COPPER BEECH TOWNHOME COMMUNITIES

My daughter and her roommates moved into Copper Beech (Bloomington, IN) in August, 2009. Shortly after, my daughter complained 3 times to the office that the carpet was filthy and needed to be cleaned. nothing was ever done. Upon moving out in August, 2010, we were charged $190 for the carpet cleaning (as agreed to in the contract). I contacted Gail, property manager, at Copper Beech on 09/23/2010, to discuss the charge and explain to her that I did not think that was right, since they did not respond to her complaints, and the girls lived with the filthy carpet all year, and then have to pay to get it cleaned for the next tenants. On October 28, 2010, after 12 calls to Copper Beech, Gail Ray agreed to refund us $125. Then on January 7, 2011, after multiple times of being told the "check is in the mail", and 13 more phone calls to the office, I was told by Gail that I would not be getting the refund. There was then a series of emails between myself and Lindsay Dornbos, regional manager, between January 9 and January 19, 2011. On January 21, 2011, I had a phone conversation with Lindsay Dornbos, where she tried to explain to me why I would not be getting the refund, and I told her I totally disagreed with her reasoning, and if for no other reason that the fact that I had been lied to and ignored for the past 4 months, she should send me the $125. She did admit to me that the carpet should have been cleanded upon my daughter's request in 2009. And she said that the "owners" would not allow the $125 refund to be paid. That is basically how the conversation ended.

From the beginning, the "fees" to get started were outrageous. The $30 application fee I could understand, however the $75 "all encompassing" administrative fee was un-waveable. The deposit for holding the apartment was also pretty steep. Usually, in Bloomington the deposit is $100 or less, here the deposit is equal to a first months rent. When I asked about this, I was told it was only coincidental that the two numbers were the same. I feel like I had to pay 13 months on a 12 month lease with no guarantee of reimbursement for the deposit. They also (at that time) allowed only 2 parking spaces for a 3 bedroom house. For a college town, this policy is illogical. Further, there were 4 spaces in the entire complex for visitor parking. To continue, they had a great towing company who worked for them. They were so good that they often towed Copper Beech's residents to the holding grounds and charged from $90-$120 for a day, depending on what day of the week it was. The grounds were neat, except for the garbage that piled up mere days after the garbage was disposed of (weekly). There was lots of sparse grass for the dirt to be held down by. It seemed safe enough to have families. The utilities are not paid, but cable/internet is, and water is a blanket cost billed quarterly. So use that water often, because if you use it or not, you are paying for it. Inside, the appliances were nice but the cabinetry and the flooring was shoddy. Expect to be billed for this when the lease is up. Also, for residences who have a regular job (9-5), don't expect to ever be able to reach the management. Their hours don't allow for such luxuries, especially if you also happen to work on some Saturdays (a change since I lived there). In summation, the fair market price for the actual space you are leasing is good, but everything else is debatable.