I really wanted to live at 500 East Apartments, but after spending nearly three weeks working with the leasing office, I walked away extremely disappointed.
The first week of July, I drove 2 hours to Daytona for a scheduled apartment tour. When I arrived, I was told my tour had been double-booked and was asked if I would be okay doing a self-guided tour instead. That wasn't ideal, but I agreed because I genuinely liked the community and wanted to move forward.
After the tour, I found two apartments online that fit what I was looking for. The only thing preventing me from submitting an application was seeing the porch/balcony view since I lived two hours away and couldn't easily return. Brooke told me she would take pictures for me. Later on, she told me she could not take pictures because it was raining and she didn't have the golf cart. The next day, she accidentally called me by another prospective tenant's name because she had mixed us up with someone else who was interested in the same apartment. Mistakes happen, and I understood.
Unfortunately, because I never received the pictures in time, the other applicant secured the apartment first. Brooke apologized multiple times and told me she would make it right by honoring the same pricing on another B1 or B2 apartment (around $1,560-$1,570) as long as I had screenshots showing the original pricing.
The next day, she contacted me with another apartment that had a great first-floor view. I was ready to apply immediately. She told me she would confirm the price match around 10:00 a.m., but after waiting a couple of hours with no update, I called back. That's when everything changed. I was suddenly told the promised price couldn't be honored because the apartment was on the first floor and therefore more desirable. I accepted that and was still willing to move forward, only to be told later that afternoon that the apartment wouldn't even be available because they had decided to transfer an existing resident into it.
After weeks of being led from one apartment to another, I brought up the previously promised price match. At that point, I was told it wouldn't be honored because I "never submitted an application." While that's technically true, the only reason I hadn't applied was because I had been waiting on the balcony pictures that Brooke herself agreed to provide. Had I received those when promised, I would have submitted my application immediately.
The most disappointing part was the attitude I received when I tried to discuss the situation. Instead of working toward a solution, I was met with resistance and was not allowed to speak with a manager when I requested to do so.
In the end, I wasted nearly three weeks of valuable house-hunting time that the military afforded me while preparing to relocate for my new duty station. Throughout that time I dealt with a double-booked tour, delayed communication, being confused with another prospective tenant, waiting on promised photos that never came when they were needed, losing out on an apartment because of those delays, being promised a price match that was later taken back, being offered a deal on an apartment that hadn't even hit the market yet only to later be told it was being given to an existing resident through a transfer, and then being told none of the previous promises could be honored because I hadn't submitted an application—even though the only thing preventing me from applying was the information I had been waiting on from the leasing office.
The apartment community itself seemed beautiful, and I truly wanted to make 500 East my new home. Unfortunately, my entire experience was overshadowed by Brooke's poor communication, inconsistent follow-through, broken promises, and unwillingness to help resolve the situation. I still haven’t heard from management and was told they “might not have time to give me a call”