Armstrong Management Services

We lived in a neighborhood where First Service Residential, f.k.a. Armstrong Management, ran the HOA. We were not impressed. Look at the other comments here. Almost all of them mention failure to respond to correspondence. Our experience was similar.
First there are the violations that never get enforced. People parking work vehicles in violation of the HOA covenants, and nothing gets done. Our neighbor never cut their grass. We and the neighbors on both sides made complaints including pictures. Nothing was ever done. Go by there now, and the weeds are chest-​high.
But at the same time we got nit-​picky violation notices. One time we got a notice saying that one of the slats on our fence needed to be replaced. I checked, and there was nothing wrong with our fence that I could see. I responded to the notice asking for something more specific. I got no response. Here I was willing to do what I had to do to be in compliance with the HOA covenants, and I got no response to my inquiry. I never heard from them about this issue again. An email takes a few minutes to write. Come on.
Then we got a notice about damage to the door frame on our house. The damage was caused by the landscaping company using a weed wacker to cut the grass near the door. Every house on our block had the same damage, and we all got these notices to repair and repaint. It was ridiculous because even if we did repair and repaint, it would just get damaged again the next time the grass was cut. Of course we received no response to our pleas for reasonableness. We left the spot unrepaired as a protest, but we repaired and repainted it for the next owner when we moved out.
Speaking of moving out. Our HOA dues are automatically deducted from our bank account on the first of the month. The website has instructions to submit a request in writing to cease the automatic withdrawal from the bank account. We submitted a request in writing. They still took it out. So I sent an email asking for directions with respect to whom the written request should be directed. No response. The only way we were able to stop it was to contact our bank. But they still owe us over $ 200 for the money they took out after we requested in writing to stop. We’ll never see that again because they don’t respond to any correspondence.
Maybe they provide better customer service to HOA officers, but as far as their response to concerns of residents, these people are the worst.

I wish I could give them zero stars. I’ve owned a condo in a building managed by First Service Residential (formerly Armstrong Management) since 2012. These guys are the WORST management company I have ever dealt with. They NEVER return your calls or emails unless you escalate it up to the district manager. Even then you are most likely not going to get a response. It doesn’t matter how many times you call their number or send their email or how many times the customer service rep sends a message via «internal» mail. Their MO seems to collect your money and then ignore you until you give up out of frustration. ABSOLUTELY THE WORST MANAGEMENT COMPANY!

We remain with 1 star because Unilocal doesn’t allow zero stars or negatives. No real billing issues this year, but only because the master association happened to tell me that there is, in fact, online access to your bill via the neighborhood website. Neighborhood website? What? I’ve lived here for (at that point) 3.5 years, and I had no idea that there was a neighborhood website. I’d asked many, many times about ways to get copies of my bill, and this was never mentioned.
But, with the advent of very cold weather we had lots of broken pipes, including multiple fire suppression systems. I spoke to the fire department several times, and called the issue in once. The person who handled the call was totally disinterested, and said they would get the alarm turned off before the fire department arrived, which didn’t happen. The fire department again told me it is this complex, and that the pipes as well as the room with the fire suppression system, burst due to a design flaw. I asked if the pipes were wrapped, and if the room was insulated, and told no. Unbelievable. I pay nearly $ 400 a month, and they can’t jacket the pipes? There continue to be other safety issues as well, including the previously mentioned cutting back of bushes on a regular basis, and ensuring that dogs owners are picking up after their pets.
I really think the part that bothers me most is that the residential manager is passive aggressive: she either ignores emails or waits until you get frustrated and rude, then replies in kind. I am not the only person she responds to in this fashion; I commented that I really didn’t want to have to discuss the fire suppression system and broken pipes with the property management company because I knew I’d get attitude. The fire department said they get it from her too. Isn’t that sad? They have to come here because somebody didn’t do their job, and she just makes their job harder.

Very disappointing as a HOA service for our community Goose Creek Ashburn, VA. Street lights are scarce and the ones we do have never have work. It makes for a very dark neighborhood and its not safe.
I feel like overall the management company doesn’t care to come out and fix anything! And when you call to just try to tell someone whats going on — they just act frustrated and as if they don’t care. For the price we pay I at least think street lights should operate.

To be as bad as they are, you actually have to try to be THAT bad.
FYI — This company is now called FirstService Residential.

I joined my HOA board in 2007 specifically to advocate for the termination of Armstrong’s management agreement with my community. On-​site staff was grossly incompetent and oversight at the next level was woefully inadequate. The financial and operational management of my community by this firm led to some serious financial shortfalls and improper maintenance and replacement of critical systems. I cannot in good conscience recommend them to any other community in the metro DC area.

Our community switched to Armstrong and this is the worst association I have ever encountered. There are two people that run the center in an over 55 community and they thing they owe the community. They are rude and one just watches everyone and then says creepy comments. I actually had to tell him that if he tried to talk to me again that I would call the police because he scares me.
These people are out of control. Recently they decided that the parking spaces closet to the building should be reserved for themselves and yet we have a number of residents that could benefit from that same luxury. If they are paid employees why don’t they have to park farthest from the door. I mean, really, they are employees but calls to Armstrong only support the perverts.
They have made me realize that after five years I no longer like this community and my house is going on the market. Of course, my dilemma is do I tell people about the creeps and risk not selling it or keep my mouth shut. I don’t know who they paid to get this contract but I would never, ever, ever recommend them. Stay far, far away from their communities if you value your privacy and want to be treated like an adult.
I completely agree with jan f. Brian S MUST be an employee or owner because he’s obviously never had to deal with the incompetence that we now have. Awful, awful, awful.

this has to be the laziest, most mis-​managed management company in the nation… tried to find their local office in Fredericksburg — guess what? they move their office every 6 months… wonder why? could it be they don’t like dealing with customers and handling homeowner issues? yes, that is EXACTLY the case. how do I know? because every time you call a local office, you get re-​routed to a national database run by some company called «international management services» or some thing along those lines… I think the local office doesn’t like to deal with customers! so they pass the buck to someone else

I just bought a home in Ashburn Virginia and was told Armstrong Management is the company that manages our development. I come from a family that owns a prominent management company and was told this company is the worst and they were not kidding.
I have lived here for almost two months and have never seen anyone maintain the outdoor space like we pay for them to do, no lawn mowing, gardening etc. There is trash and debris all over the playgrounds and common areas from the construction going on and Armstrong does nothing to pick this up and maintain it for the residents who are already living here. Then there comes the investors, who have purchased the properties and are renting them out with no oversight apparently from the management company. We are having the worst trouble with our neighbors and noise and it has been going on for nearly two months, we have written letters, emails, called to complain to the property management company and all they say is they just found the owner two months later!!! They can look up the settlement papers and find the owner in one day!
So our complaints went not addressed for nearly two months until the owner was found, while the renters continue to retaliate against us for asking the noise to stop. Armstrong management is not a company for the management of communities, they do little to nothing to «manage» anything in our community but they sure do want their checks, they are a money making business that has no regard for customer service. I am moving out as soon as I can and renting my place out.
I showed up to the HOA Board meeting and met Armstrong’s staff in person and the way they treat the residents and homeowners was quite rude and frankly shocked me. The two reps there were condescending and argumentative and lacked the ambition to take any responsibility for what their job requires and entails, very poor customer service. Its unfortunate that it seems our Board and their company are in each others pockets, as I would suggest a new Property Management Company to replace them

horror

I agree they are the WORST.

This is the absolute worst management company I have ever had to deal with. The condo that i’m living in uses them. Good luck trying get them to help you. Their response is lazy and they put in the least amount of effort that they can. I get it, you have multiple properties to manage, but at least ACT like you care and don’t suck at your job.
My condo was recently flooded by a burst pipe upstairs and is no longer inhabitable. Through the entire process they have continually told me to «speak to so and so» and «that isn’t in my job description». Completely worthless. An to top it off, i have been told I still need to pay the monthly condo assessment, even though I can’t live there for a few months. Utterly stupid.

I have to agree with jan F. comments. I have nothing positive to say about this company. I do know they like to add FEEs, FEEs, and more FEEs without explaining why.

In some ways, they have been helpful to our HOA by reviewing the books and helping the Board figure out how best to manage finances. In other ways, like day-​to-​day management of our bldg., they are not at all responsive. Emails are sometimes never answered or are answered with little knowledge of the policies or issues and are answered late. The door to the office on site is mostly closed tho’ the sign says «open» so it’s pretty off-​putting. Not sure how they hire and assign personnel but it seems that there must be a shortage of experienced people for their properties.

The person above must work for Armstrong, check out all the other reviews on Google and Yahoo, they are the WORST, some people sell their homes to get away from dishonest and incompetent practices, they are so biased that they are dangerous, horrible, scary…

I have lived in a townhouse community managed by Armstrong for two years. They get two stars for being prompt with snow removal and for regular maintenance of the landscaping.
If not for those things, I would remove a star because their customer service is awful. We have had two particularly infuriating incidents.
1) The first concerned our parking passes. Our parking lot has one assigned parking space for each unit, a number of «resident» spaces that can be occupied by any car with a resident sticker and a bunch of «visitor» spaces. The resident parking sticker that we are required to show on our rear windshields lists the name of our community only and does not list an expiration date (not even month or year) for when the pass is no longer valid. Last summer property management announced that the current stickers had expired and that new ones had to be acquired to prevent towing.
However, they only notified the property owners, and at least half of our community are renters. None of the renters received notification, but all of us suddenly had our cars towed. My fiancé’s car was towed one evening and mine was gone by the morning. Our landlord, when he stopped by to talk to us about resolving the problem, had his car towed! He showed us the notice he had gotten in the mail about replacing the parking tags, but nowhere on it was a date by which the change had to be done. The three of us did not recoup our almost $ 400 in towing fees.
2) The second concerned «approved» items for our back patio. Each unit in our community has a small concrete slab patio with wall on each side and a half wall in the back that opens out into the common area between the rows of townhouses. Our particular patio has a massive evergreen tree right outside it, that provides partial shielding from the common area and which has afforded us extra (we thought) privacy.
Our landlord received notice this week that he would be fined $ 100 for pots on our patio that don’t have flowers in them. Since we are getting ready to move, I haven’t put any plants out there and didn’t intend to. I called Armstrong and was told that there is a community rule that states that all pots on patios must have flowers in them. Otherwise, they must be taken indoors or discarded. While I have done some gardening in our two years here, I definitely haven’t used every pot all the time, and I never received any complaints until now. The crux of this is, however, that there is a rule regarding pots on my patio, even if the patio is barely visible from the common area and even if none of our items are spilling out into the common area.
So…Armstrong is great for general upkeep type things. They are always prompt with putting down salt in advance of winter storms, plowing afterwards and doing gorgeous landscaping. But if there’s any way they think they can squeeze a renter or landlord/​property owner for a dollar, they do it. I can’t wait to move out so I don’t have to deal with these people.

The staff at Armstrong Management are rude and the company does not care about individuals. Do not move to an HOA that uses Armstrong!!!

Armstrong Management is a property management company that my hood uses for maintenance.
These guys are awesome! They started to plow & salt my hood around 5am this morning and I was able to leave for work at 7am, although I didn’t go to work today. They did a very good job of plowing the streets and the back alley ways where my driveway & garage is located. These guys plowed my driveway and even showeled the snow off my front door steps.
Kudos! for a job well done. For today, I won’t bitch about my monthly HOA fees cuz money was used for good cause.
I gotta deduct a star for disturbing me on a kick ass dream I was having and waking me at 5am.