Dear Hackney Council, Hackney Homes,Suffolk Estate TMO,
I am writing this open letter with regards to organisations that are supposed to be regulated by the council.
I have had problems with an organisation named Suffolk Estate TMO that is supposed to be regulated by Hackney Council and Hackney Homes and they have both failed to investigate into my complaints so far.
I am a web designer and it all started when I was contacted/phoned by Suffolk Estate TMO to design a website for them.
I met them in person and they told me they had some ongoing problems with their previous web design company they hadn't done a very good job and how they wanted me to setup a new website for them, the manager of Suffolk Estate TMO signed the contract, I designed the website for them everything was going smoothly until it came down to the point where they were supposed to be sending me the content for the website.
Content was turning up very late 2-3 weeks to a month late when they had agreed deadlines so I advised them of late fees according to a clause in the contract.
I just want to make it clear that everyone is using personal e mail address for all this company related stuff.
I am then all of a sudden contacted by someone claiming to be the vice chair of Suffolk Estate TMO from a personal e mail address I have never met or heard of this person before and this persons name isn't even on the contract or anything. I am told by this vice chair we will not be liable for late fees, I am not aware of any deadlines.
I provided the vice chair with an e mail where the other staff agreed a deadline with me and a copy of the contract.
I then decided I should login to the website and check I have done all the work in the last e mail.
My access to the website had already been blocked. They had simply locked me out of a website that hasn't been fully paid for.
They also sent me an e mail claiming I had ignored their e mails in an attempt to try and cover the dodgy things up. I was the one contacting them about deadlines why would I ignore them?
The vice chair said we want to end the contract and will not be paying. I then sent the vice chair the invoice for the work done and said you may end the contract once the invoice has been paid. You may not use any of my work until it has been paid for.
They again refused to pay for work done under a contract. I said I would take them to court.
When I questioned them about them blocking my access in an attempt to keep something that hasn't been paid for I was then threatened by the vice chair asking me not to contact any of them otherwise I would face legal action against me even though they were the ones at fault and owed me money for work done and were in breach of contract.
They could have simply paid for work they had done and ended the contract there and then but they refused to do so and decided to do dodgy things instead.
The were not using the website at this point.
I thought it was good enough if they just had some principals and understand they haven't paid for something and just shouldn't use it.
I simply didn't bother contacting them again because I had already sent them the invoice and was threatened not to contact them.
5 months went by and I am doing work for other people until someone else I know tells me Suffolk TMO phoned us for your no and they had been phoning a few other people just to get my no.
I'm pretty sure I gave them my no in the first meeting and they were the ones that phoned me remember. I'm pretty sure they also had e mails with my phone number in them.
I received a missed call from them. I assumed they had realised their mistake and wanted to put things right in case I sue them for the debt. I was already expecting them to phone me after this other person told me about them.
I called Suffolk Estate TMO back and they said a manager isn't in we will have to call you back. I then got a call from the manager later that day. He didn't introduce who he was. He just said I am calling from Suffolk Estate TMO you setup a router for us. I said I have never setup a router for you I designed a website for you and you still owe me money for that. He didn't say another word and just hung up on me.
I just ignored everything thinking how silly they were for not even knowing who they are phoning and why they are phoning them. How can they have such incompetent people as managers.
A few days later I just checked whats going on with their website. It turns out they are using the website I designed for them.
I then thought about everything in more detail and decided to contact Hackney Council about my findings so far.
My findings were:
1. I wasn't the only web designer they had done this with.
2. They were now doing copyright infringement which is fraud, stealing and using something without its creators permission.
3. No Data Protection was in place they were all using personal e mail addresses and by personal I mean their own Gmail accounts etc. How can a Tenant Management Organisation be using personal e mail accounts? This means they could be replying to correspondence and complaints of tenants and vulnerable people and these peoples details are going into someones personal inboxes and are there even after they leave Suffolk Estate TMO.
Meaning Suffolk Estate TMO is clearly failing to enforce any kind of data protection.
These personal e mail accounts are also not monitored by a manager as company e mail addresses normally would be. This allows staff to do fraud without anyone else knowing or send out threats.
I was sent threats by a vice chair and this is clearly proof of what can happen in this case and because these threats were sent from personal e mail accounts I doubt Suffolk Estate TMO has any proper way of looking into this and will probably deny all responsibility.
4. The manager phoned me without mentioning who he is, what his name is and just says stuff like you setup a router for us didn't you. He is already giving out internal details of why they are trying to contact someone without checking he is even speaking to the correct person. I wonder if this is how managers at Suffolk Estate TMO call everyone. Again this proves no data protection is in place.
5. The manager and vice chair are clearly aware of what is going on how they have robbed me and this proves the corruption in Suffolk Estate TMO is going right to the top. They don't have any complaints procedure or any policies or procedures in place otherwise this would have been looked into and investigated internally by now.
I have contacted Hackney Council about this and they simply passed the issue on to Hackney Homes for it to be investigated into.
Hackney Homes took over 15 days to respond with a report I sent them 2-3 e mails.
The report had my name written incorrectly as Mr Nasser Fariq as far as I am concerned they have addressed this report to someone else as My name isn't Mr Fariq. The name was written incorrectly all over the report not just 1 place. How can I be sure a reports findings are correct if you cant even get my name correct.
The report didn't find anything wrong with Suffolk Estate TMO and claimed they have a complaints procedure in place. The report apologised on behalf of Suffolk Estate TMO that last month they did accidentally call the wrong person over a router repair.
Why is Hackney Homes apologising for these people instead of investigating them properly?
This report also claims it is perfectly normal for them to be using personal e mail addresses and doesn't look into the data protection issues I raised.
The report also says things like they are a private organisation and we cant do anything yet they claim to be regulated by you and you claim to regulate them.
I then asked for my complaint to be escalated further I was contacted by someone claiming they would phone me and I am still waiting to hear from Hackney Homes or Hackney Council it has been a week and I haven't heard back from them and I have even tried calling this person with no response back.
I am still waiting for a full explanation of how organisations claiming to be regulated by the council can get away with the following:
1. Having no policies or procedures in place.
2. Having no data protection in place using personal e mail addresses for sensitive information.
3. How someone is allowed to be a vice chair of an organisation sending out threats after knowing they are in the wrong and doing fraud.
4. How an organisation under the council seems to get away with copyright infringement and isn't questioned over it and just swaps websites when they are accused of copyright infringement.
5. Who is this person aware of all the wrong things they are doing and is still calling the shots that we should hire this person, not pay him, use his stuff, take it down and cover it up because we might get sued for copyright infringement.
I thought they are supposed to be an organisation dealing with tenants and vulnerable people yet they are doing dodgy things them self.
The corruption must go right to the top if the vice chair and managers know about all this and its been going on for over 7 months and still nobody is asking any questions.
6. I am not the only web designer they have done this with they have 2 websites suffolktmo.org and suffolktmo.co.uk. 1 of them is the old website designed by this other company that's why they registered a new domain when they came to me because of their problems with the other company.
7. I am pretty sure they don't have a complaints procedure in place otherwise I should have already been through it by now and there would have been an internal investigation into whats going on.
8. I am pretty sure there's no policies or procedures in place otherwise this issue would have been looked into by now. It seems like everyone is just doing what they want. Otherwise the manager would have called me back by now attempting to discuss this issue, The manager would have let me make an official complaint about the people in question, the manager would have replied to my copyright infringement notice with an explanation, the manager would have replied to my letter before court action in an attempt to resolve this matter and would have apologised for all the wrong things they have done so far.
I feel that Hackney Homes didn't investigate this issue properly and has just contacted the manager at Suffolk Estate TMO and asked them otherwise they wouldn't simply be covering up the the fact they don't have any data protection or policies and procedures or a complaints process in place and wouldn't simply be apologising on behalf of them.
I would appreciate if Hackney Council can get back to me with a full explanation of how Hackney Homes just seems to be covering things up, apologises on behalf of organisations its supposed to investigate, cant seem to even get my name correct on its official report.
I would also like an explanation of how organisations under Hackney Council and Hackney Homes can exist and can claim to be regulated by the council without demonstrating they have any policies and procedures in place and strictly follow data protection and how Hackney Homes seems to allow them to use personal e mails. I am also more than happy to provide the council with proof of this.
I would also like an explanation of how Suffolk Estate TMO can simply avoid all correspondence,complaints and all attempts to discuss this matter and can simply hang up on me. I would like an explanation of what kind of organisation this is? where managers simply hang up on you, don't call you back, don't care to investigate things or accept complaints.
I would also like an explanation of how Hackney Homes just says oh Suffolk Estate TMO they are a private organisation yet Hackney Homes accept complaints for them and Suffolk Estate TMO provide you Hackney Homes details on their website to make independent complaints.
I would also like the manager of Suffolk Estate TMO to contact me with an apology and an explanation why it has taken so long for them to contact me and how they are going to put things right.
I have already sent them a letter before court claim and will be suing them at the end of the 30 days for the debt if they don't attempt to contact me by then.
I will not take this letter down in fear of threats as I have already been threatened and suppressed and my complaints have been brushed to one side.
I hope someone will look into my complaint seriously and see what is going on in these organisations and take the appropriate action.
I will then happily remove this letter my self.
You may contact me directly at:
[email protected]
Kind Regards
Nasser Shafiq
