Geno

Oct 1, 2024

Avoid at all costs (literally).

UPDATE: 8 months later and I am still awaiting a response from Benn about this issue, let alone received a refund of the £250 overpaid by the leaseholders. This is despite me reminding him on 7 November, 13 January and 10 April. ––––– I find these glowing five star reviews extraordinary and unbelievable to read – it feels like they are written about a different company. Sebright and Benn Thompson in particular have at best shown disregard, and at worst contempt, for the leaseholders of our block of flats in Lewisham ever since they were foisted on us by the freeholder. They are slow to respond to maintenance issues and communication is woeful to non-existent. I'll cite just one of many issues as an example: Back in March this year, we had a broken porch door handle and closer which was reported to Sebright by a leaseholder in that stairwell. As chairman of the leaseholders' and residents' association, I followed up within hours with photographs of the broken items and links to the exact model of door closer (required because it was close to a data cable for the intercom and so needed to be a like-for-like replacement) and copied in our usual locksmith who we had built up a relationship with over the last ten years, predating Sebright's tenure. Instead of using the preferred contractor, Sebright decided to use one of their own, based miles away in North West London. This contractor sub-contracted out the installation and a tradesman arrived to fit just the handle at a cost of £290 – £220 of which was labour! Blimey, I'm in the wrong game. The subcontractor then returned with the wrong closer, obviously ignoring the information provided at the outset. Finally the correct replacement closer was installed at a cost of over £200. A total expense to the leaseholders of £594 inc VAT for a very simple job where the parts should be no more than £100. But it doesn't end there. The subcontractor damaged the data cable when installing the closer, even though he was aware of its existence. This caused the intercom to fail and we were unable to lock the porch door for several days before our preferred contractor could visit to rectify the issue, which of course we have been charged for. To verify the original cost we asked for a comparable estimate and were quoted £289.96 + VAT, £250 less than we were charged (even before factoring in the intercom repair). Sebright, showing a complete lack of understanding of the situation and infrastructure of the building (they have only visited twice in five years) just paid the bill without query or authorisation from the leaseholders. The cost of the repair only came to my attention in June when I was reviewing some financial reports and I queried it immediately of course and asked Benn Thompson for a response on 28 June. On 10 July, I chased him up. And again on 26 July. On 30 July I finally got a reply stating 'I have been struggling with this one... I have agreed for them to provide a refund of £40 for the labour on the overhead closer but I am hoping to get a response about a larger refund. They are not however accepting any liability. I shall be back to you soon.' 'Back soon' is Benn's euphemism for 'sometime never'. Responding the same day I requested a full explanation, following up on 2 August asking for a £250 refund. On 7 August, with no humility or empathy, Benn merely stated 'We waited for weeks for your contractor to do this work. This is why we went to an alternative contractor.' This necessitated me trawling through hundreds of emails to prove that in fact Sebright instructed their own out-of-area company who, let's not forget subcontracted out the work, a mere 30 minutes after I emailed with the details of repairs. Clearly ruffled by the weight of evidence Benn replied 'I have just returned from holiday but I shall spend some time on this when I have caught up.' Apparently, he has been 'spending some time' on it because almost two months later we are still awaiting a response despite me chasing on 20 and 27 August advising him that I would write this Trustpilot review if we didn't receive a satisfactory response. This is not an isolated case; almost all dealings with Sebright, aside from with Mani in accounts and latterly Yvonne, result in us spending hours, if not days and weeks chasing up Benn and his team or actually doing his job for him. Be sceptical of the five star reviews and avoid at all costs.