Leanne M.
1/5
Associa Northern California is horrible. They manage the complex I live in, Walnut Orchards. They are never available, even during normal business hours. (9-5 Monday - Friday). They also take 1.5 hour lunches every day. They place a note on the door that they are "out of the office," whether it is for a company event, lunch, or whatever, I don't care. Often these hours extend far past the duration of the supposed "lunch." When you ring the bell, they do not answer, so one can only assume they are not in the office either. When you call, there is a long menu, and when you leave a message it's many hours/days before the call is returned. In addition, they require I drive across town for my homeowner's association parking permits, only to find they are not there when I show up. As far as maintenance, my complex is a mess. Many lights around the complex (Walnut Orchards) are out at night and have been for an extended duration (1 + years). The hot tub (there is only one) took nearly an entire calendar year to be fixed. The equipment in the gym is almost always broken, (they finally replaced the treadmills, after almost a year) and there is really no air conditioning even in the summer, only a fan. The fence around the premise is broken and caution tape is placed across the area. This is the second time in 3 years this has happened. The worst problem I experienced living in a community managed by them is the plumbing backing ups from tree roots in the line. This completely destroyed the carpet throughout my unit (and the one next to me as well) and raw sewage was backing up across the floor. Surely this is a health violation. My neighbors have plumber visits in my complex almost weekly to clear various lines. Is there no maintenance (annual, at least) to prevent tree roots from plugging the sewage lines?! The security gates break routinely, on average once every 2 weeks. They don't respond when you call to report it (see previous complaint of phone calls not being returned/answered). I even called our security company to complain; they gave me the same phone number. Had a random stranger come up to me at 10 PM inside the premises and ask for my cell phone. I do not feel safe. The neighborhood is filled with children skateboarding, rollerblading, and using bikes. They did install signs, but this appears not deter or change the children from continuing to do dangerous risky moves (such as darting in front of moving vehicles). There is a sign to prevent children under the age of 14 from using the gym; however, routinely there is spilled Kool-aid all over the floor and they break the weight machine (which is not fixed). They also continue to raise association fees, even with an extreme lack of maintenance as previously described. The one thing they do pretty well is complain if you have one single violation (something in the window, for example), and they keep the grass nicely cut. Our local maintenance guy is super happy and friendly, so that's a plus, but seems to have nothing to do with Associa Northern California, he seems to be hired for our individual complex (Walnut Orchards). Although he's awesome, he's literally the only awesome thing I can think of here that I wouldn't replace. Overall, I would give the Associa of Northern California zero stars, if I could.
*UPDATE* Since my last review, things have deteriorated further. The pool and hot tub lights are burned out or not working, possibly a fuse, the gym window is stuck shut now (and the gym DOES NOT have air conditioning, only a fan), and the gate was broken and stuck open for 2 weeks, DURING WHICH MY CAR WAS STOLEN FROM WALNUT ORCHARDS PARKING LOT!!! Associa of Northern California said the cameras had a lens flare, and therefore they could not see any activity going/coming. They offered that there was a security officer on duty the night my vehicle was stolen (well, great, thanks, I mean obviously he did nothing to prevent theft, so awesome.)