The Row — Local services in Columbia

So to preface: I am not a current resident and haven’t been for about a year but I got bored one night, looked at reviews of this place and found some 5 star reviews I believe are fake and wanted to leave an honest one. I believe some of them are fake because I’ve had conversations with a few who left them, and at one point they had told me otherwise. I don’t know if things had changed then from now but I do not believe it to be the case.

When I moved in, I knew that I was going to have issues with this place because their online portal was overcharging me rent. I went to the office where the worker attempted to argue with me until we took at a look at the lease which clearly showed they were overcharging me. They did the same thing to one of my roommates who was set on automatic payments and didn’t realize she was being overcharged for months. She only found out when the online payment portal broke and they refused to give her or any other resident an extension on payment, even if they were on auto-pay. This was less than a days notice that the portal was broken and those who did not pay by the end of the day they would get penalized. My roommate and I drove to a bank to get a cashiers check when I noticed she requested a higher dollar amount than necessary. To the complexes credit, they did refund her the extra money they were taking each month and applied it to the next month’s rent payment.

The second issue I had is related to the roads. While they did make improvements to the roads at one point, they failed to communicate that the construction crew would need to block off the whole entrance for hours making many students late to class/work. While waiting to be let out of the complex by the construction crew I called the office to make a complaint, as I would be late to my new job at the time. While on the phone with the leasing office, they sent out an email stating that construction would be ongoing throughout the day, but even then there was no mention that the construction would prevent individuals from coming in or out of the complex. The office then attempted to argue with me again, stating they had sent a notice, thinking I wouldn’t notice the timestamp of the email. In my opinion, this was both petty and stupid.

The next issue I had was in relation of an apartment tour. The complex failed to notify myself and another roommate they were going to allow a potential tenant to tour the apartment. They notified only one of my roommates but we are all on separate leases and so they should have notified us individually. I was not at home when this incident happened, but when the leasing officer showed up to the apartment with the prospective tenant, she had the audacity to yell at my roommate (with a foot injury at the time) for not answering the door quickly enough, despite never notifying her of a tour in the first place. They then gave us less than a 12 hour notice that she would be moving in. Not sure if it stated in our lease that that was an acceptable timeframe for notification. Regardless, I found out another person was moving in and had toured our apartment without notification through an email sent in the late evening. This email told us we needed to have the place cleaned by 6 AM for move in or else they will fine us several hundred dollars.

My final issue is more a warning rather than an actual issue. I rented at the row my senior year of college and found out in the spring that I would be moving to Colorado right after graduation for a job. I believe they outline this clearly in their lease but they will not give you the option to buy out the rest of your lease. You have to find a sublease or else you’re stuck paying utilities for the months you don’t live there. It was particularly difficult for me to find a sublease for the last couple months of my lease because I had to move two states away. Again, not exactly an issue that is the fault of the complex, is their policy or was at the time, not sure if it has changed, but certainly something to keep in mind before...

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING LIVING HERE!!!!! This has to be the most poorly managed apartment complex in Columbia mo. I lived here in 2023, and my friend lives here currently (2024). They are completely irresponsible with utility charges, sometimes billing up to 3 months at once without notice or paperwork to back up the random charges. (We think we were overcharged multiple months in a row by hundreds of dollars) their maintenance crew is wonderful and quick, but management is unwilling to replace broken appliances in a timely manner. Our fridge broke 3 times while living here and they wouldnt replace it for months. Our entire fridge and freezer worth of groceries spoiled 3 separate times and they were unwilling to reimburse for the over $600 in groceries that were spoiled over the 3 times. Our washer also broke and we were unable to do laundry for over a month because they refused to replace it. They are HORRIBLE at pairing roommates, and allow and encourage hostile living arrangements, and do nothing to make anyone more comfortable. They describe themselves as ‘pet friendly’ but match pet owners with people specifically requesting no pets and are unwilling to rematch your roommate assignment after you’ve signed the lease. For pet owners, if the roommates request, you are required to kennel pets or keep them in your room when you are not home (which for a lot of us is 8-12 hours a day). Most of the units look nothing like the demo unit and have really nasty dirty carpet. Most are not hardwood like they claim. The amenities is another issue. When I moved in they promised us a new pool, a volleyball court, and a gym. They did nothing to the pool except for build a small deck (the pool is TINY!!! Not a resort style like they claim) they did not build the volleyball court, and the gym they offer is at their sister property- Elevate 10 mins away. No gym on site. They moved their office into the front of the pool and got rid of the pool restroom to cut costs (their previous office was in the demo unit, and they moved it to be able to rent that unit out). Their windows on the office now directly face the pool, and as a woman me and many other people I know that live there also feel very uncomfortable being watched while they swim. They also walk around the pool with a clipboard and interrogate if you live there, and kick out any guests you have over the 2 guest per tenant policy. All around they do not care about the tenants, only the money. When i lived there rent was $415 per room and is now up to almost $600 per room with no real improvements to the property. The only perks to living here is the garage, but you can find much cheaper properties who actually care about you everywhere else in columbia. Please do not rent here. You will most likely be unhappy.

ALSO!! Lots of their reviews are probably fake, when i lived there, they gave away prizes for google reviews, and i know lots of people (myself included) that left glowing reviews to enter their giveaways. Don't trust the good reviews, this place is...

I was a tenant of The Row for 2 years and would like to share my experience as a resident. In the first year I lived there, The Row had set out cones to do road work which ended up staying there for weeks with no progress. At the time parking on the street in The Row was still okay. I had to park on the road as some of my roommates used the garage and needed to leave in the mornings. I got a call one day while I was on campus informing me that they were starting the road work that day. This was the first time my roommates or I received notice saying when they planned on doing this roadwork. None of us had received a phone call, email, or door tag prior to this phone call. I asked if I could move my car after I got back from my classes and they said that would be okay. But by the time I got back, they had already torn up concrete within 5ft of my car with a jack hammer leaving paint chips and small chunks of concrete on the hood, grill, and side panels of my car. There was more work that needed to be done outside of right in front of my car. I don’t understand why they didn’t start in another location. The Rows upper level property manager at the time admitted fault to this and informed me to get estimates of the damage. I got them sent over in about 2 months and by that time that property manager had left and a new one had taken over. After looking at my estimates they said they needed time to come up with an answer. After over 6 months of back and forth through emails and phone calls they only offered a $200 fix at a repair shop they are good friends with. Which wouldn’t have covered my well over $2000 worth of paint damage that went down to bare metal. I had even gone to their friend's business and they had said that their repair work could not fix the damage on my car. All other estimates I received were in the $2000-$3000 price range to properly fix the damage. I then pursued legal action in a small claims court where I had signed documents from roommates and neighbors saying what happened to my car and they explained how there was no physical or electronic notice given about the road construction. In court The Row blatantly lied and said they had hung up door tags on every door talking about the construction. She even stated how she remembers putting one directly on my door but couldn’t even give my correct address. The judge believed their fictitious story and sided with them. So now I am stuck with thousands of dollars of damage to my car. When I ended my lease, they charged every resident who didn’t have a 1 inch laminated tag $15 if it was not returned at the end of the lease. This was never informed beforehand and I threw mine away because it was falling apart after being on my keys for 2 years. Overall terrible experience. Be careful signing...