Aventerra at Dobson Ranch Apartments — Local services in Mesa

All I can say is RUN far away from this place it is wretched!!!

It is has been four months since my review below, and it just keeps getting worse. Maintenance issues, water turns off still and they increased water charges although there is no water to use.

I lived here without incident for a year. Because of that, I chose to re-sign my lease, but that is when everything went to hell in a handbasket.

At the beginning of the year, I received the paper work to resign my lease. Since the amount was not outrageous, I decided to resign. I gave the front office my paperwork and thought nothing more about it.

For four months, I received phone calls from the main office asking if I wanted to renew when I already had. Three different times I went in and re-signed the documents because they lost them. The fourth time they tried to charge me more for my rent because they could not find the original lease I signed. After an hour of my time and showing the manager the copies of the original documents, they finally decided to give me the amount I originally agreed upon and signed on four months prior.

However, each month I still have to go into the office to remind them of my lease amount as no one has ever updated their system. Their system has it that I am paying month to month which is 1500 above my normal lease amount. On average, it takes several days to get this straightened out.

Then there is the water. At any given moment and without notice, they will turn off the water. If you choose to live here, then invest in a lot of bottled water. You will need it in case you want to shower or use the bathroom. I have talked to the office manager about this, and I was told the city makes them do it. Interestingly no other complex around here has their water shut off as frequently or without warning. I know because I have called other complexes and have asked.

The property has 2 pools which your rent pays for, but you can only use one. The main pool is only opened until 7 PM. So if you would like to go for a swim after the sunsets, well it won't be happening here.

The A/c units are old. For over a month which is during the hottest part of the year (summer) now my a/c has had issues. Twice it has stopped working, and now it floods my hallway. The maintenance guys come in with a shop vac to vacuum up the water and tell me it is the humidity that is causing the flood. Ummm...right?! Since they don't actually fix the issue, I am left calling them night after night to come and vacuum up the water. The office doesn't seem to care as they have not offered any other solution.

When the a/c did go out, I asked the management company to call me given I have a pet. They assured me the problem would be taken care of right away, and they would notify me. After two hours, I ran home from work to discover the a/c was still not working. I had to take my pet to a daycare for the day. Again, I asked the complex to call and let me know when the a/c was working so I could bring my pet back home. They said they would let me know. I called every 2 hours and was told they would get back to me. By the time I got home, the a/c was barely working, and I never received a call from the management company.

Oh and if you have any problems, don't expect to hear back from the actual manager. On countless times I have called requesting a call from the manager with absolutely no response. I have gone in to talk to the manager and the pat answer is she is on a conference call so it may be hours before she is available. Then, the office clerk will hand you a business card and request that you send an email to corporate with your issue. After the third time of no response, I chose to sit in the lobby and wait until she was available which was not even close to an hour.

The bottom line is there are so many other options in apartments in this area. If I had to do it all over again, I would never have re-signed my lease. This place is a total nightmare. I am counting down the days until I can wash my hands...

Hey FYI lots of these new reviews (5/1/24) are forced and driven by front office staff asking for a positive review while you’re in the office.

The TLDR:

Pros: Close to the local collage. Neighborhood is safe. Built in washer and dryer. Remarkably quiet!

Cons: Hidden charges that aren’t stated in the advert for the apartment. ~40-60 usd in ‘service fees’ Sub flooring is rotted. Rotted enough to cause holes and waviness in the floors. Some of the decks are rotted and aren’t safe. (Staff mentioned this to other staff) Appliances are cheap are inefficient. Maintenance is extremely understaffed and is unable to preform proper maintenance. Windows are very old. Water is randomly gets shut off for hours at a time two or three times a year. By accidental admission from the office staff “some of the apartments are in such bad shape they want to relocate the current residence” Staff engage in unethical practices to try and boost review scores. No parking available if you have two or more cars. Electric will be 200-300 dollars higher on average.

My advice? Go elsewhere. Below are some of the experiences. I’ve had to delete chunks because this review is getting too long.

Oh hey! The picture I posted here. You’re breathing that.

——— Below are my notes.

Update: 7/11/2024

Hey! I got some fun stuff for you this time around.

In my original post, I mentioned holes in the floor apartment management won’t look at it so here's what I've found. The sub flooring is rotted, improperly installed despite being new: already in need of replacement.

Additionally the apartment building attention to detail in other things is (I can’t say this enough) strongly lacking.

A list made by the inspector.

Sub flooring is rotted Air vents are filled with compacted dust and air intake for the AC is partially blocked by paint. (This is bad, more on this later) Upstairs walkways wood is in poor condition and will need replacing soon. Kitchen electrical is out of code: No GFCI protection. (This is really bad fyi) Sorry: Edit: It's there just INSTALLED in the wrong place. Kitchen sink drain pipes are too long and could potentially leakage. Outside kitchen vent is blocked by paint.

——

I’ve also been doing my research in the apartments various appliances. Most of the HVAC units in here are SEER 14 (this is below average for Arizona homes)

In basic terms: you’re paying 13 dollars more a MONTH on average in on your electric bill. Combo that with single panel non Uv protected windows. You’re average electricity bill is going to be higher. Closer to 30-40 dollars a month higher than average. Looking at comparable houses with similar square footage.

On the low end, you’re paying anywhere between 200-300 annually more on your electrics because of their loving choice of cheap appliances.

Other notable things major issues will take a minimum of a month to fix because of back orders. (Thanks to severe maintenance understaffing)

———

(5/1/24)

Safe neighborhood. Best thing I can say.

Expect to pay a lot for electric 180-200 a month, buildings don’t have modern windows.

Giant gaping holes under the vinyl flooring so prepare to trip over those. Office said they won't do anything about them with us, Looking at reviews further back (2020) the issue is still present. If they had it and I have it, you'll have it. Definitely mentioning that to to a higher authority.

Parking is impossible to find if you’re a 2/3 bedroom. GOOD LUCK

Buildings are borderline slum designation. Maintainers seem either understaffed or under experienced.

If you need more here it is below.

Apartment will never do the maintenance you asked. Buildings are old and in desperate need REAL care. Not the half baked stuff they’ve been doing. Last real remodel in ours was in the 2000’s by the looks of the appliances date codes. Windows are single pane from the 70-80’s heat just wafts through them. Floors are heavily warped. Air conditional makes a massive bang every time it turns on because the air ducts aren’t...

DO NOT RENT HERE. This apartment complex is a joke. My issues started from day 1 when I moved in, the apartment itself was dirty, my washing machine was filling up with water and not spinning at all. I put in several maintenance requests upon move in due to the fact that I had a non working washing machine, my bedroom window came without a lock on it at all, and my toilet was not flushing properly. After a week of getting no updates about anything being fixed and stopping into the office several times to question when maintenance would come to my apartment I did some research on the arizona landlord tenant act and started submitting written requests for my apartment to be maintenanced properly by law a month after my requests were initially made. A day later maintenance was in my apartment and stated that there was nothing wrong with the washing machine and that they put a 6 foot drain snake down my toilet. The rest of my lease I spent with a washing machine that would bang so loudly that it sounded like it was going to break and my toilet issues came back within a week.

By march my air conditioning was not working anymore when I turned it on after the cold months. Leaving my apartment to be around 80 degrees, I immediately submitted another written request due to the issues I had seen with their maintenance before, their solution was to replace an air filter that was “dirty”. Of course my air conditioning still wasn’t working and I had to submit another form. This time they put a portable air conditioner in my apartment that was set up in my patio door leaving me unable to properly shut it if I wanted it to run. This was a huge safety risk for me as I was a single woman living alone. The set up was also falling apart and I came home after work to the portable overheating and my apartment was at 88 degrees. I went into the office with another form stating they had 5 days because it was a safety issue and the girls in the office stated they can’t sign forms anymore to show that they received them. When I asked for the manager of the property she was “not in” and they “didn’t even know if she would sign it”. It took them a month in total for my air conditioning to be fixed.

2 months later I come home to an ant infestation in my BEDROOM. Ants were all over the walls, my stuff on the floor, and in the carpets. I immediately left a voicemail about needing pest control and bought my own ant traps, it was absolutely disgusting to see the amount of ants that were traveling through the floor to get into these traps because i was on the upper level. Pest control came to spray but told me they could not do anything about the infestation area since i set my own bait out and THANK GOD I did after reading reviews of other people’s ant problems because mine actually worked. A week before my move out date my air conditioner goes out AGAIN. This time it was hotter and my apartment was at 85 during the night and 92-95 during the day. Luckily I had already had another place to stay but ended up having to move all my belongings out of this unlivable apartment in the heat. Not to mention i cleaned everything also in the heat. Then the day I go to turn in my keys I stopped into my empty apartment to do a final look and my air conditioner is just running for no reason. Charging me for electricity I specifically turned off because I WAS NOT THERE. To top it all off I was charged $40 for a pool key that was never received when I moved in and after telling the front office girl I never got it she stated it was in my file that I did and then blamed me for misplacing it. I don’t misplace keys, they’ve been on my same key chain since I moved in and looking back I remember the girl who helped me move in say that I could come in later for the pool key because she didn’t have one for it yet. I did not want to use the pool so i never worried about it. $40 for a $2 copied key is some BS. Then i was charged $65 for them to clean a trash can, a ceiling fan, and a lint catcher. STAY FAR AWAY AND KNOW...