The Cottages at Lake Tamaha - Student Housing, tuscaloosa-al

The maintenance team is amazing and quick. There are a few issues including the terrible wifi, extra charges, and management. Extensively read your lease because they aren’t upfront about random charges such as location premiums. You can’t choose where you’re placed but get charged anyways. You will get charged for a bigger closet or for a shared backyard. The management can be extremely rude and it’s obvious that at the end of the day they care about money more than their residents. At the end of the day you are just a paycheck to them. They are quick to charge you for something but never willing to work it out or treat you like a human first. They’ve chose the worst wifi company. Also you only really get privacy depending on the room you get. There are rooms right next to shared areas where it’s not really private. Overall they keep the community clean for the most part but management really needs to step it up in customer service. It’s a shame they’re charging college kids like this

If you’re looking for a place for yourself for college and a stable wifi to complete your work DONT come to the cottages. The amount of issues with the wifi being out and the refusal of management to change to a better internet provider makes it impossible for things to change. If you are a parent reading this and your college student is living here please help them when it comes to management. They will NOT take college students or rarely parents seriously when it comes to implementing change. Parents and students are wasting money on amenities that are constantly shut down or taken away, constant wifi outages, and unsafe living conditions because management refuses to put in more large trashcans that fit the resident to trash ratio. Don’t let the fact they’ve changed their name from the Retreat to the Cottages fool you. They will probably end up having to do it again because they’re unwillingness to change, especially when residents and parents are all requesting this. It would be a great place to live if they followed simple requests, yet they continue to hire bad management that is genuinely unhelpful and constantly makes excuses on why things cannot change or their hands are tied. Below I have posted pictures of overflowing trash and texts messages received regarding all of the WIFI outages, mind you they will only send a text out after 1-2 days of it being out with no update and we have not received one about the wifi outage AGAIN today

The place is immaculate and modern. The young lady (Gabrielle is her name, I believe) at the front desk may have been the most knowledgeable and friendliest customer service rep I have ever encountered. She answered every question and had a very sincere quality about her. She was just a very impressive young lady. Kudos to her!

Highly recommend finding somewhere else to live! Very unorganized! Upon move in, the whole entire house was filthy, the walls were not painted, the house had not been touched since the last people moved out. People came to vacuum and paint and that’s about it. Since moving in we had constant problems with the house. Management applies the leasing rules when it benefits them. It is super expensive for things to be ran the way they are. Management is also unprofessional. They will tell you whatever is convenient for them, then go back on whatever they said when they do not do what they told you they would. Overall experience living here was a 1/10. There are cheaper places to live for better quality and service.

I’ve been living here for going on two years now, and by this point I am looking for other options in the area to live at. I just recently had three roommates move out, and the experience was absolutely awful on my end. Their process was smooth (from what I was told), however, during the TURN process things went so incredibly downhill. First off, after my roommates moved out, I received my rent bill on resident portal being almost $1000. Every year they charge for things to be “restarted” and or bump up charges for things like pet rent. I have one dog, and last year had to pay $30 each month for his pet rent, but now this year have to pay $35. On top of this, my electricity bill which is normally around $15 or so, was $45. I soon found out this was because the staff who were doing inspections, left my roommates lights on and would close the door. I did not know this until one night I went upstairs to do some quick laundry for work, and saw the glow under their doors. I had to text them and ask them for the code to turn their lights off (pictures at the bottom of their lights left on). The last picture shows one of my ex roommates closet light being left on. At this point I was home visiting my family just two weeks ago when my neighbor sent me this picture. I called to complain, and was met with an incredibly rude front desk person that kept cutting me off, wasn’t listening to what I had to say, and was not helpful at all. Eventually I was just told that without proof there wasn’t anything they could do and they weren’t liable. So, I had to send an email with pictures to the utility company and the manager. The electricity bill was then adjusted, but why did I have to fight tooth and nail for this? This doesn’t stop here. As of right now as I’m typing this review, I have not received ANY communication back about my NEW electricity bill which is $122!! I have sent out so many emails regarding this matter and was met with silence until I called yesterday and was told Ms. Kenzie Bailey was out sick. I sent those emails last week and everyday after first sending them out. I tried to go in person to talk with her but was told she was on lunch. This is incredibly frustrating having to deal with Wi-Fi that does not work, trash that gets piled up outside of the trash compactor, and OH, having to wait for new parking decals but receiving emails about “if you don’t have a parking decal by the fifth we will tow you”? Parents, College students, I am telling you right now, if you’re reading this review, please read the other reviews carefully as well. Since moving into the cottages, it has been a huge headache for myself and for my parents. Management does not care, and the Cottages themselves don’t care. Save your move-in money for somewhere nicer. EDIT: I changed my stars from 1 to three. Despite the issues I’ve had with the cottages, the maintenance team has never let me down. I absolutely applaud the team for the work they do and how many times they’ve helped me out. Recently I filed a maintenance request for my water heater leaking. That very next morning the team showed up, checked it out, and immediately told me they were going to replace it. Anytime I deal with the maintenance team, they always let me know what they’re going to do, why they’re going to do it, and they get it done fast. The gentlemen are incredibly kind and have helped me out with my water heater, dishwasher, and other things. So, like I previously stated, despite the issues I listed with the cottages, the maintenance team is absolutely amazing here. I’ve never had issues with them!