Wednesday 21 August 2013

A Specialist Plumber Inspects



Update 21 August 2013

1) As per your request, I have forwarded the pictures below to our Customer Services advisor, Shereen Shaw

[reply: Thank you very much for passing on the photographs. Hopefully this will help send the right sort professional person to investigate flat six.]

2) Please note that Stuart Thompson has left the TMO and the new Repairs Manager’s is Briony Edlington; our Customer Services team are currently progressing the leak issues and will update you accordingly, I have been informed by Ms Shaw that a specialist plumber is due to attend this week

[reply: thank you very much for informing me that Stuart Thompson had left the TMO and has been replaced as stated. I found out that Stuart Thompson had left a couple of days ago when I sent him an email and it said that he had left.]

3) Issues regarding your neighbour’s flat No 6 -thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Our records show that we do not have any authorisation from flat 6 stating that you can advocate on their behalf that is why we will progress these issues further with the resident of flat 6 directly.

[reply: Thank you for clearing up any misunderstandings about my neighbour. I certainly am not an advocate for other people and their problems. However, the problems that my neighbour has are a direct result of repairs or disrepairs carried out in my flat. Any suggestion that I'm an advocate for anyone else, would be predicated by some permissions stated by that person.]

 

Update from specialist plumber:

 

No doubt you will get your own update from the specialist plumber who attended twentieth of August 2013 at midday. This is what he said to me I hope it is accurate and informs you about next steps.

 

1.the specialist plumber checked how previous repairs were carried out in the kitchen. His understanding of how to do repairs is based on doing the job properly and not just patching up and hoping that the problem will go away. The pipes and how they have been repaired over the last few years is sub standard.

 

2.the specialist plumber checked the toilet and is quite confident it does not leak. He then investigated behind the toilet panels where the mice live, and found that the wall between the bathroom and the toilet is wet and damp at the base.

 

3.the specialist plumber inspected various parts of the shower room. There are obvious faults in the installation of the wet room floor and the necessity of using a pump to drain the water away. He said clearly that walk-in showers are better served with a drain system which works on gravity and not with a pump. The specialist plumber said that the installation of the wet room generally was sub standard and likely to leak and cause continuous problems in the future. I suppose we could say that he "the specialist plumber" is right, because the wet room has been a continuous problem over the years I have been a tenant, and this has caused weeks of inconvenience to me.

 

4.all the specialist plumber can do is tell me the truth as it is. He has no axe to grind and nothing to be defensive about.

 

5.the specialist plumber suggested I now restart using the washing machine, the kitchen sink, the toilet and the shower room as I would do normally to find out if there is continuous water leak problems down below in flat six.

 

6.I will have to liaise with my neighbour and let her know that the plumber has made it clear that I need to use my facilities as normal. And if there is a problem, my neighbour will no doubt let you know. As a reminder to you, I do not advocate on behalf of flat six, the tenant in flat six, Julia Taylor, is quite capable and able to report problems if they occur in the future.

 

Summary:

 

With the change in management and the advice and understanding that the specialist plumber will pass on to you, maybe there can be a solution offered. So I now know from the specialist that the plumbing in my flat is substandard and installations were also substandard with regard to the wet room. Of course, I have known this and reported this to the TMO repairs Department over the last few years. And the obstructive behaviour of the TMO's staff, and assertions about how plumbing works, and how to deal with mice who live at the back of my cupboards is now clear to both you and the TMO repairs Department.

 

This is a real life situation which requires proper consideration and professionals who can do the job. If a surveyor is going to come and look and make some decisions about the current conditions of my substandard and badly fitted plumbing, I want to know that the surveyor who is coming to see the property is properly qualified and has the right credentials. In particular, I do not want Mr Daly to have anything to do with assessing the current situation, and I do not want to be involved in the decision making process, other than to know the best way forward at this stage. And it is obvious to me, that matters can be put right if you have the right professional people doing a professional job so that the plumbing will work without further problems.

 

And if you are to send any more people to do work on this flat, which is owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and you manage the repairs and all other services, I need to know that the people are qualified. If you want to send people here, I want their identification to be correct and I want them to be named in the repairs service department data base so you can be confident and I can be confident of their ability to do the job.

 

It is obvious there are old customs and practices going on, and the suggestion with the changing TMO repairs services now going in the house does not fill me with confidence at this time.

 

Don't forget I am the one at the receiving end of all the nonsense that goes on. The TMO repairs Department no doubt is responsible not only to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, it is responsible for putting things right when things are wrong for the clients or tenants or whatever you call us.

 

With regard to the specialist plumber. I would suggest that you don't shoot the messenger, and make it possible for you to hear what he has to say. Obviously this whole situation is a direct criticism of the TMO repairs Department and how they conduct themselves as individuals and representatives of the TMO. It is likely that people in the TMO will be defensive and obstructive because they have been allowed to get away with it for many years. And now is the time for the TMO repairs Department to listen carefully and to change their attitudes and behaviour, to change their working practices and to get the job done right first time. And because the TMO repairs Department is going to run an in-house service I hope that the necessary changes to get jobs done properly happens sooner rather than later.

 

 

From: (T) Complaints

Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 4:23 PM

To: 'Don Oddy'

Subject: RE: photos of Flat 6 Curran House For Ms Shaw

 

Dear Mr Oddy,

 

Thank you for your email of last Friday 16th August and for the two further emails received today.

 

1)    As per your request, I have forwarded the pictures below to our Customer Services advisor, Shereen Shaw

 

2)    Please note that Stuart Thompson has left the TMO and the new Repairs Manager’s is Briony Edlington;  our Customer Services team are currently progressing the leak issues and will update  you accordingly, I have been informed by Ms Shaw that a specialist plumber is due to attend this week

 

3)    Issues regarding your neighbour’s flat No 6 –thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Our records show that we do not have any authorisation from flat 6 stating that you can advocate on their behalf that is why we will progress these issues further with the resident of flat 6 directly.

 

 Yours Sincerely

 

Ewa Sobczak

Complaints Officer

Monday 19 August 2013

Water Damage Flat 6 Curran House

quote from TMO Repairs Dept Manager "A couple of actions that we agreed have been referred, in that the Area Surveyor will visit the flat below you to ensure that no water penetration is being experienced, which I do not believe to be the case, and I have also forwarded your details to the team who are involved with the Repairs Direct Engagement Panel, so you should expect some contact in the future in regards to your offer to contribute to the current project." Why would I want to be involved when repairs are like this?


Previous Video Sent about my concerns about repairs

Email To TMO Duty Surveyor

for advice and information on what I need do next

From: donoddy@hotmail.com

Sent: Friday, August 16, 2013 12:37 PM

To: Stuart Thompson

Cc: Ewa Sobczak Sobczak ; Tim Coleridge ; leader@rbkc.gov.uk

Subject: Re: Update - 12 Curran House

Dear Stuart,

Thank you for your email and the updates, which put me in a place of hopeful anticipation of good things to come. I am concerned however, the return of rodents and the return of plumbing issues have manifested in recent weeks. Following a blockage in the pipework a couple of weeks ago, I had to pull out the refrigerator and washing machine to clear up and was confronted by two mice running into the back of the cupboard's due to flooding caused by a blocked pipe. I reported the matter to the TMO and a few days later two plumbers spent several hours unblocking the waste pipe which runs from the kitchen sink and round the back to the main stack.

This morning, a call from the TMO asking me to wait in for a plumber because my neighbour number six below me reported flooding in her flat. I am waiting currently and writing to you at the same time about what is going on. I went down to see my neighbour earlier and her flat has suffered significant water damage which she informs me has been reported over the last few months. I had a look at the conditions in flat number six, the bathroom, the kitchen and toilet is dangerous at the very least for a disabled or able bodied person. There is damp, water dripping off the ceilings and significant mould in the kitchen. I have also been outside and looked at the brickwork between my flat and my downstairs neighbour, andthe wall is very obviously damp, not from rain, the brickwork looks like it is saturated with water. I can also see damp above me on the same wall.

I really don't know what to say next, and I don't know what needs to be done. I will document and photograph my downstairs neighbour's bathroom, toilet and kitchen and forward the photographs on if you would like me to. I am sure given our conversation and the positive responses that this must be an issue of some importance to you considering that these repairs over the last few months have been substandard, or one repair has led on to further damage and destructive interventions by people tasked with putting matters right.

I could do with some guidance with regard to next steps as a matter of urgency. The conditions in the flat below me, currently occupied by a disabled person, no one ought to be left living in those conditions, that is my opinion. Can you please advise what to do next,

Yours sincerely,

Donald Oddy

From: Stuart Thompson

Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 10:49 AM

To: mailto:donoddy@outlook.com

Subject: Update - 12 Curran House

Dear Mr Oddy

May I thank you for your time on the 8th July 2013; I hope you were left in a positive frame of mind in regards to the work which is on going to set up the internal repairs service for the TMO. I found it useful to discuss the larger picture and review parts of the project which I am involved with. Whilst we expect some disruption in September 2013; I strongly believe there will be a long term improvement in one of our most important services that we deliver to our residents.

A couple of actions that we agreed have been referred, in that the Area Surveyor will visit the flat below you to ensure that no water penetration is being experienced, which I do not believe to be the case, and I have also forwarded your details to the team who are involved with the Repairs Direct Engagement Panel, so you should expect some contact in the future in regards to your offer to contribute to the current project.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to make your complaint, now that this case has been concluded I would hope that some lost confidence has started to return. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the future should you have any repair related queries.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Thompson

TMO Repairs Manager