Rio Vista Apartment Homes — Attraction in Tucson

Rio Vista: A Google Tale

In March of 2016, I moved into this apartment complex, and things were great. The complex was beautiful and regularly landscaped, and the rent was reasonable. Also! The air conditioning is free, so that was a plus.

Fast forward a few months. I got home one summer day to find that my ceiling was leaking. Not only that, but a ceiling tile in my bathroom was bulging like an upside-down camel, and was just as full of water. It was dripping all over my floor, so I mopped it up and called the 24-hour maintenance line. My experience so far had been great, why would they fail me now?

How naive I was.

They called me back, immediately assumed what the problem was by the very brief description I gave them, said they'd be by tomorrow and bid me goodnight.

I slept.

And was awoken, deep in the night, by a furious CRACK and RUMBLE from just outside my bedroom. I bolted out of bed to find that the aforementioned ceiling tile had broken into several pieces, finally freeing itself of the ceiling, making its longed-for getaway to the floor.

The maintenance man arrived the next morning. The bucket I’d set down beneath the leak was filled in the night, and gray bits of ceiling tile were mingled with the water. I could tell by the surprised look on his face that my problem was NOT the problem he’d assumed it was. He said, "This is a two-man job. I'm going to have to come back Monday."

Monday came. No maintenance guy.

Tuesday came. No maintenance guy.

Wednesday came. I called the leasing office. The kind woman seemed aghast that I’d waited so long with a leaky ceiling, and said that maintenance was DEFINITELY getting on it today.

I came home, and my ceiling was sans leak. I was happy. I had a new ceiling tile. All was well in the world.

Fast forward one year. It’s the summer of 2017 and I’m experiencing the EXACT same problem. Let me weave you my sequel of sorrow.

I came home one day to see the beginnings of this leaky ceiling problem springing up yet again. A tile was wetted through. I called the 24-hour maintenance line, I told them of my woes, and they...

…didn’t respond. They didn’t call me back at all, in fact. Not that day, not the day after. Never. So I called the leasing office. They put in a work order. I was content. The problem would finally be fixed! Only, what’s this? I came home to see the slip the maintenance man had left on my dining table, telling me they'd fixed the problem. "But," I exclaimed to myself, "the problem is not fixed! Lo, the ceiling tile doth still be wetted! The air conditioning unit doth persist in its dripping from on high!" I wept. Figuratively. I called maintenance again.

Again, they came. Again, they did NOT fix the problem.

I talked to the assistant manager. She told me she’d look into this issue herself, and I’d get a call back.

I awaited the assistant manager's call. A day went by. Two. Then a week. My ceiling tiles were still wet. I felt a twitch beneath my eye.

I went to the leasing office in person. They put in the work order. A maintenance man came. The problem was still not fixed.

Tonight, I came home, and my ceiling had sprung an all-too-familiar leak. The floor beneath it was drenched. I called the leasing office. I exclaimed “My ceiling is leaking!” They put in the work order. I waited.

And received no call. Nobody came to my rescue. The bucket I left beneath the ceiling sounds its drip, drip, dripping song: a ballad to my lament. For I’m a tenant, stuck in his lease for another 6 months, and I’m helplessly saddled with an unsympathetic staff.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this review. On a serious note, this is hardly the only instance of this sort of thing happening. For a while my bathtub faucet handle was also steadily leaking, and it took me putting in a work order three times, THEN explaining that I had ordered the same work done three times, for them to actually implement a long-term solution.

I am frustrated. And, frankly, the rent here is too expensive for...

Overall, I really enjoyed Rio Vista. The location is great (I walked to Trader Joe's and The Union every once in a while and I used the river path constantly). The rent was reasonable. The free AC is really nice. The maintenance staff was awesome and hard-working. For example, my freezer wasn't actually freezing stuff when I first moved in. They came and worked on it and said to let them know if that fixed the problem. It didn't, and I let the office know and told them they could come in while I was at work during the day. I came home to a whole new fridge, which was much nicer than having to try to deal with one that was just too old.

Speaking of old, the apartments are pretty old. They're in decent shape, but it definitely shows in places. Also the residents are pretty varied, but there are a lot of retirement-age people, if that matters to you. The management is obviously trying to change the appearance of the complex to make it more modern. While I lived there they painted everything and cut down like all the trees (we need more trees, not less... in my opinion), which was pretty annoying. This probably won't be an issue for potential residents, but waking up to chainsaws on the weekends or constantly having to walk/park around workers was not great.

I liked the place for the price, but here's some cons to keep in mind. I had some issues getting hot water at times. The staff said there was always plenty of additional parking, but this wasn't always the case. I occasionally had to park pretty far away (my roommate got the covered parking spot), especially when they closed like half the parking for the painting (not very well thought out, in my opinion). The laundry card situation is stupid: if the office is closed you can't put money on your card and even then there's a $5 minimum (why??). Don't expect to use any of the additional rooms: the workout room is basically nothing and super hot and the "sauna" doesn't work and obviously hasn't been maintained in a very long time. Finally, living on the first floor led to some loud footsteps from above at times, but that's probably to be expected for...

Enjoyed the initial meeting and property tour, but... Rental rates fluctuate daily and HSL Properties will not honor originally agreed upon rate even though all deposit/required fees are paid in full at the time of application. June 30th: I filled out online application for 6-month lease and paid all required advance fees ($240). Community Director (CD) informed me she would call me July 1st to process/approve my application so I could move in on either July 2nd or 5th. No such call occurred. Was told I would also receive a 'welcome' email with instructions on setting up my electricity before move-in. No such email was received. July 2nd, 3rd, and 5th: Only the CD can approve applications Although the leasing office was open for business, my application was not processed/approved because CD was on vacation. July 6th: CD had another staff member call me and confirm the 6-month lease term, not 12-month lease. Told staff member that Charlotte never inquired about my needs and must have assumed the 12-months sale. That's when the tone of my relationship with staff changed. That's when staff refused to honor the original online quote for 6-month lease and significantly increased the monthly rate. July 6th: I called CD and expressed my unhappiness and frustration over, 1) four-day delay of my application, and 2) delay regarding target move-in date of July 1st or 2nd, and 2) failure to honor original rate even though I paid all required fees up front. CD was apathetic when I withdrew my application. There was no attempt to address my concerns and resolve the situation. Reply to Owner Response: Apparently there's on concern whatsoever. There's only confusion and lack of internal/external communication on your end. You failed to honor the original online quote even though my application was submitted and $240 fees were paid on June 30th. Due to delays on your end not mine, the rate was changed to July 6th rates which were significantly higher. This before I ever...