When I first moved in management was horrible. I had nothing but problems with the ghetto-ized staff, to include staff entering peoples apartments for no reason. Then the most recent management took over and there was a drastic improvement for the past 2 years. Unfortunately JBG and the Dominion management has chased away the good staff and appears to be actively attempting to defraud its tenants.

Upon moving into Dominion Towers tenants are told that utilities are included in the rent. This week (26 May 2009) all of the buildings tenants received letters in their doors regarding the "new" utilities policy. Upon which, for the next couple of days the office staff was conveniently absent so that no tenant could voice their concerns over the "new" policy. According to the letter, Dominion Towers was the actual payer of all utilities (keep in mind that the exorbitant rent we pay the company is nearly all profit as they own the property outright)and due to "continued and accelerating costs of utilities, we have determined that obtaining a reimbursement of a portion of the utility expenses is warranted." According to the letter, "the decision was made after months of thoughtful discussion and we have partnered with Conservice (a utilities company based in Utah that just happens to be a member of the same organization as JBG)."

So, not only is utilities covered within our rent, but we are now going to be charged a second utilities fee. When contacted for comment, the JBG management provided extremely weak excuses and attempted to treat myself and other tenants as if we were stupid and would not see through their very weak reasoning. Keep in mind that JBG claims to have done this thoughtfully and with great discussion. NOT ONE TIME DID ANY JBG OR DOMINION TOWERS EMPLOYEE CONTACT AND DISCUSS THEIR IDEAS WITH ANY SINGLE TENANT AT DOMINION TOWERS. The first mention of this "great plan" was via the letter left in each tenant's door about the decision that had been made.

Is it their right to charge for utilities' Certainly. However, JBG and Dominion Towers has done so in bad faith and very unprofessional form. They have lied to many tenants, multiple times. They have chased away good management and replaced them with sub-par yes-men. The building is in poor shape with enormous structural problems, specifically with the AC/Heating and Water pipes. Let's not even go to the cockroach problem that creeps up every couple months.

Hands down, I will actively be telling people of my experience and urge them not to rent from JBG. My prediction: that this latest scam by management will cause a mass exodus that makes the last event of dramatic rent increases with no excuse pail in comparison. I know I'm leaving the instant that my current lease is up and I hope many, many others do as well.

I hope they see themselves out of business and out of jobs sooner rather than later.
DO NOT RENT FROM JBG!!!!!!

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/08/2009
This is a pretty good sumation of what's recently gone on. I've lived there for a few years, and the initial management staff weren't great by any means, and were eventually replaced by really nice and helpful new staff. They've recently have been replaced in the last 2 months with people who look at you as if you're the problem. I wouldn't say they are rude, but more disinterested in the fact that people live there and helping them, and even more disinterested in who they are. The utlities charge is also a scam. They never spoke with tenants about a change in policy. What's worse is none of their appliances are energy efficient, and had they really thoughfully considered their pending decision through they would think it would be a good idea to update their laundry facilities and appliances in the apts as a way to help save on energy costs. As a result, when the bill gets divided at the end of the day, those who are energy conscious will wind up paying an huge fee. It's not worth being treated like that, and I would rather be charged more rent without utilities included if it meant living in a bldg that actually was genuinely interested in its tenants interests and not their own. Needless to say I will be moving out soon when my lease is up.

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