Hunters Glen Apartments — Local services in Plainsboro Township

Hunters Glen Plainsboro is tough to rate. The complex is nestled in a gorgeous and quiet little pocket of Plainsboro with some of the nicest and hard-working office staff and maintenance workers I've had the pleasure to meet. Yet its aging infrastructure and design and limited value proposition make them difficult for me to recommend to just anyone.

It's still one of the cheapest places in the area, and if you like the quiet Asian/Indian vibe the area has or if you want to be near Princeton, it's definitely one of the most accessible complexes around for that. It backs right up to a golf course and a very nice park with an active community so I think families with jobs nearby will find it very convenient. In the end it was a little too quiet for me and when I was forced to take a job over an hour and a half away, I had to leave but I would definitely recommend it to families in need of a cheap (for the area) place to live with their small family. I'd give the area a B-.

I took a lot of time to get to know the different maintenance and office staff. There was a change of ownership about 1/3 of the way through my lease (for the better I'd say). The maintenance response time is generally very quick. I would actually request certain staff by name because I liked them and knew they'd do a good job. Georgi is a damn good tech and I'll miss him after the move for sure. Reannon is the resident community manager for the complex and I got a strong sense that she has big plans for the place and wants to do a good job by her residents. Hard to tell how far that'll go with Plainsboro's extremely tight restrictions on construction/zoning, though I wish her the best and think her ideas sound solid. At the very least, she (and her team) have really worked to actively engage the residents and regularly host social events on and off the premises. I'd rate the staff an A.

But I'd be remiss to mention my major gripe with the units and that is their age and with that, the design flaws. First, the worst of it: these apartments are energy hogs. Poor insulation, concrete slab foundation (think ice cold feet), woefully inefficient electric coil heating and ancient blower systems mean you can expect to pay $200+ for a one bedroom in the winter/summer months. Upon learning this I positively decked my apartment out with energy saving measures like window/door plastic sheeting, kitchen fan cover, electric socket insulators, energy-efficient Ecobee thermostat, LED bulbs, etc and I saved myself a measly $10 a month. The units to heat/cool just do not work well and I had an outside HVAC tech confirm this for me. I guess they just don't have the budget to replace them. Other complaints from me would be:

-barren stock lighting -cramped kitchens -Low quality fixtures upon move in (however they did fix a lot of these up for me later) -lack of ceiling fan/light in bedroom -bathroom fan that does nothing to mitigate steam whether it's on or off -odd electrical runs that have nearly all the apartment on one breaker -the paint...seriously never thought I'd complain about the paint but if you so much as touch the walls they mark. And all the doors stick so bad that the paint peels off onto them. -low quality closets with heavily warped shelf-boards and doors that weigh 60lbs and love to hop out of their suspended tracks so have fun putting them back in).

BUT you can get Verizon Fios internet which for me nearly negates everything before this. The units get a C from me. They're not high quality by any means, but I've seen worse. And you're not paying premium, either.

Ultimately, these apartments are underrated and undeserving of their present 2.3 score. They are overpriced though not as much as other complexes in the area and do have a good value. Plus people only rate apartments when they hate them. They definitely have flaws and ideally I'd probably give this closer to a 3.5 but since google doesn't allow fraction ratings, the undeserved low score pushes it up for me. Strong recommend for small families working...

best place to live in if you want the following features that come in as a free package:

CLOGGING TOILETS: we were given the keys with a toilet which is not at all operational. not even a single drop of water is draining in the bath tub.but it was only cleared after 3 days. meantime we used to use the bath tub with minimum water and then drained the used water with a mug into the toilet manually, which is awful. this hasnt finished there. there were frequent clogs which continued till we vacated. on top of everything the worst experience on every morning is that the toilet used to shake the moment we sit on, cant share my feelings here how i felt each morning.

UNCLEANED KITCHEN: if you are taking a tour in this community, please check under the fridge and the gas range. you can easily identify what are the groceries and chunks of food the people lived in must have used. These people never mind to clean the apartment properly even after charging the previous occupant for cleaning costs.

NEIGHBORS NUISANCE: If you wish to have parties outdoors or booz or put a pool party for kids or celebrate birthday parties loudly in the open areas between the apartments then this is the best place to hang out. The management never care what and how you do your outdoor activities disturbing your neighbors. we lived in first floor and our second floor guy used to play very loud surround music all over day and night. we called the management for almost 5 times to have some sleep finally just before we vacated the apartment. this problem was cleared only after we gave a written complaint on him to the management. he is one of the major reason for our vacating from this community.

HIGH MOVE OUT COSTS: They charge you for cleaning, painting and carpet changing. i feel that in their sense carpet shampooing is nothing but carpet changing. i agree that in my apartment there were very few marks on the carpet in one corner in my living room which will go away with basic carpet shampooing. but still they charged me for carpet changing. the water heating tank broke in last december and all the carpet in the bedroom was changed. at this time a small part was left unfinished at the edge of the bedroom door which looks like a tear. after we moved out they charged me around $670 for carpet change because of few marks in the living room and a tear near the bedroom door. when we tried to explain them that they could charge us for carpet shampooing in the living room but not for the tear in the bedroom because its not our fault, they did not agree. we vacated in august and the carpet in the bedroom is just 8 months old. no matter, i paid almost $1200 towards move out cleaning costs.

UNINFORMED MAINTENANCE CHECKS: The management is least concerned of informing the residents about any maintenance checks well in advance like fire alarm battery change or heating/cooling system filters change. They just knock your door and will try to walk in which will be highly inconvenient at times. Usually in all my previous apartments i lived in we usually get a reminder emails well in advance so that we can plan our day.

LOOSE MESHES: If your are living in a first floor then it is a big challenge with the window meshes. If you wish to slide your mesh you will end up in fixing it with a lot of time rather closing it. They fall apart very easily.

NOT FRIENDLY STAFF: if you want your community staff to be friendly with you then stay there forever. the moment you put your notice to vacate, then they will answer you like somebody else. they will not be the same as the one you spoke on your community tour. Actually i have referred one of my colleague but after seeing my high move out costs i told him not to go to this place. i would like to give ZERO RATING but there is only one star as...

Although our apartment was in great condition when we moved in and the community was safe and well maintained, I have to give my experience living here 2 stars. The staff that works in the leasing office are not eager to help residents. During our move-in process our date was pushed back and when I communicated my disappointment to our leasing officer I was told essentially too bad and there was nothing they could do even though there was a signed agreement already. I would say I was nearly yelled at by this employee. I have worked with customers before and would never speak to anyone like that regardless of how frustrated I was with them. If you can't deal with frustrated customers, don't work with them. When we moved in, there were a ton of bugs above our cabinets but other than that it was in good condition. Within our first month there, the AC broke more than once and I would call about getting it repaired multiple times until someone came. Throughout the year when I had issues or needed to speak to someone I would have a hard time getting responses to my emails unless I cc'd on management. When I went to the office to pick up my paint for touch ups I was told to bring a container for the paint which I did and then told that no one could pour the paint right now and to come back at the end of the day. When I got there at the time I was told to arrive, there was a sign on the door saying they were out giving a tour. I very clearly heard staff inside talking so I knocked multiple times and was ignored. I called the office 2-3 times after that and no one picked up even though there were staff inside. After standing outside for 20 minutes, a woman opened the door and in a very "fake" tone asked how she could help me as if she had no clue I had been out there for so long. I told her that I was here to pick up my paint and she said they didn't pour it yet and that someone would drop it off at my unit tomorrow. I agreed and the next day came and no paint was delivered. I called to confirm that someone was coming and a male staff member said yes. Another hour passed and no paint. I called the office again and got the woman from the day before that said she would have my paint dropped off and when I told her I still hadn't received it, her response was I WOULD NEVER SAY WE WOULD DELIVER THE PAINT TO YOU. And then told me it had been sitting on her desk all day and she was wondering if I was ever going to come get it. I picked up the paint after this 2 day long process to get someone to pour me paint. When I got there I asked her if I could schedule my inspection so I could be present during it and her response was You didn't schedule it yet??? And I said no. (I never got any email or form of communication telling me to schedule my inspection) We scheduled it for my lunch break on a Monday and when I got there no one was there. I called 5 after the inspector should have arrived and they said he was on the way, ten minutes passed and no one was there. I had to go back to work so I called again and they ignored my call twice. So I drove to the office and everyone was at their desks so I was surprised no one would answer my call. Once I went in they finally got the inspector to my apartment. The staff are not nice people. If they treated me like a valued resident and not like a paycheck I would have given my experience 4 stars. Not five because the apartments are terribly insulated, heating bills are crazy in the winter. I hope that this review encourages management to reconsider how they train their employees to treat residents. I have a lot of friends that are in the market for apartments and I will be telling them to steer clear of Hunters Glen which is unfortunate because if the staff was good at their jobs I would have give...