If This Be My Homeowners Association...!

Don't read my blog if you run my homeowners association.

I'm fairly certain that my condo's homeowners association is a spammer. Over the past couple years, I've received random charges being added on to my account. I've disputed them, and they've quickly taken the charges away.

The first (or so I thought) was a little over a year ago when I was remodeling my bathroom. While turning off the water outside, the spigot broke. Luckily it wasn't a break which was causing water to go all over the place. This is homeowners association property, since it's outside my house. So a little after noon, I called them to let them know, and they told me that a plumber would be in contact shortly.

At 4:45, fifteen minutes before the homeowners assn closes, I called again to see what was up. They told me that they had taken care of it and that they were sure he would call soon. He called about five minutes later. My guess was that they forgot.

So he came out a few hours later. It was summer and it was already dark, so it must have been 8:30 or so. He made a temporary fix, then came back the next morning to make a permanent fix. A month goes by and I received a bill from the homeowners for $50.00. Why? Because while I had called the homeowners after work hours with an emergency call that was due to me making cosmetic repairs after hours. Uhhh... no.

I sent an email letting them know that I had my detailed cell phone invoice showing the time I first called them. A couple days later they emailed me back dropping the charge.

So the newest thing is that I received a bill for several late charges on my account. these late charges went back over two years - even though this was the first time they were telling me about it. My credit union pays my bills on time automatically. So, of course, I went online to my credit union and checked the date these payments had been sent. Every payment was made in plenty of time.

I sent them an email explaining this. A couple days later they emailed me back dropping the charges.

In both cases, they never asked me to send them any of my documents showing my side. It was just a message letting me know that the charges were removed from my account. I think they're fishing for more money. I think they just send out these bills expecting some people to pay, and any dispute they will just overturn before anything happens.

While I hope to be moving out soon, I'm still going to have to pay the company every month. And while that's going on, someone else will be living in my condo. It might make it easier for them to charge me for something. I'm a bit worried about it.

How many other companies are doing this? Or am I just getting paranoid?