Ruby Raunch’s Intimate Area

I’m sorry, it’s not like me to do this but I’m going to have a rant. If there’s one thing I really hate it’s companies demanding money from you and threatening legal action when you’ve disputed the bill because you don’t owe them a penny and been told the account is on hold whilst they investigate.

At the beginning of the year I finally got a foot on the property ladder and bought my first flat. When I put the deposit down I received a summary telling me how much the service charge would be and although it was a little on the high side I went along with it as the flat was perfect. Then they started to screw me around. When we exchanged contracts I got a bill for the service charge which was much higher than the original summary, hey ho I thought, it’s a new build so these things happen and went ahead and paid it on completion.

Then three months ago another bill lands on my doorstep from the management agency saying I haven’t paid the service charge in full! On closer inspection I see they only seem to have received a percentage of the money I’d paid so I call them up and politely ask where the rest of my money has gone. But what really annoyed me was the fact that going by their bill I’d actually paid the service charge and then some! It turns out that the money I paid on completion didn’t go directly to the management agency as they hadn’t been appointed at the time, instead it went to the builders. And this is where the problems start. After asking a lot of questions I find out the builders have been playing silly buggers and holding back money without telling the management agency, but they assured me it was all ok, they would look into my file, get the money back and all would be well.

Great I thought, I don’t need to do anything else. They’re aware that there have been problems between the two companies and they can see I’ve paid my money so I don’t need to do anything else. How wrong was I! I soon started to receive reminders telling me I still hadn’t paid so I phone them back up and explain the situation again. This time I’m told that yes, the builders have held back some of the money to cover the period between me moving in and the management agency being appointed, but that only accounts for some of the money that “went missing”. She then goes on to explain that according to my “file” they have received more money than they mention on my bill so even though I owe them some money I don’t owe as much as the bill says I do. So of course I ask them to send out a revised bill showing that I owe them all of a tenner.

Then yesterday I get a final notice for the original amount saying that if I don’t pay them in 10 days they’ll pass it on to their solicitors, add interest and an admin fee of £40! By this time I’m fuming and I call them up to complain only to have my call answered by some dragon who tells me the amount is correct and there’s nothing on my file to say I’ve paid as much as I have so pay up now or we’ll re-claim the flat, evict you and charge you for the privilege! Arrrrggggghhhh!

How the hell they expect anyone to come up with that sort of money at short notice I’ll never know, especially in the run up to the festive season. But more importantly, I want to know where the hell the large sum of money I have already paid has gone! Oh and then there’s the small issue of being charged for “Play Equipment Maintenance” for play equipment that doesn’t exist on an estate of one bedroom flats! Fuckwits!

Oh well, looks like it’s beans on toast for me and the cat for the rest of the year, christmas is cancelled and I’ll be sleeping in a scarf and gloves as there’s no way I can afford to turn the heating on now! lol I can’t wait to move out of London and back to the land of freehold property.

Ruby xxx