The Charles at Bexley — Attraction in Columbus

I'm going on two years at this place. Below is my honest review based on my experience living here:

Location Honestly, the name of this community is one of the most egregious examples of predatory marketing I've witnessed in my life. If you are new to Columbus like I was, you might have heard good things about the Bexley area. Living in a community known as the Charles at "Bexley" might seem great, however please be warned that this community is NOT located in Bexley. The Charles at "Bexley" is actually located in a very unsafe neighborhood, closer to the Glenbrook area (you can fact check this using resources like neighborhood scout). The closest thing you'll have to Bexley is the name.

Security The community is "gated,". and access to the community is granted using personalized codes for residents. The problem is, that they're not actual gates (google: "automatic barrier gate"), and you can drive right through them. The paging system never works, so people give their access code to their delivery drivers directly. Most days I will come home from work at night and see the barrier thrown on the ground, or the access code will vanish for months at a time. I don't know how or why it's removed, but it's a major concern for a lot of residents, and I have not seen/witnessed management making an effort to improve this.

Workmanship/Construction of the Apartment Units This is probably the most important section, as most of your time in this community will be spent in your apartment. The units themselves have recently undergone a "full renovation," however be warned that all improvements made are purely cosmetic. Your unit will most likely have granite countertops/stainless steel appliances, however the exteriors and structure of the buildings are still very old and outdated. The ceilings are VERY low at 7 ft in kitchen/hall/bath areas, 8 ft elsewhere. The current industry standard is 9 ft. The low ceilings do next to nothing for muffling noise from your upstairs or distribution of natural light.

Please also note that the walls and ceilings are very thin, and have next to no insulation. I know that for a fact because when my pipe burst (again, shoddy craftsmanship), the maintenance guy came into my apartment and opened a big hole in my wall that they never closed.) I can also see directly into the apartment above me in my utility closet through poor closures around the piping.

I am not exaggerating when I say you will hear EVERY noise and movement that your neighbors make. For reference, I live in a first floor/middle unit. I share 3 walls and a ceiling. I have lived in apartments all over the world, and I can honestly say that I've never lived in an apartment this noisy before.

To summarize, the kitchen has nice appliances and countertops, but you're only renting so it's not like you own those anyway. The units leave a lot to be desired in the areas that matter.

Enviornment I first toured during construction in early March 2020 (before the pandemic). The leasing agent who onboarded me told me they were going to begin landscaping in the spring, and had just purchased "a bunch of mulch" and flowers. I moved in 2 months later in May, and nothing was done. I understood at the time, because of covid, but this year, the scope of our leases have expanded to state that "proper care of the yard and exterior appearance of the premises," including keeping grass cut/trimmed is the "tenants responsibility" (Lease Section 37.1). As a result, the landscaping here looks appalling. There's another review on here that says that "saying it looks like it was done by high school students would be an insult to high schoolers," and I could not agree more. I am embarrassed to show people where I live.

I can say more about the amenities, including the $80 "technology fee" you're forced to pay, and the pool turning green and being unusable for over a month during the peak of the season, but cannot due to character limit. I would be more than happy to discuss in more detail to anyone willing to reach out to...

My family and I recently moved into one of the townhomes. I chose this community out of four to tour because I liked the amenities it offered: gated community, pool, playground, tennis courts... It seemed like a nice place to be with the kids while my husband was at work.

Moving in was a bit of a pain in the butt. We had to call a few times to ensure someone would be there to actually get us IN the apartment on Saturday. Thankfully, that took a few minutes to finish the lease signing and get the keys - but they escorted us to our home and acted like they were doing us a favor by leaving a few snack bags of cookies, water bottles we already got when we toured, and some lanyards.

When we toured the home, we were told the appliances, including the washer and dryer, would be in when we moved in. There were 3 weeks between touring and moving in. No where in this time of paying deposit upon touring and actually moving in did they inform us that we would not have a washer and dryer. When we moved in, we were told "next weekend." That seemed acceptable. Next weekend came and went. And another weekend. And another weekend. Finally we were told their contract lapsed, and it'd be a while. I lost it and told them they should go buy us a washer and dryer because that's what someone with common sense would do when they have tenants who moved in with promises of having them. Nonetheless, they bought them, but the story varies on why it took a week from purchasing at Lowes, to actually installing. One resident manager said that Lowes didn't have the units in stock. She agreed with me when I said common sense would say to purchase something that was in stock. Then, another manager said that the units had to be delivered from Lowes. I asked if we could go pick them up and I was told "no". Somehow, these units eventually made their way to my house in the back of a maintenance crew member's truck. I don't understand why they couldn't have made it from Lowe's to the apartment community in the back of said truck, but clearly I have more common sense than the average bear.

Nonetheless, the interior of the house looks nice upon a breezy walk-through. However, practical application of said finishes falls short when you live in the unit for a day. There's a weird trim issue - some of the door frames don't have trim, while others do. None of the doors appear to be "proper" - as they all have rough edges that have been half-assed sanded and painted over, but are still very rough on the hands. You can feel the uneven boards on the stairs under the carpet. The carpet in our unit has this weird tiny square pattern - so you can see how none of the rooms are "square" - as one side of the room will have 3 more rows of squares than the other side. The floors have soft spots in them, so you can walk across the wood floor and hear a loose floor board hit the duct work/water pipe. The sink is very thin for the giant faucet they have installed, so there's no way to use the sink without splashing water all over the counter. The back yard of our unit is covered in glass from the renovation, so with three tiny children, I am going to have to go out there and pick up all of the glass from the dirt (and hopefully grow some grass eventually) before they can go out and play. ... there's a bunch of other issues, as well.

Mostly, I am concerned that the fitness facility is seemingly not open to residents. We were told it was completed, but that's not the case.

The "playground" is actually outside of the community and is old and run down. It's next to woods with a broken fence, so you're out of the community and who knows what can come up from the woods.

The gates appear to be un-manned on Sunday - where they're just up for anyone to come into the community at will. So much for security. They tried to lie and say that it was a fluke for Easter Sunday, but the security company that patrols this said "someone is to be there at all times" per their contract. Also, the two prior Sundays - gates were up all day.

I doubt we'll...

I've only been here for 3 days, the review is subject to change. CHANGE: day 4, no stove - it's down from 2 stars to 1 star. Day 5 - problem solved - back to 2 stars. I will update in 6 months.

DAY 1: July 17 When I picked up my keys, I was told I have to download an app to buzz visitors thru the gate. I have a problem with being told I have to download an app. That info should be shared during the tour B4 lease signing. The lease states that guests must give security the name & address of the person they are visiting, & security will admit them. When I pointed this out to the leasing agent. He told me that the lease was outdated. I said that the lease should be updated because new tenants are signing a lease with invalid info. I spent the rest of the day moving into the unit. We finished and prepared to make dinner around 5pm. The stove is electric; neither the eyes nor the oven would turn on. The hood above the stove works, though. The office was closed so we called the emergency line. Left a phone number and told them to call when they were on their way. No one ever showed up that night. I notified staff that the front door has a gap which allows the A/C to escape. He told me to put that on the move-in checklist. I said it was something that needed immediate attention and I'd rather notify them now instead of waiting until days later when the checklist is due. He also told me to put the non-working stove on this sheet also.

DAY 2: July 18 No one ever came to fix the stove while I was working. I stopped working at 3:30 and went over to my old apartment to get more things. I came back to The Charles about 5 pm. The stove still was not in working order. The office was closed so we called the emergency line. Left a phone number and told them to call when they were on their way. No one ever showed up that night. I received an email stating, "...nonleaseholders have been observed using your gate code...continued misuse of the code could lead to fines due to security policy violations". I asked for details on this alleged violation - date, time, make and model of the car and description of the individual - because I had not shared the gate code with anyone and I had not had any visitors. Apparently, there are cameras somewhere near the gate when inputting the code. Anyway, they had not done their due diligence before accusing me of violating the rule of not sharing the gate code. I got an apology, because it was someone who shared the same first name as I; However, I took offense with the lack of verifying all information before lodging a violation and threat of fines. More than a first name should match before action is taken.

DAY 3: July 19 We left home at 7:30 am to handle some business in another city. We were on our way home about 5:30. We decided to stop and get something to eat just in case the stove had not been fixed. We concluded that it was not fixed because we had not received a phone call. After getting home with our take-out food, the first thing we did was check the stove. THE STOVE WAS NOT WORKING! The office was closed, so we called the emergency line, AGAIN. This time I told the person on the phone that I was not pleased and it is disrespectful, egregious, and highly offensive that I move into a new apartment with updated appliances and a complete remodel, and I have to buy takeout food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – money wasted. What happened to quality control? They have not fixed the gap in the front door so I have air escaping from a 3/8" gap about 10" long at the bottom of the door & one at the top. The amenities are nice, though I haven't used them yet. It's nice that the valet trash is included without an extra fee. The cable and wifi are reasonable, though left up to me, I would not have cable. I do not like that tenants are unable to change the password. The laundry facility has free W/D. My unit has a nice-sized back deck-NO GRILLING ALLOWED.

DAY 4: STOVE STILL NOT FIXED. DAY 5: They "fixed" the stove. The breaker was off and the stove had not...