Christine D.

Lengthy review but moral of my story- not the place for pets and take photos of EVERYTHING when you move in. I moved in July 2017 and am moving out 6/29/2018. I loved the location of the complex, the neighbors and the two story townhomes with a backyard. It was not a horrible experience but it was not the best. During my year at the property, I had mice. It was a very unpleasant discovery one night and when I called emergency maintenance, they didn't show up until the following morning. It may seem excessive that I would expect someone there that night (9pm) but then again, no one wants to go to bed knowing there are mice in their unit. They only put down sticky traps and told me the exterminator would come to lay snap traps that following Thursday. They didn't do anything about where they might be coming from. After catching 4 mice over a number of days, they finally came and moved the dishwasher to seal behind there. No more mice. Be warned that you will have to pay at least $10/car/month to park on their property, but the town of Rolling Meadows can still come and ticket anyone who didn't pay for a Rolling Meadows parking sticker. I have heard this was explained as "well our parent company charges for parking so that's just how it is". You end up paying double for parking. The pet situation: I had a $700 pet fee ($350/dog) and then an additional $50/dog/month (over 35lbs = $75/month). The past 2 places I have lived there were dog parks, they do poo DNA (so they can charge the jerks who don't clean up after their pets) and supply an ample amount of dog poop bags. Willow Bend doesnt have a dog park, they don't charge negligent residents who don't pick up their dog poop and they could have done a better job at keeping up with the poop bags (especially during the wintertime). They claim that city of Rolling Meadows denied them the permit for the dog park because it's "too close to water". There are plenty of other spaces to create an off-leash dog park on the complex. In total, the last year I have paid close to $2,000 for my pets, more or less just for poop bags. Lastly- make sure you check your refrigerator doors and stove top before handing in your Move-In inspection sheet. There were the tiniest "scratches" on the fridge door that I never thought would warrant noting. Maintenance came through and just did a double check for me and wrote down the ones on the fridge for me. I vividly remember this because I was shocked they were noting that. Upon moving out, I asked what type of cleaner I should use to get everything back in "move-in" order and they sent maintenance out to see if it was covered in cleaning fee they charge when moving out. Immediately they said they would need to replace the freezer door ($135 + $25 install) and the glass stove top ($268 + $25 install). I honestly could not believe that they were charging for "normal wear and tear". The freezer door was covered the entire time. You can see a defined outline of where the papers were because I did not move them to wipe down the refrigerator. The "scratches" are in the covered area! But the range really kills me. I can buy a brand new unit for Home Depot for $449 + $50 in tax. So they are trying to charge me 60% of a brand new unit for cosmetic scratches. The reason is "if we show a prospective tenant new appliances, they expect that in their home". I do genuinely like the staff that work there. They do try to work with you and make living there a good experience, however I am leaving Willow Bend looking at over $500 in appliance "damage" that I would argue as normal wear and tear. Michele is looking into when the appliances were installed and if there is any possibility that some damage was there when I moved in and I do really appreciate that, but I will never rent an AIMCO apartment again.