Fellow Solitaire Property Management sufferers, you may or may not be aware of the recent comments that Mr Middleburgh of Peverel Group / Solitaire Property Management posted on TheTruthAboutSolitaire Website.

For those who have not read the comments I quote them below:-

Dear Sir

Having spent some time looking at this site and with the understanding that you are collating information on Solitiare I thought that this would be a good time to talk to you and perhaps meet. This would allow me to provide real detail about the serivce improvments that we are planning as well as how we can more construcutvely deal with complaints. It would also give me a chance to listen and more fully understand your complaints and understand your aims.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Kind Regards

Lee Middleburgh

Rather than send an e-mail directly to Mr Middleburgh, for it’s contents to be kept between ourselves, I would prefer to write a post on TheTruthAboutSolitaire, so that all responses (should they be forthcoming from Mr Middleburgh) are in the public eye so that everyone is aware of them.

Therefore….

Dear Mr Middleburgh

May I take this opportunity to thank you for visiting TheTruthAboutSolitaire website and for taking the time to acknowledge the points that many Solitaire Customers have raised and commented on – but more importantly - I thank you for having the decency to actually post a reply.

For your information I will not be drawn into specific complaints or raise issues that I personally have with Solitaire Property Management, however I aim to focus on the key areas that supporters to TheTruthAboutSolitaire have collectively raised.

1. The Official Solitaire Property Management Petition
   You may or may not be aware of the Official Solitaire Property Management Petition that we started in August 2008. The general concensus of the Solitaire Property Management customers that have signed it (at the time of writing this entry 217) – all share the same views that we pay extortionate rates to you for very little work. The common entry is along the lines of“ever increasing maintenance charges and when I have written and spoken to them on the telephone nothing is ever done”.Paperwork you send is very unclear and to be honest very stealth like – which is why residents ask questions, only for them to be ignored. The ever increasing maintenance costs is not just a recent thing, I have been in contact with residents who you have managed for over 20 years and they say the same thing – lots of money for little work.It is this reason why TheTruthAboutSolitaire was initially created, because I became exhausted in trying to contact Solitaire about issues I was having, yet you were still charging me a fortune for the privilege of living in the home that I actually own!
2. Solitaire Property Management and Other Guises
   Having personally investigated Companies House for relationships between directors, registered offices – it became apparent that Solitaire Property Management have a monoply over residents – which is why we listed the Company Names and Company Numbers of companies we believe are associated / linked to Solitaire Property Management.For example, Estates & Management which residents pay ground rent too.  As they hold the Leasehold to many properties, it should be within there power to dictate who manages and maintains properties. However, Estates & Management from what I understand are part of Solitaire Property Management – therefore, residents have no chance of requesting Estates & Management sack Solitaire and change to another Management company to reduce costs and actually have there properties and surrounding areas maintained by a company of there choice.
3. Lies and Deceit
   The worst part of the entire Solitaire Property Management issue is the lies and the deceit that we have to put up with. If when photographic evidence is supplied to Solitaire Property Management to backup our claims you still take the side of the contractor and disregard our complaints – isn’t the saying “The Customer Is Always Right?”. Then your accounts department send legal letters to us demanding monies that are owed, despite the fact that:a) we have raised complaints with you,
   b) why should we pay for a service we don’t receive,
   c) you don’t respond or listen to us.Your Welcome Brochure in it’s first paragraph quoted the following:-
   
   “Welcome to your new home in which we trust you will be very happy and where we aim to provide you with an efficient and cost effective management service.”
   

   Now this in itself is comical - efficient and cost effective management service?  Your prices are extortionate and the service is appauling. 

    

   “In the minds of many residents, the managing agent is the company that does nothing except send bills and collect money” 

   Once again, forgive me if I am wrong – but isn’t that exactly what Solitaire do?  Ask any of the Solitaire Residents on this website and they will agree that the above is a lie.

The above is the tip of the iceberg and as you rightly pointed out I am at present collating information such as costs, price increases, number of years as a Solitaire customer, as well as personal experiences from other Solitaire Property Management customers.

Obviously, if I were to divulge my intended use of this information, as you would probably expect, then I would be declaring my hand. 

I and the other visitors to TheTruthAboutSolitaire look forward to your response to the above, before I bring other points to your attention.

Yours sincerely

Admin @ TheTruthAboutSolitaire

To visitors to the website, I would appreciate it if this post can not be commented on as I would like Mr Middleburgh to have the opportunity to comment on the above. 

In addition to this, I would also appreciate that you do not direct your frustrations at Mr Middleburgh via this medium, after all he has had the decency to visit this site and comment. 

If you do have any frustrations that you would like brought to Mr Middleburgh’s attention, please send it to me via e-mail and I will then act upon this information.