Athens Services has agreed to rebate thousands of dollars worth of services to a Kings Road Homeowners Association after an exhaustive battle. Athens is the exclusive service provider for both residential and busin
Scott Ables, HOA President at 1210 N. Kings Road documented the issues but was unable to get any attention until he penned a ‘Dear WeHo’ letter on these pages. A copy of his original letter is below.
Craig Blouin, Division Vice President of Athens Services responded quickly to Ables concerns after WEHOonline published his story.
Blouin wrote “I hope this message finds you well. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for taking the time to meet and engage in a follow-up conversation regarding the collection service at your property, 1210 King Road, in West Hollywood, California. To summarize our discussion, we reviewed the Athens collection history for your account over the past 12 months, in accordance with the retention requirements outlined in the Franchise Agreement with the City of West Hollywood. In an effort to ensure your complete satisfaction we have proposed the following adjustments to move forward: Credits Applied: Athens has credited the account for both January and February totaling $299.71 per month. Adjusted Billing: Your monthly bill has been adjusted to reflect a reduced service frequency, bringing the total to $318.60 per month, as per your request. Current Credit Balance: Your account currently shows a credit balance of $280.82. Additional Credit: An additional $5712 will be applied to this balance. Updated Credit Total: This brings the total credit balance to ($5,992.82).”
“With the revised monthly billing structure in place, we estimate your current credit balance will cover approximately 16 months of service before you begin receiving invoices again. This estimate accounts for the anticipated rate increase and the conclusion of the city’s organics container subsidy in July 2025, in line with the terms of the Franchise Agreement. Athens Services is proud to remain the exclusive franchise hauler for the City of West Hollywood through 2036, with the possibility of extending beyond that period. We are committed to providing you and your board with exceptional service now and in the years to come”
Ables was thankful to have recovered some of the monies he felt due to his homeowner’s association. He learned that the franchise agreement between the City of West Hollywood and Athens Services. The City of West Hollywood does not require Athens to keep records longer than 12 months. But, despite the settlement of two years worth of service, Ables insists it was at least 5 years worth of overcharging.
The City of West Hollywood has refused to take any steps to monitor the billing practices of Athens Services. Col. Scott Ables was proud to have get this trash behind him, but added “I would be astonished that our building is the only one that was overcharged for many years.”
Dear WEHO,
There’s a huge problem we are having with Athens Services. I have lived on Kings Road for 26 years and on the HOA board for over 20 years. We recently learned that Athens has been over billing us for 4 pick ups a week since at least 2015 or earlier. The HOA never sees the bill as it goes to our property manager and when we learned of this and spoke with staff, the men in our route we confirmed that they have always picked up our trash twice a week. However an audit of our bills shows they have billed us for 4 pick ups a week and this has cost us around 3.5k a year in over charges. The gross negligence, malfeasance and denial without evidence by Athens and the silence by the City Manager is atrocious and we strongly believe other properties may have or are being over charged by Athens which replaced continental years ago as our trash service.
I think this might be worth investigating by you as you have done a great job with the whistleblowers and the issues with the city and some of its vendors.
I also believe that prior to bills being sent electronically they were mailed which might add mail fraud to a possible legal action. I am reaching out to others to see if they have had issues with Athens and would like to know if the City has kept a record of complaints about Athens.
Ms Masterson, the government liaison between the City and Athens has proven worthless. There is no gps or photographic evidence of 4 pick ups a week and as I run my brands from home I know when they pull out the dumpster on Tuesday and Thursday and that is it. They are lying and we are looking at our options. I know we cannot be the only client with this issue of being over charged consistently even after we informed them of their error. We are a 12 unit community and 3.6k (give or take due to rate increases) times 20 plus what we are charged and over charged for green and blue bins is a crime.
Thank you,
Scott Ables
[…] One Kings Road HOA President Scott Ables noticed that his homeowner association was being billed for 4 trash pick ups a week by Athens Services. WEHOonline broke the story and Ables was able to recover almost $6,000 to offset his claims. We wrote about it here: https://wehoonline.com/weho-homeowners-association-recovers-almost-6000-accusing-athens-services-ove… […]
[…] One Kings Road HOA President Scott Ables noticed that his homeowner association was being billed for 4 trash pick ups a week by Athens Services. WEHOonline broke the story and Ables was able to recover almost $6,000 to offset his claims. We wrote about it here: https://wehoonline.com/weho-homeowners-association-recovers-almost-6000-accusing-athens-services-ove… […]
Great work.
Thank you for the work you do on behalf of the residents. I hope the city council can do its job and look into this matter on behalf of the rest of the city.