I purchased my house in March, 2016. It is located in Tucson Mountain Sanctuary and under the control of First Service Residential. I never received a bill for the Home Owners Association (HOA ) fee until March, 2017. It stated that I was late and if I recall correctly they added another $60 to the bill, my HOA charges $87 semi annually. They stated that the total amount I owed was approximately $150. My wife contacted First Service residential about waiving their late fees due to never receiving a bill. I received an email on 3/15/2017 and it stated that it would take 30-90 days to receive a response about waiving the fee. It also stated I would receive a written reply regarding waiving the fees. I never received a response and the allotted amount of time was not over.
On 5/1/2017 I received a letter from The Grassmeyer Law Firm that stated that First Service Residential had turned it over to them to collect. I now owe $523 to The Grassmeyer Law Firm. My bill increased from $87 to $523 because I never received an invoice for the initial HOA fees and then I never received the response that they stated I would receive.
I contacted First Service residential and they stated they did not know anything about my account because they were locked out. They essentially stated that the only way to resolve the issue is to pay The Grassmeyer Law Firm $523. In the letter from the law firm it states that I owed First Service Residential $248 for Jan 1 to April 21 and $275 in fees to The Grassmeyer Law Firm . My HOA fee is $87, twice a year. Now, because they never sent a bill or issued a response I owe over 500% the original amount.
I feel like I am being extorted. I believe they intentionally do not send out invoices in order to attached more fees. Then, rather than send the written reply they stated they were going to send, about waiving the fees, they just send it to collections in order to collect more fees.