Re/Max Destiny- Poor service leads to burglary, family being endangered

I rented a home via Re/Max Destiny, with the lease starting on 1 December 2017. The duration of the lease signed was 6months, to expire on 31 May 2018. The leasing agent was Ms. Rochelle Jacobs, with whom I have no problem. I was informed by Ms. Jacobs that, in the event of any complaints regarding maintenance on the property, I should address an email to Ms. Marinda ****croft. Since I moved in, there were a few repairs which needed to be done, which were attended to. In January 2018, the electric gate motor broke, which I reported to Ms. ****croft. We then communicated, and I was informed that the owner, would collect the motor for repairs, which was done.

Leading up to the Easter weekend, the roof started leaking. I sent an email, to which I received no response. After the Easter weekend which were accompanied with rains (30 March- 2 April 2018), the gate motor stopped working again, along with the electric fence. Once again, I sent an email, on Tuesday 3 April 2018, to which I received no response. The property was then burgled 2days later, on 5 April 2018, while my 11 month old daughter and her nanny were home. They were held at gunpoint. The perpetrators gained access via the broken gate, which I had reported and received no response about two days prior. I called Ms. Jacobs, who advised me to contact Mr Chris Blignaut, which I did. He then asked me to forward him the email which I had addressed to Ms. ****croft on 3 April 2018, which I did. Once again no response was received.

The following day (Friday 6 April 2018), I sent another email to Mr Blignaut and Ms. ****croft, in which I informed them of my intent to vacate the premises. I then went to Re/Max Destiny’s offices and spoke to Ms. ****croft, who informed me that she had been ill and only saw my initial email that day, and had contacted the owner that day (Friday 6 April 2018) and that he had in turn informed her that the gate had been fixed at the first instance when it broke, in January. If my email on 3 April 2018 had been responded to by someone from Re/Max , I would have indicated to Re/Max that the gate had broken once again, and that it required repair. I impressed upon Ms. ****croft my sympathies regarding her illness, and asked who was responsible for dealing with complaints such as the one I had lodged in her absence, and was told that it was Chris Blignaut.

When Mr Blignaut arrived, I enquired of him as to why my complaint had not been addressed, at the very least with a response to my initial email reporting the broken gate. He then told me that they were “Short of staff, and that he was supposed to knock off that particular Friday at 15:00, but was still at work”. I am a medical doctor, training in Surgery. If I used Mr Blignaut’s excuse not to operate on one of my patients I would be severely punished. As a result I work 30hours plus at a time in some instances, in order to provide adequate SERVICE to my clients (ie patients). At the time I felt that Mr Blignaut missed the point I was trying to impress upon him, which was that if my initial complaint had received the necessary attention, the owner would have had the gate fixed, or I would have gladly undertaken to do so, with the costs being deducted from my rent, as the owner and I have a good understanding and professional relationship.

When I re-iterated my point to Mr Blignaut, he responded by saying: “You are beleaguring a point, this is South Africa, these things happen. What is your expectation?” I find this response unacceptable and disgusting. The current state of affairs in our country is no excuse for the inactivity in dealing with my complaint by Re/Max. Nonetheless, I informed Mr Blignaut that I expected to vacate the premises. I find Mr Blignaut’s manner of dealing with my complaint, specifically his response, highly unprofessional and unacceptable. Ms ****croft then contacted the owner and a contractor to attempt to secure the premises, as the security gate and front door had been broken down by the burglars. The contractor was unable to do so. My family and I then vacated the premises over the next few days, and the owner, drove in from out of town on Saturday 7 April 2018 to assess the damage and check on our well-being. He also informed me that I need not worry about cleaning the property after vacating, and was completely understanding about the haste with which we vacated. I then received an email from Re/Max with an invoice for ‘cleaning’, ‘Re/Max Fee’ and ‘Montana Carpets’ on 13 April 2018. All these were to be deducted from my deposit. The impression which one gets in light of the events outlined above is an extremely poor one, i.e that Re/max will gladly take your money, yet are extremely poor at providing the services expected in return. I feel that this entire situation could have been completely avoided, had my initial complaint received the necessary attention from Re/Max Destiny. However, due to inactivity on behalf of Re/Max Destiny, these perpetrators saw a pregnant woman and a small built man manually opening and closing a 100kg plus gate three to four times a day, an easy target for the three of them, who are still at large according to my knowledge.

My family and I have suffered not only great loss of our personal effects, but also psychological and emotional trauma, great suffering, and were placed in immediate physical danger by the inactivity on the part of Re/Max Destiny. For this, I hold Re/Max Destiny responsible. Moreover, I find Mr Chris Blignaut extremely unprofessional in his conduct with regard to this situation.