Bilodeau Property Management

It is such a shame that this company is so irresponsible and shady when they have nice properties to rent.
I moved into 428 Hope Street at the end of Aug 2014. The unit is a carpeted one bed on the 3^rd floor. I dealt with Jonathan, a friendly guy who was a summer intern at the time. Upon moving in, I was very pleased with the window space in the large living area. The bathroom and kitchen hadn’t been professionally cleaned but were tidy. The windows seem new and eliminated noise from Hope Street when locked. There is a buzzer system to let up guests which is nice. The laundry is on the 3^rd floor in the back stairwell, convenient for top floor tenants.
However, the problems began the first night and only progressed. I had to have the carpets cleaned the first night, they were very dirty.
The bathroom sink faucet was so grimy, I thought I’d have to replace it, luckily it opened up after a cleansing soak.
The bathroom window blinds broke the 2^nd night after I attempted to raise the blinds as a normal tenant would do.
The bathroom vent never worked and was never fixed even after multiple requests.
The cabinet door in the bathroom began falling apart the first night. Every time I opened it, wood chipped off until the hinge eventually just broke away.
When I was trying to have my cable installed, the cableman couldnt get into the boiler room and a call to the company at noon on a Tuesday proved useless. They called me back late the next day and seemed to be uninterested in helping me.
When I called about someone being in my parking spot, I had to leave a message and never got a call back.
They have the trash dealt with separately from the city and it overflows more often than not. There are a lot of squirrels that like to rummage around in the trash, especially when it is overflowing.
The counter top is warping away from the wall behind the sink in the kitchen.
This all occurred before December.
In late December, I began to get letters from Bilodeau stating I owed them upwards of $ 300 for heat reimbursement. I was concerned because a carpeted one bedroom apartment with new windows shouldnt cost $ 300 to heat in November, even with forced gas. I was even more worried because I was under the impression (from the website and in the lease) that my heat bill was included in the rent. I called about my concern and was simply told I could get the meter tested if I thought the price was wrong. When I got another bill for a similar amount in January, I was forced to turn the heat to about 65 degrees. The company sent 2 Bilodeau personnel to test my meter and I was told nothing was wrong and I still received a bill for $ 250 to have my heat at 65 degrees. I turned the heat down to its lowest setting (55 degrees) and continued to get bills for $ 100 per month until about April. I was a bit fed up at this point, after being charged to freeze my ass off for 3 months, and contacted an attorney to look over my lease and the letters they were sending me requesting heat reimbursement. The attorney agreed with me that the charges seemed a bit phony and to request the original bills for accuracy. When I requested information about the heating system, copies of the original bill to see if the charges were even accurate, and an energy audit to see if heat was escaping and I was simply told, I am not at liberty to request demands that aren’t outlined in my lease. You’d think they would want to help me so I would continue renting (they actually offered me to continue my lease which I immediately declined).
I truly only moved because of the heating issue. The other negligence problems were annoying but bearable. But unless you’re prepared to spend $ 900 rent and another $ 300 for heat for a single month in the winter, I would seriously avoid this place. I can’t speak for their other units but would advise against this location, or to triple check and confirm your responsibilities prior to signing a lease.
Wish I wouldve read the reviews prior to signing my lease.

I want to preface my review by saying that I have never actually lived any of their properties.
On Monday I saw a listing for an apartment at 428 Hope Street for $ 850. It was within my price range and close enough to the neighborhood I wanted to live in. I called and spoke to Bruce who seemed a bit frazzled that someone was calling about the place, but he made an appointment with me for today (Tuesday) at 5:15 p.m. Sounds good so far, right?
Today on my lunch hour I called Bruce to say that I was interested in also seeing other properties listed on Bilodeau’s website. He said, «Oh, well, you see, the website, I mean… let me call you back in 15 minutes.» A bit annoying that the website is not updated, but I figured he was also on his lunch or busy in some way and that he would indeed call me back in 15 minutes like he said. Four hours later, he never called me back. I’m even more annoyed at this point.
I rush up to the apartment after work and arrive at 5:15 at the dot. No one is there. I wait 15 minutes and leave. Bruce never showed up, never called, nothing. This is after confirming the appointment just four hours before.
I mean, if they don’t want my money, that’s fine, but it seems like a horrible way to run a business. I would give them 0 stars if that was an option on Unilocal

Let me just start by saying I loved my apartment until recently when my kitchen ceiling started leaking. The first time I reported it someone from the maintenance came and said «Oh this is horrible for you I hope it stops raining» and never came back. Then they told me they put a tarp down and that would help prevent leaks until the roof is fixed, it is now raining again both outside and in my apartment so for the 6^th time I’ve reported the problem and lets just say I’m not too hopeful about the outcome. Really terrible way to treat the people who pay you such a high rent, and needless to say I will now bad mouth Bilodeau to all my moving friends.

After being a resident for almost two years, I would strongly suggest that you think twice before choosing to rent from Bilodeau. The unit I lived in on Blackstone Blvd was in a great location, but whenever issues came up — Bilodeau was not responsive. The property that I occupied was not clean — they do not change light bulbs in the halls or clean the hallways. The parking lot parking is assigned, but not enforced, lighting again is scarce with bulbs not changed. For the holidays, I usually travel and left my car in my assigned spot. They told me that I need to notify them when I’m not in town (for my security, not acceptable). During snow removal, they called me when I was 1,000 miles away asking me to move my car — I was not blocking anyone. They took it upon themselves to break into my Acura hood and disconnect my battery because my car alarm went off when they attempted to move my car… It caused damage — after complaining or over a month with several calls, they reimbursed me to bring the car to the dealer to have the radio code replaced.
When you have questions or issues, you must call their answering service or leave a message. It is extremely hard to get anyone on the line. I remember asking questions about getting a new assigned parking spot… leaving several voicemails and emails, and they went unreturned. (If you do choose to rent from them, it appears that you have to leave messages to Harry Bilodeau himself to get a call back). My unit sustained water damage and it took them over a month to fix the issue and they never followed through with painting the ceiling promptly as maintenance promised… It looked like my Blackstone unit was in low income housing. The laundry in my unit kept taking my money and again, they did not respond to my issues.
I strongly suggest thinking twice before renting from this company. Not sure if the issues are caused by the staff being unresponsive or issues with balancing the interests of the owners they represent.

I lived on the first floor @ 215 Waterman Street from ¹⁄₂₀₁₀ — ¹⁄₂₀₁₁. It was a nice one bedroom apartment with plenty of space for $ 850 a month. The layout was interesting with a living room and bedroom separated by a long hallway. In between the hallway was the bathroom and kitchen. I don’t entertain much so I pretty much set up the bedroom and used the living room as storage for all my stuff. There was a front and rear entrance and only three units per floor. Mostly students and working professionals in my building so it was fairly quiet.
Wall to wall carpeting with AC’s in both the living room and bed room. There was also a heater in the bathroom for those cold winter days. The whole unit is electric powered and wired for COX. The electric bill ran pretty high during the winter between $ 100 — $ 200, but it dropped during the Summer to between $ 40 — $ 70.
There is an assigned parking (1 per unit) in the rear of the building. It’s pretty cramped and only one car can really move in and out at one time. It’s East Side Providence so I can see how precious space is and how Bilodeau would want to use as much of it as they can.
Some annoyances while living here that occasionally people don’t respect the assigned parking so I end up being added to the a-​hole that parks in other people’s spots or park on the street waiting for the douchebag to move. Bilodeau is no help since no one actively monitors the parking lot and they never seem to enforce it unless the guy stays in the spot overnight. I once waited over 4 hours after calling the Bilodeau number for the guy in my spot to move and I thought someone would come and tow the car, but no one ever did anything. The only handy thing about living next to the main office is just to be able to walk over and drop off a rent check and not buy stamps.
Washer and dryer are in the next building so you have to leave your building and cross the driveway to 217 Waterman Street. Not really a problem except there’s only 2 washers and 2 dryers for two buildings and there’s this middle age guy who likes to come out and complain if you walk too loud past his door.
I ended up just taking it to the Laundry Club around the block instead of dealing with this crap.
Dealing with a business like Bilodeau means they bind you to the lease and they’re quick on the fines and charges unless you tell them well beforehand. I was able to contact them easily enough via email versus phone. A thing to note is to make sure you note all big furniture you have prior to moving out. I had Bilodeau accuse me of throwing mattresses in the back dumpster that weren’t mine when moving out and they were going to charge me $ 150. Fortunately I had pictures of all the furniture I had prior to moving in and out.
Despite these inconveniences, it’s still in a great location in East Side Providence. Right next to Wayland Square and a good 5 – 10 minute walk to Brown University. I left this place though in favor of something more cost effective.

So far I absolutely love my apartment and don’t have too many complaints about the management of said apartment. When we first signed the lease, we were happy with how friendly and helpful the leasing agents were. When showing us the apartment, he was frank about how the apartment was in the basement and didn’t sugar coat the fact that it was a tad bit dingy. He did tell us that it could be spruced up with some love and maybe a touch of color, not to mention that the price was right, included all utilities and assigned parking (and then we were sold). There were no problems with processing all of our paperwork and we were approved right away. The leasing agent even attempted to help me get hooked up with a job from another tenant in a similar field as mine when he found out that I was unemployed.
We have now been living in our current abode for six months and we haven’t really had too many reasons to contact the management (which I take as a good thing). All of our rent checks are processed in a reasonable time, when we have a maintenance issues they are always fast to fix the problem, and we haven’t had any other problems that haven’t been quickly resolved. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of buildings that they manage are older buildings and suffer from the problems that older buildings tend to have. The good thing is that the prices match what you get. We pay an extremely affordable price, have all utilities included, have on site laundry and assigned parking. Not to mention the fact that we live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Providence.
If I have any issues in the future I will make sure to update my review but so far I feel lucky to have found my apartment and to have had an overall positive experience dealing with Bilodeau.

I really wanted to like living at the El Dorado on Waterman, but Bilodeau’s poor management totally ruined that.
First off, I would like to say that maintenance was wonderful. They came when called, dealt with things quickly and professionally, and were overall wonderful. But that alone is not enough to warrant more than one star.
I rented through them because I was tired of living in an owner-​occupied three-​unit house. I was wrong to ever move out of that and in with Bilodeau. While the heat was included (great for cold winters!), and parking was nearby (which I was told I would have, but then after I signed the lease told was only a maybe), their service was atrocious.
I moved out early to move in with my boyfriend. I paid a $ 300 early termination fee, which is not why I complain. I complain because after I submitted notice to move out, they stopped sending maintenance over (one would think that a light bulb in a common hall way at the top of the stairs being burnt out would be a safety risk). Their «on-​call» weekend staff never responded to address a parking issue — they are amusingly strict about parking in your own spot, which I appreciate, but when I call to ask for alternate parking because someone is in mine, please call me back. I heard later that their «on-​call» staff didn’t have a working phone. Nice. I’m sorry for anyone who had something actually urgent to address.
The best part is that after I moved out, fees and all paid, they illegally withheld money from my security deposit, claiming I did not pay the fee and deducting for rent they specifically told me not to pay, because they wanted me to turn over the apartment before I had to. So… you asked me to return possession early and you already got a $ 300 check, did you think I wouldn’t want that money back?
All in all, expect to deal with surly employees, even when being nice, and expect them to withhold money illegally because they assume people won’t fight it. I would strongly encourage anyone to avoid Bilodeau at all costs. Trust me, you’ll think how I did — «no one can really be that bad, it’s just a few with bad experience» — but time and time again I hear horror stories of withholding security deposits because it’s expected no one will argue. Find someone else to rent from, you’ll be happy you did.

I took an apartment here because I was in a time crunch for finding a place in the Wayland Sq area, but so far it has been a very poor experience. The building is in very poor condition and not well maintained. They shut the water off for several hours every month for some unknown reason. Shortly after I moved in, they began redoing the masonry work on the outside of the building — a project which lasted about 4 months with loud machinery very early in the morning on a near-​daily basis. They don’t provide any notice for entering the property. I have had maintenance goons walk into my apartment on several occasions with no notice whatsoever, once when I had just gotten up and wasn’t even dressed yet. There’s a section in the lease where they state that they will charge you (from your security deposit) for steamcleaning the rugs when you move out. This is absolute bullshit because I spent a week vacuuming cat hair out of my carpets when I moved in. Definitely avoid unless you’re desperate.