Merlot Management

I would rate them 0 stars if I could. I had an apartment in a co-​op building, that they «managed» for 10 years. They were nearly impossible to work with, unhelpful, and completely rude to speak to. The most unhelpful and condescending person there is the owner, Beth, which makes you realize how lost you are, if in a building managed by their team. At my first annual meeting, it became evident, to me, how poor of a job they had been doing to help «manage» the buildings. Work that had been approved, before I purchased, along with a massive law suit, drained all savings. The worst part is that the vendor they used to complete major roof and façade work, had to be redone, as it had been done poorly/​incorrectly. Isn’t this the very thing that a management company offers, that a board cannot do alone? Relationships with and extensive knowledge of vendors?
During the purchase process I was shown how maintenance had recently gone up, but hadn’t for years prior so they did not expect it to go up again for a while. After that it went up drastically every year until it doubled our original maintenance and far exceeded our mortgage!
After a flood caused by poor maintenance and within the walls of the building (ie: coop’s responsibility) Merlot dragged their feet, were often unresponsive, and nearly impossible to deal with, while our bedroom and bathroom had flooding, from sewage water. After asking the board (shortly after realizing their shortcomings) why we used them as a «management» company, I was told that they knew they were awful, but couldn’t afford to search/​review new companies.
I would NEVER live in a building that Merlot Management «manages» even if it was the most palatial, amazing, dream home imaginable.

I live in a co-​op that is run by Merlot Management. It was difficult enough getting through the co-​op board approval process with them leading the charge. Their delayed response times almost lost me my apartment.
Now that I’m a tenant in the building, I pay them over $ 1,200 a month for their «services» on my 1bdrm apt. But when presenting them with any issue I am only met with condescending, rude and disrespectful banter– never a solution. It’s as if they’ve forgotten that they I am THEIR client and am paying THEM, vs. the other way around.
As soon as I get on the co-​op board, the first order of business will be to fire them IMMEDIATELY. I cannot dissuade you enough from using Merlot Management. Life is too short to have people like this involved in it… especially when it comes to your home.

Sometimes they call you back, sometimes they don’t. We had a problem with the heat being off in mid-​January and left several voicemails on their answering service, and they took their time getting back to us. Sometimes they tell you they’re turning off the water at the very last minute with a back-​dated letter (ugh). Could be better, could be worse.