Lifts

***UPDATE 14/09/2021***

One lift is up and running. The lift company are waiting on a part to make the necessary repairs to the second lift – engineers are booked in on 20/9/21.

***UPDATE 13/09/2021*** Reports of lifts not working

We have received multiple reports of the lifts not working. We were aware of a lift being out of action last week – an engineer attended and ordered the necessary parts. Once that part has arrived, the engineer can make the repairs. When he left, one lift was still in operation and working correctly.

We have since been informed that the second lift has broken down. We have therefore arranged for a call out today to look at the second lift and to attempt to make the necessary repairs today if possible, however this will be determined by the engineer when they arrive on site.

Please note that the lifts were not out of action for the last few months due to repair work. The lifts were taken out of operation to have a safety feature added.

We can only ensure the necessary maintenance programme for the lifts is in place and instruct a call out from an engineer as soon as we are aware of a breakdown.

We do therefore ask that you make us aware of an issue so that we can instruct the necessary works as soon as possible in order to get them back up and running as soon as possible.

***UPDATE 7/09/2021*** BOTH LIFTS ARE FULLY OPERATIONAL****

***UPDATE 2/09/2021*** LIFT OPERATIONAL****

Sheridan Lifts have been on site for the last few days and have successful reinstated one lift at Winckley House. The second lift should be back in operation this afternoon.

We know that the lifts have been out of operational for an unacceptable amount of time and we have raised the necessary complaints. We do apologise for the huge inconvenience that this has caused.

***UPDATE 27/08/2021***

Sheridan Lifts (the lift engineers that maintain and service the lifts) have been at Winckley House this morning and confirmed that the two lift lines have been installed and are working. Unfortunately, the engineer was not able to connect the lift lines on his own so has requested two engineers are sent out early next week to reinstate the lifts.

***UPDATE 26/08/2021***

We have had confirmation from both BT and Openreach that the two lift lines have been installed at Winckley House today. We have arranged for Sheridan Lifts to attend tomorrow to connect these lines to the lift so that all being well the lifts should be both fully functioning by the end of tomorrow.

We know the inconvenience and frustrations that the lifts being out of action has caused and are very much hoping that there are no further hiccups tomorrow and that everything goes to plan!

***UPDATE 25/08/2021***

Openreach are sending ‘lead’ engineers out to Winckley House today in order to determine where the lines can be drilled and hopefully a timeframe as to when this will be completed. This visit was supposed to happen on Monday but unfortunately they failed to delivered yet again. Another complaint has been raised after several phone calls back and forth. We will report back once we have a further update.

Here is a copy of the letter that has been sent to the CEO of both BT and Openreach:

Dears Sirs,

I wish to raise a complaint at the highest level to both your companies regarding your appalling level of service.

This complaint relates to two apartment blocks:

Winckley House, 16 Cross Street, Preston, PR1 3AJ

Guild House, 17 Cross Street, Preston, PR1 3AN

We are the managing agent of both these blocks and have been trying to have a lift line installed as per our legal obligations for the safety of residents at both blocks.

Our contract with BT started on 2 June 2021 and since then we have been pushing hard for a working lift line to be installed to each block.

To date we still are no further to having lift lines installed despite constant chasing and escalating our complaints to the highest level possible. The residents of both blocks have now been without the use of a lift for almost 3 months. Winckley House is a 7 storey building. We have residents that are elderly, disabled, with prams, had operations, pregnant and having to climb up 7 storeys several times a day is outrageous. We have had residents threatening legal action based on the discrimination they suffer and the detrimental impact on disabled residents.

We have had hundreds of complaints from residents, leaseholders, letting agents and estate agents saying that the flats are now not lettable / saleable and asking for reductions in rent or service charge payments. We are at risk of losing the management of the blocks due to the perceived poor or mis-management of the buildings despite doing everything we can to chase both your companies. This will cost us thousands of pounds.

We have spent numerous hours on hold, sending emails, trying to talk to your staff to get this issue resolved and have got nowhere. Your service has been extremely poor, we have had several bad experiences with yourselves in the past relating to missed timescales but this has been by far the worst.

I suggest you seriously look at the standard of your service and we request you apply pressure to have the matter resolved in the next 7 days.

The latest we have been told is that a Surveyor needs to visit both blocks to determine the works required. There have been several Surveyor visits scheduled that we know have not actually taken place – despite us ensuring the Surveyor has full access to both blocks.

I realise the difficulty that Covid19 has caused therefore we initially made allowances for this but now the timescale has become totally unacceptable and for the well-being of residents at both blocks I urge you to assist in this matter.

***UPDATE 20/08/2021***

We understand that the lifts being out of action has caused enormous inconvenience and frustrations and the time taken to get the situation resolved has been far too long.

Unfortunately, we are in the hands of external contractors, namely BT and Openreach, who need to install a lift line. This involves drilling through floors so is not an easy fix and requires a surveyor. This is so that in the event of an entrapment, an emergency button can be pressed to call through to a 24 hour call centre who would arrange for an engineer to be sent out immediately. This is a legal requirement. We cannot have the lifts in operation until this line is in place as the safety of residents is paramount. We would also be breaking the law if we allowed these lifts to be operational without this safety feature.

We have been chasing BT almost daily as we are fully aware of the inconvenience this is causing. We have raised a complaint with BT which has been escalated to the highest level. We have been told that BT and Openreach are incredibly short staffed due to engineers having to isolate however it has been an unacceptable amount of time. BT have recognised this and have put the case into the ‘critical’ category.

We still not do not have a timeframe as to when the lifts will be in operation, however we are doing everything we can to ensure this is as soon as possible. We will continue to update this page when we have tangible information.

We deeply apologise for the inconvenience this is causing.

***UPDATE 05/08/2021***

We have had BT / Openreach engineers on site this morning trying to resolve the issue with the lift lines. Unfortunately, they have now found that more cabling will need to be installed in order to get the lifts back up and running.

I know the huge inconvenience this is causing residents. We are doing everything we can to assist the engineers in order to get the lifts back up and running as soon as possible.

We do apologise for the inconvenience.