Guinness Northern Counties Westfield Terrace - good or bad?

[diezeltruck 10]

I am no longer a tenant of this organisation, but am interested in finding out what other tenants feel about, in particular, the Westfield Terrace office in Sheffield.

 

I am particularly interested in tenants who have had problems with anti-social behaviour, and who do not feel that Guinness Northern Counties have taken their complaints seriously enough.

 

Note: Votes are not set to public, so will NOT display users who voted, and what choice they voted for.

Edited May 13, 2015 by diezeltruck

[Plain Talker 11]

The westfield terrace offices are dreadful.

 

The wheelchair ramp has a gate at the bottom that is usually chained shut with a padlock, so no-one with a wheelchair can get into the building.

 

I was a tenant of theirs, and they were rubbish, the site manager of my etstate of flats had a pass key which they used to go into the flats without the tenants' permission, and without giving the statutory 24 hour s minimum notice. (And not for any emergency repairs, they would let themselves in. The nurse who lived in the flat above mine was asleep in bed, on one occasion, after coming home from a night shift, when the manager let himself in. She was furious.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Plain Talker

[diezeltruck 10]

I have heard recently that you now need an appointment :nono:to even enter Westfield Terrace office - there must have been an upsurge in complaints or dissatisfied tenants.

 

In my experience, and I feel that there are, more than likely, many many more who feel the same, I really do not feel that the staff there have really much time and respect for their tenants.

 

Most of their policies and procedures are just not worth the paper they are written on.

 

They try to keep tenants ignorant of each others problems, so tenants feel that they are on their own, when in fact many are having the same difficulties with the same issues.

 

The staff go through the same ritual of opening cases and then closing them down as quickly as they can - possibly to do with timescales, rather than fully addressing the problems and making sure that the tenant is fully happy before closing a case.

 

They shouldn't even close a case anyway until they have contacted the tenant first - well, that is what it says in their policies and procedures, but they close the case first and and then write to you informing you of that fact.

 

They go through the same old motions of looking or appearing like they are investigating an issue such as anti-social behaviour, but know that it really is not fit for purpose, as most of the time, those complained about will deny or even make counter allegations against the complainant.

 

So the victim of anti-social behaviour ends up having to move out whilst the perpetrator stays put, and another unsuspecting tenant moves in and the problems start rolling all over again with the new tenant experiencing problems - like in my case.

 

So, what do we learn from all of this? We learn that all the good tenants are floating around via the likes of Homeswapper etc trying to get away from problem neighbours, whilst the problem neighbours stay put getting away with blue murder.

 

The problems are never solved and we just go round and round in circles.

 

Nuisance neighbour's will always be that, whilst the landlord allows them to be and is lame to act.

 

On a footnote: via a Freedom of Information request I made, it was found that recently the Environmental Protection Service had in their ownership four decibel meters, of which only one actually works - to serve the whole of Sheffield - utter disgracefull!!!

Edited May 14, 2015 by diezeltruck

[angrymumtwo 10]

Their name is no longer GNC, they've dropped the Northern Counties part.

 

Running the risk of sticking my head over the parapet and being shot off, I disagree. If you were a resident of Guinness you might know that the Westfield Terrace office was decommissioned so to speak, and all operations ran from the main office, which is not in Sheffield. If you want to see your housing officer, you can ring the main number and he/she will make an appointment to see you at the Westfield Terrace office.

 

As for the office being unsuitable for disabled access, I'll defer to Plain Talker. She knows what she's talking about and I trust what she says.

 

When we did have a problem with anti social behaviour it was sorted out reasonably quickly. When there have been problems all the tenants and owners on this site have had letters sent to them and we have been asked to comment ringing the main office number.

 

Also I wanted to say that they have always been very helpful and supportive of my family and were very patient helping me with my housing benefit claim. I would like to thank Guinness for giving my family a chance when we had been on the housing register bidding away week in week out for over 14 years.

[Plain Talker 11]

Their name is no longer GNC, they've dropped the Northern Counties part.

 

Running the risk of sticking my head over the parapet and being shot off, I disagree. If you were a resident of Guinness you might know that the Westfield Terrace office was decommissioned so to speak, and all operations ran from the main office, which is not in Sheffield. If you want to see your housing officer, you can ring the main number and he/she will make an appointment to see you at the Westfield Terrace office.

 

As for the office being unsuitable for disabled access, I'll defer to Plain Talker. She knows what she's talking about and I trust what she says.

 

When we did have a problem with anti social behaviour it was sorted out reasonably quickly. When there have been problems all the tenants and owners on this site have had letters sent to them and we have been asked to comment ringing the main office number.

 

Also I wanted to say that they have always been very helpful and supportive of my family and were very patient helping me with my housing benefit claim. I would like to thank Guinness for giving my family a chance when we had been on the housing register bidding away week in week out for over 14 years.

 

It's not that the office has no access, Angrymum, it's that it actually HAS an access ramp, but you cannot use it, because the gate at the bottom where it meets the street is chained shut. It's pathetic.

 

They were dreadful as landlords, back when I was a tenant, but it sounds from other members' comments in this thread that they are a thousand times worse, now!

[Ms Macbeth 76]

Is there a tenants' and residents' association? A Housing Association such as Guinness should support tenants who want to get involved in their community. If there are similar issues affecting a number of tenants then it might be worth getting together to put forward a case collectively to the management.

[angrymumtwo 10]

I didn't realise about the ramp. That is pretty rubbish.

 

The tenants group or lack of one is a whole other issue. In a bid to centralise services, changes were made to the way that local issues and problems were reported. That happened just before we moved in. I can see how the changes have been for the worse.

[diezeltruck 10]

Is there a tenants' and residents' association? A Housing Association such as Guinness should support tenants who want to get involved in their community. If there are similar issues affecting a number of tenants then it might be worth getting together to put forward a case collectively to the management.

 

Not sure, Ms Macbeth, but if there was then they didn't shout about it.

 

It's like banging your head against a brick wall with this particular office and its staff. Some of the staff I came across were disgraceful.

They really did not care a jot about who was being affected by anti-social behaviour.

In my case, I had a sound test performed at my property by them, in 2012, and then after I had moved out, in 2014, all due to the landlord and Environmental Protection simply failing to do anything about the nuisance, the new tenant ALSO had a sound test. This was because the same nuisance neighbour was continuing their anti-social behaviour now on them!

She told me that she had asked Guinness if they had done a sound test previously at the property and they said not as far as they knew.

One of the staff performing the sound test had even been present at the test when I was living at the property 2 years previous.

They go through the same old motions of looking like they are trying to resolve an issue, but in reality their anti-social behaviour policy is simply not worth the paper it is written on.

Environmental Protection are no better and I have a case going through the Local Government Ombudsman regarding them and also the Housing Ombudsman regarding Guinness.

If anyone is having genuine problems with nuisance neighbours and feel that Guinness are not listening, then feel free to pm me, but do not give up complaining to them. You can also approach the Environmental Protection Service, but do make sure that if they perform any sound test of their own, that they utilise a sound measuring equipment, such as a decibel meter, to take noise measurement recordings.

Although there are no decibel noise limits set in law, they should collect data for analysis in accordance with government guidance and the law and they should also take into account guidance from the World Health Organisation about how noise levels affect people. So the use of equipment is very important and they should not be just relying on a subjectivly performed test such as just using the ear.

Edited July 23, 2015 by diezeltruck