Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Midview City

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Midview City - a bad experience

I have bad experience with the poor service provided by the management office of Midview City. They do not answer telephone calls or reply to e-mails. Even a fax to their directors remain unanswered. Nobody bother to return a call.

Their poor service has caused me to spend $3,500 (which could be avoided) and waste two months of valuable time to start my renovation. My experience is set out here.

Another owner wrote to tell me that he had experienced good service from the office, but he asked me not to post his e-mail. I wonder why? Several other owners have told me that they had bad experience similar to mine.

My bad experience with Midview City is reflective of the situation in many organisations in Singapore, including our government agencies. The staff are too scared to take initiative and follow the rules set by their directors blindly. They worry about "what can go wrong" rather than "what is fair and right for the customer". They are so busy with paperwork and following rules that they cannot answer telephone or reply to e-mail.

They are scared to be held "responsible" for what is put down in writing, i.e. e-mail. Even senior people are scared to take responsibility - preferring to push the buck to someone else.

Tan Kin Lian

21 comments:

Fireburn said...: Hi, Mr. Tan,

I have facing the same problem as what you had mentioned, management of M*dview city is most worst, most scary, most terrible in Singapore.

They are not helping those owner or tenant from M*dview city, meanwhile, they are giving a lot of trouble and excuse to us. They always push the fault to others and only remember to cover their backside.

The way they manage and handle to M*dview city, is only profits and get benefit for them.

"5 N" only can descript to Management of M*dview city,

*Not efficient
*Not professional
*Not effective
*Not responsible
*Not acceptable

I'm here to advise to all the people or investor, if you thinking to do business or investment at M*dview city, please think twice... don't get trouble for yourself. I'm one of the tenant here, I regret a million here.; April 27, 2011 10:20 PM
Fireburn said...: I want to share my bad opinion to all people in singapore.; April 27, 2011 10:20 PM
MummyMamaMimi said...: Hi Mr. Tan,

I'm facing the same problem as you had faced earlier.

I had 4 units with them and till now i'm still waiting for my CS3 form which i had sent few emails and nothing was heard from them yet. I'm suppose to open my showroom on 01 may but seems like there's a delay.

Did you manage to ask for waive on the rental as they had caused the delay and no replies at all?; April 28, 2011 10:18 AM
Fireburn said...: Hi.. To every body affected at M*dview City,

We should work out something as we have lost alot money on rental.
This is really worst and only happen in M*dview city, like a cheating group, con-man, we should make a police report.; April 30, 2011 1:47 AM
Fireburn said...: Hi, Rechelle,

What kind of trade of your business?; April 30, 2011 1:48 AM
Fireburn said...: For all the owner or tenant at Midview City,

I believe every one also suffer on the management from Midview city,
Should we employ a lawyer and claims of our lost from them?

If every one is agreed, i think this way can be work.; April 30, 2011 1:51 AM
Fireburn said...: Hi, Mr. Tan,

I have facing the same problem as what you had mentioned, management of M*dview city is most worst, most scary, most terrible in Singapore.

They are not helping those owner or tenant from M*dview city, meanwhile, they are giving a lot of trouble and excuse to us. They always push the fault to others and only remember to cover their backside.

The way they manage and handle to M*dview city, is only profits and get benefit for them.

"5 N" only can descript to Management of M*dview city,

*Not efficient
*Not professional
*Not effective
*Not responsible
*Not acceptable

I'm here to advise to all the people or investor, if you thinking to do business or investment at M*dview city, please think twice... don't get trouble for yourself. I'm one of the tenant here, I regret a million here.; April 30, 2011 1:54 AM
Singapore Interior Pte Ltd said...: Hi all,

What sort of problems you guys actually face with the building management?

Is it related to the renovation?
Perhaps the Interior Designer / Main Contractor which you have engaged for the renovation should be able to assist you to sort your concern?

Cheers,
www.singaporeinterior.com; June 04, 2011 10:47 PM
Singapore Interior Pte Ltd said...: Fireburn,

Are you the owner to the units at Midview premises? Not sure why the CS3 is handled by your LEW and your electrician?

We have carried out renovation to premises there and did not have trouble obtaining the necessary approval from the building management.; June 04, 2011 10:50 PM
goji said...: I work for a company here and the one thing which does not make much business sense is the shuttle service which charges a fee. Due to the location and also the lack of easy access to this place it would have made better sense to have a free shuttle service for all who work here as a form of added attraction for companies to move/rent here. The visitors who visits companies here shall also have an alternative way to access this "city".; August 02, 2011 5:51 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Dear Goji
Please ask your company to send this suggestion to the management of Midview City. Many hospitals and shopping malls provide free shuttle service to the MRT station. It will increase the usage of the shuttle service and will benefit the occupiers, employees and their customers. It should be a win-win proposal.; August 03, 2011 10:16 AM
F said...: Hi Mr Tan,

I'm really struggling with the management here... they are rude, not efficient and terrible service.

How can we change management??
I have been waiting for 3 months to get back my renovation deposit. And for the pass 3 months they have been giving me the same lame excuses like accountant is on leave, she is very busy, no signatory... etc. Even calling their HQ doesn't work at all. The person in-charge of Midview City is either in a meeting or just step out.

This is so frustrating!!

F; November 02, 2011 5:10 PM
Alicia Tan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; November 09, 2011 9:44 AM
Ana said...: Dear Mr Tan,
If I am not wrong, the managing agent of Midview City is Newman & Goh.
Newman & Goh happened to be my estate's MA in the past. We terminated their services after finding that they are not very proactive nor professional in estate management. In fact, we started to be suspicious of the contractors they are bringing in, as we were frequently charged high rates and things never seemed to be properly repaired! Immediately after we had our new Ma in board, the new MA identified various areas that were grossly neglected duri g the whole time, including a leaking water tank. No wonder our utilities were so high!

There were occasions where we found incidents that reflected the firm's and staff's lack of integrity.

To protect your investments, I highly recommend that the owners seriously consider a change of managing agent.

Ana

I would suggest that; April 30, 2012 9:51 PM
Anonymous said...: After reading this posting and the related post.... Midview City is not the issue, but the below par services from the managing agent, Newman, it seems; May 01, 2012 12:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Mr Tan,
Since you are an owner of MidviewvCity, I think you should do more than just blogging. Is it not possible to band together with the other owners to do something? My experience with certain managing agent is that they have I'll experienced staff who are not hands on - and the same can be said for the senior managers. As Midview city is still new, many issues have yet to crop up. But leaving them in the hands of a ineffective agent will only devalue the development..; May 01, 2012 3:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Dear Midview,
Out of curiosity, I wonder if the situation has improved at Midview City. I personally have experienced the same poor quality of service from the same management who manages Midviewz. For us, we fired them - I only wished we fired them earlier then.

Otherwise, at most other developments, most building owner's just put up with the poor service level. There is so much slack and leakage...

I have been to Midview a few times - & so far, the tenant mix has yet to be built up to attract a consistent crowd yet. However, most tenants are offices which may not require the traffic.; May 01, 2012 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...: There are 3 types of managing agents: 1. The bad, 2. The average, 3. The great.

The "bad" is defined as one that does not even meet par expectations. In fact, not only do they 'cover up' their lack of professionalism, they provide wrong advice. Very often, they advise that there is a need for LEW, etc probably because the company contracted is related to them, or they receive certain kickbacks in the process. For the interest of Midview city (& all other developments), managing agents should make full disclosure of their vested interest.

The average refers to most - where they meet their expectations but are not great.

The great are the excellent ones. Once on board, they identify areas to reduce energy costs. When there is something that is broken, they follow up appropriately and have contractors that offer the appropriate diagnosis - which saves money in the long run w/o compromising on maintenance.

What type of MA do you have?
If it is the bad - remember - you are throwing good money in a deep black hole as long as the bad managing agent is in charge!; May 01, 2012 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Agreed with you. Newman & Goh is really bad. They simply do not respond or act upon issues that arised. I wish my estate terminate them too.; January 26, 2016 8:12 PM
Ana said...: My estate used to use Newman and Goh. There was a certain Ms Wang who was in charge. Newman & Goh services are not only bad, but they lack integrity.

here are some examples:
1. the MA from Newman and Goh are not experienced estate managers, who have an eye on what needs to be repaired. They wait until the issue has totally broken down, then they fight fire.
2. Slow in follow ups. They wanted to increase their fees every year, despite the fact that the estate is always fire fighting (lousy cleaning contractors, broken items not repaired in time).
3. Their quotations are quite expensive. We subsequently suggested a few of other alternative contractors to offer indicative pricings as well, and we found out that the MA from Newman and Goh has been colluding with a few said contractors so that they always get the job (by offering a quotation that is just a couple of hundred dollars lower).

We called for a meeting among the Council members, and eventually decided to sack Newman and Goh.
After which, Newman and Goh sent a manager to provide all kinds of excuses.

We used another smallish MA to take care of the estate. Although there can't be any 'perfect' MA, but at least they are better value for money, and most importantly, the integrity is not compromised.; April 16, 2016 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi Ana, yea, it is not nice to see ppl so blatantly casual in their quest to make a few more bucks!! I think there are laws with penalties for bid-rigging and collusive tendering. Appreciate it very much if you can share which smallish MA you are using? Thanks!; July 30, 2019 10:35 PM

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Midview City - a bad experience

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