doolallysally

To answer the original question...I believe ALD LIFE to be a very deserving and trustworthy charity shop. To give some background information about them, they are a growing charity, set up in 2004 by an east dulwich mum after her 8 year old son was diagnosed with the most devastating disease that is Adrenoleukodystrophy, otherwise known as ALD. The charity gives emotional, financial and practical support to families all over the world affected by ALD and funds research projects in the hope of finding a cure. They now have charity shops in Peckham, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Penge and Greenwich and will come and collect larger items.

Hello Trinidad, I also live on Copleston road and have just had the pleasure (or not) of having major works completed at my address. It won't surprise you to hear that my own works didn't go too smoothly either and I can tell you we are not alone! Several of my neighbours have had various issues, mainly because of a complete lack of communication, professionalism and respect for the tenants and their homes! Operatives would often not turn up and not inform the tenants. When we called to ask why they would use the weather as an excuse. Even if it only showered for ten minutes in the morning, they would not work at all that day. When they did work they were painting over windows that were completely rotten and also painting windows shut! Since completion of the works that are meant to keep me "warm, dry and safe" my bedroom window now has gaps in which I can see daylight through so obviously the rain can get in too and my bathroom window which also lets in water has not been touched at all. When I pointed this out to the inspector who came to sign off the work with the liason officer they both argued that the bedroom window was damaged on the inside of the frame!? I told them it was not like that before they gouged out all of the dead wood to fill it but they argued that it was and stated there was nothing they could do as they were only contracted to do the outside of the property! They also admitted they had overlooked the bathroom windows on many other properties and would be back soon to address this. We are all still waiting. As part of this programme I was told I was getting a new kitchen. The planners came in and we sat down and agreed the layout together. Plans were drawn up in May which I have in my possession and I was told there were 2 kitchens to do before mine. I have heard nothing since. Another of our neighbour's got missed out of this project altogether and was told that Southwark did not realise they owned the property so did not include it on the contract! They have now decided that they will commence work on that property in October! This is a familiar story to me as back in 2000 or 2001 there was another major contract to replace the windows in the street. All my immediate neighbour's properties had new windows with double panes of glass installed. When I asked why they were missing out mine and my downstairs neighbour's property I was also told that Southwark did not realise they owned them so we would have to wait until the next major contract to have our windows replaced! So now, after waiting nearly 15 years for this major works contract to happen, all the time believing that my windows would eventually be brought up to the same standard as my neighbour's I am left with windows that are worse than they were before the works began which means my already sky high heating bills are going to increase! Thanks Southwark! When another of my neighbours who is housebound, complained that the scaffold had been up on her property for four months, she was told that it was my fault as I was refusing access!? Luckily I had kept all text correspondence regarding appointments and was able to prove that this was an outright lie! My poor neighbour was in complete darkness all through the summer as she lives downstairs. She could not even get out into her garden as the scaffold was making it unsafe for her to move around. Lots of her plants that she had been nurturing for years died as she could not water them and some were badly damaged by the operatives going about their work with a complete disregard for her belongings. I could go on for hours about this as there are so many issues and so many mistakes have been made by Southwark and Saltash that this entire initiative has been a joke! On many levels Southwark need to step up and be accountable as it's down to a complete lack of communication and management on their part. Saltash are only taking advantage of Southwark's incompetence. Most of us rent-paying tenants do work for a living and it is unacceptable to expect us to take time off work to wait for incompetent, rude foul-mouthed workmen who disrespect us and our homes and don't do the work properly. As for the complaints system....that's another story. Myself and several of my neighbours are so exhausted by it that we have given up with that too, even getting Harriet Harman involved did not get results! Maybe us tenants should get together and discuss a way forward on this? If anyone agrees please reply to this post so we can work out a plan. Thanks for reading. Rant over!!