Comments on: Whats going on with Solitaire’s accounting systems?

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:11:56 +0000

a n onymous – good point(s). The same applies to the bills I’ve received from Solitaire – no ARMA logo (although it is still on the bottom of the accompanying letter explaining the software system cock-up…..), no “payment due” date, no “interest may be charged on late payment” statement, as on previous bills.

And yes, it does state “APPLICATION FOR PAYMENT” at the top – they are applying to me, for payment. Sorry Mr. Solitaire, your application has not been sucessful this time….. Maybe when you show that you are actually worth paying (i.e. you actually do something, like manage & maintain the development I live in), then a further “Application for payment” might be more sucessful (although there is no guarantee…..).

By: a n onymous

a n onymous — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:36:52 +0000

I have just recieved my bill and letter of explanation from Solitaire for more money. The letter is signed ‘Solitaire’ which gives me the impression that no individual is prepared to properly sign it and take responsibility for its content.

I have also noticed that the bill itself is called an ‘Application for Payment’ rather than ‘Invoice’ on their regular bills. Other things that appear on their regular bills seem to be missing from this ‘Application for Payment’ they are;

The ARMA logo is missing.
The ‘payment due’ date is missing.
The ‘interest may be charged on late payment’ bit is missing.

In addition, Solitaire cannot even prove that I am in receipt of the bill as it has not come via registered on recorded post. So I am in no hurry to pay this bill – if I pay it at all.

I think it would be a good idea for as many of us as possible to hold back this payment until a proper justification in put forward by Solitaire. I would suggest that those paying by direct debit cancel it.

Maybe we could take up Andy’s suggestion. Ask our respective Solitaire manager to visit us, ask him/her to explain what’s going on, and if we are satisfied hand over the payment (in 1p coins).

By: Effie

Effie — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:56:19 +0000

When I asked our property manager a couple of years ago how they arrived at their annual management fees he said it was all to do with the number of units in a development; for argument sake 1-15 units they could charge so much a year per dwelling, 16 – 40 it was then another band and so on and so forth. These were guidelines drawn up by I presume their governing body – ARMA(?). We were a group of 13 flats and the annual management fee (incl. VAT) from 1st January to 31st December 2009 was £3,406.00.

By: brian

brian — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:21:20 +0000

Could we start an online group who all subscribe to not pay, collectively, until we get issues resolved. Such a group could then be used in representations in defence of any invoice disputes or legal cases.

Also maybe we could have a register of property name, type e.g. number of beds etc and the amount being invoiced and then we could all look at the charges to see if there are any variances in them and the reasons why.

I am going to post this under other sections as well so that it isn’t missed.

I for one am happy to disclose what i am paying if it helps others and indeed me and perhaps we could have a league table of charges across different geographical areas.

[ADMIN EDIT]
Brian, I like your thinking. I’ll see what I can do in regards to setting something up for people to add their figures. We need something similar to the Official Petition, hopefully I’ll be able to produce this. Apologises if I can’t, unless there is a web programmer out there that is a Solitaire sufferer that could do this?

By: NeverEndingStory

NeverEndingStory — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:14:53 +0000

Well I wish you luck with ARMA and hope you end up feeling more satisfied than I did.
I have made the point elsewhere that we have to bear in mind who pays the subscriptions which keep these sort of bodies going.
Unless we organise our own body to represent us it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Peverels/Solitaire will never have the assistance and pressure to face the degree of change they need to undergo.