ComplaintsforProperty Specialists, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a homeowner of a townhome located in ***************************** Community in ******** **. I am paid once per month and send my payment via online banking. I was told that the *** had no onine payment option. Therefore, my bank sends a manual check. I asked to have the date changed in order to accommodate. Instead I am charged $50 late fee each month. I missed 2 months payments which I acknowledge. I didn't receive a statement or communication. Then I receive a letter from an attorney stating I had to pay $16xx dollars or forfeit my home. I contacted the attorney who said I was late and they would not negotiate. I asked about online payment and was told there is none. I asked again about the due date and was told no. They charged almost $1K in legal fees which I refuse to pay. I was told I had to and that it wasn't their responsibility if I didn't receive communication. All I wanted was to have the option to change the due date or pay online. Now the balance on their functioning online portal I was told didn't exist shows I owe over $2k. When I asked where a statement with the $800 payments I've made is - they said they couldn't provide because I have to deal with attorney. They keep adding the charge and a late fee - but the payment is made - how can they charge a late fee when they don't have the payments recorded? This is not only unethical - I would think borderline illegal. I can't even pay online because they have my account locked. I want a correct statement showing the payments. I want the late fees to stop until they can reflect my accurate balance. They even sent a payment back to me. For what reason? Who knows.

  Business response

  08/03/2023

  To Whom It May ********
  
  This owner purchased a home in the community in March of 2022.  She was making monthly payments through her bank until February of 2023.  When she closed, she did not fill out the contact form that was requested so we had no way of reaching outside of mailing her information to the home address.  She was sent a Welcome Packet on 03/01/2022 which does include instructions on how to pay the monthly assessments along with an option to pay online through her homeowner portal.  She was never told this was not an option. A copy of the welcome packet that was provided is attached and page 33 explains all the different options owners have to make a payment.
  
  When she stopped making payments in 2023 she was sent a late statement each month along with a pre-collection letter.  When she did not respond after 3 months of missed payments she was sent to collection.  We show that she was receiving her mail until March of 2023.  Her mail started returning to us in April of 2023 which included the March statement.  The returned mail stated that she moved and left no address,please see the second attachment.  As she did not provide a phone number,an email address, or a forwarding address, we had no way of contacting her.  The attorney was able to track her down and she sent the attorney an email on 07/05/2023 and stated, I apologize for this as I had autopayment set and then turned off in error.  She was told at that point she could not make online payments as it all had to go through the attorney for legal purposes.
  
  We were able to update her account with the email she used to contact the attorney but she was not providing an updated mailing address.  The attorney explained that she could set up a payment plan and that payments would go through their firm.  She refused to send payments as she stated she was not contacted to let her know she had a balance. She did receive at least one statement before her mail started returning to PSI but regardless it is the owners responsibility to make sure they are making their payments.  She continued to refuse to make payments and then started sending checks directly to PSI.  These had to be returned for legal purposes, all payments had to go through the attorney to ensure all fees would be collected.  Her last communication to the attorney was that she refuses to go through them and would only deal with the *** directly. 
  
  One of the checks that she sent in had a different mailing address listed so we used that to update where her mail was being sent. She received the mail and wrote an angry email saying that she hadnt lived there in 5 years and asking why we would do that.  We explained that her mail had been coming back to us and we had no way of contacting her as she never provided this information.  We asked her for the correct mailing address and a phone number to reach her on 07/31/2023 and she has not responded but we show in our system that she did open the email.  Please see screenshot below.   We have done what we can to reach this owner and given that she was making payments for a year she was aware of the assessments being owed monthly.  She did agree to pay all fees associated with missed payments as part of her purchase agreement which the attorney did explain to her. 
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  10/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This property managment company is terrible. The services they provide are below standard. The landscaping company ruined and damaged my grass and they insist its because of me not watering it which is all BS. In addition, they say the contract says they need to fertilize the grass 3 times a year and prune the landscaping 3 times a year - I have not seen them do any of that. Nor do they follow up with them and they don't care about fixing issues and leave them be. They don't repair anything and if they didn't have below standard issues then they would not get numderous complaints on this. But even with the data, they don't do anything and blame me the customer. All the reviews online are terrbible - no surprise!!! They are the ones not doing a great job maintaining the area I live. I would prefer to not even deal with them and get my own services for lawn maintenace and snow removal. Funny how I have not had any issues before I started to deal with PSI. But they disregard that and don't care. They are the common denomiator with these issues? Why have I not had any issues with my services prior? Because it's them and the blame put on the customer - not the landscaping/lawn maintenance company which I have visbally seen them ruin the grass with their lawnmower and weedwacker.

  Business response

  10/19/2022

  ***************************** had been complaining that the landscapers were mowing her lawn too short and it was killing her grass. We asked for photos and the landscaper showed that the new sod was not being watered. I did advise this to ***** and reminded her that watering is an owner responsibility.  She responded with that she had watered the new sod for 3 weeks and her bill was $300 for that month.  I did respond back and let her know that new sod needs to be watered for 3 months, twice a day for about ***** mins each time. We have also had reports from the neighbors that their water bills were coming in between $400-$600 per month.  She was not happy with this response and insisted that it was due to the landscapers.  I did ask two companies to go out and look and let me know what they believed caused the damage and they both came back and stated that it was due to lack of water and needed to be re-seeded.  I explained this to ***** who was very upset and did not agree as to re-seed would be her cost due to the lack of water.   I did tell her I would bring the issue to the board at that point since she so strongly disagreed.  ********* was provided all the information from management and the owners concerns and they deemed that the damage was due to lack of water and would not approve the additional work.  Management is only allowed to take direction from the board so we could not proceed with the work at that time.  ***** was informed of this and then called into the office.  I had a long conversation with her explaining all of this and letting her know that we do understand that the community is unhappy with the current landscaper and the board is making a change to a new landscaper starting in the spring of 2023 but that they did not cause this damage.  The call ended amicably with her thanking me for my help.   Tell us why here...

• Initial Complaint

  05/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have owned and lived at ************************************************************************ for 9 plus years. I have attempted many times to contact property specialist about an ongoing pest control problem with ants coming into my townhouse from the neighbors side to the east of me and they disregard the situation. The neighbors are renters and say its there landlord problem and not there problem. Again they do not return emails. And they dont answer there phone. They try to still hide behind covid. The ants were so bad there were ****s . I have now had to make a claim with my insurance company because of the damage caused. These people need to pay for the damage,pest control services,my insurance deductible,etc. This has been an ongoing bullying situation. They play nonsense games. They are working underhandedly with neighbors to create these problems behind peoples back. These neighbors along with there landlord and the association have penetrated my walls on several occasions messing with my electric,making uneccessary noises all through the night. All of these being made possible because of the common walls.Last year i had a problem with ants in my kitchen and again the association did nothing so i had to remove my cabinets and exposed the common wall where the ants were coming in from the neighbors side and mysteriously the ants stopped. Again these people are attempting to make peoples life as difficult as possible for there purpose of you to move. This is wrongful,illegal in every way.To harass people on this level.

  Business response

  05/03/2022

  On Saturday, April 30, 2022, outside of normal business hours, the complainant submitted a request for ants entering the home and threatened to file this complaint. On Monday,May 2, 2022 Management replied requesting further information as the ********************* Manager was unfamiliar with the situation. In the evening of May 2,2022 outside of business hours, the complainant replied explaining that Management should have related history. Management feels that less than 24 hours is not adequate time to process and handle this request. Therefore, Management requests this complaint be removed and the complainant work with Management to resolve the ongoing issue.

• Initial Complaint

  11/27/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We have 5 homeowners who have been without mail service from the post office for upwards of 4 months now. Our community mailbox was damaged from outside sources, and cannot be opened by the postal service. After contacting the above company, we were told it was a US postal problem. Postal service says no, property management problem. In October! we were told parts had been ordered and a replacement was coming... as of today 11-27-2021 no communication, and no new box. You have to go to the post office when you want your mail, not very efficient when you have a work schedule that mimics post office hours.

  Business response

  12/01/2021

  The broken mailbox was reported to Property Specialists,Inc. (PSI) on 09/23/2021 and we issued a work order the same day asking the contractor to inspect and repair the mailbox.  PSI followed up with them on 09/30/2021 and let us know that the frame was twisted and needed a full replacement.  The cost was more than PSI is authorized to approve without the ***** of ********* approval so the proposal was sent to the board on 09/30/2021 for review. PSI received approval from the ***** of ********* on 10/12/2021 and the approval was sent to the contractor that day.  The contractor confirmed they would order and replace the mailbox but that the order would take about 4-6 weeks. The owner who reported the problem had requested an update on 11/10/2021 and PSI provided this information to them.  PSI followed up with the contractor regularly after this and on 11/29/2021 received a message from them that they received the mailbox but that it is the wrong color and they are hopeful that the company they ordered from will ship the correct item the same day.  The contractor let PSI know that they had acquired an extra mailbox cluster that could serve as a temporary until the permanent mailbox was installed.  The temporary mailbox went in on 12/01/2021 and the owner who reported this issue was notified.   PSI understands that this was a frustrating situation but it was out of our hands as materials in general are taking a very long time to ship.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩