The Yards at Old State — Local services in Ferguson Township

When trying to apply for this place and sign a lease they rush you into the process and call you everyday and that you must sign your lease before spots fill up and rent prices get higher. (however I do not believe any spots were filled up). About a week after applying I signed my lease 6 months in advance because I thought they were being honest and this place fills up quickly. Months went by and I still have no information on what apartment I was assigned. It was a week before move in date and I had to personally contact the office asking where I was assigned to live in. They didn't have an answer the first time I called and I had to keep calling them and asking. Once I finally got a hold of someone that could answer my question, they told me "I actually wasn't assigned a place and I have to resign a lease", so much for rushing me into the process of signing when I had to sign a new one 1 week before my move in date anyways. Once I moved into the apartment I got everything seemed fine. However, when moving in they give you a room key and a mail key. I realized I did not receive a mail key. I go to the office they say, "Uhh are you on the list to receive a mail key?" I did not know there was a list and everyone else I knew moving in here got a mail key upon arrival. They told me to come back and they would have one for me. However, they did not take my name down. I go back a few days later and ask again. Now they are telling me "I must contact maintenance through the app to request a mail key." Why do they tell me new and false information every time I go there? I request a mail key through the app and I have not heard anything since then. It has 5 months and still nothing.

A few weeks after arriving, I ordered packages and they get sent to the office. Even if your package say it is delivered on amazon, USPS, FedEx etc., DO NOT expect to get it the same day. When I go to the office asking about my packages, the people working there don't seem to care and do not want to look for my package. If your package does get sorted through, it takes multiple days after being delivered to actually get to you. Sometimes packages get sent to my front door as well, however they get stolen. When calling the office to ask if there is anything they can do they say there is nothing that they can do and they have no security footage to see what happened to my package. Another instance, I got a package delivered to the office from amazon and in my amazon app, it said it had been delivered. I go to pick up my package from the office and they tell me "well sometimes they will tell you it is delivered and it actually isn't, come back another time and maybe your package will be here." Never once has amazon told me my package was delivered and it actually wasn't. About 15 minutes after I left the office, they called me telling me they found my package, (meaning they didn't even try looking the first time I came in). Another time, I had a picture of proof of delivery in the office from the shipping company, and the said that they could not locate my package and there is nothing they could do for me. They claimed "the carrier might have taken it back". I find this very hard to believe since I have a picture of proof of delivery in their office.

The people working at the front desk to no care about any issues you are having and they do not want to deal with problems that are their fault. They are rude and disrespectful. When going to them about issues, they always redirect me to someone else. They tell me to file police claims about missing packages, talk to maintenance or contact delivery services. THEY DO NOT WANT TO HELP YOU.

Lastly, they claim they have "valet trash". They have strict rules, it can't be too heavy, no boxes, etc. This, I can understand. However, there has been multiple times on days they claim that they collect trash and my trash is still in the trash bin the next day. Please do not spam my email with trash "rules and regulations" when you can't even...

If I could give 0 stars I would.

I just called the office about an hour ago stating they sent us (me and my roommates) and email on the 5th at 8:15 pm stating they were doing an inspection on the 6th from 12-2pm. It is illegal to not give a 24 hour notice keep that in mind. The person I was talking to said “well you had enough time” but I didn’t. I was at work and my dog is reactive to certain things and will need to be sedated at very specific times to help calm him down. This person also stated that it was just some people from corporate or something doing inspections on only a few houses so they just sent the email to everyone and said no one is coming if no one came already. So much for sedating my dog for absolutely no reason which is not a healthy thing to do (I work at an animal hospital so I am pretty educated on this). The person then took a huge pause and eventually said “Thanks for calling” and we hung up.

The place is a mess. Every time my roommate and I walk our dogs they almost always eat something that is outside because they do not keep up with landscaping or trash. We have had a 13 gallon- as they request- trash bag sitting at the bottom of our trash can for weeks now.

Our dryer has been non functioning for months now. We have put multiple maintenance requests in to fix it and every time they tell us it’s fixed but then a few days later it breaks again. Most recently the one maintenance guy told us we needed a new dryer which we figured but then when we called they said they were just waiting for a specific piece…? Anyways- our dryer is still barely working so we have been hang drying all of our stuff which is just frustrating with how much this place costs.

None of our fans work, there are handles missing from some drawers, we have a cabinet that just falls apart when you open it, this place is not built good at all. So be careful when opening or using things because 9 out of 10 times it will break!

The wifi- that is all I have to say

If you have a reactive dog or a dog aggressive dog- good luck walking them outside because there are residents who do not care at all about the “all pets must be on leash” rule. I have called the yards about this before as my dog is reactive and does not like other dogs running up on him (I mean cannot blame him I wouldn’t want a stranger running up on me randomly) and the other dog tried to fight mine. I had to run to my house and put my dog back inside and physically carry the unleashed dog back to their owner. Sure this is more the owners fault but you would think the yards would be more strict about this rule as unleashed dogs can lead to dangerous situations. Imagine they ran into the street and got hit or ran up to a person who is scared of dogs or ran up to a dog and startled them and caused a fight? Also- people here suck at picking up their dogs poop so be careful because you will probably step in some and it could be dangerous to your own pets if they get near it as fecal matter can contain worms or parasites, etc.

Anyways- yeah do not recommend this place. After 2 years of this I called it quits once my lease...

Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure whether to give them a 1 star or 2 star. The problem is not the customer service that they provide but the information that they give us. Me and my three other friends had applied for a lease to Whitaker. Two of them doing so way back during spring semester and me and the other friend in June/early July because they were openly advertising it. I had called too and requested to be roommates with the three and they said okay we will have that noted. Early move in date was never clarified to us from the start and one actually told my friend she is able to move in August 1st, but obviously it wasn’t true at all.

Regarding the friend that signed her lease in early july, they supposedly called to inform her that the Whitaker housing isn’t available when she signed up for it and that they couldn’t reach her. That was a lie as she returned the call right away and they didnt say anything in regards to the floor plan. They told her just yesterday that , “there is a glitch in the system which makes it to where fully-taken houseplans still appears as tho its available.” PROBLEM IS I CALLED IN MULTIPLE TIMES after July 18th too to confirmed roommates and they didnt say anything in regards to all the whitakers being taken. Since whitaker is a 5 bedroom plan, you have me and my 2 other friends. Yet lets just say Girl G herself is excluded while a two paired couple was placed into the remaining spots instead when everyone of our roommates stated we would prefer to have a girl for the last spot since everyone else knew eachother and is fully comfortable. We also called to see if there is another option for us 4 to be together but they told us that they can place us in UPTON but with a increase in rent and less promotion WHEN THE WHOLE THING WAS THEIR FAULT TO BEGIN WITH. They made the mistake and didn’t bother fixing the glitch or informing on social media platforms on what floorplans is actually available and what isnt. So why is it that as a result, we have to get our rent increased for something that went wrong on their side? They approved of our roommate matching, we all signed our leases for Whitaker. I have photo proofs of it too, yet now Girl G somehow is on a waitlist and we’re stuck with not one but two strangers. One of them a guy on top of that when we all requested for FEMALES.

Everyone else is pretty uncomfortable with having a male STRANGER to share a house with. It’s just upsetting that we were told different things each time and when they said theyll fulfill something they just never do it. Don't even get me started on how they technically cheat out students with making us pay 12 months of rent installment when it’s technically only 11 months...