Hyde Square Apartments — Local services in Bellevue

3 stars before moving out days, 1 star to moving out experience.

I used to live at hyde square until last Sunday. The general experience is okay, it has a nice gym with a sauna room. The lounge and common space are excellent, you could hold some group events with your friends. Some staffs are nice, like Jenny, she is an awesome girl, always willing to offer help with patience. In short, I had a lot of good memories here.

However, I also had a feeling that the management of the apartment need to improve. I lived in building B, and didn’t have a chance to explore other buildings, so all my feedback is based on this building. There are two elevators here, and one is often out of service, I’m pretty sure it is not because the elevator was reserved but just broken. If I remembered correctly, the front elevator was broken for weeks last October or November which was super inconvenient, just considering all people living in a 7-story building, how long you need to wait for that elevator to come to your floor. Secondly, one of garage doors has been broken since Jan, and have been repaired yet. I don’t know if they left the garage door unrepaired with purpose, but I do feel inconvenient when there is little traffic at the entrance, sometimes, since one door can’t be used. In addition, my neighbor’s stuff, not mine, was stolen from his vehicle when he parked inside the garage. Other small items, like trash shut chutes’ doors can’t open, could happen to any apartment, so I won’t mention it.

Good/bad things can apply to any other apartment, but the reason I want to write this review is that I had a bad moving-out experience. I understand there is no good moving-out experience in the world, packing things, cleaning floors, dropping garbage etc. I acknowledged the fact and tried to make it better this time. I sent out a moving out notice a few weeks before my lease ended, paid the cleaning fees immediately, and reserved the elevator for moving out purposes. I also hired people to help. However, the load elevator was broken again, (why am I not too surprised?) one day before I moved out. As a result, due to the fire department policy, I can’t reserve the other elevator. The load entrance is so far away from the apartment and that’s the only elevator in the service, which slow the whole process.

It took us three hours to move out from hyde but only 1.5 hours to move into the new apartment. Since I paid moving people based on working hours, I feel I should talk to the manager with Hyde to see if I can get any compensation. That’s what I did on Monday. I acknowledge the fact that I may end up with nothing, but I still feel very upset after the conversation. The reason is the manager seems doesn’t feel any symphony on my experience. I told her I understand the fire policy is here so that I can’t reserve the elevator, and I told the complaint is not personal, I even appreciate the help from her staff, but I feel I paid the rent which also included two elevators usage and the right I can reserve one for purpose, if one is out of service, I should be able to get compensated. She refused this statement and told me no legal documents support that rent including the usage of two elevators(good point). Next, I said I might need to consult a lawyer since I’m not expert of those things. Then she asked to provide the contract with the moving company and receipt which I can’t since I didn’t sign any (my fault). At this moment, I was pretty sure that I can get nothing, but I told her if that was okay if I can leave the feedback based on this experience, and I assure her I will be as objective as I can. I just want to give other people who are interested in this complex some data points. Then the funny thing comes, the manager here immediately interpreted this feedback thing as a “threaten”, she literally used that word to me, which was the strongest word I have ever heard those years. I’m a kind person, so I spend a few mins to her that I don’t want to “threaten” anyone here, but still, I feel upset about the...

My horrible ordeal begun back in October 2018 when I first toured here, fell in love with the place and immediately placed a deposit. 8 months later still haven’t been able to move in.

Tons of emails, delayed building constructions, I was even informed at one point the construction company had a strike so the building where my future unit was, was not going to be ready at the time they had stated. Back in Feb 2019. it was delayed again.

I remained patient. Hopeful. I finally was contacted towards the beginning of April 2019 and asked to submit documents needed to support my arch program application. I did. The leasing agent took off on vacation. When I followed up, I was informed by Mieko and the Manager Sarah that my application and paperwork had been submitted and would take 2-4 weeks.

I followed up 2 weeks later yesterday and was informed the paperwork had just been submitted afew days prior which upset me to no end. There were no apologies. Infact Shanden the leasing agent had the audacity to respond with “well I was gone a couple of days”.

My paperwork was submitted on 4/14/19. Today is 4/30/19. I’m not sure what his definition of a couple of days translated to, but by my count that was 15 days of utter incompetence.

Very poor sporadic communication and lack of transparency is what appears to be the norm there.

Extremely rude leasing staff. Zero accountability. Niko? Or Mieko has the worst attitude for a leasing agent. I once observed him respond to a resident complaining about noise with “ I‘ve already talked to your neighbor, if he’s still loud and noisy there’s nothing else we can do”. At the time I grimaced. Chocked it off to the agent having a bad day and still placed a deposit in good faith.

Let’s keep in mind this isn’t a fast food joint with unhappy 5 dollar menu customers complaining 24-7. People are paying thousands of dollars to have leasing staff treat them terribly.

Shanden the leasing agent has ZERO accountability. Unapologetic. Straight forward lie and has excuses on why he can’t be held accountable.

I’m of the opinion at this point that this apartment complex discriminates on people of color. And lord forbid if you’re trying to apply for an arch unit, they treat you like you’re beneath their class.

I have left several messages for the manager to return my calls and still haven’t heard back from her. If there was a negative zero rating for this place I would rate it at that, that’s being generous.

For anyone wanting to lease here, DON’T let the fantastic amenities fool you, PLEASE be ware. The level of incompetence with the leasing team is astonishing. These folks should be removed from dealing with people, . Period. Retrained and if possible reassigned to work far away from the general public.

My next step is contacting King county housing for the arch program to file a discrimination complaint. While nothing may come of it, at least I didn’t sit and suffer in silence. Perhaps I can save the next unfortunate resident considering leasing here. RUN.

Avoid this place if you can. I feel sorry for anyone living here. And by the looks of the folks here it’s mostly different nationalities. Perhaps this may be why the leasing agents are getting away with this terrible behavior.

I can account for poor judgement in personal choices I make but I cannot in all fairness pay people to treat me like a 2nd class citizen, take my hard earned money ( in form of rent) simultaneously fart in my face, flip me off and call it great customer service.

I’ll take my business elsewhere where I feel respected, welcomed and appreciated for bringing my business to that establishment.

Exemplary customer service is non...

To those looking to move to Bellevue, WA and looking at Hyde Square... DON'T.

Most important, management will do nothing about your complaints.

Reasons why: Rent may seem cheaper than other places but there are ton of hidden fees. My water bill for a 1B/1B is consistently $200+. My usage is only ~$30, the rest is from fees, surcharges, etc. The management won't give you an explanation as to why it is so high or ways to decrease such cost. Extra costs are but not limited to: 1) $200+ water charges, 2) $20/ monthly Gas charges when everything is electric, 3) Parking $125 or $225 for reserved, 4) $10 to receive packages, 5) Parking decal $25 (this should cost $1 max).

Packages get "lost" or stolen constantly, the screen's are always glitching or don't work. Again, management does nothing. The lockers are located in the garage where anyone who doesn't live in the apartment complex has access to them. We pay $10 to even receive our packages, which to be honest, they do nothing special and should be a basic necessity in the world we live in today.

Car break ins. Security is incompetent. My car got broken into in the garage for a spot we pay $125 extra monthly. The complex takes no responsibility. They had video footage of this happening but refused to share or do anything about it.

Move out charges: Your apartment could be spotless and you'll still get charged nearly $200 for cleaning fee. Proven with pictures and videos.

Trash shoots never work, which you pay for. People leave their garbage in the room but that smell reeks out into the hallway and it stinks up the entire hallway to the point where a special carpet cleaning company would come out every couple of weeks to 'clean' the carpet. The trash would stink up the entire hall and even our apartment due to its proximity to the point where we were experiencing breathing issues. We told the lead manager and they did nothing about it. The 'sent' someone to take the trash once a day but it would fester overnight and most days wouldn't be picked up until the entire room was filled with trash or if we notified the office which should not be our responsibility to do so.

No dog friendly area for them to relieve themselves. There's a large patch of grass in the courtyard but pets aren't allowed to relieve themselves there. You have to take them on the grass closes to one of the busiest streets (155th). Very dangerous with young puppies.

People will steal your parking spot even though you pay for a reserved spot. The parking spots are all compact so your car is likely to get side swiped.

You'll see cops and firefighters 3-4 times a week in the complex. Once there was a individual running around throwing an axe and yelling profanities. Not an entirely safe place to be, especially those with children.

Management is always changing so the rules always change. They charge you for random things without telling you when the new rules are put in place. If you had an agreement with the previous management, it likely won't hold up with new...