Paul, Thank you for taking the time to respond. I would like to clarify that I am a resident and not a Board member, new or old or whatever you inferred. I gather that the Board's decision to change management companies clearly derived from resident dissatisfaction of services rendered. My opinion of Sentry over the last 5 or 6 years still stands. I do not appreciate highlighting my possible place of residence on an open forum. That being said, I feel that a 70 year old building in a historic district of a very desired zip code warrants a more strategic outlook rather a band-aid patch here and there. There is a certain level of expertise that is needed to manage communities here as the City's Architectural Review Board is very stringent on their expectations of following rules. It's not just a condo complex; it's a very visible gateway to a very unique, preserved, historic and touristic area. I used to see residents doing walk abouts to keep abreast of the property; the non-Sentry grounds keeper noted more issues than any assigned property manager (and there have been numerous.) I almost wonder what Sentry was managing --- as it has the word "Management" in its very name. I don't know if you've ever walked the grounds -- and certainly you can't compare it to what it used to be because you don't know what to compare it to. But I have lived there since the conversion. You should walk the grounds and while you do, stop and look at the discolored concrete slabs that "replaced" perfectly good ones with ones with an odd hue, while clearly cracked and broken ones remained untouched. Stop and look at the seams filled in with goop so sloppily that they pour down the sides. Right before the white washed red brick behind the cheaply painted black railing over the rust without appropriately sanding it down. Want to take a look at the water damaged roof that is historic slate? Sentry's contractors sure didn't. It took years before someone actually walked a roof, but residents were told each time a complaint was made that "the issue was resolved and a repair was made." You probably can't do all that because his company was sold out of state. Hard to do a walk through from Florida. PS. I sat through a few board meetings and I can name ONE representative who I would deem professional, did not get snarky with residents or board members, responded to emails in a timely fashion and was able to differentiate between what would and would not constitute an emergency. Additionally, please note that dissatisfaction with Sentry seems to be documented on Yelp as far back as 2011. Maybe instead of pointing fingers at past or current Board members who volunteer their time, uncompensated, to take care of our community, Sentry may want to take a closer look at its operations, one for which they are well compensated. Thank you. read more

Cool company with down-to-earth staff who go above and beyond, even when issues arise. I applaud our manager at Sentry for maintaining a positive attitude and professionalism, even during our meetings that get crazy. When there was a dispute with my billing, our manager reached out and was quick to bring our payment issue to my attention, help resolve it, & had the late fee removed. She was very understanding and recognized that, at the end of the day, this is my home, my community, and my investment. I really appreciate that. read more

I'd give them a 0 if I could. This is the worst management company ever, I can't even believe our previous board of directors selected them to manage our association. They have failed to pay bills.. the most recent being our trash and recycling services. We have trash piling up in the trash collection area and rodents have taken over. They are terrible at returning emails or phone calls. They raise the rates and then don't even send out notices warning of the new rate, so anyone with autopay will be hit with a late charge for non payment of the increase. If you are a Board and looking for a new management company, look as far away from this company as possible. You will regret signing on with these crooks. read more

Sentry Management - Property Management Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

This is a HORRIBLE PROPOERTY Management company. They NEVER answer calls, never reply to emails, and NEVER take care of serious concerns. I have a HUGE oak tree with DEAD limbs hanging over my HOUSE/bedroom. I have addressed this safety concern for several years, and it has NEVER been taken care of properly. I can promise if this tree comes down on my home, there will be a big law suit. HOWEVER, THEY DON'T HESITATE TO TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!! Stay away from their properties.........I wouldn't even give them one star!!!!! read more

Extremely incompetent and unprofessional at basic community management. Fails at very basic tasks of providing parking passes, community pool pass applications, landscaping matters, etc. Horrible. read more

If there was a lower than 1, I would give it. Complaints go unanswered, calls are never returned, and emails are never opened. After months of asking to have it removed, the limb above my driveway finally came down on my car. How about my crumbling driveway, and they send a guy to file it down? The office manager treats people like crap. Run, don't walk away from this company. read more

I'm not sure what changes Sentry made and if it was in training or operations but I can definitely feel the difference. Recently, phone calls and availability have improved significantly, and the overall responsiveness has gotten much better. Whether I'm calling the 800 number or reaching out directly to my manager, the communication has been much better, maybe they upgraded the phones or something, but whatever it is, great job! There were some issue possibly due to being new, but over the past year, they've really figured things out, and I'm genuinely happy with the service now. Using their website and portal is essential, but in emergencies, the phone support has been incredibly helpful. I had some of the same complaints that others have mentioned, but once I understood who is responsible for what, especially after my manager explained everything and provided detailed community information, it all made sense. I regret being so negative before about issues that were beyond their control. Thank you and I'm looking forward to continuing our relationship with Sentry read more

I am Board President and I would not recommend Sentry to an enemy, we lost money with they mismanagement and mistakes. They don't even own up to mistakes when confronted, six months I asked for a vendor contract to be canceled and paid double with our new vendor. Their mistake cost us over $4000 and they were rude when trying to correct their mistake. I could not take the lies, the disrespectful from LaShauna and /or Jeff Smith. The accounting Department Camille was the best but I could not deal with incompetence anymore, we requested to end their contract!!! Best thing ever we found a competent management company. read more

Consistent pattern of telling condo owners that repairs are their responsibility when they're not. Most current situation is they failed to maintain underground power cables so we had a huge outage in multiple buildings. When they finally got around to putting the new cables underground the contractor doing the hydro excavation for the trench didn't account for accumulated storm water and rain, and flooded the first floor of my building. The supervisor on site apologized and took full responsibility. Now Sentry is calling it an act of God and not holding the contractors responsible and telling us we have to use our own homeowners insurance to recover our losses. read more

The worst. Never returns phone calls or emails. No one in the office. All calls by an answering service. This firm is non existent in my book. We've been paying HOA fees for years here and they can't get back to us with a simple phone call. read more

Worst homeowner's management company around. They are disinterested in customer service and process improvement. As a customer of their Leesburg, VA, office, I have been ignored or received untimely responses to many of my requests. Worse, my real estate agent and I received incorrect information from the community manager of Sutton Ridge Condominium, which has never been acknowledged by her or the Division President. I was treated rudely and dismissed. No one in the Leesburg office was willing to take ownership of my issue or would step up personally to advocate my position to resolve it. Instead, I was bounced around, required to research the issue on my own and defend myself, and even blamed. In a nutshell, I was treated rudely, condescendingly, and dismissed. Not until I reached someone outside the Leesburg office, was I treated with respect. The issue turned out to be a system error on Sentry's part. The person outside of the Leesburg office apologized and personally handled correcting it. When the Division President was notified that the error was Sentry's, he continued to treat me rudely and never apologized. I highly recommend that Northern VA communities stay far, far away from considering Sentry as their management company. Their Leesburg office is nonresponsive, dismissive, and provides incorrect information. Their poor service caused undue delays and hours on my part proving their mistakes. As a company, I would also not recommend them since they seem uninterested in communicating with their customers and there is no channel to report poor customer service outside a general mailbox, which goes unanswered. Without customer feedback, there is no accountability for poor performance by their employees and no opportunities for improvement. read more

Like many others who have dealt with this company, I don't understand how they are still in business. The only explanation would be that our HOA board is corrupt. The bad: - you can't get ahold of the property manager in any reasonable/meaningful way/time. - once/if they finally get around to you (it can be weeks), they drop off and stop responding, leaving the issue unresolved. The good: Wait, system processing... read more

Stay far away from this management company! Unfortunately they took over HOA management of my lovely community and turned it into the apocalypse. They are only interested in charging fees and sending notices to enforce trivial rules. All of the employees are rude and intentionally avoid speaking with you. They do not budge from their fees and have poor customer service. read more

the worst community HOA management company, took over our community a while ago. they do absolutely nothing bad gardening , bad lighting, bad cleaning. all what they good for is to collect the fee and send notices. staff are so helpless and unprofessional. they did not open the pool , never maintain the tennis court the public area become lousy. i wish they go and find better company read more

Saw another resident post who had issues with Karen. We, too, came in with a smaller company that was acquired by Sentry. We have had a revolving door of representatives, including Karen. I am the HOA president and after she paid bills for services never performed she was indignant. We could not get the full amount back, and she never even offered to help with the negotiations when it was her mistake. Going above her to Dave or Becky as management got us nowhere. Bottom line: don't waste your time with this company. You will regret it later. In response to Sentry's comment, yes we worked with multiple locations so posted comments to share our experience with each. We are still cleaning up the mess Sentry made by filing documents under one of our board member's names with the state without their authorization. We would have loved to resolve our issues with you, but as we described above, you as a company didn't care. In fact, I think we got more of a response from our Yelp posts than we ever did as a client. And to be clear, I was the board member who recommended Sentry. read more

Do NOT move into a Sentry property. The photographs speak for themselves, but let's talk about some of the features of our Sentry managed community. The "pathways" are decrepit and crumbling with plenty of holes to fall into. There's been a broken window in our tower (common area so should be maintained by the complex) for the entire year we've lived there. Cleaning crews are there once a week, if that. People use the dumpster as a dumping ground. I assume it must be people who do not live at the complex, because there is no way that the residents are generating THAT MUCH garbage on a consistent basis. Not only does trash flood the bins, but it gets strewn all about the parking lot resulting in crows and even vultures lurking around. The property management doesn't take your concerns seriously. There is no online presence for this community. I have no idea who even owns the complex. A representative of the property management even told me that she does not have an email address and he needs to communicate with her solely by phone and in person. When you have a complaint, they strike an, "I know, I know," attitude, acting as if they have no power over the situation even though they are well aware of the problems. I began to suspect that nobody from Sentry had ever even visited the property before. In what other case would they POSSIBLY think these conditions are acceptable? Yet a notice was posted on our door once that was apparently from a representative of Sentry, so clearly they have been there. How could they possibly want their name on a property that is so horrible looking? They seem to have an agreement with a towing company, because they are definitely engaged in predatory patrolling of the lot. Even though there are plenty of spaces, they will snatch your car up in the blink of an eye. For all the lack of care that the property management shows toward the condition of the complex, they sure do care a lot about towing cars! There are no amenities in the complex -- not even so much as public trash cans on the property (unless you count the flooded dumpsters). If you're a house flipper, DON'T purchase a property here. Even if you make the inside of your unit look immaculate, the exterior conditions will make it hard for you to flip the unit and will ultimately drive down the value of the home. I've seen multiple neighbors do incredible work to the inside of their condos in an effort to sell but they have no luck. I feel sorry for them.What a joke. It's a shame because there is so much potential but whoever owns the property simply has no respect for the owners/tenants. I never really imagined a property management/complex owner, except in the slums, could have such little respect for its tenants. My advice to Sentry is that they should either 1) improve or 2) if these problems are the responsibility of the Board and there's really nothing you can do about it, you should decline to serve them. Why would you want your name associated with such a horrible looking complex? Also, I see in Sentry's responses to reviews that they've specifically mentioned what residence they believe the reviewer to be referring to. I thank you in advance, Sentry, to avoid doing so should you respond to my review. read more

See all

The property manager, Karen is extremely rude and very unprofessional. You have to call several times before she responds & then her replies are curt and bothered. When I deal with them I always send emails to keep a paper trail. It's sad having to deal with her. read more

Sentry took over the management of our townhouse community and they've been great. Everything flows very smoothly, and when you contact them they're friendly and professional. What else could you ask for? read more

They just took me to court claiming I have not paid my rent. But when showing up that I paid, claims dit was for late fees. THEIR LAWYER WAS ON OUR D SIDE!! He told them that they summoned wrongly and we WON!!!!! They have also allowed a House to sit vacant since 12/2016. It has collected rodents and Smells like sewage. read more

I have been trying to reach out this management company for Annandale Terrence townhouse and no one has responded. We have excessive trash and rodent problem. I even reports this issue Fairfax county. I guess we will keep paying our dues and receive no Customer service. It seems like the neighborhood had turned into affordable units over night and no one seems to care. read more

STAY AWAY!!! They became the new management company at our building and they are HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A friend of mine ALSO has them and is still waiting weeks for a repair to her roof. She has had water leaking into her apartment and nobody even calls her back. It is atrocious. read more

Sentry is mostly a source of aggravation, and slightly hostile to residents. Requests for information or assistance are ignored, or responses are generally unhelpful. This organization is not on top of information or records. When I moved from my property, I had the choice to sell it or rent it out. I chose sell, and while the chance to no longer have to deal with Sentry was not the only factor, it was a positive argument in favor of the sell decision. I lived in a neighborhood ran by Sentry for a few years. Some problems that I have had: 1. Did not maintain exteriors as well as they could have. For example, I complained multiple times about the mortar between bricks requiring replacement, they said that it did not, despite clear evidence to the contrary. I had to pay to have it fixed myself after the buyers' inspector identified it as an obvious issue. The white paint had rust stains from studs/nails that were never addressed. 2. Generally ignored my emails and requests. On multiple occasions I had to look up every Sentry contact I could find them all and complain to put pressure on the representative responsible for our association (Christina Beruete). E.g. Christina ignored multiple email requests for review and repair of an issue previously worked on (took two trips to fix to fix a leak from the outside, I wanted confirmation that the leak was properly fixed). When I finally went to a home owners' meeting to ask for assistance, she denied receiving my emails or knowing what I was talking about and promised to look into it. I ended up having my own check done) However, when I went to sell my home, I learned that Sentry did "check." They sent a man into my house, without checking with me or ever telling me, to walk through it and "smell" for mold. He said he did not "detect" any. I learned this years later during the sales process, as Sentry was unable to find any records of any work or maintenance to give the seller, except a one vague sentence suggesting that there as in fact mold. I was able to get clarification that this meant the man walked through and didn't smell the mold. This almost cost me the sale. 3. Asking for records, status etc gets no answer, incomplete records or out of date information. Sometimes it gets even incorrect information. E.g. while I was selling my place, Sentry told the buyers that I owed them $20,000 when I only owed 20. Technically, they said "20.000" but the extra zero had the buyer quite concerned. Sentry was unable to give me any type of official document confirming that I did not owe 20,000 and that the sale could go through - I had to forward the email exchange to the buyer. When I sold, I had to pay Sentry almost $400 for a PDF of my condo documents (a crazy fee for what they sent). The scans were not straight or searchable as text. 4. The aforementioned $20 debt was itself part of bad bookkeeping. I had automatic debit set up. Sentry raised the condo fees by 5 dollars, did not send new bills, adjust payments or even send me any type of alert that I was now underpaying 5 dollars per month. As soon as I knew, I paid the extra balance, but I wonder how long the underpayments would have gone on had I not sold my property. 5. Despite the declaration at the time of the sale that I did not owe any money (minus the 20 which I paid), and despite knowing very well that the property was sold, Sentry still sent me an overdue bill notice for condo fees for the month after I sold my property. When I followed up, i was told that the problem was that Sentry had not executed the paperwork for the transfer of ownership for almost a month after the actual sale, so I was being billed while the actual owners were not. Almost three months after the sale, after telling Sentry in advance that the property would be sold, after the new buyers submitted their paperwork and moved in, and I followed up thanks to the erroneous billing, Sentry still hasn't transferred the phone number at the front gate and I get calls. I complained to Christina, who replied that it isn't Sentry's responsibility to revoke access when people sell property even though they manage the gate box. 8. Not worth the money. Sentry Management cost roughly 400 dollars per month per unit. Other than some groundskeeping, I'm not sure what they did for it. Even the groundskeeping was not ideal. Every year they would come and dump mulch on everything, including my newly planted flowers. Every year I would go out, and kindly ask the people spreading the mulch to not just dump mulch on top of my flowers. Every year they would agree. Every year they would crush my flowers, and I would have to go and clear them off again. They were under serious time pressures. The groundskeeping company also inexplicably cut down a large lilac bush in my backyard that I loved and that I had been growing for years. When I complained, Sentry said they '"reviewed" it and decided it was fine and they didn't have to replace it or care. read more

Sentry Management is the best company in the area. From a timely response, action and implementation of our HOA rules. They are the best!

Our management company was acquired by Sentry Management Company. The community is 48 units in Falls Church, Virginia. I must say, they are the most unprofessional group of people I've ever worked with. When I called them about a pillar that was accidentally hit by a visitor, the folks at Sentry were incredibly rude and dismissive. They said they only talk to board members and that was it. If you can avoid having them manage your community, then do it! read more

These guys are the worst. Occasionally, even though I regularly mow my lawn, I get complaints from Sentry Management about how it's not compliant. They are entirely ambiguous and offer no explanation about how I'm non-compliant other than citing the HOA code that they accuse me of violating. No idea how to fix it because I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Also, I've registered on their site multiple times now to setup automatic payments. They keep losing my account information so I have to keep re-registering as a new user. Naturally, when I log into my brand new account each time all of the previous payment information is missing and yet they still have it on file enough to be able to process my auto-pay so they get their money. Avoid these guys. read more

Sentry is lying once again when they say they are working with me. I've left numerous email documented complaints and all I've received from Sentry is lie after lie from the 3rd inexperienced property manager they assigned and refusal (from their VP) to do any of the services we are paying them to. Run, don't walk, from this company. read more

My condo association recently switched to using this management company. Recently they notified everyone that they are updating parking passes which they do every couple of years. They asked for registration and a form to be filled out. I own the condo however my primary residence is in Maryland. I was going out of the country and I needed to make sure that I receive new passes before they started towing. My property manager Karen is unreachable by email and despite many emails asking the status of the passes, I have yet to receive a response to my inquiries. I had to call multiple times to even reach her because she does not call back. When I explained to her that me and my husbands car registration is to our home in Maryland and not the condo, I was told that I would not be able to be given passes to parking until i registered all of my cars to my condo. WHAT!?!? I never had this issue with the previous management company. Also why would I do that when it's not my primary residence!?!? I tried to ask questions and she was not helpful. Finally I asked who could grant me an exception and she told me I had to make a request from the board and that it takes time. In the meantime she promised to send me a temporary pass which I still have not received and she has not responded to my emails while I am out of the country on vacation. In the meantime, the date when my old passes will become obsolete will be up in 2 days. read more

This company or at least the "employees who manage" the property where I live are "checked out" to put it nicely. I'm a new tenant who just moved into a property managed by Sentry on 3/21/17. 1) On Friday 3/24 I came home to no working/running water in my kitchen and it barely drizzling out of my restroom. I called the afterhours emergency number and was told by the maintenance person on call that I would need to wait until Monday, because the office closed at 3pm and he wasn't sure how I was having a problem in my unit, when they turned the water off in the unit beside me. I go through the whole weekend with no running water, only to find out on Monday 3/27 that the water would be back on Tuesday 3/28. It's Thursday 3/29 and I still have no running water in my kitchen. - Had they viewed the no running water issue as a ligit emergency and had someone out to the property on Saturday morning, like most management companies do, I and some of the other residents would have water by now. #2 trying to make the best out of a horrible situation, I go into the office on Wed, to look at storage space with check in hand to get a door placed on my storage unit, only to be told, that their last day at our property is this coming Friday as they will no longer manage the property and something about some paperwork that she apparently didn't want to do and to come back the next week when the new management company is here. WTH!!! I just shook my head and walked out. I only hope the new company coming in to take over is much more responsible, professional and has a sense of urgency to resolve issues. Meanwhile, I'm going on 7 days with no running water in the kitchen and dribbles coming out the restroom. Update: Thanks for responding Sentry, and great to know that you do read these reviews. But I stand by my ORIGINAL review. I was told by Kendra ? to come back next week when the new company is here, because of some paperwork and Friday is her last day in that location. I had my check in hand, ready to pay to get my door put on my storage unit. While it's true she gave me a list of buildings with the codes, she DID tell me to come back next week. To clarify and to your point, I spoke with a very nice lady Patrica or Pamela by phone earlier that same day, the HVAC manager, about storage and she did tell me to come in, look at the units and decide which one I wanted and to let them know. So I did just that...I came in that evening around 6pm (the lady i originally spoke to was not in the office) But Kendra (or something that begins with a K) handed me a list of buildings and codes and told me to wait until next week when the NEW company came, and said something about paperwork. I asked her twice if she was serious, she said yes. I smiled, shook my head and walked out. 2nd on the plumbing issue, while I do understand it was no fault of anyones. I do think Sentry Management could have been a lot more timely and responsive to the residents needs. I guess the plumbers you hire don't work weekends? Notifications about the issue affecting residents were not posted until I called and complained several times. And your on staff person Fan/Fam did tell me the office closed at 3 on Friday and there was nothing they could do until Monday. Thank you for posting the notice in the building today that water will be off again next week. Taking responsibility and putting checks and balances in place to ensure a smooth transition to rectify issues that may arise in the future and letting residents know that their voice is heard, instead of defending your companies actions that clearly put residents in distress is what will gain your company a 5 star rating and great reviews...and perhaps gain you more business for your company. Just a thought :) read more

I have lived in my community for a year now, apparently right after Sentry was hired as the new property manager. I had one large issue with their office losing a copy of my house key last year. Other than that, poor service from employees and low quality work through the community. The most recent issue has driven me to post my first Yelp review to stop other communities from hiring them. I came home Thursday 05/26 to a huge spill in the hall of my building. Notified the proper people, was still not cleaned by Friday called again spoke to the office administrator, came home from being out of town for Memorial Day, STILL NOT CLEANED. 4 days with a sticky slippery mess in the hallway, posing a slip and fall accident, attracting pests and rodents, and not safe for pets to walk through. DO NOT HIRE NO MATTER WHAT. read more

My condo building has worked with Sentry since their merger with CMS, and I am extremely dissatisfied with their level of responsiveness and customer service. I have dealt with two separate cases of leaking/water damage that have necessitated their involvement, and in each case I have had to call and send multiple emails to our property manager to prompt any action. I frequently have waited days (and in several cases, weeks) for a response, delaying critical repairs for unacceptable lengths of time. From discussions with others in my building, this appears to be a common problem. I strongly recommend avoiding this company, as the level of service is unacceptable and has not been remedied even after raising our concerns with the company's management. read more

Great responsive service ! They have answered and are on top of questions about the financial matters and reserves of my condo. At the pool, other people are talking about the big improvement changing to Sentry since last year. I highly recommend them !!!!! read more