Barber Park Apartments — Attraction in Orlando

I have lived here since last June. I am a teacher at a nearby school and I moved here due to some last minute, and unfortunate circumstances that forced me to live on my own rather than with a roommate (which fell through because he had to move for work). This review is not from a disgruntled tenant. This is just an honest review based on my experiences with apartments I have lived in throughout Orlando.

First, the pros. -Nice looking complex. They keep up with the landscaping, and they have done a nice job renovating it after the switch in management. Trees were trimmed, all new cement was put down, new parking space lines were re-done, and pot holes/cracks were filled.

-Pool is usually maintained.

-Workout room is ok. Some of the dumbbells seemed to be missing, but other than, can't complain. I'm a competitive powerlifter, so I already have a membership at a gym, but this little room got the job done for some basic exercises (curls, tricep ext., rows, pulldowns, pullups, etc.)

Now the Cons: I have been in the office before to pick up a package at times, and have seen the phone just ring, and ring, and no one answers.

-Whenever I would ask to speak with the manager, I was told every time that she had "conference calls". I was never really sure why I couldn't just speak with the Head Manager instead of someone below her. Being as in I worked in customer service growing up, this was a little strange to me.

-When I moved in, and was being shown around, I noticed some rust stains on the sink, so I told the maintenance worker showing me around. He told me "Oh, that's not a big deal". Well then...ok.

-Kitchen drawers are still falling out even after getting them fixed.

-My unit smelled like cigarettes even after they "cleaned" it. It still does, and even my clothes smell like it. Candles always have to be lit.

-Old/out of date appliances.

-Oven handle was falling off, and it took about 4 or 5 maintenance requests to finally have it ACTUALLY fixed.

-For some reason, my lowest utility bill while living here was $68 (Feb). I've lived in places before where I had a $40 bill. Feb. was a decently cold month, so I'm not sure why my bill was high. Also, I was not home much in Feb. due to being out of town, and I have a Nest thermostat installed in my Unit, so I was able to check on my AC through the app, which was not being used much. I'm not sure if this is on OUC or Barber Park themselves, but I really didn't understand this.

-Whenever my AC would cool my unit down, it would get hot again very quickly. I'm guessing this is due to poor ventilation?

-Laundry room is very sub-par. The washing machines/dryers have been down many times. There were a couple of times when ALL of the dryers were down. Not acceptable.

-Cable is included in rent, which adds $40 to the rent itself. This could be a Pro for some, but I didn't really need cable, as I mostly just used Netflix, Hulu, etc.

-My car was towed from an old handicap spot and I had to pay $130 to get it out. Many people had parked in this spot because there was no sign and the handicap mark on the concrete itself had faded. However, my car was towed, and I have seen many different cars parked there every day since then. This may be more on the towing company, but the fact that Barber Park wouldn't even help out with this was a little annoying.

My overall score: 4/10

It seems that they care more about the presentation than the tenants themselves. This could be argued with the fact that they are cleaning the place up and upgrading some of the amenities, but you could also argue that's more for the looks themselves. I have lived in some solid apartments during my 6 years in Orlando, but this one definitely ranks towards the bottom of my list.

With more emphasis on Customer Service, I think this place could improve. I think it can get better, because the place has potential. With upgrades to the units/appliances, better ventilation in units, and some improvements with the front office, this could be an upper tier...

March 16, 2020

Last place to be if need to do a self quarantine with what is currently going on. I wrote a review already about my apartment flooding on 2 occasions. Well now it has been 4 times the third time being the water heater in the apartment above me exploding and the 4th time will be explained in this review. The headache I had to deal with. Very little compensation for their negligence in maintaining this property. So again I had to deal with another flooding issue in the living room. Two weeks ago I wrote a email stating that outside water and dirt was coming up my kitchen sink. Enough to fill up the cereal bowl in the sink with water and dirt. I made sure I included photo proof in the email. When I finally received a phone call pertaining to issue from the last flooding I gave authorization over the phone for management to have them take care of the issue. All I got was a notice to call or visit the office to give them authorization to take care of the problem. The problem wasn’t taken care of until Tuesday of last week. All they did was cleaned the garbage disposal which had nothing to do with the issue I had described. Now on Tuesday night I’m relaxing watching shows but I keep hearing water flowing right behind me. Couldn’t find the source but later notice the carpet underneath the sofa was completely soaked and pooling again. Put in a work order to have the problem taken care of and sent an email of the issue. Was told I would be kept updated but instead ignored. Turns out the sewer line was backed up. Enough pressure to break a pipe inside the apartment causing sewage water to pool on the carpet which still hasn’t been replaced to quote that their vendor cleans the carpet really well that it doesn’t need to be replaced. Spoke to the office twice and was told that the issue was the whole building sewer system and completely ignoring that I was the only one that had a pipe crack that cause the water to pool onto the carpet instead of just coming up kitchen sink like everyone else in the building and an issue I mentioned two weeks ago. I will probably be told again that there is no mold even though the big cut out of the dry wall where the pvc piped broke seems to show mold that I need to have tested. I have been sick more times being in this apartment mostly respiratory congestion because the proper procedures weren’t taken. With this outbreak that is going on I seriously need to be compensated months of rent so I can move to better maintained property so Im not compromised if it comes the time we need to quarantined ourselves.

Old Review: my apartment flooded twice in a weekend due to a water heater leaking and both time getting a hold of maintenance was a complete struggle. I’ve had to miss work and spend money on a shop vacuum to take care of the problem myself. I had to wait until Monday to call the office several times since the phones and messages go unanswered. I find out that the maintenance on call stated they didn't have a key to my apartment. Which completely baffles me. I never received a phone call or voicemail from maintenance to let me know they couldn’t get into my apartment. Even though on Monday they were able to get in and replace the locks. I’ve already been told twice that the carpet would be deep cleaned to get rid of the smell especially in the closet and it still hasn’t been done. Most likely will have to take care of the problem myself. I have sent an email to see if I would receive any compensation for the time I’ve had to miss work and having to rent equipment to take care of the problem myself due to lack of communication and urgency. My email has been ignored. Save yourself the headache and look elsewhere with a better team and better system to care of...

DO NOT MOVE HERE! This apartment complex is roach infested! It is horrible. We moved in 11 months ago and it has been nothing but nightmares, and I promise I am not exaggerating. We have been battling a roach infestation since day 1. When we first moved in there was roach bait and poison all over the apartment. We were naive and thought that meant all the roaches would be dead. But no. They knowingly moved us into a roach infested apartment. Everyday we kill about 5-10 roaches. We have had pest control come out and it does nothing. We have gotten our own pest control and it has done nothing. We have noticed that whenever we open our door roaches run into our unit and sneak in. We have talked to our neighbors and they have the same issue. The entire property is roach infested.

On top of the roaches, we have been battling mold since moving in. We discovered mold on our AC unitday one and they changed the filter and a part on the unit. But a few months later our vents are covered in black mold. I had to threaten calling a health inspector to have them come out to clean our vents. And when they came they didn't even take the vent covers off to clean inside the AC ducts! We got them to hire a AC cleaner. But our vents still are covered in mold and now our clothes have mold growing on them! The living conditions are horrible here.

And on top of the mold and the roaches, when we moved in our floors were unbelievably dirty. Whenever we walk on our floors they turn our feet black. We have to wear shoes inside. We have tried mopping, swiffering, and scrubbing the floors many many many different times, but nothing works, I have told them multiple times and still nothing has been done. The floors need to be replaced, actually the whole unit needs to be replaced. The kitchen is outdated and the cabinets are peeling. The window frames are cracking and would leak before they re-caulked them.

Also, on top of the floors, the mold, and the roaches, the valet trash is a scam. They give you a box to put your trash bags in, but they won't pick it up for over a week sometimes, which will contribute to your roach infestation or if your neighbor leaves trash in the box all day roaches will come. They went 2 weeks one time without taking our trash. Also, people will throw their trash in your box, such as cigarettes, coffee cups, and food, not even in a bag, just on top of your trash bags or at the bottom of your box. Also, once they pick up your trash they just leave it sitting next to the dumpster til morning. There will be a giant pile of trash sitting next to the dumpster until the trash truck comes. It is disgusting to look at, smells horrible, and brings so many more bugs. When you see the true conditions of this complex once moving in, you realize how disgusting everything is here and how bad it is living here. On the outside this place looks pretty nice and "offers" nice things, but it is not worth the endless problems you will have here. I repeat, DO...