Apartment Review for Ventana Apartment Homes - Los Angeles, CA

I would like to offer a warning to anyone thinking of moving into the Ventana Apartment Homes on Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles. This is one of the first online reviews I have ever written, but the deplorable treatment I have received from the management has compelled me to submit this review. I would like to provide a few examples of the sorts of problems that I have encountered, and the "solutions" proposed to me: When my toilet and shower were not working, they suggested I shower and use the bathroom in an empty apartment two floors down. Mind you, it was not only the shower that didn't work, but the toilet as well, and they expected me to simply run down to the bathrooom every time I needed it. It was only after an entire day and a half of making phone calls and threatening legal action that they authorized a one-day stay at a hotel while my bathroom was "fixed" and the toilet still floods about once a week. My apartment came with a fridge. This fridge stopped working, and after an ENTIRE month of leaving notes and calling the Manager (I work during her office hours), I was told I would get a replacement. When the replacement came, it did not fit in my designated "nook" (God forbid they take measurements before giving it to me) and the larger-than-life fridge was left in the middle of kitchen and was called a "temporary solution" (the manager's exact words). I live in a small studio and the fridge almost entirely blocked the entrance and was a fire hazard. Further, they did not replace the fridge until over a month later, so this "temporary solution" just sat in the middle of my kitchen blocking the entrance. When my "new" fridge came (and it actually was not new -- it was an old, used fridge) it did not work and my food once again went rotten! The plumbing in this building is also old and the air conditioner is always on the fritz. Further, there are constantly broken pipes in the garage which leads to tremendous flooding and any sorts of repair orders you submit literally take weeks to get resolved. Finally, the building always has a peculiar smell to it because garbage pick-up does not seem to happen regulary, and there are several units that are actually located write across the trash chutes and these areas tend to smell the absolute worst! I would highly suggest that anyone who is thinking of moving into these apartments look elsewhere as management is slow-acting (when they do act at all) and extremely cheap and make the overall living experience, to be blunt, a major hassle. There is not semblance of customer service and, overall, you feel helpless in that if there is a problem or emergency, you have no resources at hand which is beyond frustrating. They try to brand these as Apartment "Homes" but Apartment "traps" is really more like it. M