So, I decided to take a very rare day off. The weather was good and I wanted to sit and relax somewhere nice and quiet and soak up the sun.
I decided to give Frinton-on Sea a go. I duly travelled up their found a bench on top of the cliff overloking the sea and opened my sandwiches. Peace at last!
For some reason I turned around and lo! and behold not only did I notice that dreaded Retirement Homesearch sign on a block of flats but I spied not one, not two but three Firstport worthies walking past me including Peter Moore area Manager Firstport!
Needless to say a "lively conversation" soon ensued.
According to Mr Moore I was getting all my information from the "spanglefish" blog. It was all rubbish what was on the site, he had not looked at it for 18 months and no one at Firstport had ever read it. Nor he added were "any of the posters connected with Firstport".
The Firstport media department had made a decision not to respond to the accusations made in the blog, nor would the legal department take any action either.
during our conversation Mr Moore conceeded that some things posted on the site were correct. In fact the more issues I raised the more he conceeded that About Peverel was correct.
One issue he vehemently denied and rejected the claims made by About Peverel was concerning commissions for sales of residential house managers flats.
He was absolutely clear. It does not happen, it never happened, any such claims are a lie.
Mr Moore, take a look at the ARHM and ARMA judgements entered against Firstport who were found not to have disclosed that house manager/area regional managers were being awarded commission on completion of the sales of the flats.
And yes Mr Moore, About Peverel has copies of confidential letters offering commissions to staff and letters concerning "missing targets" for house manager flat sales.
Mr Moore denied that Firstport were in the process of undertaking a management buyout, but then dropped the bombshell that Firstport were up for sale!
This is the first admission from anyone at Firstport that they are being sold.
So Mr Chris Owens, or Mr Nigel Howell if you want to know how your secret plan to sell came to be confirmed in the public domain, it was through Mr Peter Moore, Area Manager. (thanks Peter).
Thus far I have made mention of Mr Peter Moore. I have made no mention of his companians (who I was later able to speak to at length)
As is the case with many Firstport staff, they both appear to be doing a very good job in an honest and fair way. The house manager is popular and hard working, I have no issue with either of them. It is a shame that they work for Firstport.
As with several others at Firstport(who are takng a similar course of action) they would do well at either another property management company or set up one themselves?
I was asked "If Firsport were so bad, why do so many work for them?"
Good question?
My reply that at least a thousand people less were working for them then at the time of the first collapse into administration. people would work for them because they needed a job. You would not find many transferring from a main stream respected property management company and many of the recruits came a a result of redundancy due to companies going out of business. In particular I mentioned Phones 4U.
My apologies to Mr Moore. When I made this comment I did not realise that you joined Firstport in June 2015 having been made redundant after the collapse of Phones 4U!
I was then asked a very interesting question?
Why am I doing this, What have I got against Firstport?
So, in answer it is because of Ian Rapley (a former director of the freeholder that had ben a connected company to Peverel/Firstport) referrng to "customers" that had dared to complain as "dribbling geriatrics" on national television.
It is because a senior manager talks about not answering resident questions because the resident will either die or get dementia by the time the answer must be given.
it is because of the way Firstport hounded a 94 year old WW2 hero (Knowing he was in the right) the way they hounded a soldier on active service despite appeals to halt any action until he was safe and back in the UK.
Both Firstport and Chris Owens KNEW they had no case, but that did not stop them.
It is because of the stress caused by Firstport that is widely believed to have resulted in the death of the mother of Melissa Briggs.
It is because of the price fixing scandal inflicted on at least 65 retirement developments.
And it is because of the death of Irene Cockerton, who died as a result of the wilful negligence of Firstport.
