Echelon Property Group Ripping Off Residents Greenwood Village Colorado

This is a formal customer service complaint against the Echelon Property Group, the property manager, Nina James at Block 32 apartments, and the Operations Specialist, Mara Freese with the Echelon Property Group.

About halfway through the lease, the amazing customer service we received in the start vanished and was replaced by a no regard for residents type of culture. This is when Nina James, took over without any sort of notice to the residents. She just appeared in the management office one day. We used to have community get-togethers monthly, but once she took over all of this stopped and the community went down hill. As soon as she took over, we noticed our common utility bills were doubling even tripling in some cases.

We attempted to reach out to Nina, repeatedly, 4, 5, even 6 times via email or phone call with no response. I would eventually have to walk down to the office and catch her, she would take no responsibility for the situation, say there is nothing she can do and blame someone else. This happened for months. Each time we had a question, we would reach out at least 6 times with no response. I spent hours of my work day, having to physically go into the office to try and find her, and then spend hours, again during my work day, to find a resolution, of which she never had any. Only to reply that if we don't pay these utilities, we'll end up paying late charges. Never once, did she apologize for the lack or response, or attempt to find a resolution as to why our utilies were increasing at such a rapid rate. We're talking 60 dollars a month for sewage, for an 1100 square foot apartment.

When we finally purchased a home, we requested to get out of our lease early, if we find tenants to take over the last 2 months of our lease. Nina stated, not only was that not allowed, but we were to pay an extra $3500 for exiting early. We finally went over her head to Mara Freese.

Mara allowed us to do the exchange and was much better to work with until it came time to give back the security deposit. Mara also explained that she understood the difficulty in working with Nina, and that our complaints and feedback (among many other Block 32 residents) were not going upon deaf ears. She indicated that once the lease was up, and after we clean the apartment  and fill in the holes, we should send the photos to her, rather than Nina, so we wouldn't have to work with Nina any longer.

On June 19th, once the lease was up, we sent over 80 photos of our apartment. We reached out to Mara at least a dozen times, phone calls and emails with no response. She finally responded when we copied boss and others at the Echelon Group on the email, 6 weeks later. We received back no deposit, only a bill with no explanation or photos of the damages. We had sent 80 photographs with no response for 6 weeks, and a dozen phone calls later. Their photos documenting the "damages" were of a toilet paper roll left along with a Tupperware container left in the fridge and a full lint trap. No documents.

After finally have the chance to chat with Mara, she finally responded on July 28th, she noted that the bill was for utilities paid in arrears from March & April 2016. This is now July 2017. There is nowhere stated in the lease. I also have to note, Mara in no way apologized for the 6 week delay in response, nor take any responbility. There were no pictures sent on their behalf, we had to ask for those, and no further documentation.

My Husband and I spent over 20k to live at the Block 32 apartments over the past year, and this is in no way an appropriate manner to treat your residents. The Echelon Property Group will nickel and dime it's residents, and demonstrate no responsibilty or concern for their residents and this should be public knowledge to incoming residents, when choosing a place to live in the Denver area.