The OMNI Windmiller Ponds homeowners association is managed by a company in Grove City, Ohio. They create an annual operating budget for this approximately 200 home development at $25,250. They state $7,256 of it for administrative expenses (postage, accounting, attorney fees, management contract? Insurance expense, and bad debt bankruptcy/foreclosure).
They issue an invoice once per year which started at $100 in 2004 and is now $125/year. The invoice is sent at different times each year which makes it difficult if you have everything on autopayment like I do. The bill was due 8/6. I admittedly did not open my mail right away that month so I paid my bill late on 8/22 and included a late fee which was deposited by OMNI on September 5. Even though my payment was accepted exactly 30 days past the due date they issued 2 additional bills one for a $25 late fee and another by an attorney threatening to place a lien against my home and charging another $75 for the "warning" letter.
I called to explain that my payment was in fact made in full however their accounting department had automatically generated another fee which I received after I already sent a check. I called to request a waiver of this second late fee and was given a number for James, CIO who was rude and condescending to me on the phone. He then passed me to Cathy Bowlin, Operations, who talked in circles and basically said 'screw you'... We don't waive late fees. I find this to be completely unacceptable & excessive since they sent the additional invoice (which only included a late fee) and legal letter after they already accepted my payment in full. Cathy admitted that the attorney, David A. Dye was an in-house attorney. So in my opinion he does nothing but send a $75 warning letter for a statement paid one month late. Predatory! How is this reasonable or legal?
So for what was originally a $125 bill due 8/6 which I paid $135 on 9/5 I was invoiced another $111.61 in late fees for paying exactly 30 days past the due date!!!
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