Whittles Body Corporate Management Services - Deakin, Australian Capital Territory

Justin ?.

Used to be good before Whittles took over, now can’t get anything done and strata managers ghost you

Mary B.

We have been fortunate to get Matthew Green as our Strata Manager. He and his team have always been prompt in dealing with our inquiries, and helping us to sort out problems/ repairs quickly. We also appreciate that Matthew returns phone messages and takes the time to talk. We appear to have been lucky.

Alina H.

Incredible customer service by ACT strata. my maintenance concerns were dealt with immediately by Matt and were fixed in no time at all. Josh has given great out of hours service and he has gone above and beyond for his customers.

Bella S.

TLDR version: AVOID AT ALL COSTS (unless you have a penchant for being lied to, taken advantage of and threatened with debt collectors for no good reason, in which case these guys would be right up your alley. Unfortunately for me, it's not really my thing).

Long form:

In December last year I purchased a townhouse in a complex managed by ACT Strata. I received an info pack from them about the strata rules... this is where the issues started. It was missing the first page, and also had me down as living at a different address. I assumed it was a simple mistake, informed them of it, and moved on with my life.

Fastforward to February, my next interaction with them. A debt notice saying I was late in paying my strata fees, threatening to send the debt collectors. This was very strange, because I had not received any previous notice. Admittedly, I am lacking in the telepathy department, however this being the case I am unsure how I should have known about the payment I owed without receiving a bill.

Now, for context, I am the sort of person who has never been late in paying anything in her life. The thought of it just about gives me an aneurism. So I immediately paid the amount owing, minus the ‘final notice fee’ of $50, which I thought was a bit rich given the fact that this was my first notice. My following interactions with ACT Strata (with them insisting they had sent a bill prior to the debt notice, which was an outright lie) really lit a fire in my belly. After many emails asking them to forward this bill to me, they finally admitted they had, in fact, never sent it. They said they would take away the ‘final notice fee’ and the interest it incurred (don't get me started on how exorbitant their interest rate is) and then we’d be square.

In my immense naivety, I believed them. However, I was surprised, two weeks later, to receive an overdue notice from them in the mail. Now I owed them $100? Again, I found this to be very strange, and immediately messaged them asking what was going on. They seemed to have forgotten all about their previous admissions of their administrative incompetence, and commitment to striking the balance. I am still battling them on this, despite email evidence in my favour. Absolutely unbelievable. In all seriousness, this entire ordeal has been quite stressful and I am at the end of my wits. Would give 0 stars if possible.

Edit: almost a month and over 20 emails later, my saga is over (but will re-edit if I get another surprise overdue notice in the mail). However, I wanted to leave advice for anyone with the misfortune of dealing with these guys:
-if something they say sounds fishy, question it. Make them provide evidence - ask for forwarded emails, and proof that incorrect fees have actually been taken off your balance. Otherwise they can and will try and pull the wool over your eyes.
-deal with them via email rather than phone calls. Having written copies of lies and admissions of mistakes is much easier to remind them of these later on, and would be much easier to take to ACAT if necessary.
-try to hold your cool while dealing with them. Although it is incredibly frustrating there are evidently systemic issues and I can't think of how stressful working in customer service for them must be.

Hamish C.

Unresponsive to simple questions for weeks. Would not recommend given the current lack of service.

Months later and still being ignored. Will be taking the matter up with the ACCC. Unbelievably poor service.

Josephine D. G.

Excellent service. Josh and others being some of the best strata managers we have ever dealt with before. Right on to any maintenance requests and excellent customer service in general.

Kim M.

Stay clear! Our manager (MG) is lazy, incompetent and doesn’t follow the law.
He also lies! We have managed to remove ACT Strata from the management of two of our property investments and are working on our third!

D M.

Lack of responses unless you’re in the EC.
Service is very poor and they don’t enact items in their management agreement if it doesn’t suit them. Wouldn’t recommend.