Getting Ripped Off (apartments, lawyer, buying a home)

[Buckhead Betty1]

Originally Posted by cfells

I moved into a complex. My apartment is all electric and I am paying through GA. Power. However, I noticed I received a bill from a power company named Heartland Regional Power Company that is owned by the owner of the complex which is Connor Group. I find this illegal.

Heartland Power Company is charging the tenants for water, sewage, trash charge, pest control and common electric (which is electricity outside on the grounds and inside of the property office) and an administrative fee. This bill accompanies our monthly rent which I find to be illegal.

Please help me get some understanding with this.

I just got my first bill from this company that does it for my apartment complex...called OnePoint and they are charging a $17.50 processing fee. That is a bunch of crap. They said that this will be on every bill. When you do your lease they don't even tell you this up front. Matter of fact it is not in any of the material they give you that this fee exsists.

[LeeMeadows41]

I am in apt. complex in Kettering Ohio. When I first moved here, water/trash/sewage was around $28-$35. Now it is $78! And if I pay late, there is a $15 late fee.I asked the leasing office about this increase, and they told me 'there is a water leak on the premises and it's being investigated'. That was 18 months ago!My monthly water bill wasn't this high when we lived in a house with two more kids at home.I am not surprised to see the Connor Group (who owns this complex) also has their hands in Heartland. I'm sure the lease is written in such a way that tenants will be responsible for any and all charges, regardless of usage.We are leaving, along with six other families.

[Shagbark Hickory]

Welcome to the life of a renter.

Those utility billing/submetering companies are not fun to deal with.

If the leasing offices knew how bad they take advantage of the customers they wouldn't use them.

Or maybe they would. A lot of those apartment companies are out to screw also.

[jphelp2009]

Has anyone received any information with respect to the legality of the Connor Group and their using Heartland Regional Power to charge their tenants excessive fees, such as common gas and electricity fees; gate fee for a gate that does not work; an administrative fee for paying your bill. Have any of the tenants of any properties owned by the Connor Group come together to address this issues and to attempt to get an answer about these charges and to find out if there is a resource to go to to address this issues.

[Britishintown]

Under the factory shop rules this would be illegal in the UK, but the USA has no such law ruling, it's one of those things that need to research before renting I suspect.

[vsmoove]

Originally Posted by neil0311

In many cases, as in mine, the apartments are billing for service NOT received. They are apportioning or otherwise arbitrarily billing for electricity or water, not based on a metering of actual usage, but on other criteria. And yeah...in many states it's illegal.

If they only billed for what you used and there is a meter to back that up, then no problem...pay the bill.

Did you read the lease?

[hardrock12]

They added... 3.99 pest control...
increased the admin fee to 10.99
And a convenience fee of $3 to pay online....

This is outrageous....my total bill just went up by another 12 bucks for no reason....


I have created a new google group

Heartland regional power scam | Google Groups

to collect as many ppl as possible so that we can something about it.

Please tell your friends etc to join also so that we can have as many ppl as possible to do something about it... talking to them on the own isnt yielding anything useful

Thanks

[cityrover]

In one of my apartments i used to (not) pay 90$ 'water' bill a month. It got the point i stopped paying it and moved out. Nobody else was either so they never pursued the issue (though i would not advise you to do that but..... ). Anyway, i was charged like so

admin fee
utility read fee
base electric fee (had nothing to do with my GA power bill)
mailing fee
base water fee
trash fee
street lights fee

I forgot the breakdown, but all in all it came to like 65$ in extra fees. When i inquired, they said it was like so:

Street lights fee - paying for the parking lot lights
utility read fee - thats what the contracted utility management company charges you
base electric fee - to cover the bills of vacant units!
base water fee - to cover leaks(!).. and landscaping (they never watered anything), and powerwashing
trash fee - self explanatory
admin fee - to cover the office preparing your bill. only that the office didn't prepare the bills. then they said it was in case you contacted them with questions about the bill(!)
mailing fee - what the utility contractor charges you to mail you the bill (!)

[anothermom]

This sounds like a possible class-action lawsuit if they are actually operating illegally. I think that if I were in your shoes, I'd start by calling the Attorney General's office and talk to some people there. Maybe they can direct you down the right path where you can determine the legitimacy, or possible lack thereof, of this type of operation.

Good luck.

[ehoez]

wait until yall buy a HOME....

ya'll complaing about $50-$75 month bills.

just wait until you get $2000 to $4000 a YEAR tax bills.. DUE in full in 30days