San Marina Apartments — Local services in Phoenix

My husband and I moved into San Marina when we were both finishing up our college degrees. For starving college students, the price of rent was cheap enough and it seemed like a place we could at least put up with for a year (even despite the very sketchy neighborhood). The complex was easy enough to get into and the leading office was very helpful at first as many are in the beginning. Our nightmare started almost immediately after we moved in.

Our apartment was in extreme disrepair. The pull out drawers in the kitchen had been completely destroyed by the last resident without absolutely any attempt by the complex to fix them before we moved in. There was a very hasty repair made on the living room ceiling where there had been what looked like water damage (which should have been our first clue). There were also numerous bad patch jobs on the walls where you could tell previous residents probably punched through walls and doors. There were also cockroaches infested in the apartment which my husband took care of by patching up holes in the walls and floor. All of this was only the start.

One unfortunate rainy day our lighting figure in our kitchen filled with rain and burst. We woke up to glass and water on the floor and the lighting fixture literally hanging on by a thread. We immediately called maintenance who came out about an hour later and told us there was nothing they could do because the problem was with the roof. The lighting fixture was never repaired while we lived there (extreme safety hazard!!!) And leaked every single time it rained.

The absolute worst part of living at San Marina was dealing with the leasing office. For instance, they are supposed to give three days notice when a package is delivered for you, I was called while at work one day and was told "if I don't come in and get the package that day by 6:00pm it would be sent back", in which they promptly did so because I wasn't able to get out of work early. You also must pay your rent in person as they don't have a drop box and the leasing office always seemed to be closed the day rent was due as the took off very obscure holidays. They literally must be closed for 15 to 20 working days a year. I have more horror stories, but I'll leave it at that because I'd be writing about it all day.

The icing on the cake was when my husband was offered a job opportunity in Colorado and we needed to break our lease. I had no problem paying the fees for breaking the lease, my problem was how hard the leasing office made it for us to do what we needed to do and give them their money! They refused to let me pay the fees early before we left for Denver due to some odd technicality in their system. After we broke the lease and moved out they didn't have our total amount owed for a week I'm which we were already moved out of state. We never received a final bill from them even though I called and gave our forwarding address. After about a month of waiting for a bill I tried calling the office numerous times without a single return call. I finally did get a hold of someone but she was of no help. We made a trip back to Phoenix for family related issues and decided to take care of our bill then. Our lease had been broken for less than two months and they informed us that they had already sent us to collections. They decided to let us go ahead and pay them, but only through the added hassle of getting a money order as they would not accept a check. I sure hope they do what they promised and deal with collections, otherwise we are in for another fight.

If you have the option to live ANYWHERE else, head my warning and stay far far away...

Shady Shady Shady… First Year Of Living There We Received 2 False Notices And Upon Living There I Put In 2 Separate Work Orders To Fix The Paint Peeling In My Shower & Both Times They Never Fixed It & Deleted The Work Orders.. When I Called After Our Walk Through As To Why We’ll Be Charged For The Paint Peeling She Claimed We Put The 2nd Work Order In 2 Weeks After Putting In Our 30 Day Notice & That It’s Too Close To Us Moving Out & That’s Why We’re Being Charged (Which Was False & I Have The Email To Prove It) & When I Asked Why It Wasn’t Fixed When I Put The Order In Months Ago & Both Times All He Did Was Take A Picture & Say He’s Taking It Back To His Workshop She Claimed It’s Because Maintenance Cannot Resurface The Tub & He Took The Pictures For The Company That Will Fix It.. I Asked Why He Didn’t Communicate That Another Company Would Have To Come Out & Fix It & She Said If I Had Questions I Should’ve Called.. There Was No Need When I Was Under The Impression He'll Fix It.. & I Asked Why They Didn’t Reach Out & Let Us Know & Say We’ll Be Charged To Have Someone Come Out To Fx It… She Said It Didn’t Matter When I Put It In We’ll Be Charged Regardless & Never Explained Why They Didn’t Have It Be Fixed When I Put The Orders In.. I Asked Why Both Work Orders Was Deleted From The Portal & She Said All Orders That Are Completed We Can No Longed See But 1) It Was Never Completed & 2) You Can See Every Work Order That Was Put In.. That Let’s Me Know They Intentionally Made Sure It Never Got Fixed To Charge Us.. & Technically The Pain Peeling Is Normal Wear & Tear & We Was Told You Won’t Be Charged For That Along With The Carpet & We Was Told With Normal Wear & Tear As Far A Signs Of Foot Traffic We Won’t Be Charged & Now They’re Charging Us For It.. Then When We First Moved In There Was Dead Roaches & They Didn’t Care Nor Have Anyone Come Out & Clean Them So It Wasn’t Move In Ready & They Don’t Know The Guidelines For ESAs & Tried To Tell Me My Dog Would Possibly Be Denied Due To His Weight Which Is ILLEGAL… 0/10 So Horrible.. & They Are Beyond Rude In The Office & Clearly Be Starting Stuff Just To Get A Negative Reaction Out Of Residences… Almost As If They Want To Get In A Fight.. They’re Liars & The Lies Never Add Up.. They Are Also Very Biased & Have Something Against African Americans… I Don’t Recommend Anyone Live Here… I Can Only Imagine How Many People They’ve Bamboozled Out Of Their Deposit.. I’m Very Close To Taking Them To Small Claims Court With All My Evidence...

Do not ever in your life move in these apartments, they are not pet/handicapped friendly or accessed and they are infested with roaches but that is the least of concern my handicapped mother stayed here for two years had a terrible case of unruly neighbors who would fight her and destroy her property all the time the apartment manager NATASHA and her staff were very unprofessional and did nothing about it police were called multiple times with all the self managed back and forth it resorted to my mother being thrown out on the street to live out of her van.. since my mother is disabled and has multiple health issues they told her they would lock up her apartment and allow her to pick up all of her medical equipment and belongings on 5/28/2015.. When she arrived to her apartment it had been vandalized and boarded up! Her belongings were destroyed and missing!!!! this was a serious HATE crime...i can careless about the material things but who the hell takes someones motorized scooter that they use to get around? all of her medication were in that apartment along with her leg compression machine and c-pap breathing machine that she uses at night because she stops breathing 33 times in her sleep! & the thing that really set it off were the fact that family photos that had been in our family for over 70 years were gone SADLY! they stole apart of my life! we won't ever get that back!!!!! They need to pay... & i bet those neighbors are still there laughing and have the nerve to be pastors GOD don't like ugly and they really have it coming to them for messing with the handicapped!!!! So if you like roaches, crazy neighbors, a unprofessional nitpicking landlord, kids selling drugs, people strung out on drugs swinging swords in the dead air, seeing dead bodies and caution tape of the time this is the place for you and...