Balfour Senior Living

This very nicely appointed facility has been challenged due to a lack of staffing. This affects every department but the biggest loss has been our lovely dining room. Because management has not been able to hire servers our dining room sits empty at dinner. Currently our food choices are put in plastic to go containers which sit around for an uncertain amount of time. The food here was good but boxing it to go does not make it better. If you are thinking about this facility, find out BEFORE you sign your contract which amenities are unavailable.

This is an okay community. The community allows pets. It would be better if they had more first floor rooms available, and the sound was quieter.

I have lived here over 18 months. Yes outstanding decor and food. BUT: 1. It has taken over 9 months to repair two safety issues 2. After 18 months pool down for 6 weeks Because heater broke down because of hard water leaving mineral deposits in controls 3. Building not considered secure by Balfour 4. We had to fight and fight just to get a crafts room. This Senior living facility on is on a Small 6 acre lot. 5. Management has taken a strong stance against me and will not answer my questions. They are punishing me. For The questions I ask. 6. In my opinion residents are not Balfour’s customers the investors are the customer 7. The reviews on Balfour’s web site Ann Arbor include 2 employees, 2 outside vendors 5 former employees 8. Employees outstanding but short staffed

First impressions can be deceiving. We had done the tours, due diligence and planned to bring our mom here. But it appears there is a lot of dissatisfaction within the staff and a management group that is constantly turning the staff. Over the past few months they have turned over at least 30-50% of the staff with a new director that seems disinterested in keeping educated, experienced staff in deference to less expensive caregivers. In speaking to some of the staff, there seems to be some who genuinely enjoy and care for the residents for whom they work. However, there also seems some infighting or jealousies that are problematic. Leaving an incontinent patient for the next shift to take care of instead of immediately taking care of the resident is an issue. The ownership group seems more interested in the bottom line than the memory care seniors. We decided to go elsewhere with mom.

While the common areas are beautiful, the experience of living at Balfour Riverfront never comes close to matching the appearance. Senior management attitude towards service seems to be: provide the minimum they can get away with, glad-hand the residents, and make promises they have no intention of following through on. Staff can occasionally be wonderful, but they never seem to last; turnover is very high leading to poor morale. It seems they treat the dining room (which is beautiful) as a cost center and seek to minimize their expenses, serving barely edible food with surprisingly bad service. Balfour Riverfront is a bit of a mystery, because so much potential is wasted. The common areas are stunning, but service is extremely frustrating, quality of the apartment finish is poor (especially carpeting), and the whole experience leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

They are all about the money they can make. Promised us a different type of apartment but did not have when we arrived. They say ANYTHING TO GET YOUR DEPOSIT! We settled for a temporary style room. 6 months later they STILL didn't have our apartment type, When they finally did, they charged us $2500 to transfer! We finally moved out but they charged us 2 extra months rent after we left. They charge extra for every little thing. We paid for internet but our room was too far from the router to get service. They never fixed it! DISGUSTED WITH OVERALL EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Food is good. But 2 of us couldn't eat all meals each month for the excessive prices they charged for meal plans

I am very disappointed with the Executive Director and how she handled my husbands passing, I was not notified at the time of his passing and had to find out about it on social media and his personal belongings were not secured and were cleared out of his room without my permission. Very disappointed with management at Balfour.

All of the residents are very rude and the staff is inconsiderate. There is constantly an issue here at the Longmont location. It’s a very loud location with a busy highway and construction. I personally would not recommend my family to stay here as they don’t care for the community and the environment does not seem friendly.

I moved to Balfour [date removed] due to illness. I was there for 2 years. During that time, I paid all bills and was never late. I moved out in [date removed] because of their abysmal plumbing and constant flooding, and no hot water for 11 days. 3.5 months after moving out I received an email from Balfour that they could not find me even though they had all the contact information since they contacted me. They sent me a bill for $[removed]k to repaint a 2 bedroom apartment which was in pristine shape. We took exit video showing this. When I questioned them they gave no explanation. According to Colorado state law after a tenant has lived in a rented space for over 2 years the landlord is NOT allowed to charge for anything other than extreme destruction and repair which in this case was not true. They would not provide documentation and kept sending me bills. I do not have a family at this stage in my life to rely on and they tried to rob me. After getting an attorney they chose to drop it.

I wouldn't put my dog in Balfour. I'm surprised they didn't kill my mother.

During the short time our loved one was there, she was infected with covid from one of the workers. They quarantined her and pretty much ignored her. This is the most expensive community in the area so we expected much more from them.

I was a independent living resident at Balfour-Ann Arbor for 7 months - the first resident to move in when they opened in November 2019 and the first to leave in June 2020. In my opinion, this is NOT a good place for anyone to live, let let alone any senior! Most of the foregoing is the tip of the iceberg, but in a nutshell, what I have written says plenty to raise a huge “red flag” to potential residents of any Balfour facility, since they are all owned and managed by the Corporation Headquarters in Colorado. Balfour-Ann Arbor has 3 areas of living - Independent, Assisted and Memory Care. I was looking for a facility that had these things, but I wanted them to all be physically separated and that the areas did not co-mingle. I was assured more than once, and by more than one person, that each had their own dining room and there was no mixing of residents. I told the leasing persons on more than one occasion when I checked a few times about the areas being separated that I would not move into Balfour if the 3 areas co-mingled. Again, I was always assured that they did not co-mingle and that is one way Balfour was different than other places of this type. In about February, 2020, a situation arose that made me question whether that was indeed the case after I moved in. At that time, I asked the person I talked to on more than one occasion when I was looking into Balfour the exact opposite. She indicated that the three areas could mix and use any and all parts of the facility and that anyone could eat in any dining room they wanted. I was shocked to say the least. I checked with a couple of others who signed up about the same time I did and they were told the same thing I was. In my opinion, the Ann Arbor facility is totally disorganized and chaotic in almost every respect, except for the kitchen staff. The original staff, as well as many many subsequent employees, have either quit or been fired and nothing gets done that you ask for over and over, if at all, and you continue to pay for services you do not receive. Balfour is like an employee revolving door and has never been fully staffed. except maybe on day 1. And, a large number of employees are incompetent and/or have insufficient on-the-job training and supervision to do their jobs. If they are competent, they have too much work to do because of understaffing and are unable to speak up for fear of losing their jobs and end up quitting at some point. The Associate Executive Director, who took over when the Corporation fired the Executive Director shortly after the facility opened, is overwhelmed with so many jobs to do; thus, he cannot possibly keep up. In addition, medical updates sent to the residents on a regular basis by the Corporation were almost always glowing about how well Balfour and the residents were doing keeping the virus out of their facilities. However, in Ann Arbor, in all instances but one, they never really informed residents there about the fact that the facility had never been risk free from anyone getting the virus in the facility. This was because of, among other things, selected resident behaviors and contradictory and/or misinformation from the Corporation about the length of time someone needed to be in quarantine, which put everyone at risk continually for months. The “Balfour Way,” as they call it by the Corporation, REALLY means to give you as little as possible, despite what their literature and the Corporation says, and for residents to not complain. And, if you do, they threaten you with legal action and termination of your lease, like they did with me. In addition, they charge you a lot of money to live there that basically pays for all the decorating “fluff” and hollow promises of what they will be doing for you. Both of these things are part of the hook to sell you on this facility. The COVID-19 virus was not the problem, it just exposed a myriad of systemic problems with this Corporation that one might not have noticed right away under normal circumstances, but they sure became apparent quickly when you tried to get even the simplest of things done here before and during the virus. This is not to say that local staff are unresponsive. They are polite about requests and employees are nice to the residents, but there is largely no resolution to any of your complaints and requests. Since, Balfour-Ann Arbor is only 7 months old, I would highly suggest that you research the other Balfour facilities and access sites online that give accounts of other resident reviews of all the other Balfour properties (in Colorado) and their experiences with this Corporation and things that people were/are not happy with at those facilities BEFORE signing up to live in one of their facilities. I would also read online internet reviews of employee experiences at other Balfour facilities. There are only 2 reviews of the Ann Arbor property from employees - one positive and one negative - and no reviews by any residents (current or former) except mine. But, I personally know at least one other person that is leaving Balfour Ann Arbor soon and residents continue to complain about things there that never get addressed. For some unknown reason to me, they still don’t realize after six months of complaining that they never will. I lived and learned, and I hope I can save someone else from making the same mistake or at least be fully informed.

The place may look good but the community lacks a lot. Overpaid managers at every level the current director does not care for his residents or employees. Its all about the bonuses they make.

We were very happy with Balfour when my parents moved into Independent Living over 3 years ago. Then the changes came, a percentage was sold to a Corporation. Staff that had been with Balfour from the beginning left. The food has completely gone down hill with few items being made from scratch. And worst of all, an unwilling and unqualified management not responding to complaints. I would steer clear of Balfour.

I was a independent living resident at Balfour-Ann Arbor for 7 months - the first resident to move in when they opened in November 2019 and the first to leave in June 2020. In my opinion, this is NOT a good place for anyone to live, let let alone any senior! Most of the foregoing is the tip of the iceberg, but in a nutshell, what I have written says plenty to raise a huge “red flag” to potential residents of any Balfour facility, since they are all owned and managed by the Corporation Headquarters in Colorado. Balfour-Ann Arbor has 3 areas of living - Independent, Assisted and Memory Care. I was looking for a facility that had these things, but I wanted them to all be physically separated and that the areas did not co-mingle. I was assured more than once, and by more than one person, that each area had its own dining room and there was no mixing of residents. I told the leasing persons on more than one occasion when I checked on this initially as well as subsequently that I would not move into Balfour if the 3 areas co-mingled. Again, I was always assured that they did not co-mingle and that is one way Balfour was different than other places of this type. In about February, 2020, a situation arose that made me question whether that was indeed the case after I moved in. At that time, I asked the person I talked to on more than one occasion when I was looking into Balfour and she told me the exact opposite. She indicated that the three areas could mix and use any and all parts of the facility and that anyone could eat in any dining room they wanted. I was shocked to say the least. I checked with a couple of others who signed up about the same time I did and they were told the same thing I was. In my opinion, the Ann Arbor facility is totally disorganized and chaotic in almost every respect, except for the kitchen staff. The original staff, as well as many many subsequent employees, have either quit or been fired and almost nothing gets done that you ask for over and over, if at all, and you continue to pay for services you do not receive. Balfour is like an employee revolving door and has never been fully staffed. except maybe on the first few days. And, a large number of employees are incompetent and/or have insufficient on-the-job training and supervision to do their jobs. If they are competent, they have too much work to do because of understaffing and are unable to speak up for fear of losing their jobs and end up quitting at some point. The Associate Executive Director, who took over when the Corporation fired the Executive Director shortly after the facility opened, is overwhelmed with so many jobs to do; thus, he cannot possibly keep up. In addition, medical updates sent to the residents and families on a regular basis by the Corporation were almost always glowing about how well Balfour and the residents were doing keeping the virus out of their facilities. However, in Ann Arbor, in all instances but one, they never really informed residents there about the fact that the facility had never been risk free from anyone getting the virus in the facility. This was because of, among other things, selected resident reprehensible self-serving behaviors that almost continually put all residents and staff there at risk as well as contradictory or misinformation from the Corporation about the length of time someone needed to be in quarantine or whether they should be quarantined at all, The fact the virus has not gotten into the Ann Arbor facility is not because of anything Balfour did. It is quite simply a major miracle it did not. The “Balfour Way,” as they call it by the Corporation, REALLY means to give you as little as possible, despite what their literature and the Corporation says, and for residents to not complain. And, if you do, they threaten you with legal action and termination of your lease, like they did with me. In addition, they charge you a lot of money to live there that basically pays for all the decorating “fluff” and hollow promises of what they will be doing for you. Both of these things are part of the hook to sell you on this facility. The COVID-19 virus was not the problem, it just exposed a myriad of systemic problems with this Corporation that one might not have noticed right away under normal circumstances, but they sure became apparent quickly when you tried to get even the simplest of things done here before and during the virus. This is not to say that local staff are totally unresponsive. They are polite about requests and employees are nice to the residents, but there is largely no resolution to any of your complaints and requests, which has continued since they opened. Since, Balfour-Ann Arbor is only 7 months old, I would highly suggest that you research the other Balfour facilities and access sites online that give accounts of other resident reviews of all the other Balfour properties (in Colorado) and their experiences with this Corporation and things that people were/are not happy with at those facilities BEFORE signing up to live in one of their facilities. I would also read online internet reviews of employee experiences at other Balfour facilities. There are only 2 reviews of the Ann Arbor property from employees - one positive and one negative - and no reviews by any residents (current or former) except mine. But, I personally know at least one other current resident that is leaving Balfour-Ann Arbor soon because of the problems there, and residents continue to complain about things there that never get addressed. For some reason unknown to me, they still don’t realize after six months of complaining that they never will. I lived and learned, and I hope I can save someone else from making the same mistake or at least be fully informed.

My mother in law lives here and every time she has had a serious medical issue that needs tending to, their response has been unacceptably slow and unprepared. We have had to come there ourselves and to bring her to medical facilities after waiting a day to have broken bones dealt with. Could not get staff to respond when she passed out going to lunch, gave up and called 911. I don't understand how they are a senior care facility if they don't care for their residents when they need it most.