhere that at least gives you a few perks and well, LETS YOU KNOW OF HOW MUCH YOU RISK PAYING IF YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE EVEN IF YOU GIVE OVER A 2 MONTHS NOTICE!
AGAIN, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT RENT HERE!!!

The grounds and location are nice if you’re looking for a relatively quiet and safe place to live. I chose this place because of the interior and lack of late night loud neighbors and screaming children.
As far as the management goes.:
–Maintenance requests rarely get filled correctly the first time. if they’re filled at all.
–There’s ALWAYS something broken in the gym
–After years of on time payments, I’ve been charged late fees when returning from holiday weekends.
–Maintenance men have stolen from my apartment and then lied about it.
The people are nice, but they really slack on maintaining the place in the ways they should. Some of the gym equipment is broken for years at a time and they spend money on really ridiculous things that don’t improve things for the residents. For the price this place charges the quality of service should be through the roof — it’s not.

My girlfriend has lived there for 5 years years and always paid her rent on time. She was is the hospital and missed her rent by 5 days, yet the management gave her a vacate notice and charged her a $ 60 late fee. Be aware of these management practices before you decide to rent there.