Poor Facility Management Services

I am writing this mainly because I am not happy with the service I got since I moved in here at The Blyde for Facility management fees. When I started staying here I received a welcome pack and part of that pack was explained directly by Balwin and all that went well. However another part of that pack was explained and managed by Whitfield -Facility Management company responsible at that time. All was explained, however another portion which was important was the management Fees (such as levies and all). They had asked us as a family to complete the debit order form, so that moving forward they would deduct all those fees, once the property is registered under our name.

Long story short, I realised when I was checking my accounts that 3 months later, I haven't been debited any Levies, and only then I went to ask Wesley to guide me towards the right direction, because I was starting to be concerned that we as a family we leaving in a very tight budget and I wouldn't want to find ourselves having a debt which we never planned of, but it is rather caused by poor management and lack of attention to detail on the part of Facility management company.

At this time Wesley pointed to the new contracted Facility management company called Lansdowne. I went to their office, and I was advised to speak with a lady called Cathy in accounts as she will be able to assist. I contacted Cathy on the phone and she then advised that this matter of my unit is something that they are still trying to investigate (seeing that they are new), which is fair enough, however as soon as it is sorted she will come back to me. Now I also sent an e-mail when I realised that she is not coming to me. Recently, literally a week back or so, I then contacted Lansdowne to find out what exactly is going on, cause that Cathy I spoke with around March/April never came back to me. Only then, they start to investigate again and I have correspondence, which still shows that they were clueless of my account. Up until now, no one wants to take responsibility for that. I then explain to them that now this is like 6 months down the line, and around +/- 3 months they have been contracted and they are saying they are still not aware? What if I was also not aware, does that mean this was just going to continue like this till when? In fact, what is their role honestly if they can't pick up something so basic. I even told them, it's possible that there are other owners whom you are not aware of because of this negligence and lack of attention to detail.

Now all of the above communication is really none of my business much, except when that incompetence starts to affect my budgeting which at this stage it has. Cause no one in both of these Facility management companies mentioned above is willing to take any responsibility, because honestly for them no consequences at all. All the pain of this will just be dumped to the poor owner who is me and find myself with such a debt all of a sudden. It is important to note that I am not by any chance trying to run away from paying my debt, in fact I approached Wesley and Lansdowne precisely for that reason of wanting to pay my monthly debts. My main challenge is that I don't see any of these two companies willing to also take responsibility and be willing to also meet me half-way by giving me some discount on this sudden debt which will definitely be affecting my budget, especially if I had given them authority to go ahead and debit me, and they chose not too. I would like to understand how Balwin can be involved in this matter in trying to assist, because I feel it is unfair what is being done to the owners here who are in my situation. When we just moved in, we not fami**** of who is assigned to be a facility management we get given those in a welcome pack by Balwin, however the incompetence of these Facility management companies does affect the Balwin brand too especially in the beginning, cause at that stage we not involved in deciding who should be able to manage our properties or not. The Lack of taking any responsibility for these two companies worries me, because that should be reflecting some consequences but nope, none. All that is my problem now, they just said they can allow me to pay that in 3 months or so. I am not even sure how that is taking any responsibility, Because if I didn't initiate all this they wouldn't have still noticed I owe them.

I do hope to hear from Balwin soon, so from here I could plan my way of paying my debt. Once again a discounted amount would have been much appreciated, that is considering the months that mistakes were caused by both Facility Management companies. Mistakes do happen, but then you come to the party and take some responsibility, and show a way of trying to help the very same consumer you inconvenienced in your mistake. I went further to contact Balwin Properties as well, seeing that they are the ones who decided which Facility Management company to be within the Blyde and unfortunately they also said there is nothing they can do about that, in fact the Gentleman by the name Jaco who is the Manager insisted that it is my responsibility to pay me Levies as if I was running away from that. The services of the current Facility Management (Landsdowne) was rather very disappointing for me, and Balwin their lack of showing interest to look at their clients needs or queries was rather disappointing too

Kind Regards,