Sunday, June 29th, 2014, 8:34 am
The Darker Side of the Three Towers and RMG
Filed under: 
SUALLY, the Three Towers are a good place to be. The residents are quiet, the place is relatively clean, but RMG tends to neglect it, leaving the gates, for example, unfixed for years.
It is also very hard to communicate with RMG, which refuses to provide basic information and impressively enough offers zero cooperation in case of serious incidents.
RMG is ruining what could otherwise be decent. The utility company (with a monopoly on the service) is apparently connected to the building’s operator (an incestuous relationship), so a form of corruption is likely, too.
Today I wish to deal with more serious matters and put them out there for our own safety, as well as to warn others.
Crime in our building recently took place, but RMG seems apathetic and unresponsive about it. I don’t believe we were personally targeted, but just in case something happens, I believe RMG should be held partly accountable or at least liable. No company should follow the example of RMG.
I am hereby, with some hesitation, writing regarding a very serious matter which seemed more serious after the police had reported gunshots near our apartment in Christabel (this was confirmed by the police in a letter).
The gunshots happened a short while after my wife was assaulted inside our building, Christabel. Two young boys stalked her in the elevator and then followed her into the bin room. When she entered they locked her inside and propped the door locked with a broom. She yelled for help and a nearby neighbour came to the ground floor and scared the boys away, after they had admitted (to him) they did not even live in the building. How did these boys get inside?
My wife was horrified, but this was never investigated. RMG did not even bother looking at the CCTV footage that it had captured. What is CCTV good for if one can’t be bothered to even use it? The individuals probably cannot be identified, but the way in which they infiltrated the building matters. RMG does not seem to care. Yes, they let it slide.
A couple of hours later we both saw two dodgy-looking people in their 40s or 50s hanging about in a nearby apartments building (marionette) which are still waiting to be demolished. Their behaviour could be described as odd and we thought about calling the police though saying two people are “up to no good” is a spurious complaint (the police would not appreciate it). I had other menacing incidents like this in the past, but never a gunshot (domestic violence across the hall, intruder in my house, and the nearby building routinely had ambulances and police vans next to it).
At 11PM gunshot was fired at a window (the police confirms this) and the following morning the road below us was closed by the police with two vans, including TAU (special police unit in Manchester), parked at both ends. One of the guys we saw last night (one of the two dodgy-looking one) was carried to a police van in a wheelchair. The police does not say much about the incident except the gunshots. This is far from reassuring. We now feel unsafe even inside our house.
I demanded that RMG should investigate all these incidents and inform residents what exactly was happening. They failed to do so, so in my view they are now liable and I decided to spread the word about what happened in this area, holding accountable those who are not doing enough to protect the residents (we pay a lot of money for RNG to do so every year). There is a risk to life here and since intruders assaulted my wife inside the building we cannot tolerate this.
Cooperation with the police has proved useless in the past (in fact it put me at risk because the criminals then perceived me as their enemy), so I was approaching RMG first. RMG should have extensive CCTV footage inside the building and around it. Given the separation of just 4 hours between these events there is likelihood that they are related and one took place right inside Christabel. Why did RMG never investigate or even respond? Total neglect. Even criminal neglect.
I asked RMG not to share my identity with the police (it would most likely not help as much as a testimony to RMG).
I recently thought about buying a property here, but after these incidents I have other, less favourable plans.
People’s safety seems to be at stake, not just RMG’s reputation. For what it’s worth, avoid RMG, wherever they are. All they’re good at it collecting money annually.
Update: three hours after I published this post (on a Sunday even) RMG contacted me and said they had forwarded the case, well over a week after the CCTV footage got taken (the rotation of footage may mean that relevant footage might already be erased). It would not be unreasonable to suggest that this post had something to do with their late reactions.
Update #2 (30/6/2014: Today I was issued the following face-saving response:
Dear Dr Schestowitz,
Thank you for contacting RMG recently.
Unfortunately, our CCTV expires after 14 days and we are unable to access footage after this point. We are now unable to access any CCTV from 16th June or before.
Having spoken to the Property Manager, she has made us aware that was onsite, and visited apartment [redacted] the day after the reported assault, but was not at that point made aware of any allegations. At that point, Claire would’ve been able to access any CCTV footage required.
Additionally, if there are any future queries of this nature, we would strongly recommend that you contact us over the telephone rather than via email. Over the phone, we will be able to assist instantly.
Most importantly, if there are any further crimes at the property, you would need to contact the police as the first matter of course, especially considering the nature of the reported crime.
If you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thanks, and kind regards
It is regretful that CCTV footage was left to expire and response over E-mail was so slow, probably due to bureaucracy. I will keep this in mind in the future.
