Tilton Bernstein Management

If I could give zero stars I would. I don’t rent directly from them thank God but they do manage the building I live in. They are so unorganized, they couldn’t find a record of the key deposits I dropped off directly in their hands when I picked up the keys. And now the building’s fire alarm and sprinkler systems have been broken for the past two months. Although I never received any sort of communication from building management making me aware of this situation, it’s just what I discovered upon returning from a 6 week business trip and fire safety monitors were posted around the clock in the lobby. Worst property management company I have ever encountered in all the cities I have ever lived in.

I’ve tried multiple times to contact them and they never return your calls. They are rarely friendly or helpful when you ask simple or straight forward questions. But the worst is that they’re not very responsive.

Tilton Bernstein (especially property manager Andrew Baluha) is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with in my life… period. Not only do they provide poor service (not responsive, rude attitudes, etc.), but Andrew has taken it to an extremely personal level. I’ll let Andrew’s emails speak for themselves, but for background, my air conditioning has not worked for the past two weeks, did not work from April — September last year, and did not work for 3 weeks the year before that, so I’m pretty frustrated. Here are a few choice excerpts from Andrew’s emails to me:
«Let me make it crystal clear to you that if you need something EMAIL ME. You will get a response much quicker than calling the office. No, you aren’t’ the only person who contacts me. I receive 100 emails a day from tenants so to assume you will get a response back 30 minutes later is simply setting yourself up for a big disappointment.»
«I really have no interest in addressing your email below because you simply don’t have any idea what goes on behind the scenes, nor do you care.»
And my favorite (after I remarked that I thought his response was out of line):
«Actually, no, I don’t see anything that was out of line. I see a warranted response back after receiving such a demeaning and attacking email. I can maintain a professional relationship but certainly not with someone who addresses me in such a way. By all means, channel through whoever you want, I certainly won’t lose sleep over it, and more importantly, do I care to carry on this conversation any further. So please, stop wasting your time with threats to bring me or my company down, and focus on something new to be pissed off at.»
I’ve reported Andrew’s emails up the chain at TBM, but nobody has responded (except Andrew, who reported that the email had been forwarded to him by one of the owners and basically said «ha ha ha, you can’t get me»). I’ve never worked with a more petty, childish, disrespectful person — and I’m so glad I won’t have to much longer — I’m moving out.

As a board member that has dealt with them I would warn anyone looking for active communication, responsiveness or good customer service/​property management to stay away from TB. If possible I would give them less than 1 star.

Is there a zero star option? They are awful, never available on the phone, and overcharge for everything. I’m not sure how there can be a worse management company in DC, or maybe even the world.

TB is the most ineffective and disorganized property management company that I’ve ever dealt with. Not only are they overpriced, but they failed to effectively manage several projects, resulting in skyrocketing costs for our condo association. They are the experts at saying something and nothing at the same time, leading us on, refusing to give timely updates when changes are in flux. We’ve had to go days and days on end without hot water in the middle of winter. We’ve had to endure days and days without waste management. Go somewhere else.

If you want to know what it is like to hire Tilton Bernstein as your property manager — here’s a preview: Figure out your current monthly HOA dues. Double it, then take that money out of the bank and burn it. You get $ 0 value for their services and I’m pretty sure they are on the take for kickbacks because no company could mismanage that bad. I’m not sure any of their employees actually exist either since they are NEVER available and don’t return calls. I have dealt with most of the big condo companies in NWDC and Tilton Bernstein is the worst, which says a lot.

Owners beware: TBM refused to maintain the property I lived in and keep the unit up to par. Even after a major leak from a few floors above, TBM refused to get involved in making sure the apartment I lived in (and they were responsible for) was back to the standard any owner would expect. When I called panicking because of the alarming rate at which the water was pouring through our bedroom ceiling, I was met with bored nonchalance and absolutely no action to resolve the problem.
They refused to maintain the outdoors garden spot, even though the lease called for it. They installed only the cheapest quality everything — blinds, appliances, flooring, lighting — but that may have been at the behest of the owner, to be fair.
Their «team» members are downright hostile most of the time when they do respond, and at their best only when they’re unresponsive the rest of the time.
I can’t fathom how they stay in business.

We moved in 2 weeks ago, and have already been stunned by their incompetence and attitude multiple times.
First, the move-​in was botched. We diligently did our part, informing them of the date, paying the fee, and coming by to pick up the key for the loading dock, but they neglected to set up the parking for our movers’ truck as they were suposed to, and so our movers nearly got ticketed and towed.
Over that 2-​week span, they were unwilling or unable to have the phone number changed on the call box outside. This meant that we had to keep taking days off of work to allow deliveries in, and/​or that the previous owner is still constantly getting calls as all of our stuff arrives as we move in. It further means that at our housewarming tonight, I’ll have to spend most of the time outside letting people in. All because Randy couldn’t have a 10-​digit number changed in a database at any point over a 2-​week span.
Further, when I dropped by to remind them after 1 week had proved too short a time frame to change a 10-​digit number, Sierra seemed really perturbed to have to look up from her texting. She finally did for a moment, and said she’d remind Randy. Any bets on whether that happened? To be fair, my wife dropped by to remind them as well, and had a very different experience. That time, Sierra wouldn’t look up from doing her nails instead.
We were also told that (days after buying the place) we would have to let a plumber cut a hole in our wall to investigate a leak below. We were given attitude for not being immediately available to let him in in the middle of the day during the week (turns out I was near home, for the aforementioned reasons, but why would they expect us to be?). The leak turned out to just be a cracked hose, so why were they so gung-​ho to cut up our wall?
And as someone else mentioned, emails are often given a cursory response.
I’m eager to find out why our substantial condo fees are going to these clowns, and hoping to change that.
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Update: turns out the call box needed to be rebooted. Which totally explains why it took two weeks.
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Update (Oct 2012): This is a criminally incompetent organization. They charged our account $ 975, most of which was for some repairs in the basement, with no explanation whatsoever of why we were being charged for this. We sent a detailed dispute, and not only did they never respond to it, but then sent a new bill with the same charges plus a late fee, even though we were the ones waiting on them regarding that matter!
This is an intensely frustrating organization to deal with, who are supposed to be working for us but who have instead caused an enormous amount of stress with their neglect, their incompetence, and their attitude. Avoid at all costs.

TBM is fine. They took my money for a long time, and for the most part, we had a positive relationship. I appreciate that they were open to negotiating a rent increase instead of just imposing one. However, Andrew was a bit problematic over time and was often snippy and sometimes rude.

I lived in a TB managed condo building as a renter for 4 years. Richard is a total rude jerk. Like the dauphin dealing with his peasants. I would sooner live in a cardboard box than another TB managed building. Well, not really, but you get the point.
PS… 90% sure Nick F. is really Richard or one of his cronies.

I served on a condo board for three years while our condo was under the care of Tilton Bernstein Management (TBM). We too suffered from a rotation of property managers. Because of the rotation we requested that TBM personnel use a checklist when they did the weekly walk through of our building and that copies of the completed checklist be provided. This request was flat out refused. Over time it became apparent that many of our requests were refused. In the end the building transitioned to another management company. I can only attribute the turnover of personnel at TBM with the management team, which was just lousy and more focused on what their needs were rather than ours. The principal I dealt with was Richard Bernstein and overall I found him to be competent but very abrupt and dismissive. This is probably why the staff turnover. He has a habit of telling his customers no. Truth be told, this was my experience over the period of the summer of 2003 to spring of 2007, so my observations are a little dated. However, the posts start in 2008 so maybe not much has changed.

From the very start, the agent from TBM was pushy and rude. Pushy for us to sign a lease immediately and hesitant to even let us see the apartment a second time so that we could make sure it was big enough and had everything we need. We ultimately signed because we loved the place. When we went to the offie for the lease signing he didn’t leave us enough time to read the lease, I guess he figured we would just sign anything. Before moving in there was a leak in the bathroom which he assured us would be fixed. Lo and behold, when it stormed the bathroom flooded with disgusting rusty orange water a few days before move in. The guy went back and forth with me over e-​mail but then left for the weekend without a word or letting me know what was being done to fix it. We moved into an apartment with the only bathroom covered in orange goo and the guy couldn’t be bothered to even answer his blackberry e-​mail. Apparently these guys don’t answer emergency e-​mails or calls. Could someone please explain to me then why they even have blackberrys? He has consistently failed to follow up on e-​mails or let me know what’s going or how the bathroom will get fixed — completely unprofessional and obnoxious.

Our condo building has had Tilton-​Bernstein as the management company for our building for a number of years. It is time for change!!!
For starters, they seem to have trouble keeping staff. We have been through three property managers in the last three years. Each time I painstakingly explain the nuances of our building. Can’t they keep some file notes? Every year they hike their management fee. You never get to speak to an individual first call. They take forever to call back. They are sloppy. You practically need an advanced degree to understand the statements. They have so many «hidden fees» one wonders what our building is actually paying them. All this AND Richard Bernstein is the most rude, condescending person I’ve had the misfortune to meet. Stay away from Tilton Bernstein Management if you care about your building!

Would I recommend this management to another building? Probably no. It could be that I have a really bad representative from the Tilton Bernstein Management group, but man, seems like everyone I talk to is incompetent. The biggest problem I have is the false information I am always getting. For instance, when I first moved into the building, I was told that I would need a key for the elevators. After having paid a deposit and a fee to move in during the weekday, I walked to the Tilton office, 20 minutes away from my building, to get the elevator key and what do they tell me once I got there? That there was no key and I didn’t need one. Wow… what a way to start my moving day.
Then there was the time when I needed to get my AC/​Heating unit looked at because it was broken. The AC/​Heating guy needed to access our roof and there’s a door leading up to the roof and I needed a key to let him up there. I call our representative at Tilton and tell him this and he tells me that the door is open and I don’t need a key. So, the AC/​Heating guy comes and sure enough, the door is locked. At this point, I now have to walk to their office while the AC/​Heating guy waits, and by the time I get to the Tilton office, they now tell me that I need to put a deposit down for the key. Do they mention this to me on the phone? NO. You would think that this would be an important piece of information to tell someone who is picking up an «important key». The people I spoke to made it seem like I’m the incompetent one because I didn’t have my checkbook with me or that I didn’t carry $ 100 in cash at all times. Now, some of you might be saying that I’m a little quick to get mad. But when the AC/​Heating guy charges me a fee every 20 minutes, you would be angry too because you just spent an hour trying to get a damn key just so they can start the process.
To say that this stuff doesn’t happen all the time is an understatement. I have gone through the same process during the summer when my AC wasn’t working. And to put the cherry on top, I’m going through the process having my front door replaced due to a fire that broke out in the building. The firefighters had to break into several units and of course my unit was one of the lucky ones. Our rep from Tilton said that it was going to take 4 – 8 weeks for them to replace the doors because they have to special order these fire-​proof doors. Well folks, it’s been 4 months. Do I have a new door yet? Nope.