These are reviews of Cambridge House Apartments from 2009. For more current reviews, visit the entry.
2009-01-10 01:26:44 The dog problem is overwhelming in these days. Unleash dogs, annoying dog-barking-marathon and selfish owners letting their dogs to pee in front of other residences' door(1~2 feets). I have seen a MONSTER size Great Dane here, which is banned in this apartment. I am wondering if the manager knows anything about the dog problems here.—rjwesley
2009-01-19 13:51:35 Thank you for the feedback with issues we can work harder on to correct. Please call the office with specific complaint information (i.e., apt #, the issue and how long it has been happening). I cannot fix a problem that no one is telling me about. I am at the office Monday -Friday from 8am-5pm, please feel free to stop by so we can work on this issue. Also, fortunately for large dog owners, we have no weight restrictions. We do this because we realize it is hard to find a home with a large pet and most people will not just give up their animals. We do however have breed restrictions. Great Danes are not on that restriction list and are in fact able to stay here, please refer to your lease for any additional information on our pet policy. Thank you —Cambridge
2009-02-02 22:16:53 In case anyone was wondering about the performance of the "high-speed internet," here's what I've observed, bandwidth-wise (with http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest though I have seen similar results with other speed tests).
First, it should be noted that the bandwidth seems to change constantly. I believe this is because everyone here is sharing bandwidth—more people on thus means worse bandwidth (and latency, though I'll get to that in a second). I have observed anywhere from, right now...
Download Speed: 853 kbps (106.6 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 823 kbps (102.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
...to, on January 26:
Download Speed: 307 kbps (38.4 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 313 kbps (39.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Or, on August 23, 2008, I had a download speed of 383 kbps (47.9 KB/sec) and an upload speed of 91 kbps (11.4 KB/sec).
September 2, 2008: Download Speed: 239 kbps (29.9 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 149 kbps (18.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
October 25, 2008: Download Speed: 3157 kbps (394.6 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 1558 kbps (194.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
November 20, 2008: Download Speed: 292 kbps (36.5 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 493 kbps (61.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
December 7, 2008: Download Speed: 413 kbps (51.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 598 kbps (74.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
So that should give you a relatively good reference for what to expect here. Now, how does that compare to other types of Internet? My brother, who lives in Los Gatos, has Comcast's High-Speed Internet. On January 26, he got these results:
Download Speed: 12468 kbps (1558.5 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 3021 kbps (377.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Also on January 26, I tested the download speed in the UC Davis library on their computers: Download Speed: 61539 kbps (7692.4 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 8242 kbps (1030.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
What this does not show, and what it's been harder for me to find methods to reliably quantify (beyond a command prompt ping or tracert), is the latency—my biggest gripe with the internet here. The easiest measure of this I have is when I'm playing World of Warcraft. The latency seems to vary more than the bandwidth does. I've gone anywhere from around 120ms of latency to as high as 14,000ms of latency. Needless to say, the latter is EXTREMELY frustrating, as it makes the game unplayable. Lately, it's been especially bad in the afternoons and I have basically written off my ability to play internet-based games—which require low latency—between about 3pm and 11pm. Over Christmas break, when there were fewer people here, the latency was perfectly tolerable almost all the time. But that's definitely not so these past few weeks. Right now, at 10:56 pm, I'm getting 1,378ms of lag—it's extremely frustrating.
If anyone is interested, the ISP here is Apartment Host, found here: http://www.apartmenthost.com/highspeed.asp —RobertM525
2009-02-05 16:16:23 Whew. I can't finish all the comments. I wanted to reply to the many who have stated that the cons of this complex are like all the other apartments in Davis. I have never been to this complex, but it seems like you guys pay a lot for what you get. To the specifics....no, not all apartments in Davis are loud, not all apartments have terrible parking, not all apartments have thin walls and ceilings, not all residents in apartments are loud, not all Davis apartments have bug infestations, and (this last bit is loose conjecture) vandalism and break ins seem more common in certain areas of Davis and possibly certain apartment complexes. I have been living in Cranbrook, and though like all apartments it has it's own negatives, it doesn't have these supposedly universal negatives. I just wanted to be sure some people realized that they have apparently developed unrealistic and negative assumptions about all Davis apartment living. It is possible to get a very quiet apartment, it really is. Don't expect too little, and always read your lease very very carefully before you sign it. This link is a very very helpful guide....http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf —JW
2009-02-17 17:55:15 Yeah, this place sucks. For starters, when my roommate and I decided to check this place out, we were not allowed to see the actual room we would be leasing, instead we were shown a model room that I believe is a room that is never leased. We finally were able to see the apartment when we moved in and noticed that the grill for the heating unit was bashed in and was supported only by a few nails bent in such a way to keep it from popping out. I had noticed a leak underneath the sink when I first used it and it took the service crew three visits of them saying that it was fixed when it was not until they finally caved to putting out the money to replace the fixtures. Chipped paint can be found everywhere from the bottom of the doors to deep on the inside of the closet. They cover up many damages with layers of paint. There are clear concavities in doors due to people apparently kicking them in and such, which the owners merely painted over. The only door that does require excessive force to either open or close is the front door. The first night I stayed at this place I noticed a big roach problem in our kitchen. Everyday I see roach droppings underneath our microwave and in a few of the shelves. The internet and cable come with the apartment, but the internet is really slow and shuts down from time to time. You are better off going some place else and getting your own internet and cable through Comcast. There are a lot of laundry facilities here, but people who live here are either jerks or incredibly stupid as you may often start a load of laundry only to find out when you return that someone else has carelessly stopped the machine by opening the door. The AC does not work and the oven heats up the apartment better than the heater. Lastly, parking is a pain. —zckfox
2009-02-27 10:14:59 While we appreciate the suggestions and feedback Daviswiki users provide, we strongly urge all apartment hunters to come by for a tour and see for yourselves what a great community we are. We do not have a specific apartment we fix up special and use as a model throughout the year; we lease all of our apartments yearly and often use a vacant apartment as a model. We understand, based on this website that there are some people who have decided that this is not the place for them, however, there are many people this year that have renewed and we are still currently accepting renewals from our residents. With the amount of people renewing, it is easy to show that there are a number of people who are happy and comfortable here. It is common of rating websites and wikis that most comments are negative. This is because people often feel the need to share their negative experiences as opposed to positive ones. When people are happy, they are generally content and don’t feel the need to share it online. Daviswiki is a great website and we often get many new residents who find us by searching here. You could be one of them. Stop by M-F from 8:30-5:30 or on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. We are more than happy to help you. Thank you —Cambridge
2009-04-10 11:17:14 very disappointing overall. the apartments must have been built 50 years ago, there are shady people living here, everything is beaten down and barely maintained. they cemented in the hot tub because they said it was too much to take care of. basically, if you have a soul and enjoy life, don't live here. —ufodog624
2009-04-14 22:41:35 The fitness center is suck! The main reason is that it doesn't have it's own air-conditioner/heater in the room. The air-conditioner/heater is connected to the rental office. In summer, managers turn on the air-conditioner during their office hours. During office hours, you can still breath in the fitness center. However, they turn off the air-conditioner after office hours. How can you exercise in a room without window and air-conditioner??? It seems like a steam room with just dead air inside!!!! If there is more than one person in the room, the condition will be worse. Well, the fitness center has two fans, but the fans don't work because the fans just keep blowing the HOT dead air in the room. In winter, the managers turned on heater during office hours. At the same time, the fitness center is heated up, too. I believe no one can exercise, especially run, in a room with heater on. It is extremely uncomfortable to have any work out in the room. The Managers do not allowed us to open the door to drive the air in. It is really crazy!! I understand that it would be noisy outside if the door is opened. However, I don't think there is other way to drive fresh air in the room if the fitness center doesn't have it's own air-conditioner. Exercise regularly is healthy, but exercise without FRESH air is NOT. —kikokiko
2009-05-07 13:35:48 I never actually made it through the lease signing process. In my opinion (this entire posting is my opinion, only) these guys are the kind of corporate swindlers I cannot see myself ever renting from. They showed a model apartment (pictures are on this site), would not let me get in any sort of contact with the current tenants (perhaps because the current tenants are unhappy?), and sent me the most ridiculous lease ever. The way they swindle is hard to pick up. Essentially, my lease started July 17th, 2009, and went to July 6, 2010. I was supposed to give them a full TWO months rent on the first day of the lease, to cover the second half of July and all of August. When I noted that the lease ended July 6th of 2010 (and therefore the second half of my first month's rent paid this July could be applied to only the first few days of next July), they said that they couldn't make it for a full year, and that I was still to pay 12 equal payments of rent to cover my yearly rent total. They do not prorate. Essentially this meant I was to spend an additional $430 dollars, or an actual $45/month in rent, OVER the amount I was supposedly being charged per month (because for 15 days my rent was apparently also $1190). So, while they said that the apartment was $1190/month, it was actually $1235/month, I would just be paying the extra during my first few weeks living there.
Every time I tried to fix it, they said it was against company policy. They would not refer me to their superiors. It was an awful experience, and one that cost me at least $50 in application fees (possibly another $200 more, I'll let you know if they refund me my "holding deposit").
DO NOT RENT FROM THESE PEOPLE. They make you do everything within 24 hours in hopes that you don't read the fine print and sign away your soul and your hard-earned money. I have posted a complete, redacted .pdf of my lease. However, I do not want Cambridge accusing me of releasing it to everyone, so if you would like to see what you'll be signing before you give them your application fee and your holding deposit, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Believe me, you want to see this thing.
EDIT: Apparently Cambridge has informed me that they will allow prospective tenants to view their potential lease on demand, before holding the apartment. If this is the case, I will not be releasing my redacted lease. However, if you find that this isn't the case, I will still be accepting e-mail at the above address. —Ceebs
2009-05-07 17:41:07 Like previously stated, Cambridge House always appreciates the feedback from residents and potential residents. We do not appreciate the implication that we are trying to “swindle” people out of money. Over 35 new leases have been signed this year. Every new resident has signed the same lease without any issues and we have even had those people refer others to our community. We have absolutely nothing to hide and our full lease, application and any other documents you wish to see are readily available at any time at your request. Each apartment has different lease start and end dates. If you are interested in viewing a lease before you put a hold on an apartment please stop by the office and request one. Please do not ask for a copy from the above user, as that lease is no longer an original of Cambridge House.
As a side note, once this person cancelled, they were immediately refunded the $200 hold deposit without argument and should be receiving it shortly. We try our best to be sure that you are happy to live here at Cambridge House. If you do not agree with the lease agreement we provide you, it is not mandatory that you live here.
We have an amazing community and a great management team. The number of residents that have chosen to stay another year clearly reflects that. If you have any additional questions please call us at the office at 530.756.4020. We are open Monday through Friday 9am- 6pm and Saturdays 10am-4pm. Thank you.
- Perhaps you could clear up the claim that you charge a full month's rent for half a month? Reading this I know that would be my main concern, as it would seem rather underhanded. —MasonMurray
- I would also like clarification. -ES
2009-05-08 12:02:07 I wonder how many of the 35 people who have signed leases for next year work for attorneys? I do... :-) —Ceebs
2009-05-08 15:31:29 Plenty actually. —Cambridge
2009-05-16 10:30:05 2009-05-16 10:28:48 Plenty actually is right. Prior to me moving in to this horrible property, I also worked for an attorney. I no longer do, but I would really advise anyone who is having issues with the property management to consult with one. Do not think you're getting a deal. The property is WAY over priced, considering what you're getting in return. I originally thought I was moving into a nice, quiet, and student-geared pad. I was SO wrong. A good portion of the tenants are drug abusers. I was harassed on several occasions by the upstairs tenants. It was actually quite scary at night time. If the actual property wasn't bad enough, the property management was absolutely terrible. When I was moving in, they gave me a hard time about the PG&E being hooked up. I had no idea what they were even talking about. I had just driven up from Southern CA and was exhausted. They sat there and discussed a text message one of them had received from some guy the night before. It showed a total lack of professionalism. In addition, I am well aware that property managers do not make much money (usually because they do not do much). If you take a look at the vehicles the property managers drive, you'll be taken aback. They drive luxury vehicles - which they park on the property itself. Just shows you that they're ripping people off. Take my advice and definitely see what else Davis has to offer before you settle on this dirty complex. —Disgusted
2009-07-11 18:29:55 I'm saddened to see that things generally haven't changed here. Although these are the opinions of a few, note that they all skew towards the negatives and there are few "real" tennants (not managers posing as tenants - see the edit history) that have anything good to say about the property. —DaveCar
2009-08-05 17:00:59 Don't be fooled by the pictures or the "model" apartments. This apartment complex was absolutely filthy. It is by far the worst place I've lived in years including apartments around Davis and the bay area. Everything from the paint, the windows, and the carpets to the broken microwave and broken blinds are the cheapest I've encountered. Other apartments in Davis have been $20-$50 more expensive but infinitely better quality. The value for money at Cambridge House is wretched and the living conditions borderline horrendous. I would NOT recommend staying here if you have any other options. I've found other apartments recently that are actually cheaper per month and offer a much higher standard of living.
The panes of glass in the windows did not fit the metal frames, the frames were warped and covered with filth, and the windows did not close properly. Also every monday morning when the gardening crew came all sorts of crap got blown through the gap in the window, causing huge allergy problems for my roommate and I. The carpet is disgusting and feels more like cardboard than carpet.
The bathrooms were horrendous. The small ceiling fan was so clogged with mold that it caused mold to grow on the walls all year round regardless of bleaching. The only thing the management did about the mold was bleach it and paint over it. They used the same method on the fake tile in the shower. The plastic shower walls were also not sealed at the bottom and had enormous amounts of black mold growing out of them.
The walls are surprisingly soundproof between apartments, however the ceilings are surprisingly thin. As previously mentioned, do not live downstairs if you have heavy upstairs neighbors or people who bang around a lot when playing video games or other things if you get what I mean.
Also mentioned previously, there is copious amounts of pet poop around the complex in the grass, so stick to the narrow sidewalks when touring around.
Despite the numerous complaints about rodents and roaches, our apartment was fairly free of them, although spiders coming in through the windows was a huge issue too.
Surprisingly enough, the hot water is endless. We've had multiple people take decently long showers while the dishwasher was running and never ran out of hot water.
There is also not enough parking for all of the tenants, and if you manage to find parking, expect your vehicle to get lots of dings as the parking spaces are narrow and hard to park in for anything but smaller cars.
Finally, and this is probably the biggest problem we ran into, they charged us a full months rent for a partial months worth of lease. My roommate and I used the direct deposit method to pay rent and were assured a week before the last months rent was due that it would be canceled and that we would have to bring in a check. We brought a check in on the 1st only to find out that they had in fact "forgotten to cancel the direct deposit". We quickly rushed to deposit the money before we were charged, only to have them withdraw the full months rent from our accounts. —sepheretti
2009-08-14 21:49:33 More info on the high-speed internet...
Using http://www.speedtest.net/ I have run 37 tests of my connection speed since 7/21/09. My results were a mean download speed of 2.38 Mb/sec (with a standard deviation of 1.17), a mean upload speed of 2.72 Mb/sec (with a standard deviation of 1.48), and a mean latency of 27.38ms (with a standard deviation of 18.21). The minimum download speed I observed was 0.35 Mb/sec (7/21/2009 6:27 GMT); the maximum download speed I observed was 4.55 Mb/sec (8/4/2009 8:21 GMT). That and the standard deviation numbers should show how... variable the internet here can be. What it doesn't show is the frustratingly large amount of time you'll be told that "the page cannot be displayed" the first (or second) time you try to visit a web page. Not all the time, but often enough to be annoying with the connection's lack of reliability.
It's too bad they didn't provide the internet from the same source they provide the TV (namely Comcast, who have the highest speed internet in the Davis area according to speedtest.net at an average of 14.09 Mbps!). —RobertM525
2009-08-14 22:06:12 Regarding sepheretti's comments... (S)he is being rather hyperbolic, but is touching on some accurate issues.
The apartments aren't filthy, though the windows do not, indeed, fit very well. I suspect this is because they are very old. I live downstairs and I can, indeed, often hear my neighbors above me.
Parking's usually not an issue for me. I've lived here for over a year and only been forced to park outside the parking lot after I get off work at roughly 10pm a couple of times. They've been very quick to tow my friends' cars (two of them made the mistake of parking in the parking lot visiting me), which honestly is a good thing since that means residents will be more likely to get parking spaces if non-residents' cars are being towed. Just warn visitors. :)
Roaches and beetles are, indeed, a constant problem. I believe this is because the apartment complex is old so there are numerous ways for them to get into the apartments. Short of massive renovation, I'm not sure what could be done about that. Or the easy-to-hear-through ceilings. Our bathroom is, indeed, inadequately ventilated to evacuate steam and mold can crop up. Painting over things (like the kitchen sink!) is, indeed, one of the management's favorite ways to clean things.
Oh, and there's no garbage disposal. Which makes cleaning the sink a constant chore.
Still, it's not the absolute disastrous hellhole sepheretti is describing. It's just an old apartment complex whose rent is probably too high. If they'd spend that rent on renovating things, that'd be great, but I don't foresee that happening. Given that the management company, Aspen Square Management, is from West Springfield, MA, I don't think they care that much. :) —RobertM525
2009-09-30 19:28:04 REDICULOUS!!!! The PARKING here SUCKS!!! Most complexes have assigned parking spots for atleast one vehicle per apartment, here they DON'T!!! Sure they give you a "sticker" so you can park in the lots, but it's a free for all. It seems like they give atleast 1 sticker per person living in the complex; so if thier is 5 people in an apartment, they all get a sticker. So don't even try and think for a second that you will get a parking spot; because you WON'T. So needless to say, try and park on the street, because those are taken too! So now you and your guests have to park 1/2 a mile from your apartment, just to find a spot!
Whoever else here is having a problem with the parking VOICE your opinion, this needs to CHANGE!!! WE WANT PARKING REFORM!!!! AND WE WANT IT NOW!!! —skooldude
2009-10-01 01:36:58 I have been living here for almost four months, and have had no problems at all. The day we moved in they were unpacking a brand new fridge, and any problems(loose closet doorhandle, no stopper for the bath) we had right away were fixed. The whole complex is beautiful, and the free cable and internet is a big plus. Of course, we expanded our cable package(you get extended basic cable to begin with, but no food network or USA or MTV, etc)—but we on;y have to pay the difference, rather than the whole thing—so we get hundreds of channels for about $16 a month! The walls are super thick(Not once have I heard a neighbor, I even had to check to see if we had any! (we do)), though the floor/ceiling seperation can be a problem. i'm on the second floor, so no problems for me, but our downstairs neighbor has complained now and again. The gym has great hours—so that's convenient, and the pool is always clear and clean. I have never had trouble finding a parking spot—permits are required but any resident can get one. still, no problems. No bugs to speak of. The air conditioning/heating wall unit works well, but unless you leave it on all the time during the summer it won't be able to cool the whole apartment, just the half that it faces. Standing in front of it's lovely, though. It's close to Safeway, and it's practically on 5th st/Richards, which is what the campus is off of. By car, it's 7 minutes to the MU. All in all—I'm glad I chose Cambridge house! —JeanD
2009-10-14 03:04:26 Oddly, I just discovered that the "Cambridge" account here posts from an IP address associated with Comcast, not the internet that we residents get (ApartmentHost.com). Now why is that? Because our internet, frankly, rather sucks? (Lately it's been about 0.25 to 0.50 Mbps and very laggy. Definitely not "high speed.") If we've got Comcast TV, how 'bout Comcast internet, too? If the internet here is not good enough for the management, then it's not good enough for the residents! —RobertM525
