Bishops Square Apartments

I wrote a long review but I hope you take the time to read it if you’re genuinely considering living in this complex.
SUMMARY:
If you choose to live here, you’ll be spending too much money for the amenities and service that you receive. My roommates and I regret signing here, there are other complexes in town that are the same price (or cheaper!!) with better communities and staff.
I will not be renewing my lease at Bishop Square and here’s why:
1) Management is horrible.
— Upon the initial tour of the complex, my roommate and I were told that the complex would be able to roommate match us for a 3^rd roommate which was primarily why we chose to sign our leases here. — we found out later that because I am female and my roommate is male, they were not able to roommate match us. We were told to find a third roommate within a certain amount of time (1 week) before they would give up our apartment and separate us into same-​gender houses (something we both wanted to avoid). Thankfully we found someone to fill that space but we were both disappointed that we had been misinformed, I’m assuming this is due to a lack of proper communication between employers/​employees in the office.
— You have to pay your rent early and pay around $ 130 extra in order to move-​in early. This fee puts you on a cleaning list so that your unit is ready for your early arrival. If you don’t pay this fee in a timely manner, they’ll claim their early-​cleaning list is full and you won’t be allowed to move in early. I compromised with them to take the unit «as-​is» and pay any damages the previous tenants left behind as well as the early move-​in fee. Thankfully my unit was already clean and most of the damages appeared to be from maintenance/​poorly-​done paint jobs.
—- HOWEVER, a few days after I moved in early, my roommate decided to move-​in with me. The front office said this was acceptable as long as he wasn’t occupying his room prior to the beginning of his lease (because he chose not to pay the early move-​in fee). Shortly after my roommate is settled into being a guest in his own home, I get a phone call to come to the front office to sign a new copy of my lease agreement.
When I arrived at the office, they did provide me with some paperwork to sign but, THE MANAGER YELLED AT ME IN FRONT OF HER EMPLOYEES FOR ALLOWING MY ROOMMATE TO STAY IN MY UNIT AND THEN THREATENED TO FINE ME IF SHE FOUND HIM THERE THE FOLLOWING DAY AND FOR ANY DAMAGES HE MAY HAVE CAUSED DURING HIS VERY BRIEF (LESS THAN A WEEK) STAY. I am a calm person, but this had me burning inside. I can understand that this woman deals with young adults on a regular basis and she may feel the need to be assertive to get her message across but if I wanted to be belittled and spoken to like an idiot, I would still be living with my parents. Regardless of our age, these tenants are human beings that deserve respect and should be spoken to in a considerate manner.
Management’s rude behavior didn’t stop there, though. I have had to stand outside of the office 20 to 30 minutes after their opening hour, even though the manager was obviously inside and sitting at her desk, because she was too preoccupied to unlock the doors. Her excuses range from «sorry we don’t have a cordless phone» to other personal problems that frankly, I don’t care about. This has happened more than once. These interactions combined with her yelling at me only make me believe she’s been given her position due to length of servitude and not actual customer service skills.
2) Maintenance is virtually non-​existent. I don’t want to bash the maintenance workers in this complex because its not their fault, they are understaffed and I’m sure management’s lack of professionalism is to blame for that.
— to that end, if you need something fixed I hope you’re very handy and capable on your own. Maintenance will rarely fulfill a service request and if you require a follow-​up, don’t expect them to come at all. My roommates and I have had poorly-​draining tubs and a leaking fridge for about 6 months now and, despite numerous requests from both my roommates and myself, nothing has been fixed.
— The one time maintenance did come out to fix my sink, they didn’t fully inspect the problem so although it LOOKED fixed because they replaced my drain cover, it wasn’t. My boyfriend (a professional engineer) came over to look at it for me and he discovered rusted pipes (the real reason my sink was and is still broken).
— on the positive side, the maintenance men are very helpful and friendly. I’ve been locked out/​had questions before and they are the first ones to actually step away from their work to help me.
3) THEIR SITE MAY SAY THEY’RE PET-​FRIENDLY, BUT THEY ARE NOT. THEY WILL FINE YOU ANY WAY THEY CAN IF YOU CHOOSE TO BRING AN ANIMAL INTO THEIR UNITS. This includes large pet-​deposits and monthly pet-​fees/​rent.

I lived here, in a three bedroom, during my senior year of college. I gave it one star (other than because Unilocal makes me) is because the staff really is great and the maintenance men are so kind! Other than that, THIS PLACE SUCKS AND YOU SHOULD NEVER SIGN YOUR LEASE HERE.
To begin with, I am an extremely clean person. So, when I first moved in and saw how dirty everything was. I was immediately turned off. Starting the day I moved in and often throughout my stay I always mopped, dusted and wiped down the walls. I had the carpets steamed twice during my live there. YET, somehow when I moved out I still got charged an insane amount for «cleaning of the carpets.» THEY WERE BETTER WHEN I MOVED OUT THAN WHEN I MOVED IN.
While I lived there I did paint my bedroom walls, so I was fully committed to paying the bill for repaint. No complaints there. What is insane to be is I got charged for a «Towel Rack Replacement.» Okay guys, they literally accused me of taking a towel rack off of the bathroom wall. A literal towel rack. Like the ones that are SCREWED INTO THE WALL. 1.) Why would I do that? 2.) How would I do that? and 3.) What in the hell would I do with a towel rack? It was crazy!
Yet, like the rest of these complaints, I couldn’t argue any of these charges because I had moved out and they «fixed everything so I couldn’t prove they were wrong.» This place is a joke and thrives off of cheating college kids out of their money.
After threatening my credit, and $ 300 later, the only thing I have to say about this place is NEVER SIGN HERE. EVER.

Moved in and had a huge penis painted on the fridge (for some reason they thought that was acceptable for someone to live with) it took a lot of complaining before they had someone come in and literally spray paint our whole fridge. So ghetto. The bathroom smelled like piss and we had a colony of ants living in our walls. Yes they bite. Our window lock was broken which they still haven’t fixed three months later. Our stove is bent so pans slide off the burners and our AC is broken all the time. DO NOT LIVE HERE! Not only do they not fix your stuff in a timely matter but they are extremely rude about fixing it. They fine your for having your dog off the leash yet dogs are always running around. Dog shit is everywhere and the little worker boy never fills the doggie poop bags. Our dryer takes four to five times to dry clothes and they won’t fix it. The people in charge fuck up constantly and have no idea what they are doing. Get it together bishop square because I would never resign with this place.

Absolutely AWFUL! The complex is poorly run and the managers are rude and disrespectful. When I moved into my apartment last year it was disgusting and obviously hadn’t been cleaned, yet when I moved out they attempted to charge me for stains and spots that were there when I moved in! They’re crooks and they will do anything in their power to rip you off. I am still fighting stupid charges and I’ve been moved out for almost three months. DO NOT SIGN HERE! It is hands down the WORST complex I’ve dealt with in San Marcos. If I could give them no stars I would.

I’ve lived here about a month and I already can’t wait for my lease to be up. Every inch of grass outside is covered in dog poop. I had to put in 5 work orders when I moved in and only one thing has been fixed. Maintenance came to fix something else and made it worse, so now that appliance is totally unusable. No one in the office ever knows what they’re talking about. The service they use to pay rent is god awful. I already paid my rent but my bank thought the website used to pay rent is fraudulent so it took a couple days out of my control, but Bishops Square won’t listen to me and keeps piling on late fees
EDIT: I have now lived here for an entire semester and living here is definitely one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made. The two women that pretty much run the office, Karissa and Amy, are both extremely incompetent and rude. In fact, the only people I’ve interacted with from the entire company (ACC) that have not been liars or extremely rude are the maintenance men and one of the student workers. The office is the most disorganized apartment office I’ve ever seen. They lost half my paperwork before I moved in and were still contacting me like it was my fault within a few weeks of the end of the semester. I live in one of the units that got flooded in October and I am still missing possessions that the office refuses to communicate with me about. All this apartment cares about is taking as much of your money from you as possible. Please follow my advice and DO NOT sign here. It is nothing short of miserable. There are a lot of apartment complexes nearby that are in the same price range that are way more worth the money. I am only halfway through my lease and the thought of going back there after the winter break seriously makes me want to cry.

Terrible place to live. The townhouses themselves are alright. When we moved in, we had white paint ALL over the wood floors, walls and carpet. Our neighbors had the same problem. Appliances are old and damaged, blinds broken, carpet dirty. You do NOT get what you see in the model town home. I spent the very first few hours in my new place… Cleaning. Take photos when you get there and save them for reference when you move out.
It’s a typical college atmosphere. Noise isn’t as bad as I expected, but the «rules» of the complex aren’t enforced. Dogs run around wild without leashes and will poop where they please. People take their dogs to the pool. Non-​tenants will use up parking spaces. If I’m paying over $ 1200 to live in a crappy place I at least expect to have a parking spot within walking distance.
The biggest problems I had were management related. I consistently was billed late on my water bill because they had to «catch up.» I also had a huge bug problem — roaches, wasps, spiders, ants in the pantry despite keeping my place clean and tidy. Maintanence is decent. The men themselves are very nice, but I think the system for inputting complaints is messed up. It would take awhile sometimes for someone to show up, and occasionally no one ever did.
The cons outweigh the pros. Move somewhere else.