Apartment Review for Breezy Point Apartments - Norfolk, VA

Breezy Point Apartments has its few good qualities. They offer the RPP program to military, as well as being within walking distance to the base and the NEX. They also offer a student discount. They take good care of the grounds and their front office. This is where you have to begin being cautious. The outside and the office can be rather misleading to what really lies within. My husband and I ended up moving in here because we needed a place close to base and we needed it quickly. It was our hastiness that led us to a grave mistake. Our issues began when we did our move in inspection. We noticed quickly that the thermostat was off by some 5 degrees or so. We also noticed several dings and dents in the walls that had been poorly repaired. When we brought this to the attention of the maintenance staff they said nothing about the dents and dings in the wall. Their response to the thermostat being off was that “That is just how things are around here. It is old.” I was somewhat taken back by this but did not worry too much about it. The other minor problems with the apartment are that the outlets cannot hang on to a plug, and when the plug does fall out it sends a spark flying. The walls, ceilings, and floors are paper thin. We can hear everything that goes on around us from every side. If you have too many major appliances plugged in on the same side of the room they can easily trip a breaker too because all the outlets in the apartment are on two breakers. Also the keys often stick in the doors and make it difficult to get into the apartment. About a week after we moved in we did laundry in their washers and dryers. It tore up over $250 worth of clothes. It took several complaints to the front office for them to even begin looking into it. They only offered some compensation for my husband’s uniform shirt. We declined because it was only a small dent into the damage that had been done. They found a fish hook in the dryer a couple of weeks after the incident occurred. Their “on site” washers and dryers are a joke. Not only does it take several times for your things to dry, but there are often times you put money in and it just steals it. The next big issue that we had was our windows. When it started to get cold outside we notice that there was a lot of condensation building on our windows. At first we did not think a lot of it until we noticed mold growing in our windows seals. When we first made a complaint about it the guy came in and told us that we were not shutting our windows well. After that we made sure they were always closed tightly. That did not solve the problem and the next guy that came in claimed it was just dirt despite the pictures of mold we showed him. It took our third complaint in about three months that someone came in and actually took us rather seriously. He had part of one window replaced and sprayed the others. By this time all the major cold weather was gone and the problem seemed to be relatively taken care of. It took three or four complaints and several visits to have the problem resolved. I know for a fact that it was not only our apartment as my neighbors had the same issues. In November there was a horrible nor’easter that came through. It caused a lot of flooding including water soaking through the floors of the first floor apartments. They did not replace these people’s carpet but brought in a fan and just let it dry. For some of these people it took a few weeks before they ever even saw the fans. During the nor’easter my husband and I pushed several vehicles out of the 18 inches of water standing on the road in front of the complex. In a lot of cases we pushed them into the parking lot in front of the office. The maintenance man came out after our third or fourth one and told us that we could not park that vehicle there because it would block other people from parking when they came to the office. The office was closed for several days. This is just one example of many of how inconsiderate the staff is here. The towing company that comes through here is completely unprofessional. On several occasions I have seen them take cars that have the parking decals on them. The front officer will offer no compensation for this because it is “not their problem.” They also pay little to no attention to how they load up vehicles when they take them. They tried to take our car right after we got a sticker on it. If they had managed to get away with it they would have torn our drive train to pieces. They have some parking for guest but beware if the tow company is desperate enough they will take it from there anyways. There was a washer that over flowed downstairs. The maintenance came in and unplugged the machine but that is where the extent of their work stopped for a few days. The building quickly began to reek of mold. The smell was so bad that if you went out right after you ate it would make you gag. I myself complained several times to the front office. Their solution for a week was to open the doors and leave them open day and night. Not only did this bring in a lot of bugs but it was a risk to security because our building is close to the street. Someone could just jump the fence and be inside. It took over a week for them to get carpet cleaners in here and to get the smell to go away. On really warm humid days I can still smell it. Their pest control is a joke. The one time that we complained it took them three weeks to get someone here. They told me that it would be a pest control worker. It was actually a maintenance worker with a spray bottle. Security is also a joke. Do not buy into the “gated community” idea. The gates are often broken and as if that was not bad enough I think the entire city of Norfolk knows the code. They recently changed it but it was only changed back to a code that it was before. My truck has been broken into once and my car has had gas siphoned out of it. When we said something to the front office they said that there was nothing they could do and that they would just make sure maintenance came around more. That was not a solution at all. We never did find out who did it nor did we get back the GPS they stole. The office staff is horrendous most of the time. They do not often maintain a professional attitude once you cross them in any way. There have been times that they have yelled at my husband for his music at six in the afternoon. There have also been some occasions where we have gone to the front office to deal with certain issues they have rudely directed us to the residents office to avoid any possibility that we may reflect negatively on the complex. This last 11 months has been a learning experience. I have learned what to watch for in the future. I have also come to understand that big is not always better. This complex is rather large but I truthfully think that is half the problem. These people will do whatever they need to get you to sign a lease. It is only after you sign the last page that their true colors begin to come out. They are only concerned with first impressions rather than the overall experience. Despite the great length of this review there are not enough words to describe how horrible and difficult it has been living here.