The Retreat at Pullman — Local services in Pullman

I’m not here for sensationalism, but rather to be impartial for those who wish to sign here. I had positive experiences here, however 4 or 5 stars are not warranted. I will start with positives: 1) exclusive amenities at clubhouse other apartment complexes in town lack 2) a recently-added shuttle 3) private bathrooms/closets, granite counters, decent kitchen amenities4) attempts to improve curb appeal by installing sprinklers in lawns/removing weeds from pebbled areas

I however need to speak of the negatives of life here for full disclosure: 1) low-quality dishwashers do not fully clean dishes unlike one at another apartment complex I lived at in town/dishwasher discharge constructed with corners cut to empty onto the counter indirectly into sink 2) If there’s something I dislike, it’s those who say they will do something & don’t. That’s what happened when the smoke detector went off after a shower strangely indicating “carbon monoxide”, so I called the office asking to be transferred to maintenance, they said I couldn’t, however could send maintenance to my apartment. I waited, and nobody ever showed up… When I agreed to my lease, I stuck to it & did all the things I said I would, yet multiple times The Retreat said they would do something & failed to. Another example was when I toured their model property in 2020, was shown a glasstop stove advertised verbatim as “easy to clean”, and when I moved in, there was just a metal coil hard-to-clean stove which me & roommates got a damage charge in 2022 to replace a component of despite that work having never been done. The charge for me was dropped, but the part was never replaced despite outgoing roommates being charged, however that’s minor… I want to move on to the more major negatives of life here. 3) In summer of 2022, the hours were listed as open on Sundays despite that being false. The phone system is outdated as it wouldn’t transfer but kept ringing when the office was vacant & went off in the clubhouse having the sole effect of annoying those in it. 4) The clubhouse has an alarm that made a loud ringing noise for hours almost every night. My guess is that the noise would be very annoying to those who live near it, but cannot confirm, nor can I confirm whether it’s still an issue 5) cottage windows still had paint splatters on their exterior panes, a wind-damaged gutter on clubhouse remained unfixed for months last winter dripping cold water on residents using staircase 6) despite high rent, cable was sometimes non-functional on the TVs

One of my words of advice if you move here is to scrutinize for anything wrong upon move-in. This would include scratches on the chair, a non-intact shower curtain rod, or a dresser handle that detaches upon attempting to open. I overlooked my desk chair & received a charge to replace upon move-out. I may have inflicted some real damages on my bedroom that I never tried to justify & have since paid off, but I myself know the chair had cat scratches caused by the previous tenant. (The only way I knew there was a cat before me was due to cat litter in the closet upon move-in however I reported it & management had it cleaned/made things right before I started moving my stuff in) Nonetheless with the way my lease was written, I’m still liable for not having reported the chair & for the move-out inspectors of the previous tenant having ignored it, so I must accept it…

And moving on, lastly, there’s one more thing I want to share. I returned to my apartment one night at around 10 PM, and was locked out of my bedroom since there was a malfunction with the key. It was overnight for 10 hours. I called them but had no luck. I wasn’t helped until the office reopened. I don’t understand how they could be that negligent. I never received an apology, nor any rent credit although I hadn’t asked for it. All I received was a “you’re welcome” & that’s it. I may have done wrong by accruing damages, but the difference is that I stuck to the lease I agreed to & made right my bad by leaving no balance unpaid whereas they never made...

I am not one to complain but The Retreats is lacking in many areas. The maintenance guy is really nice and works hard so are the front desk people, YET, our heat hasn't worked for 5 months!!!

I WOULD READ IF YOU ARE THINKING OF LIVING HERE:

The biggest issue is that it has been hovering around 45 degrees to 60 (if we are lucky) degrees in my house for almost a half year because our heat doesn't work. It is not comfy living at 53 in your own home. No worries though because we were "ensured that everything was working properly" numerous times. Now we have the maintenance supervisor coming by this week to show us how to use our thermostat.... as if it was hard to use a thermostat!! They have been by several times and showed my roommates how to use the thermostat, cool the heat still doesn't work. They did replace both thermostats but the heat has not worked.

I have not had to wait longer than 3 business days for a response which I do appreciate; I do not fully question their efforts but definitely their knowledge and sincerity.

To add on IT WAS 45 DEGREES FOR A WEEK in my house. I hope that speaks for itself.

Furthermore, we lived off space heaters for a couple months then they "resolved the problem" and took the heaters away. The heat stopped working after a day and it has been a constant battle to try to get working space heaters or the thermostat to function properly. Currently, we have 1 space heater that doesn't work to heat the entire house and it's 52 degrees inside. Today I was told I was receiving a space heater so I didn't have to sleep in a 53 room for who knows how many days in a row, they of course did not bring one. I feel as if they try to convince their tenets that things work although they do not.

On that topic, a manager tried convincing me that their staff and vendor have not been able to communicate with me in person, only my roommates, that is a blatant lie. I don't understand being lied to in this context.

Yes, this was just my experience and I'm sure others have had great experiences here (including 2 other apartments having mice problems which were only fixed after threatening to call pest control and billing the Retreat for it). But yeah there are cool amenities here and a fun culture which is nice.

Also, PS when I first moved in my shower rod was already torn out...

DONT LIVE HERE!!!!! I wish I could give 0 stars. I am never one to leave bad reviews, but I have to warn WSU students about The Retreat to protect themselves. The rooms are extremely poorly and cheaply made, everything breaks within the first few months. The houses are overpriced, and they always find ways to charge additional fees; (we once got fined $850 for having a few trash bags in our backyard. Also got charged for playing music at night. Also got charged for throwing our trash in the dumpster, because it didn’t land in the “right bin”. I could go on and on.) They were VERY rude and unhelpful every time we asked for help with something. They don’t clean the common areas between tenants, until things start to really fall apart, then they come in and charge everyone literal THOUSANDS. They make the rooms extremely cheap, then expect you to pay out of pocket to clean it for normal wear and tear at the end of your lease. They enter your room ALL the time (without permission) and always lock it after, often leaving residents locked out of their rooms after hours. (Then they’ll charge you for coming to open it of course!) The WiFi barely works, I had so many nights I couldn’t finish assignments because their WiFi turned off so frequently. They close their amenities (pool, hottub, etc.) every other week for “maintenance” because everything’s so cheap and breaks so often. Our neighbors and us once had an earwig infestation for days, it took The Retreat almost a week to come fix it. I had a balcony in my room, and the door wasn’t even fully sealed when closed. During winters I could hear and feel cold air blowing in due to poor insulation. They consistently lie about rates (as I saw many other people left reviews on as well.) The Retreat basically preys on college students and tries to take every dollar they have, PLEASE PLEASE DONT LIVE HERE!!! You’ll get trapped in a lease and have to pay never-ending fees and charges, that many of my friends are still paying YEARS later. Don’t make the same mistake we did, save yourself and live anywhere else!!! I’m so glad WSU is creating more housing options, and every year less people are living at The Retreat. I hope they go out of business soon, it’s disgusting how much they take advantage of students. Go cougs! (Stay away from the retreat...