Karbon Apartments — Local services in Newcastle

Top Line: Spend your well earned money elsewhere. You deserve better.

The Details:

I will start near the end of my story with Karbon.

On 1/3/2019 I received a noticed stuck near my door that began, “Thank you for choosing Karbon Apartments. You current lease expired on 1/31/2019. We are contacting you today to present you with renewal options.”

Excuse me? It’s only 1/3/2019 and you’re telling me the lease already expired almost a month from now? Makes no sense. A typo, perhaps.

The letter goes on with options for future. Yearly, month-to-month, etc. Toward the bottom it says, “This letter is not an offer to renew.”

The extra kicker is that my lease didn’t expire until 2/28/19!

Moving forward a bit, even if you leave the place clean and in good shape like I did, you’re still paying a cleaning fee that starts around $125 per unit. Yeah. One of those “goodbye” surprises buried in the fine print.

I called the police twice about domestic abuse happening above me. I documented everything and sent it to the management office. Nobody was arrested and nobody was evicted. I mentioned what I heard to neighbors and they noted the police had been called before on that couple. Karbon evidently knew about some kind of problem going on and never took action.

So, you can see what I am getting at so far. To say there is incompetence at the front office is an understatement.

For the smoking policy, I was told during my tour that there is no smoking allowed in the building. There is even a sign next to the door when you walk in, “Smoke Free Building.” So, one night I had a fan in my window and was woken up by the smell of someone smoking something below me on their balcony. I called the office the next morning and was told that the balcony might not be part of the building so it might be ok to smoke there. You read that right: they weren’t sure if the balcony was part of the building.

Don’t bother leaving a voicemail. They don’t return calls.

One thing I didn’t appreciate in the studio apartments is how bare the bathroom is. No counter space. No medicine cabinet. No hand towel ring or rack near the sink. Where does everything go? Also, half of the one closet I had was taken up by the water heater.

On the east side of one building is a moving company where it’s not unusual for trucks to idle through the night and day in the parking lot. Although rare, sometimes a truck will back up near the boundary fence with the apartment building and fumes waft up into your apartment.

Onsite cleaning and maintenance is hit or miss. There was an abandoned television in the hallway for a month and it might still be there. Someone pushed their Halloween pumpkins off their balcony and they remained smashed below in February.

Another odd thing I experienced was getting a storage unit. There was a waiting list. When I was told there was an open storage I couldn't get into the area where the storage units were. The person at the front office told me they didn’t know how to access the area either. Once they figured it out I found there was 7 storage units open! So, I wondered if there was ever a waiting list OR if they never knew because they didn’t even know how to get in the place.

So, why all the 5 star reviews from others? When maintenance fulfills a request, they push an email review request which goes to their Google reviews.

This building is 30 years old and is not designed to handle vibrations well. This also includes not insulating you well from normal activity noise levels.

When you are budgeting, keep in mind the trash/water/sewer are not included in your rent. Those extra utilities are going to run you at least $100 more a month. You also get to pay a $2.95 service fee for the privilege of paying rent online.

There is a saying that you get what you pay for. Not here. Spend your well earned money elsewhere. What you think you’re saving may cost your dearly.. You deserve better. When you see this place, don’t be tempted. Keep looking...

Imagine the most deplorable living conditions conceivable, akin to a den of illicit activities; that’s the grim reality of these apartments. The attached footage reveals the appalling neglect and is merely a glimpse into a series of disturbing events. From harboring fugitives leading to midnight police raids, to a management team, particularly Janessa, whose absence would be as effective as their presence.

The water was abruptly cut off for two days with barely any notice, leaving residents parched and without basic sanitary facilities. The stairwells, a dumping ground for refuse, reek of decay. Homeless individuals find refuge in these neglected corners, and the entrance security is a joke, with a door so defective it might as well be non-existent.

A seafood odyssey once permeated the building when a container of raw shrimp was abandoned, transforming the space into a makeshift fish market. The alarms, as reliable as clockwork, pierce the silence of the night at 2 AM. The stairways and hallways are marred by unspeakable filth, a testament to the non-existent security measures.

Packages left outside vanish within the hour, and the management’s response to communication and maintenance requests is a resounding silence. This litany of grievances is but a fraction of the ongoing saga, and recounting these horrors is a distressing ordeal in itself. Prospective residents, be warned: this is not merely an apartment complex; it’s a battleground for your sanity and safety.

Reply to Karbon’s response: your formatted response to every review doesn’t really make you guys look good. While every tenant is responsible to keep the surrounding clean and safe multiple communications to the front desk has been continuously ignored. You don’t want to take care of your tenants and act like you do just so that you can fill up the empty apartments and never take care of the people occupying. You deliberately ignore the safety and well being of the tenants. Your tenants are neither being paid nor are you full time hired maintenance workers. You guys suck and I hope you go out of business. No one deserved to be treated like the way you treat your tenants. I mean look at the video posted, does that look like a positive experience or bare minimum...

I had a terrible experience living at Karbon in Newcastle, WA, and I want to warn potential residents of the numerous issues I encountered. It was clear from the start that the management simply does not care about the property or its tenants.

Living in the C building was a nightmare. The door was constantly broken to go into the building when it was suppose to be key fob access only, lights were frequently out, and the hallways were never cleaned.

The trash situation was appalling, with overflowing bins and litter scattered everywhere. The garbage can for animal waste was so full that it fell off its hinges, creating a health hazard for both humans and animals. The leasing office was unresponsive and never addressed or resolved our concerns.

Also, there was only one trash can for three buildings, leading to constant overflow and illegal dumping. Despite having more trash cans at my new residence, my trash fees are cheaper than they were at Karbon. Car break-ins were frequent, and the management did not replace broken lights in the parking lot, exacerbating the problem.

They will nickel and dime you at every corner, even after leaving they will have no communication on any bills. Their collection notice for $328. They never called, emailed, or sent any mail regarding the amount owed. No effort was made to notify me of the issue, and I only found out when my credit score dropped due to the collection notice. If they had contacted me even once, I would have paid the amount immediately. We never missed one rent payment or ever had any issues and the first thing they do is send it right to collections, never once calling me to inform me of the payment. It sucks that such a small amount has caused a mark on my credit history, the first mark against it.

On a positive note, Newcastle is a beautiful area with many other, better properties to consider. I strongly advise against living at Karbon apartment and recommend exploring other options in the neighborhood. With a bit of care and attention from the owners, this place could have been great, but sadly, they seem to have given up on Karbon. Don't make the same mistake I did; choose a different place...