I lived at Bates Hill Apartments for two years. For the most part my experience there was very good: generally tenants make sure the locked front door is secure, weekend vomit gets cleaned up within a reasonable amount of time, there were only a few noise incidents, the location is GREAT, and I shared a two bedroom with two other girls, so the rent was pretty low.
The apartment itself wasn't amazing. There are no ceiling lights, so all the light switches connect to outlets, which took a little getting used to. Our kitchen, especially, was out-dated, and sort of falling apart. Cabinet doors were crooked/falling off hinges, and weren't fixed even after repeated maintenance requests. The stove was pretty old, and our refrigerator had a habit of freezing foods. The building is old, basically, but in better shape than many houses in the area. I know that when we left some of the kitchens were being renovated though, so perhaps this issue has been fixed.
We did have some ceiling leaks, but the roof was replaced in 2009, so that was no longer a problem.
Some of the dryers are really old, and don't dry clothes very well. If you figure out which ones those are though, and are lucky enough to get to them first, you are good.
My last summer there soured my whole experience though.
First, our garbage disposal was clogged, and the maintenance crew poured acid down the drain to try to unclog it. Our pipes were too old I guess, because the acid burned through the pipes and flooded our dishwasher and undersink cabinets. We couldn't use the sink until the pipe was fixed, which it was, but our cabinets stunk like acid for quite a while, and we couldn't use them.
Secondly, since we have moved out the management has been just plain RUDE to us. Two of us have moved out of state since we moved out in 2009, and our banks have all been refusing to cash our deposit check without everyone present, which is just not possible for us. My room mate still in Pittsburgh asked to have the check reissued after her bank refused to deposit the check, and warned her that they would confiscate it if she tried to deposit it elsewhere by forging our signatures. Management refused, claiming they had never had this complaint before. So my room mate waited until the check expired, and asked again. She says they yelled at her over the phone, but eventually reissued the check. Honestly, this room mate was not a model tenant, and had been late with her rent occasionally, so I assumed this was the reason management was giving her such a hard time.
We again had problems depositing the check, opting to mail it across the country to each other to get legitimate signatures, but still my room mate's bank refused to deposit the check without everyone present. Finally my bank told me that if we resigned, endorsing the check to one person, we could deposit it. I called to see if we could get the check reissued, thinking that since this was the first time I was calling, the management would at least try to work with me. I was wrong. Halfway through explaining what was going on, I was interrupted, and told that this was not the fault of the management, that it was our problem, and that if we really wanted we could try to mail the check in, but if it got lost in the mail there was nothing they could do about it, and I should deliver the check straight into their hands. This strikes me as somewhat of a threat now, but at the time I was simply shocked that they were being so rude to me.
We still have not been able to resolve our check issues, nine months after we've moved out.
In summary, my experience here was mostly great, but marred by my interactions with the employees.
Pros: Relatively safe building, laundry room in building
Cons: Management pretty rude; maintenance staff inadequate
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