1800 Ashley West — Local services in Charleston

I haven’t lived in an apartment environment in many years; however there are some things that are expected, and other things that are just NOT okay. I’ve waited for a month after moving in to write a review. I would like to share my experiences this far.

When I first came to view the apartment and learn the rental process, I was greeted by Davis. He showed me several 2BR/ 2BA apartments. The one that I decided on wasn’t fully in turn key status, however Davis assured me it would be completely turned before my move-in date. Davis was great, however only was at this location for a small timeframe. By the time I moved into my apartment he had already returned to Atlanta.

I paid my application/ admin fee online. I didn’t think anymore about it until I checked my bank statement and realized I was charged 3 times for that one fee. It’s a good thing my account wasn’t close to being overdrawn! The current manager, Evelyn tried to correct the error; however ultimately I had to have my bank correct the overcharge error.

When I got the key to my apartment I immediately went to check the condition of it, although I didn’t move my belongings into the apartment. The FIRST thing I noticed was the door! It obviously was kicked in, and didn’t securely close. I sent an email regarding this situation, shared that it was a safety issue, and requested a new front door. The door by the lock is completely cracked down the middle. It only has one lock, and even while locked, someone could give it one good push and easily gain access to the inside of my apartment. I can sit on my couch and see outside - this isn’t safe!!! I sent pictures, I was advised to send more pictures, which I did. I was advised that the issue would be addressed in 48 hours - nothing was done regarding my door.

It’s now time to pay rent (November). I paid rent via check. I have little confidence in the online portal since I was charged 3-4 times for the admin and application fee. I passed Maddy walking the property. I attempted to hand her my rent check. She was showing potential tenants the property and told me to drop it off in the rent deposit box at the office. That’s exactly what I did on the same day. On Nov. 5th I received a call that my rent wasn’t paid. I spoke with Evelyn and informed her that the rent was paid via check. She said they checked the box, and my check wasn’t there. The suggestion was to make another payment online. WTH??!! I checked with my bank and the check cleared on 11/5. No big deal, but I wouldn’t advise one to make online payments:especially if your account balance is low.

I asked for a copy of my lease. The lease is 40-50 pages, if not longer! I signed my lease with Evelyn, the current manager; however when I got a copy of the lease, which is extremely difficult to read everything online, I noticed someone by the name of Liz is the listed manager. I’m not aware of who Liz is, but that is the person who is down as signing my lease.🤷🏽‍♀️

Then there is the issue with the water bill. I was informed that there is a ‘3rd party company’ bills the tenants for water. This isn’t true! Some people pay for water, and others don’t. There is NO consistency with this. I would love to see a METER WITH MY WATER USAGE! One can take a survey of tenants here, and everyone will share a different experience regarding their water. Ironically I asked that the washer/dryer be removed from my apartment, yet the water bill is $55: the EXACT cost of one w/ washer/dryer in their apartment.🤔

I was told that I would receive a gift card if I signed my lease during the month of October. I did, so far no gift card received.

Pest control- there is no monthly pest control. My apartment has a roach problem. I turn on the kitchen or bathroom lights at night to be greeted by roaches. Yuck! They come out “when there is a problem”…ummm, why not do monthly pest control as a preventative measure?

Please speak English when residents are in the office. It’s a bit rude to only speak Spanish when residents are present.

NO repairs addressed.☹️

UPDATE-...

DO NOT RENT AN APARTMENT HERE! I lived in what was Moss Creek, now 1800 Ashley West for five an a half years. (So, this will be a long an thorough review) The new company VTT Management is ripping residents off, providing horrible customer service, and in short running an awful complex. For example, VTT changed out all the locks and painted doors on the units. No big deal, but while changing mine out, left the lock off the door while on a break. I came home to find my laptop stolen off the table right inside the door. Nobody was around and my door was wide open with no lock on it at all. Management (Ryane) and Maintenance claimed it was the contractor’s fault, and offered NO assistance in dealing with either the police or the contractor. Ryane herself told me it was up to me to deal with the contractor they hired. All the while offering not even a verbal apology. The washing machine in my unit quit working about a year ago. VTT and Ryane first claimed that they wouldn’t replace it before I showed them the lease that included it. So, I returned home to find a “new” one in there. Only problem was it was full of mold and mildew. The complex and maintenance installed a moldy washing machine in my unit. Needless to say they were slow in fixing this issue as well. Before I go into the myriad of other issues let me tell you how they treat long term residents. On January 31st of this year I got a lease renewal notice for my lease ending at the end of March. The Rent and Water both increased. On February 14th I went to the office and spoke with Ryane about the new rates. Ryane told me she would look it over and get back to me about a lower rate. On February 26th after not hearing back, I again stopped by the office. The girl at the front let Ryane know I was there and she shouted from her office that, “I’m busy filing reports! I’ll get back to you.” Not until March 7th did I return from work to find a notice about my ‘adjusted lease rates’. She had taken $10 off. Now, this was 24 days before my lease was set to expire. So, that night I wrote to both VTT and Ryane stating that I would be vacating the complex, however, I asked to have a full 30 days to do so since I had just received my notice of renewal. The next day I got an email back saying I was cleared to vacate on the 6th of April. Great right? No. I ended up moving out by the 31st having found another place to live. I cleaned, I turned in keys, left a forwarding address, and was out by the 31st. Did I get my $200 deposit back? Nope. I got $4.20! Four-Dollars-And-Twenty-Cents! Why? Because 1800 Ashley West and VTT Management despite clearing me to move out in 30 days, charged me a pro-rated month to month rate from April 1-6th totaling $186.80 AND $9.00 for Utilities which I had switched over to my new place on the 31st. Again, I was out and gone before April 1st. I sent two emails before they mailed out the check in protest neither of which were answered. Don’t try and contact VTT! Everything goes to voicemail which goes unanswered. Don’t write! It will go unanswered. Don’t email. They won’t respond. Don’t let them claim these issues are because of ‘renovation and exciting changes.’ This is not just the ramblings of one disgruntled resident, I spoke with at least 5 of my neighbors who had similar issues ranging from broken fixtures to crumbling walls and moldy utility closets that management would not properly address. Also, all residents will suffer through management randomly cutting off the water with no notice. Or they will put out a notice saying they will do it at some point in a two week period and then turn it off at 8am on a weekday. Before this goes on any farther let me just say that I could go on for quite some time about 1800 Ashley West since VTT Management has taken over. However, I’ve already spent too much time on this for what they’re worth. Save yourself a full year of your life and DO NOT...

I am a current tenant at 1800 Ashley West and I’ve been living here for 2 years. While my first year was quite uneventful leading me to, now regretfully, renew my contract here, it was a few weeks into my second year that I really understood why 1800 Ashley West is so poorly rated.

In my long-experience of renting, 1800 Ashley West has by far THE most incompetent and unprofessional management I’ve had to deal with.

My apartment flooded 3 weeks ago for reasons that I still have not received any information on from the management. My home was left to flood from Sunday afternoon until Monday morning because the Maintenance Emergency service was out of service since the management had “temporarily” suspended it. The property manager blatantly denied this and it took several videos and screenshots of my call log to finally convince them to restore the service so other tenants would not be affected.

In the 3 weeks that my apartment has been affected and needing repair, there has been NO communication and I have received ZERO updates from the management despite my many e-mails and phone-calls. All the effort on my end to get in touch to have my home repaired was simply overlooked and ignored. I have been required to make a presence in the office every day for the past 3 weeks to request for updates and for the maintenance technician to come back and finish partially completed jobs in the house. Today, I’m headed into week 4 since the incident and still sitting in an apartment with barely finished paint-jobs and broken fixtures.

Even though the flooding incident and the damages were contributory to the building’s poor maintenance and lack of the Maintenance Emergency service when needed, the management appears to have simply washed their hands off of taking responsibility and repairing the damages in a timely manner.

I would, therefore, strongly recommend against choosing 1800 Ashley West to live in. Not only are the apartments overpriced for their size and amenities, the new management is extremely incompetent and unprofessional. For those coming from out-of-state (like myself), I have learnt that the rent for most apartment complexes in Charleston are pretty much within a comparable range and equally accessible to most locations/highways. I would, therefore, encourage you to keep an open mind and shop around and not rush into choosing 1800 Ashley...