Marina Harbor Apartments E&S Rings Overpriced, Very Noisy, Lots of Theft, Lots of Dogs nuisance, Dirty Hallways, Leaking washer & dryer, non-return of security deposit Marina Del Rey, California

1st Complaint:
This place has its pros and cons.  The pros -- great location.  Always clean.  Great amenities (when they work).  Free coffee in the lobby every day.  

The cons -- they will say ANYTHING to get you in and make promises while you're there.  Examples:

1.  The leasing agent showed us a bunch of different units.  We talked at length about our MANY surfboards and that we needed storage, even bringing a tape measure to make sure they would fit on the patio.  We ultimately chose the unit with the largest patio FOR OUR BOARDS.  Shortly after moving in, we started receiving letters from legal that no boards are allowed on the patio.  

2.  The complex offers nightly rentals of furnished units for friends and family.  Which is great.  Except when they take your money to reserve a unit but fail to actually reserve the unit, then refuse to accommodate you or refund your money after the fact (I have a receipt, by the way, which they acknowledged).

3.  We've been told we're getting washers are dryers in our units VERY SOON for over a year now.  And the washers and dryers in the common areas are very good at taking your money, but often fail to actually work.

4.  We have told leasing repeatedly that we want a first floor unit facing the water if and when one becomes available.  There are eight such units total on the property.  We just found out one was available and contacted leasing...but they had already leased it to someone else.

5.  Our next-door neighbor is REALLY loud, including often having parties on his balcony after the clubs close, which go from 2 a.m. to 5 or 6 a.m.  We have been promised repeatedly that he's "being evicted" and they're " in the process of getting rid of him," but he's still there.  It's been almost a year.

We'll probably stay because we love the location and hate moving.  But we want others to be aware that, even though it looks really nice on the outside, it's definitely not perfect once you move in.

2nd Complaint:
Update to those considering moving here... Someone stole the wheels of my bikes. There was a burglary on the ground floor of a tenant - break-in through the balcony. A woman was shot in the garage of a neighboring complex last week - a man in a car approached a woman in the garage to ask for directions and he robbed her and shot her three times in the back.  Live in a complex with a gated garage or enough security employed to watch your safety.

3rd Complaint:
It has been a torture living here. The neighbor smokes day and night, and the smoke goes through the walls and through the windows. The smoke wakes me up and then i cannot fall asleep again, so here we go, I am writing this review. THe management said there's nothing they could do except politely ask the neighbor. I wonder if they did. I already did but without any success.

THe way the building is set, makes the fresh marine air move the smoke directly to the near windows. There is no AC in the apartment, so keeping the windows shut all the time is not an option. So my night routine involves shutting the window, turning on the air cleaner, 5 min later turning it off and opening the window again. 

ALso, the tremendous echo between the buildings makes any conversation from people talking on the phone on their balcony  heard to both buildings. if someone is having a party near the pool or bbq in the area between the two buildings , the noise is so loud you will have to blast your tv or stereo to cover it up.

4th Complaint:
A continuation of more bad from this apartment complex...they have entered our apartment at least 4 times without our permission when we have asked and emailed them repeatedly to call first and make sure someone is home.  Also, it took 6 months to finally get a copy of our lease, by that time my fiance' and I had married so we needed to sign a new lease jointly....we signed it and got it back to them IMMEDIATELY, then it took them another month to get a copy back to us, or so I thought.  Turned out it was not a copy after all, as I made notations to their lease on the side of some of the things they wanted us to sign off on...we had to re-sign a new one without any notes on it.  

THEN after we re-signed it, got it back to them promotly, again, they returned it to us as they failed to mention both people needed to initial where only I had initialed since there was only room for one person to initial.  I'm sure it'll take several more weeks for them to make a copy and get it to us  Again, we are model tenants, and we pay almost $3,100 a month and this is how they treat people.  And a $3,000+ deposit mind you. However, you decide if you want to take a chance and live here, I can't tell you not to move here.  We are, however, stuck here for now as they have us by the short ones ($$$).

 5th Complaint:
This place was a nightmare to live at. I went into detail about my awful experience with the management and location. Marina Harbors manager reached out to me and posted a response (all the posts had been taken down):

"I am so sorry to hear that Marina Harbor hasn't been the ideal home for you.  Our company really does want to provide just what our motto states "an exceptional apartment living experience where our residents enjoy memorable communities with superior service and care that feels like home." Donna has left the company and I regret that she was not able to fill me in on the specific issues you have had during your residency.  Please contact me at the office to review.  I would like to help in any way I am able."

Best Regards,
Isabel Sciommeri, General Business Manager

I tried to call and email Isabel MULTIPLE times after being charged $1200 on top of Marina Harbor keeping my $700 deposit, and never got a response from her. Not expectable.