Columbia Plaza Apartments — Local services in Washington

I just moved in 14 days ago, and nothing has seemed to go smoothly. When I moved in, my deadbolt wouldn't lock, my sinks wouldn't get hot water, pieces of the siding were falling off, and my mailbox lock was broken. I submitted fix it requests and it took going down to the front desk and having the woman there speak to maintenance to get it resolved.

On top of those issues, I've had three packages be delivered - that I never receive.

Then, this weekend I found out that my air conditioning drip pan overflowed. It took maintenance about two hours to respond to the call. My floor was soaking wet, my wall, printer, leather bags, bedding, etc. When maintenance came up, he opened the AC unit and said that not only was I missing an air filter, but I was also missing an alarm that goes on the drip pan to alert you to when the pan is full and to replace. So he brought up an alarm and I emailed the manager about my property damage. I spoke with the property manager in the morning and she spoke with the maintenance guy. He lied and said that he never told me I was missing an alarm - but that the battery was dead. So they are trying to deny responsibility by calling me a liar and then telling me that it's not their fault and I have to use renters insurance to replace my items - when this wouldn't have happened in the first place if they had installed an alarm to begin with prior to move in. They have cameras everywhere, including in the elevators, you think that they would 1) check camera footage to see that the maintenance guy came with an actual alarm in his hand and not just a "battery", along with an air filter that was too small for the unit, 2) have me come in and meet face to face with the maintenance guy and ask him questions to see if he would flat out lie to my face. This is something that should've never happened had they placed the alarm in the drip pan. Also, you would think if it was the battery - they would've replaced the battery prior to a new tenant moving in and informed the tenant of how the alarm works and where it's located. So now not only have I been called a liar, but now I have property damage that won't be taken care of.

Another issue, is that they don't have smoke detectors that either work or that are in the hallway. I was sitting in my room at 9:30pm when I started coughing and choking. I went out into the hallway and noticed other people standing in the hallway coughing - unable to breathe. One maintenance guy was running around to each door banging on it, asking if someone was burning something. Then he went around and banged on everyone's door to say close the door and open your balcony window and stand out on it. No alarm went off - there was smoke everywhere. As an asthmatic and as someone on the very top floor - it's scary knowing that the only reassurance you may have is one guy banging on your door to say 'get out of the building' or to warn you.

I'm beyond frustrated. I thought it would be a beneficial move and I know people that gave the complex good reviews, but in all my years renting - I've never experienced this many issues within a 14 day span. Plus, a complex denying responsibility because the maintenance person is trying to cover his own ass by calling the renter a liar. If you do decide to move here - record everything - including when maintenance arrives. Video everything. Keep a paper trail, buy a carbon monoxide detector and a better smoke detector. Just...

Absolutely terrible. Though the other negative reviews are pretty old, nothing has changed. Can't wait to move out, I wish I had read these prior to moving in. I don't even know where to start...

The staff at the front desk treat you like you are the biggest inconvenience in their lives when you call to request something to be fixed or when you go pick up a package. They are so rude and sarcastic that it's actually shocking when they don't give you an attitude maybe once every month or two. There's a sign for a "suggestion box" in the gym with paper under it, but the actual box to collect the suggestions is broken, so for a while there was a resident posted sign hanging up to fix it (just shows how much the management care about your feedback).

Once the leasing office has closed the sale, they want nothing to do with you. They will LOCK you in to your floor, FORCING you to need your key fob to get into the area with the elevator and stairs (which means you have to leave your apartment to escort every guest out when they want to leave), yet they will charge you for a new fob when yours gets demagnetized or stops working on its own... it pretty much seems like a scam to me.

Good luck getting a maintenance person to fix something in your apartment in a timely manner without having to reminding them 3 or 4 times within two weeks. They renovate the apartments to LOOK like new between residents moving out and new ones moving, but this is just for show as it falls apart when you start living - door knobs break, doors to cabinets fall off, outlets and cable inputs don't work so wires have to stretch down your apartment, screens on the balcony doors rip off, your apartment smells like cat piss because the previous resident's cat urinated in the floor AC unit and they didn't clean it before turning it over.

The AC either breaks or is shut off on the hottest days of the summer and the heating does the same on the coldest days of winter (no exaggeration, it is actually 98 degrees out right now and the AC is broken). The power will go out overnight, turning your fridge off. The elevators either don't work, or smell like sweat or perfume to the point of making you want to vomit. The average laundry cycle costs $10 since the dryers work so poorly that they require 2 cycles on high heat. There's always at least one broken washer, and constant cockroaches in the laundry room. The laundry card can only be loaded in the laundry room, and only accepts cash (but not one dollar bills), so if you're not a constant cash carrier you have to plan ahead or visit an ATM to do laundry.

I have left the front door of my building only to be greeted by a homeless man urinating on the tree and zipcars 5 feet from the door, on numerous occasions.

The only good thing about this apartment complex is the location. DO NOT MOVE HERE if you read this in time. I have lived here for over a year and can not wait until I can move out...

I lived here for almost three years. While the majority of my stay was pleasant, the pest issue ultimately pushed me to move out. Here’s my honest review of the place:

The good: The staff is friendly and super helpful, and they took the time to remember me and my corresponding apartment number for packages, deliveries, etc., which was nice. The leasing office was always really responsive to any comments or questions. The location is ideal… really close to the metro, monuments, and plenty of food options nearby. The size of the apartments is big for what you’re paying in the city. The size of the studios especially is way bigger than competing buildings in the area. The maintenance team is great and will respond to service requests really quickly. There are thick walls, so you can’t hear your neighbors at all unless they’re yelling in the hallways. The building is super secure, and safety was never an issue. Loved the amenities in the building and in the plaza-- great onsite market for most grocery needs.

The bad: The heat and AC are on a set schedule controlled by the building. AC turns on in May, heat turns on in October. March-May are burning hot in the building, and there's nothing you can do about it until the building turns on the AC... October is also way too early to turn on heat, so you will be burning hot until the temperature outside drops below freezing. I can't stress this enough... it doesn’t matter how clean you are, there will be pests. You can hear rodents scratching inside the walls... I had a mouse (rat?) eat a hole through my wall, but luckily it didn’t come into my apartment (and maintenance patched up the hole within 24 hours). German cockroaches are VERY common here, and their breed is very difficult to permanently get rid of. I keep my kitchen in pristine levels of cleanliness, but I still had roaches all the time. It’s much more frequent than other apartments I’ve lived in in the city, meaning it’s not just a “you live in the city, so it’s expected” type of problem. If your neighbor doesn’t clean, you’ll get their pests too. If you’re sensitive to common household allergens like dust, mold, etc. then you’ll likely have a tough time staying here. Though the apartment I was in was renovated, there were some features that were still obviously old. The doors on the bathroom and closet didn’t close fully, the floor quality could have been better, and once there was a kitchen fire a few floors above me that required firefighters to respond that didn’t set off the building’s fire alarms (the hallways were filled with smoke, and I only figured out the fire situation because I could...