Vairo Village — Local services in Patton Township

The most DISGUSTING place I’ve ever lived in. When I moved in, I immediately had several issues. The first time I walked in to my apartment, all of the dead bugs across the floor caught my attention. Several different types of dead spiders were all across the floor. Disgusting. Then, I walked into the bathroom and noticed the toilet seat was completely broken and could not be used. I was told I needed to submit my move in paperwork before the toilet seat could be fixed. Okay, understandable. However, it wasn’t fixed for another two days. So my family who stayed with me over move-in weekend and I, had no toilet seat for three days 😀👎🏻 From here, the issues continues to escalate. Bugs were somehow entering my apartment daily. Including large wolf spiders (and other types of spiders), crickets, centipedes, stink bugs, etc. I had told the office about this issue and they came to spray my apartment for insects. However, this did not work whatsoever. These insects continued to enter my apartment somehow. I drew the line when I found a large wolf spider was crawling across my bed. Absolutely disgusting. I immediately notified the office and was told there was nothing they could do since they did not see any live insects while maintenance was in my apartment. -keep in mind, maintenance was in my apartment for literally only 2 minutes. I know this since I have a security system and can see when my doors are opened and closed. I don’t think 2 minutes is enough time to find a possible entryway but ok! 😀- I received an email stating “If you are not used to living in a heavily wooded area, having contact with insects can be startling.” This was very silly to me considering I have lived in an incredibly wooded area my whole life. Yes, we get insects, but not this bad. This was plain disgusting and there was obviously a reason for it. A family member of mine noticed that there was no weather stripping on my door. I told the office they needed to come fix it. -Not sure how they couldn’t have thought of that themselves…- After this, there were no more insects coming in. Great! Then, I discovered mold in my air conditioning vent. I told the office they needed to come clean it. They told me “Since it's been a month of occupying the home, I'm unsure if we can send someone in as it would fall to Resident responsibility.” That’s a little silly. As a renter, I feel that it is most certainly not my responsibility to clean a mold infestation in my home, but sure. They ended up cleaning it, so that was great. I also had issues with my mailbox key. When I first moved in, my mailbox key did not even work at all. It would not come out of the keyhole which resulted in the key completely snapping in half. The office told me to come pick up a new key. I was given a new one that… also did not work!! It would not come out of the keyhole unless the mailbox remained open. Awesome! Again, the office told me to come pick up a second new key. You’ll never guess what this one did! Also not work 😀 Again, the office told me to come pick up a new one. I just ignored the email because it’s evident to me that a third new key is not going to fix the issue. The issue is obviously the keyhole. So my mailbox remained open for the last few weeks of my time here. Toward the end of my stay, I woke up one morning to my shower running. I honestly do not even know how it turned itself in, but it did, and it would not shut off. The knob no longer worked. So my shower ran for hours until maintenance had to come fix it. My living room outlet in which my wifi had to use, broke the day I moved in. They came to “fix it” however, it broke again just a few weeks later. This resulted in having no wifi or a security system for 5 days until they came to fix it. My neighbor was obviously a smoker since I could smell it every day. Gross how it would seep into my apartment. Also, I would like to point out that there were several large stains on the carpet when I moved in. So I’m not sure why I needed to pay for a carpet cleaning when...

So I had been staying with Vairo for 8 months, and have been talking with their staff for almost a year. In the beginning I was thoroughly pleased. Every single question and concerned was addressed, answered, and taken care of in a professional and appropriate manner as well as quickly and efficiently. After about five months of living with them, I signed on with them for another year in a separate lease. I regret that decision immensely. Upon leaving my old apartment, my roommate and I were due to receive our security deposit in full from what we originally put down. Upon moving out, we had cleaned the entire place from top to bottom and left everything the way that we found it. However, when we received our payment back, a good chunk of it was missing. This was apparently due to the fact that our fridge and bathtub were not "cleaned" and they had to do it themselves, racking up a total of about $140 which is ridiculous. Then, they claimed to have had to replace some of their equipment which was in working order when we left the apartment. This was not the only time I was dissatisfied with their service. Upon taking the new lease, it seems as if they try their best to give you as little information as possible. My first apartment with them provided the master bedroom with a queen sized bed. However, when I went to move in to my apartment, the lady that was helping us told us that we would "either be receiving a full or two twin sized beds" and that she could "not guarantee which one we would get". When moving in, these are details you should be receiving from them, especially when receiving a furnished apartment with them!! After a couple hours of communicating with them, they finally went down to the apartment to check for us but were incredibly rude and not friendly in helping what-so-ever, as if we were being a nuisance to them. My last problem I'd like to express concern about is the electricity. We had been living there for all of 4-5 months when suddenly we were charged over $400 for electricity when we were originally already paying close to $100 a month for it! When talking to the staff, they responded with saying that our meter was broken and they were now charging us for the electricity we used but never revealed to us how they knew just how much to charge even though we asked. Overall, the place is cheap and you get what you pay for. It's decent for college living as a roof over your head. But take pictures of your apartment the day you move in and take pictures the day you move out so you do not get charged for miscellaneous charges that should not be held against you. Watch every charge made to your account and be persistent! I would not have signed with them again if my service was this poor in the beginning and would recommend looking at...

I lived in Vairo Village phase III (formerly know as Pennwood North) for 5 years and it WAS a good place to live in then. The close location to the V and VE bus stop (and to the Walmart as well) and the affordable rent were the most important factors to me. The manager of Pennwood before it became "Vairo Village" was a very cooperative and helpful lady. I did actually recommend Pennwood to many of my friends based on my good experience.

Several months ago, Pennwood had joined Vairo Village and is now run by Burger company which is also running the rest of Vairo Village. Since this change, almost everything became worse in Pennwood North (or as they call it now Vairo Village Phase III). The rent for a 1-BR has substantially increased for the new tenants from about $700 to more than $800+. We were also told by the new management that all utilities that were previously included in the rent (electricity, gas, cable, and internet) won't be included in the rent anymore and we'll have to pay for them separately once the new meters get installed. This alone will add at least $60 a month to the already increased rent. New tenants will also have to pay extra for a compulsory renter insurance every month, which wasn't required before. Moreover, all new tenants are required to pay $200+ a year to use the health club and the bus pass, and that's not optional either.

Apart from the significant increase in the rent and the other expenses, the worst in Pennwood (or Vairo Village) in my opinion, is the working staff. They aren't friendly at all. In addition, they showed to me in several instances to be totally unprofessional . Most of the notifications, especially those that require the tenant to do something, reached us too late or even past date. I really wonder who still sticks a note to your door to ask you to move your car (or do anything) because of something that will take place next morning? Then they tow your car at your expense because you haven't read their note!! Wouldn't emails / phone calls be a smarter option when they give such an ultra short notice? Why do they even assume that I'm home that night and I'll open my apartment door only to see if someone has left a message for me? Actually, the working staff did some obvious (and totally unnecessary) mistakes and they never apologize for doing any of them. They didn't even bother to update us on how or when they will fixed them.

Before this new management, I'd have definitely recommend this place to any student who wants to have a small apartment for an affordable rent with a convenient location. After the change in the management, I wouldn't recommend Vairo Village (Pennwood) to...