Woodland Park Apartments

Current Resident 840865

Resident • 2010 - 2012

Crappy

This place is horrible. The staff sucks. The cable is horrible and the apartment complex only allows you to get DirecTV. It freezes, ------ out, and is way too expensive. Same thing with the Internet. Lost signals. Slow speed. Walls are paper thin and I can hear my neighbor sneeze! And I haven't even started talking about the apartment staff. They are all rude and are never helpful. The apartments are overpriced and the staff sucks. Don't rent here and don't believe the good reviews. Those all look fake.

Current Resident 838943

Resident • 2010 - 2012

Location

We have really enjoyed our time here at Woodland Park. We have been here for a few years and are definitely renewing! We love the location, convenient for getting to work and close to everything. I love the fact the community is gated! We have had a few issues with maintenance but that is expected in an apartment complex- any issues we have though were resolved in a timely manner. Great Team and community feel! We have lived at other apartments across the Northern Virginia area and this is by far our top pick. Thank You for all you do.

Current Resident 836184

Resident • 2012

Nice Place to live-

It is a nice place to live.

rentingTownhome

Resident • 2011 - 2012

Incompetent Staff

I ve been asking for months to have several things fixed in my apartment. I either get no response or I get an apology for taking so long. I moved into my townhome in December and it is now April. I had a list of things on the move-in check list and nothing, absolutely nothing, has been repaired. The staff is totally incompetent.

Wheredidtheycomefrom

Resident • 2012

Upstairs neighbors surely are from HELL

Neighbors moved in a month ago and I am ready to move out. They walk as though they are 2 ton elephants. And mind you there are no kids ( walking that is) They are noisy at 3am, 6am,8pm, 11pm! Now they are hanging either its sari(s) or tablecloths from the balcony, really? I am ready to go from this place!!!!!!!

Current Resident 30742

Resident • 2009 - 2012

Careless Property Manager and Lazy Staff

I keep seeing this fake 5 star reviews popping up lately. It is obvious that the staff is desperate, and instead of attempting to improve their customer service they seem to be spending all of their time coming up with little creative and blatantly fake reviews where they always shine a positive light on woodland park and lie about the quality of their service in an attempt to trap a few more oblivious tenants that they plan talk up and then let down. Do not move here. I would recommend ANY other options in the area. Van Metre is money hungry, primecast (a subcontractor of direct TV) is forced on you without the option of any other provider and charge you even if you decide not to use the service, the trash compactor area is disgusting and unattended to, and the maintenance crew are famous for their lackluster patchwork style temporary fixes. I once had a member tell me that the property management refused to buy a new part that would permanently fix an issue because it was not worth the cost (I guess my $2000.00 a month doesn't mean anything to them), but instead set me up with an old used version...at least the man was truthful...and he was also right because less than a month later my water heater completely blew up and water began pouring from the exhaust fan in my wall, soaking my hallway carpet and drywall surround the vent. I was without hot water on and off for the entire winter. It took over 6 months to finally correct the issue and it just recently seems to be acting up again. Please take heed to this warning and stay away! You will regret you decision immediately. Oh yeah, the staff also tells you that paying your rent by credit card is and option, but as soon as you attempt to do this they hit you with a $40.00 convenience fee. Do not let the convenient location fool you...the trade off is not worth the constant headache! Take note of the stark contrast between the 1 and 5 star reviews and look elsewhere!

Current Resident 26340

Resident • 2009 - 2012

Rating

The apartments here are wonderful and a very safe neighborhood, I have been here for 3 years with no problems. It is near two shopping centers which is convenient when the weather is bad. The location is right. The Property Manager and the management team is excellent and the Account Manager is superb and accurate in the accouting center. The team and the mainteance staff is the best, whatever I need they get to the problem right away and that makes the stay here nice. Thanks for the good work and keep it up.

paulfisk

Resident • 2009 - 2012

I am happy and content

I wanted to share my experience with any potential renter what woodland park has helped me accomplish. I moved into the apartment complex a little bit over two years ago. I was referred by a friend. I was initially hesitant due to moving from another state and renting at a place I was totally unfamiliar with. My community associate was very helpful with my transitioning and calls me occasionally up until today to find out if everything is fine with me. I recently got married to the love of my life and with our combined income; we decide to purchase a home. To sum up this whole story, we just purchased our first house through Van Metre's renter s rewards program. Having made such a bold move in life has redefined me as a person and I am thankful for that. My sincere appreciation to my community captain and everyone on the team who made this possible.

Current Resident 971997

Resident • 2008 - 2012

my review

Cleanliness- Apartment complex has a well maintained landscape but there is sporadic dog pop on the sidewalks. I am aware residents need to pick up after their pets but management also has to hire more maintenance personnel to take care of this. Safety- The gate handles are broken occasionally. A plus for having a security guard at main entrance. Management-Commendable customer service .They are always willing to help. Services-Internet is awful. Internet service provider needs to be replaced. Parking- This is a constant headache for most residents and I hope the new stickers will curtail this problem Location- Great location. Closer to most metropolitan areas in VA, DC, MD Overall, better than most apartment complexes in the area. I am renting the hawthorn model and I love the floor plan.

pdominic

Resident • 2005 - 2012

Confused at first...

In 2005 I was apartment hunting and came across Woodland Park from the office staff I received nothing but professionalism. When I went home I decided to check out what people thought about the community here on aptratings. I did read some horrible things which made me very confused, but then i did some research of my own by re-visiting the office and even sent a few friends to see how they would be treated and see how the staff treated their residents while i looked on to my surprise they were treated the same as I was the first day I went in. After reading a few disturbed comments I decided to take a chance and apply. Here it is 7 years later and I am still pleased with Woodland Park. I have watched the office staff change over and the years but I still see the professionalism that I saw in 2005. Yes, I have complained as any resident would but I also realized that sometime it is your own neighbors who should do their part and make woodland park a happy community. I have complained numerous times about pet waste throughout the community and I've seen loads of letters go out to everyone but the ones with the dogs are the ones that are responsible, not the office staff. I have put in complaints about the trash compactors always being broke and to my surprise that was not the case. My son came to visit me and took out the trash when he came back and he said what type of place did you move to, there are bags of trash all over the trash dumpster area. I told him it's always broke he said no it isn't no one tried to see if it worked. He said he saw a guy just throw his trash on the ground without trying the compactor so, he tried it and indeed it worked. I felt so bad about all the complaints and threats I made to the office that I baked them cupcakes. Now for parking yes it is a huge problem, but I notice that the property has many cars parked here without proper parking stickers, so yes there will be a problem if the spots are filled with violators. I really hope this time towing is enforced and the violators will be cleared out. I had to rent a garage to make sure I had a parking spot, its just not fair if people are not following the rules. All I'm saying is that we all should take responsibility for the problems we create and correct them and this would be a great place. Overall, I don't expect to move any time soon so I guess I can consider myself a happy resident.

Current Resident 942826

Resident • 2010 - 2012

Virginia is a Beautiful State but Not if You Live Here or at any other Van Metre Property

Virginia is a great state, but do yourself a favor and look into other properties. We made the mistake of reading the reviews on Apartment Ratings about Woodland Park and believing them, but after we moved in we discovered there was major maintenance issues and Van Metre had wrote this property off years ago. In speaking with fellow tenants I learned that parking was always a problem. The front gate never worked and was often missing one or both of its arms. Garbage was rarely picked up and the area was over filled. The area is convenient to the freeway and shopping is near by, but there are far better apartments that charge less in rent and offer more in amenities. If you are desperate and can not find another apartment you might think of living here, otherwise take a day or two to look at other apartments. Trust me, you will never be happy here.

Current Resident 941710

Resident • 2011 - 2012

One of the better apartment communities I've lived in yet...

When I first came to Van Metre the move-in was very smooth. The management team was very helpful with any questions or concerns I had with moving in from out of state. I've lived here for almost a year now and I still haven't had any problems with management, maintenance, etc. The only thing I would say is it's the people that live here that make it the problem, not the management. Just take a look at the snide comments on any previous reviews that were good about Van Metre.

Current Resident 937060

Resident • 2011 - 2012

You can do better, keep looking

Yes, parking at a lot of places suck. Here too. The really lame thing is that if you pay extra to have a garage, you can't let any visitors park on your driveway! That's nuts since it means that anyone you have over has to fight for one of 7 visitor spots and you have to get them a visitor pass (like you can do that after hours when they want to come by for dinner!). And the driveway remains empty. Their suggestion is to have your guest park in your garage and you park on your driveway behind. Problem...garages are very small and a lot of vehicles don't fit! For a place with too little parking for residents and for guests, it makes no sense why all the driveways to garages can't be used for guests to at least eliminate that congestion. Would it be that hard to give people with garages a visitor pass for their driveway? It doesn't bother anyone, it helps the resident, and frees up space for others! Win/win! Someone mentioned internet/tv. Yes you are required to only use their one company which bites. Funny thing is that company recently went out of business. No one seems to know who is actually providing the required services we have to pay for now, but we still pay the complex. Have a tv or internet problem? Too bad. Some staff is nice, but overall management doesn't do crap except collect money. Lastly, maintenance staff is quite nice, but actual workmanship and construction is pretty shoddy.

Current Resident 932255

Resident • 2010 - 2012

The best among the rest...

This is the best decesion i made in my apartment hunting. There are a plethora of apartments in Herndon and i visited most of them in the vicinity. Woodland park has a friendly staff who are willing to help resolve any issues you may have. I once had a probolem with an extra charge on my account and the accounting manager ----- was so prompmt and reliable. I was pleasantly suprised about his professionalism. The maintenance staff are also very reliable . The only issue i have is with parking which seems to have been resolved. We have new parking stickers now...woohoo... The rent is reasonably high but it is a safe and sound place to live...Yes i will recommend this place to my friends and family....Thank You

Current Resident 626750

Resident • 2011 - 2012

Awful

Ok, don't believe the s**t that there is no available apt to show you except the model. Check out a real apt and compare it around. This is the only place that I know that doesn't have an available apt whatsoever. If I knew what I was getting into, I wouldn't sign the lease at all. Now it seems to be a quite smart scam and fishy. The first day I moved in, the kitchen was occupied by roaches, the carpet was smelly, the room was almost dark. yes, great for shooting vampire movies and roaches, for an almost $1500 per month apt. Don't believe the s**t the pest control will be able to eliminate the problem for you. No, I am sorry to tell you but they can't. Cuz if the roaches could come from some other apts or building, and the treatment will stop them for a while and soon come back. Unless they could "bomb" every apt of this place at the same time. Don't bother to ask any real questions like parking or lighting or noise. They will say anything to get u into signing the lease to get their bonus. Once you sign, you are chained to the contract. You are f**ked one way or another by either staying or breaking your lease. Don't be fooled by the out appearance of the complex, check what really looks like inside. I would give a 9 of what looks like outside, and a 4 of what is really inside. Don't believe in any website that get an incentive from rental property . Once there is money involved, the reviews are biased. check out the fake reviews on apartmentrating.com yourself. A lot of 5 with not even one real thing down. The covered of the lamp inside the bathroom fell down twice after they glue it back, and now I just leave it on the floor. It is better to be there than fall down again and hurt anybody. Parking is no where to be found after 9pm, once I walked like half a mile to get a spot in cold winter. You might as well just park in the shopping plaza garage of harris teeter. That is nearer. The only good thing here is the doorman. The management is very lousy and flaky. You get email notification after things happen not before them. People were waked early morning by fire alarm tests and nobody bother to send us an email until it was over. There is no constraint you could put on them once you sign the lease. You are set to pay, but there is no such thing in the contract for them to guarantee their service or the apt. I don't think they would care to lose small potatoes like u and me as long as this area stays to be a good spot of high paying jobs. Btw, there are only 2 dumpsters in the complex, I see ppl driving their cars with trunk loaded with trash all the time. That is very "convenient". The lesson that I learnt by getting ripped off is to do an apt searching casually first and by visiting a friend who lives there if I could. At least you could get rid of the "not available scam", clever sales person, and see the "nonmodel" apt for real.

chrisnlee

Resident • 2011 - 2012

Woodland Park is a great place to live if you want to be robbed. The property manager apparently misplaced the keys to all the storage units and our unit was seen open with boxes taken out of it and opened by one of the other staff members. Two of our boxes went missing as a result of this. We filed a police report, and were told that the storage unit was opened with a key (No signs of forceable break-in) but the property management told us they were not responsible for safe guarding the spare keys they kept to storage units and apartments. When the police and other employee informed both me and the Woodlawn Park management that they suspected it was an inside job management said it was not their responsibility to worry about the safety of residents or their belongings. Two weeks later we had a maintenance request to fix the light in our dinning room that had fallen out of the ceiling (the quality of workmanship at Woodland Park cuts every corner so if you are looking to buy a home don't do it through Van Metre or you will have to have everything redone). When we returned home after the service call we found our door unlocked, apparently it had been for hours after the maintenance call. When we informed Woodland Park management about our home being left unlocked after a service call we were informed by both the Property Manager and Area Director from Van Metre that it is not the responsibility of their maintenance staff to lock an apartment after they have completed work and if we give them permission to enter our apartment when we are away to do a service call then we give them permission to leave our apartment unlocked. WE are still trying to figure out what went missing from our apartment while it was left open, but obviously it was once again an inside job and after speaking with the police the Property Manager and Area Director are responsible for the situation and most likely the ones who stole from us. I have already filed charges against the Property Manager and Area Director and we are looking forward to them being held accountable for these situations of obvious theft that they participated in by the Fairfax County legal system. I warn anyone thinking of moving in here that not only is the property the worst in the area when it comes to maintenance issues, bed bugs, roaches, garbage not being picked up, and a staff who does not care and would rather write fake glowing reviews than honestly address concerns of the tenants; the Property Manager and Area Director will case out your apartment and then steal your belongings after pretending to lose keys that were in their care or that it was their maintenance staff that left your apartment unlocked. Beware of these people and find a community with a management staff you can trust; for the record that will never be Van Metre they are a bunch of liars and crocks!

boramk

Resident • 2011 - 2012

Parking

Parking is horrible. I have been since for a year and it is a battle to find a parking spot every single day. I have spoken with Proerty Manager through out the year and nothing has been changed. Sure, this apartment complex is gated which is what I liked at first, but then you will see that everyone meaning non-residents have access code to get in and park overnight or for days. They do not have visitors parking set aside, and aways out of visitors parking stickers. I have parked my car outside of apt complex more every night. If you have a child, this is not a good place to live. Having to walk close to a half mile or mile just to park the car during inclement weather, is not very fun especially when you have a little one alone. Parking is the biggest issue and the manangement is the second biggest issue. They are aware of the situations and are not taking ANY actions to further avoid these issues. We have put in our notice to move out and apparently there are 8 other who are moving for the same exact reasons. Apartment itself is nice, but I wouldnt pay what I pay to live here. Never again.

Current Resident 915610

Resident • 2010 - 2013

I have lived in this community for going on three years now and I have had a great experience to date. Any minor issues that have come up have been solved quickly by the office staff when brought to their attention, I am not sure where some of the previous reviews are coming from- the people from the management staff that helped me were kind and courteous with a sense of urgency about my situations. Parking for me has been great because I have a garage, I cant attest for open parking but guest parking seems pretty comparable to any other apartment community I have lived in. My girlfriend and I are planning on renewing at least another year.

Wresident

Resident • 2010 - 2011

Nice complex in good area

I have lived in Woodland a little bit over a year so I decided to share my experience, hoping it would help people who are looking for a new place. My husband and I moved down here from another state. We have been at least in 4 properties before we chose Woodland. We were surprised that for apartments they offer rent that s not that high considering living near Fairfax county and DC area. Plus, we love the fact of having 24hr gym and 2 pools. We think it's pretty awesome that property management has resident events cause when you're working a lot it's hard to make friends or even meet your neighbors so I think those events can bring people closer plus it is nice to know who lives in your community. Our personal issue is parking (after 10pm is almost impossible to find a spot near our building) but couple times when we got back home very late I did see a towing truck on the property so that s good. Also with packages since we work in the DC area it is almost impossible to get here by 6pm before the office closes, so basically we have to wait until our day off to go get packages from office (well at least they're open 7 days a week). So I hope Woodland will soon find a resolution to either change business hours a couple days a week or maybe just get some sort of property delivery to the door service . And Woodland, please switch from Direct Tv!!! I never had major problems that I had to deal with the property manager but she seems like a very nice lady. Office staff is friendly and very energetic, they always try to help right away and even when one person cant, they will redirect you to another. Yes it may take some time, but because they are very nice I don t have a problem to wait 15-20 minutes. They do need to hire more people cause property is big for the number of staff in the office. Each property would always have problems, perfect just does not exist so in general im very satisfied with Woodland Park and it's become a home for us. *and we are planning to stay at Woodland thru 2012

Current Resident 633820

Resident • 2011

Bad place and worst property manager

Thank god I am out of this place. This place can be called as "Day Light" burgulary. Office people treat the property manager like Angel. She is one of the useless lady who I ever seen in my life. If you guys notice no body in the office stays for a longer time. They cheat people and add all kinds of hidden charges. Finally if you see the bill at the time of vacating, you will spend thousands of dollars. I am not kidding.. this is serious and happened to me. Propery manager name is katie. She got to be thrown out of the job.

Current Resident 612399

Resident • 2011

Pleased Resident

Christine has been very helpful and responsive!! This has been the best place I have lived at and would stay if I could.

PrivateCS

Resident • 2005 - 2012

Good Morning America!

My community captain Christine Whatley is the best! I have been living here since 2005 and my family and I love it. Management and maintenance staff are great. I call Woodland Park my white House.

Current Resident 572688

Resident • 2011

Mixed thoughts about the burbs at first...

After living in Arlington for quite a few years, I decided to move out to the burbs and put down roots at Woodland Park. I moved into the brand new apartments in Phase 3 at Woodland and really love my apartment. Maintenance has been here for a few minor things and always is quick to respond. The staff at the office is great, my Community Captain, Matt Christopher is very easy to talk to, and my overall happiness factor is very high. I do recommend this property to others and plan on staying here for quite some time. Thanks Woodland!

hbrs0704

Resident • 2009 - 2011

would never rent here again!

I myself have had a horrific time here at Woodland Park. Thank god our lease OVER! It seems that the staff is under trained, because every time I get different answers from each person regarding the same issue. Even though the office staff is always occupied with so many employees, it always seems that we have to wait in the lobby every time to actually have someone to assist us. The packages are always lost in the building, they never seem organized. and of course the communication amongst all the employees is a joke! We have maintenance come in and have something fixed at the apartment and we get a call 3-4 days later from the office to address the issue!! There maybe just be a handful of people in that office that know what they are doing and are doing it right! I have noticed the older apartments are getting very weak, and breaking apart...I now am seeing pest (cockroaches/ants) in the building...and it is just not in our building, but my other friends who also live at woodland park. The communication that I get from the office is very very slow...it takes them 2-4 days sometimes to get back to me about a issue/or a question, not timely. I love the location of the complex, but other than that, I find it to be very pricey and with keeping other things in mind, I might as well look to live somewhere else! I would just recommend other to NOT WASTE THEIR TIME!!! Read more: http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/VA-Herndon-Van-Metre-Woodland-Park-1357302.html#ixzz1gKsojRzP

sockmonkey81

Resident • 2009 - 2011

Should have moved out sooner!

I started renting here in 2009. The girl who helped me no longer works there and I wanted to stick it out to see how things went. I'm so sorry that I renewed my lease but I just didn't feel like moving! This place went to sh** after she left. No one would give me a call back about my maintenance issues and the property manager is the laziest person I have ever known. I even tried to go to one of the "resident events" and the property manager is an alocholic! I am so mad and trust me, I never write these sort of reviews! However, people have to know the truth! She does nothing but sit in her office and "pretend" to work. I have asked to meet with her numerous times however the other staff always say that she is "too busy". However I can see her and she is probably just checking facebook. I'm not even sure why she has this job. I could of swore I saw her working at McDonalds before. Whenever I go in to get a package there is a line of people waiting (I waited for 20 mintues to get a package!) and the front desk lady is aweful! She is rude beyond all reasoning! I just put in my notice and I was scared to write something because I thought they would come after me! I don't care anymore. The parking SUCKS! Don't let them trick you! The noise is aweful and I'm always stepping in DOG POOP! I don't feel safe here anymore because I know there have been people that have been robbed and they don't DO anything about it! None of the staff is very helpful and always ignore me! I just don't want them to not give me my security deposit back! Which I have heard they do! DO NOT RENT HERE!!!