Review vendor marketing sent to an HOA board

Sort the pile before writing to anyone

1. Lay out the last batch of association mail in three stacks: advertising, anything that asks for payment or action, and anything about owners, dues or legal matters. Only the advertising stack is a candidate for a removal request.
2. Compare each advertisement with the association's current vendor list. A brochure from a company the board already hires is still advertising. Raise it with that company's contract contact instead of sending a general removal request.
3. For each piece, record the vendor name, the mailing name and address as printed, and any code. Leave owner names, unit numbers and dues information out of the request.
4. Bring the list to the board for approval and name the one officer or volunteer who will send the requests.

Mailers that look like bills

The FTC lists fake invoices, unordered goods and misleading directory listings among the scams aimed at businesses and nonprofits, and says to check invoices against approved purchase records before paying. A security or maintenance mailer formatted like a bill belongs in that check, not in a removal request. If it does not match a purchase the board approved, give it to whoever approves payments.

The officer's authority covers the association's own advertising records. Owners manage their personal mail, even when it comes from the same vendor.

Leave a record the next board can use

Put the tracker below in the board binder. If a listed vendor's brochure arrives again, the officer can check the tracker for the date of the original request and follow up through the contact route that vendor publishes.

Official source

• FTC: Scams and Your Small Business