Alight Blacksburg, blacksburg-va

if i could give alight less than one star, i sure would! first off, EVERY time you call you get the stupid robot. takes a week to talk to someone real. apartments are nasty and warn out. the maintenance team is so slow, i might as well have ordered a new dishwasher by time they fix ours. (they still haven’t). they worship the pool like it’s not nasty and green 24/7. we had no wifi for days and they have 0 updates til the day they fixed it, nor did we get reimbursed, even though “high speed internet” is included and our stupidly high rent. and even after all this, they now have the audacity to begin making our guest pay for parking, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE YEAR. not in between move ins, NOW. but when we signed we did not agree to this. alight, you are actually awful and i will forever tell people to live anywhere else. edit: their response to this is hilarious considering i asked them to call me numerous times and never did. awful place to live. freshman and parents, look at foxridge before you sign here. same price, better apartments, more space, better amenities, and WAY better management

After living at Alight, I’ve realized that the cons outweigh the pros. It is close to a bus stop and relatively close to campus, but for what you are paying, I think there are much better housing options available. One of my biggest frustrations is that Alight continues to add fees and requirements without making noticeable improvements that justify the additional cost. Most recently, they have started charging for parking, which was previously one of the strongest advantages of living here. Maintenance has also been consistently frustrating. Requests can take a long time to be addressed, and I have had requests closed out before the issue was actually resolved, requiring me to go to the office in person. Alight West has also had rodent issues. In my roommate’s experience, the rodents were not removed until she repeatedly went to management in person to follow up. We have also dealt with other maintenance problems, including a Wi-Fi outage that took an entire weekend to resolve. Security is another major concern for me. There are no security cameras covering many areas of the property. After my car was hit in the parking lot, management told me they could not help because there were no cameras. There was also an attempted break-in at a resident’s apartment, which made the lack of security even more concerning. Some parts of the property also feel poorly maintained and outdated. For example, the railing on my porch is rusty and has loose screws, which I consider a safety concern. The provided beds are also fairly low, leaving very little usable storage underneath them. I would also strongly recommend that anyone moving in thoroughly photograph and document the condition of their apartment beforehand. Residents can be charged for damages when moving out, so having proof of any pre-existing damage is extremely important. You would expect apartments to be fully inspected, cleaned, and repaired between residents, but I would not assume that everything has been documented correctly for you. Overall, Alight has been disappointing. The location is convenient, but in my experience, the slow maintenance, lack of security, property condition, recurring issues, and increasing fees make it difficult to justify the cost. I would strongly recommend prospective residents compare other options before signing a lease here.

When you move in (which I suggest you never do), you will be moving into an apartment that looks like it has never been cleaned. We had to spend hours cleaning to make it livable. I’m not sure what they do in the months in between old residents moving out and new residents moving in, but it is not cleaning or basic repairs. Upon arrival, on top of the layers of dirt and dust, there was a broken outlet with wires exposed up against my bed, posing a fire hazard. Drains were all completely clogged and had to be cleaned. Giant wads of hair had to be removed before drains were even operable. Maintenance is generally condescending and unhelpful, except for one new hire who was lovely. They will inevitably take shortcuts on fixing things which will then need to be properly fixed later, or they will not even fix things and lie to say they did. They will also nickel and dime you when you move out. While they are supposed to document (and fix) any issues before you move in, they will not do so, even though it is in the housing agreement. You will be financially responsible for issues left by previous tenants unless you fight tooth and nail with the office. Take photos of EVERYTHING!! While this is technically a cheaper apartment complex, you are paying for the quality of accommodation and services provided (or not provided). While the pool is open seasonally, the season is depressingly short, and they will inevitably be doing maintenance that either delays the opening or closes the pool for an extended period of time (meaning you will likely never be able to use the pool during the school year). Do NOT park under any trees. When half of a tree fell on top of multiple residents’ cars, they only removed that portion and left the remainder of the dying tree with the obviously rotting core exposed to the elements. Please believe all of the negative reviews and live anywhere else, as the positive reviews are the outliers for Alight. Edit: Alight says we should have reported cleanliness issues upon move in, meaning they would have wanted us to wait to move in until after our already scheduled move in day and time for them to supposedly come and clean the apartment. They were supposed to professionally clean prior to move in, which I can assure you they DO NOT DO!! Additionally, there should not be pre existing issues or damages to the apartment, as they are supposed to inspect, clean, and address any damages. Which again, they DO NOT DO! Please live anywhere else. Alight Blacksburg does not care about their residences. Their responses are completely apathetic and full of lies.

Do NOT live here… I would give them negative stars if I could, and I am usually not the type to write reviews. They are basically just trying to get as much money from you as possible. Rent has gone up, and for the quality you get, I don’t understand why they raised it. Maintenance is bad and unprofessional. In the beginning of our lease, our laundry machine was broken, and it took maintenance so long to arrive we had to fix it ourselves. (The vents were filled with so much lint and dust) They kept claiming that they stopped by and checked it. They didn’t. At least one of us was home all throughout the day, so we would know. They also left an entire ladder, hammer, and a hole in our wall with crumbling drywall everywhere because there was a water leak during the summer and never came to clean it up. Our house was left a mess with footprints and dirt all over our house (we do not wear shoes in our apartment). They also broke down our door because they have no master key (and no one was in town) and our doorknob and lock were wonky and unaligned for the rest of the year. Not only was maintenance bad, they also try to charge you for any little thing in your apartment. AND they do not keep track of what the previous tenants left behind!! So make sure to take pictures of any holes or “damages” as soon as you move in. They are genuinely so money hungry and want to take advantage of you! I had holes that I did not make and command hooks (THAT ARE REMOVABLE) that I got charged a ridiculous amount for. The pool is never open, the gym is small and under construction, and the conditions of their apartments are terrible. The outdoor hallways of the apartment are dirty, filled with laundry lint, and most of the walls are broken and worn down. I am warning you all.

Great experience with this complex. The staff were great to work with and any issues that my son had were attended to quickly. Overall, it is very clean and the furniture provided was in great condition. Appliances worked well and balconies are nice. We highly recommend this apartment complex to any student at VT. GO HOKIES!