The James Madison, madison-wi

The James is a bit expensive, but the staff are incredibly friendly and the building is well-managed. I'm leaving now, but I've been satisfied with the service during my stay. Maintenance was always quick to help, and everyone was so kind. However, since it is a student housing complex, it can get noisy around 2 to 3 AM, and the hallway soundproofing isn't the best. If you're a light sleeper, you should definitely bring some earplugs or white noise options.

Do not live at the james, find a better apartment that doesn't constantly try to screw you over and take your money. They also made us pack up most of our belongings so they could do an unasked for floor replacement, without letting us opt out. The installment date was also 2 weeks before finals and before my roommate and I move out. You would think they would wait for leases to be over or for most residents to leave for summer, but no. They came knocking on our door at 7:30 in the morning and demanded we be out by 8:00 or it would be a $100 charge for every 15 minute. This is absolutely ridiculous and was not made clear in their emails regarding the floor installment. When I asked the maintenance person (our usual person who is also rather unpleasant and rude) if anything was said in the email about this, he said "we don't technically have to." Just overall shady and scummy. Their communication about the project was very unclear and when I asked management about changing out dates, they said they couldn't do anything but also that "it shouldn't be too much moving or too much or an inconvenience." I would like to hear their definition of an inconvenience because this was more than that. Having to uproot my whole room toward the end of the semester when classes are busy and I'm about to move out anyways has caused a great amount of stress and taken away time and sleep from my daily routine. I understand that building maintenance must be done, but the way they conduct their business makes me genuinely feel like they do not care about me living there. Go somewhere that does care and that won't try to screw you over like this. There is so much other stuff that I hate about this place but this has been a recent development. They have terrible internal communication which makes the communication to the residents even worse. Genuine bullshit and I can''t wait to leave :D

The apartment itself is pretty nice and I don’t really have too many complaints. However, there are a lot of other things I don’t like which is why I’m giving it one star. This place is pricey and the service and experience does not reflect that. Some of the staff (not all) are very rude and treat you poorly. The company also tries to extort as much money as possible from you by adding random monthly fees that they assume you just pay as well as ridiculous cleaning fees when you leave the apartment. People will always live here because it’s college housing and people don’t really have many options and the James knows this. Thats the only reason they are able to get away with their behavior.

Be cautioned: The James management is untrustworthy, unresponsive, and will extort money from you after you terminate your lease and move out. My daughter leased a shared unit at The James for one year. We are very pleased she's no longer a resident. After moving out, she was double-charged for utilities the last billing period and excessively charged for "damage to the unit" which entailed painting a portion of one wall after she lived in the unit for a year -- painting is normal wear and tear, not damage. A debt collector came after us after we challenged The James on these charges (and we did not receive a response from The James). When I visited The James, my daughter and I found a dead rodent near the elevator in the lobby, which smells of rat poison or something else equally unhealthy to all living things. That says it all. And anyone can walk in and out of this place. Staff freely enter units unannounced. Thank goodness my daughter moved elsewhere in Madison. I reside in another well-known college town where such practices are unacceptable. Avoid The James - a rat hole.

I just recently moved into The James this past semester and decided to renew, the process was stressful but was made SO much easier from the help of Emily, Dylan and Taylor! They were honestly so incredible I could not have asked for better people to assist me in renewing my lease. The three of them made the renewal process quick and easy while helping to make sure my friends who were joining us had an easy transition from their current leases. I cannot say enough good things about those three!!!