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3 Condo Concierge Horror Stories

Concierge service is a hallmark of a luxury living experience. But what if the concierge decides to take advantage of residents rather than serving them? Without the right employee accountability and controls in place, that’s a real risk — just read these concierge horror stories.

The $200,000 Jewelry Heist
At a condo complex in Cleveland, Ohio, a concierge used his access privileges to enter four different units, from which he stole over $200,000 of jewelry. He then worked with an accomplice to pawn the stolen property.

The Booze-Loving Concierge
One Virginia concierge treated a resident’s home as her own personal bar. Upon entering the unit, the employee was caught on camera guzzling the resident’s alcohol.

The Man in Black
While traveling in Thailand, a Vancouver, British Columbia, woman checked her condo’s security camera footage and observed a man in black — whom she recognized as the building’s concierge — enter her home, slip on a pair of white gloves, and help himself to several hundred dollars from her dresser drawer. Another woman in the same building reported that a total of $5,350 in cash had disappeared from her home in two separate incidents — with no evidence of forced entry.

How to Protect Your Residents
When provided conscientiously, concierge services are a much-appreciated complement to busy people’s lives. To reduce the risk of a dishonest employee abusing their access to condo dwellers’ homes, use electronic key control to enforce the following checks and balances:

  1. Avoid using master keys and require concierges to check out the key to each unit individually.
  2. Set up alerts when a concierge has a key for longer than necessary and restrict access to keys outside of their normal shift hours.
  3. Notify residents by text or email when the key to their unit is checked out.

Take the time to thoroughly assess how you treat key access. Are you providing residents a service or is your complex a nightmare waiting to happen?

Read More About Condo Key Control

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