carmel sloan's lake apartments Diamond Head Lakewood colorado, - Profits over people. Inconsideration for the residents is clear. Lakewood, Colorado

A lot of management companies accept packages as a matter of courtesy.  They could have easily just said "Return to Sender" and refused the package right away, as you do no longer live there.  If it is a decent size complex having dozens of packages a day is probably not out of the ordinary.  Since it was a package, it would be logical that you would be expecting it. 

Also why would a management company intentionally not inform you of a bill and turn you directly over to a collection agency?

Collection Agencies take a good portion of the money that they collect, so again what is the incentive for the management company to just send it to collections without even attempting to collect.

Not knowing the exact CO state laws, but I have a feeling that they are similar to others. In that they are required to send you your deposit back within a certain amount of time.  If they take any portion of the deposit out they must inform you in writing the reason(s) why, again within a certain amount of time.  If they do not do this they could be subject to some hefty penalties.  So again you are thinking that they are going to risk this for some unknown reason?  If it must be in writing, they would have sent it to your address.  If you didn't give them your new address they would have sent it to your address with them.  In that case they would rely that you putting a forwarding request in with the Post Office. 

I am not saying that they did or did not do any of this, just that I seriously doubt it was intentional.

So back to the actual amount.  You need to check your laws on returning rental deposits.  If they did not follow the law, and you can prove it, then take them to small claims court. 

If you find out that they did follow the law and you are disputing the amount of the damage, you can again try and negotiate with the company or file a suit and make them prove that it did in fact cost them about $1600 to replace the carpet.  This would include not only the material cost, but the labor as well.  A quick calculation shows that that is around $3 a Square Foot(depending on the exact size), which actually seems quite within a normal range.  So you may be out of luck.  Unless you can claim normal wear and tear based on the age.  That is if the carpet is 1 year old they may be able to get the full cost, but if it is a 3 year old carpet they may not be able to "stick" you with the entire cost.  This comes down to the "normal" amount of time a carpet is expected to last.