Complaint Review: Bell Lakes Apartments

I moved into Bell Lakes Apartments in February 2003. From my first day there to today, almost a year later, I have had numerous problems with the water.

About out once a month, more in the winter, Bell Lakes apartments shuts off the water to the entire complex. They rarely give notices, and when they do they are often received AFTER the water has been shut off. Bell Lakes uses the excuse that a water emergency has occured, but rarely do you see the plumbing company fixing anything.

My roomates toilet has been leaking since we first moved in. After numerous requests from us to come fix the toilet, Maintenance came out, changed a couple fixtures and left. The toilet stopped running continuously, but our water bills were still exorbitantly high. One morning we awoke to find a maintenance woman in our apartment telling us the apartment below ours was flooded and she needed to check some pipes. What she discovered was that a pipe behind my roomates shower had been leaking every time my roomate used her shower, and the water had been collecting on the ceiling of the apartment below us. The water had finally become too heavy and had collapsed the ceiling, flooding the apartment. The real tragedy of this story is that less than a month before, the apartment complex had shut off our water to do a pipe check of all the water pipes in the complex. If they had conducted a thorough check, they would have discovered this leak and been able to prevent what I just desciribed.

After this accident, my roomate and I tried to seek retribution from Bell Lakes for all the water we had been charged due to the leaking pipe. We took our water bills as proof, but were told there was nothing the complex could do. Basically, we were forced to pay for the water that was leaking from the pipe that was not properly inspected.

To add insult to injury, that same day, the water in the complex was shut off due to ANOTHER pipe that had burst (which was also not properly inspected the previous month). Three days later, the water is still shut off.

When calling the comlex, the office staff is unsympathetic and refuses to offer any retribution to its tennants, who are forced to drive around Phoenix to use the showers and toilets of family and friends.

In addition to these water problems, Bell Lakes Apartments refuses to help with other situations that arise. My roomate had intimate items stolen from the public washing machines. When she went to report this to the office, Matthew, one of the staff offered his sympathy and, as a from of retribution, told her our rent would not be increased when we renewed our lease. Two weeks later, when we went to renew our lease, we discovered that our rent was increased from $575 to $585 a month. We told the staff what Matthew had said, but were told there was nothing they could do. Even talkling to Matthew did not rectify the situation.

A few months later, during the gas shortage in Phoenix, the gate to our gated community was broken, stuck in an open position. During the night, the gas tank of my car was pried open and someone tried to take gas from the tank. They didn't get any gas, but my gas tank was permanently damaged. It had been bent so badly I could not even shut it. As soon as I discovered this, I went to the office to report it to the staff. The girl I talk to said she was sorry, but short of filing a police report, there was nothing she could do. Even though if the gates had been properly working my car wouldn't have been damaged, Bell Lakes did nothing.

Each of these stories alone are not much, but when put together tell a powerful story of how Bell Lakes Apartments refuses to rectify any situation, even those in which they play the leading role.

Desiree
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.