Fine Dining for Amenity Members: Water & a Lemon

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for Oval Amenity members, it has. Today, even "Sunday Spotlight" (the el cheapo replacement for Sunday Brunch) was canceled, with the only offering for Oval members at Oval Lounge being water flavored by lemons. The cancellation was ostensibly due to Martin Luther King Day, which falls, of course, tomorrow and not today. Every store that is traditionally open on Sunday was open today, including the catering stores in the neighborhood, so the Martin Luther King Day excuse was feeble, if not laughable. It was certainly insulting to those Oval Amenity members who have been relying on the Amenity Sunday meal as justification for their dues. At least in their monthly expenditure ledger, Rose Associates and American Leisure (responsible for the Amenity programs), can chalk this up to a good day for them. Otherwise, for everyone else, it just another valid reason to realize that they, the members, are being played for fools and that they should drop membership in this rip-off program.

Scandalous Stuy Town "Restoration" Charges Post-Move Out

The Lux Living blog has been shinning the light on the outrageous charges that one couple have to pay after moving out of their Stuyvesant town apartment. Not only was their $2,500 security deposit withheld, but they were told they had to pay extra charges of over $1,300 for leaving their apartment--in a clean state! (When you vacate an apartment, you have to leave it in the condition you acquired it.)

This couple did a smart thing before they moved, however. (Hey, they must have known how this place is run!) They photographed their apartment and even had Oval Concierge clean it!

Something is very wrong here and needs to be not only addressed by Rose Associates (and our old pals Tishman Speyer), but corrected.

UPDATE:

Thanks to the efforts of Lux at the Lux Living blog, the above issue has been settled in favor of the couple that was charged with a heft bill. Their security deposit will be returned and there will be no additional charges.

Of course this still leaves the question of how such a bill came to be in the first place--and another question--is this kind of excessive billing Standard Operating Procedure? I've heard it is among landlords, but whoever manages this complex should be above those kind of shenanigans.

Anyway, a positive end.

Another Rip-Off: Pay As You Go Amenities

Boy, Rose Associates and American Leisure are really trying to suck dry the Amenities concept. You will be glad to know that you can now pay $15 for certain Amenity events if you are not an Amenity member and just have to particulate in the Amenity excitement that's been thrilling Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper residents for a couple of years. Want to play poker with your fellow neighbors and eat some chips? Or watch The Fisher King via a bad DVD projection? And you are not a valued member of Oval Amenities--sorry, Oval "Essentials"? (You know, that valued member that now gets a muffin and a cup of coffee instead of brunch on Sundays.) Well, hand over just $15 per event and you can have the time of your life!

I can't wait to see what Rose Associates thinks up next to save money while separating you from your own.

That's All, Folks! And thanks for your money!

Subscribers to Stuyvesant Town's amenities were in for a shock this Sunday when, instead of seeing the normal breakfast/brunch meal that's been the staple of the amenities package for so long, their eyes were met by a choice of a muffin, mini-banana loaf or a bagel at Oval Lounge. Coffee or tea, included, thank you.

For many, the amenity $20 a-month package (plus $250 initiation fee) was only justified by the weekly Sunday breakfast/brunches. These folks will now have a choice of whether a muffin and a cup of coffee per week is a good deal for the money they offer up.

So, Rose Associates continues to push the spiral downward of this complex, even in these "valued" amenities. Pretty soon there will only be crumbs left.