Holiday by Atria

They recently had a huge increase in price. The new staff that came in were horrible. It was a good place for my loved one for a while, but with the changes, I would never recommend them anymore. It did a complete 180.

The bus hasn’t operated in nearly a year; mechanical issues, no qualified driver, always an excuse. Residents can schedule a taxi ride to qualified locations, but what happened to the promise of regular group social excursions to local destinations; shopping centers, wineries, the beach, rides in the country etc. And chef prepared meals? Come on, when was the last time a “chef” was employed at Sheldon Oaks? Internet access in the rooms via cable service was promised to be a forthcoming amenity, and it has never happened. The staff do their best, but turnover is too high, at all levels. Atria needs to invest resources into this retirement community to facilitate a favorable profit margin. Deliver genuine quality and the baby boomers will beat a path to your sales office. The location is enviable. There is a lot of potential, yet Sheldon Oaks cannot seem to hire and/or retain an appropriate level of staffing to deliver their claims.

Think twice about selecting this facility. Staffing levels are woefully inadequate.; long waits at meal times (often close to an hour from seating to serving;) prices increasing at near 8% rates; food delivery for infirm residents are now at additional fees; local staff is very considerate, but corporate staff is invisible. Everything here recently has become all about the money!

Our family had an in person tour and based on our experience we probably would not recommend it. It had just changed hands so they had a lot of new staffing and the community was just very run down.

Recent departures of key people, including chef, administrator and other employees. New company purchased them and appears to be more interested in profits vs. residents. Menus limited due to equipment breakdown (commercial oven) and they frequently run out of food. Employees remaining having to assume duties of some that have left (activities directory, bus driver etc.). Still with 90's decor and old carpet that was to be replaced when my mother moved in. The project was started and never finished. While residents are given emergency call devices, Andover has no staff on duty after 7:30pm. Overall food quality and selection continues to be poor. Lots of housekeeping turnover. While rates have continued to increase, service has decreased in quality. Glad we did not sign an extended lease just to lock in the rate. Not sure how much longer my mother will stay.

Over the past 3 months, the menu selections, quality and preparation of food offered has plummeted to dangerous levels for the residents at Andover. Broken stoves, lack of staff, no air conditioning in the kitchen, etc., are offered as excuses, but it seems nothing is being done. The cost has gone up, not down, and the cleanliness has been appalling for years. The administration seems weak or inefficient to manage these issues. It is located in West Little Rock, and this quality should not be tolerated by the residents or those visiting.

My Mom has lived at Andover several years. The quality of the food and staffing has gone from bad to worse. I would not advise anyone to move here. The staff turnover is high. Many do not speak english. The food is often poor and insufficient.

Was a very nice place 3 years ago when my Mother moved in. But since new management has come in, things are going downhill. The bus driver is on vacation for two weeks so there is NO transportation for anyone anywhere. Rents have been raised hundreds of dollars a month and services continue to be cut. There is no one at the front desk after 4 pm. The light cleaning that is suppose to be done weekly is often skipped. On a positive note, many of the staff (dining area) are friendly and helpful.

My father n law lived here for a couple of years. Management did not make sure things got done. Housekeeping started to get slack. Most of the time I had to clean his room and bathroom because it was dirty. When I complained nothing got done. They kept going up on the rates yearly and didn't even have an activities director half the time. The manager seemed very uncaring of any concerns that I had. The meals they provided were very small. I always had to make sure he had snacks in his room to supplement. The facility looked clean outside the rooms, but they failed to provide weekly housekeeping in his room. It is cheaper than assisted living. But it is not for someone who has dementia. They do not have any staff in the building after 7 P.M. There were many residents who lived there that needed to be in a more secure place. It seems money is more important than the safety of people.

False Marketing

I did not like Andover Place. It was very large and spread out. For people with limited mobility, the tour was kind of outrageous. They took us all over the building and on various floors. Our loved one would not have been able to navigate the facility.

Forest Pines was disgusting. It's a horrible place, and I wouldn’t recommend that anybody go there. The people who worked there were rude. They went out of their way to get what they wanted and didn't care how you felt. They showed no empathy or respect when my pet passed away. Their salesperson was really nice and sugar coated it so you think it’s really nice. Once I moved in, I found that was not at all the case.

we toured Stamford Estates several times and each time they were extremely nice. they would go out of their way to offer us coffee and meals, gave us advice on furniture stores, and sold us on all of the things they had to offer. we were told that there would be plenty of activities to take part of, HD cable boxes available for each resident, and we also assumed that they would upkeep their same level of hospitality and bright smiles that we were accustomed to. it seemed as if all of those things were facades; because as soon as my mom moved in, she was treated awful. there were little to no activities, so my loved one often sat in her room. there was no HD cable box offered until we mentioned bringing our own; and even then theirs took about a week to arrive. when we came to visit we were no longer "allowed" any complimentary beverages or snacks. we paid a lot of money for my moms room - which was located by the laundry and utility room(s), so she was often kept up at night because of the loud noises. it just felt like nothing went smoothly. they did not follow through on their promises and amenities offered, but we ultimately removed my loved one because she did not like the way she being treated. the staff took her opinion(s) personally, she shouldn't have been chastised over sharing her point of view. they left a lasting negative impression, especially when we were moving her out. whoever attends the front door intentionally ignored us. I had to knock on the window to get their attention, to which they replied "oh, I didn't see you there". I felt that this was dishonest because there's a camera outside; and they were aware that we were there to pick up her belongings. while moving things out of the building, we noticed some snickering of the staff members making light of the situation. they were overall just rude and mean to my loved one; they really hurt her feelings. we felt awkward and embarrassed to go back and retrieve her things just by the way they handled the move out process. on our way out, I stopped by the front desk and asked for my moms POA paperwork back. they informed us that they didn't have it, they didn't know where it was, and it could not be located. I saw them make a copy of such important documents and it really concerned me that it could have been misplaced or thrown out this entire time and no one said anything. I was not too happy over how they handled that situation, amongst other things. my loved one only stayed here for a short while, but I would not recommend this community based on our experience. it doesn't feel like my mom was treated fairly (for whatever reasons). Stamford Estates left a really bad feeling with our loved one.

Beautiful facility, hair-dresser is nice, cleaners are great, food is good. It was the least expensive option we could find around and should have known something was fishy. I asked during leasing process about annual rent increase and they assured me verbally no major increases… incremental if anything. I would estimate that in 5 years my relative was staying there, the rent went up 9% annually! So eventually we (and many others) couldn’t afford it anymore and went through the very unfortunate circumstance of having to uproot relative AGAIN. The cost is a total bait and switch. Then after the move Birch Heights said my relative could have security deposit back but it’s been 3 months and still a “check in the mail” story. I don’t know if they are short on money and robbing peter to pay paul.

My main impression at Bluebird Estates was the rooms were too small.

My mom has lived there for a year. From day one when I was first inquiring about her living there, a lot of promises were made but then dismissed or forgotten. With different management, it’d be a decent place. The stress these people cause both me and my mom is ridiculous, stressful, and certainly not expected considering the outrageous expense. Not recommended.

Everything is just terrible up there, they do not have the house keeping like they said they would. We totally understand the issues with staffing, but we clean it every time we come to visit, we have to track down all the bedding and supplies which they said they supple everything. The bus transportation has been broken more time then we can count. The food is absolutely horrid and we have eaten it a few times ourselves so it is just not our loved ones opinion. Also the bugs are ridiculous, some look like mystery creatures.

I lived there for about 8 months, I didn’t select this place, my family did. Other tha friends I made there, I cannot recommend it.

Palmer Hills is short staffed and going through management changes right now so it has been a rocky start. What they advertise and what is followed through is a problem which is caused by the shift in management. Since there is a lack of staff the house keeping is not able to keep up with the cleanliness of the community. The activities get old especially bingo. The meals run on a cycle you either get chicken, pork, beef and sometimes hamburgers. With inflation and not having the availability to get the ingredients and supplies needed of new shipments caused issues and turns into a snowball effect. However the management that is new have been good so far, and the staff are doing the best they can.

There are some aspect of Blue Water Lodge that are great, and some areas that really need improvements. The staff members have been very friendly and helpful, however right from the start things that we were told were just really over sold. Since the beginning we have had so many issues, we know staffing is a major issues but with no schedules it is hard for the residents to get into routines. Also billing as been a nightmare and the elevator has been broken down for over a weekend since it is the only one we are concerned what would happen if there was an emergency since there are many residents here and multiple floors.