WE pay good money for poor quality of service from our factor and pay it to supply workmen who overcharge us.

What's more, we are also committed to the factor's choice of insurance when sometimes we can get a better cover and price elsewhere.

It makes us feel we own only part of our home.

The factor recently sent me a bill for a light above next door's doorway.

Reader Poll Should Winget home-owners get public cash? Yes 31.3% No 61.8% Don't know 6.9%

I phoned and got the bill cancelled, yet a few months later I got a second for the light. When I called again I was told I would have to pay.

When I asked for a key to my neighbour's house so I could turn this light on and off as I have to pay it, the factor said it would look into it again.

Surely this can't keep going on? What about the elderly who pay and don't question it?

JULIE FERGUSON, Via e-mail

Keep up the campaign

I AM very pleased to see the Evening Times is running a campaign to name and shame the factors operating in and around Glasgow.

My boyfriend has had nothing but demand letters for payment for a number of works within the last year, none of which he was consulted about.

The factor suggested my boyfriend take out a loan to pay off his debt for the most recent works.

The way these factors operate has to stop and I hope your campaign goes some way towards this.

KAREN GUNN, Via e-mail

Fight over TV dishes

I LIVE in Tower View, a new estate at the back of Leverndale Hospital, Crookston.

Since the first homes went up 18 months ago, the main problem has been a communal satellite system, four different dishes serving all the homes.

Residents cannot put up a dish due to planning laws. We are in no-man's land trying to get this sorted.

When it comes to getting jobs done I find the factor frustrating. Although it will "try" and give me an answer, it will not have the right information.

From what I can see, the factor manages very little.

If something needs done, it is the residents who make it happen.

Name and address supplied

Advance fees unfair

I LIVE on an estate of 97 houses and each household pays a yearly charge of about £92.

This means our factor's annual income is £8924.

We also pay in total £2100 yearly for a pathetic grass-cutting service, leaving the factor with a profit of £6824.

I owe the firm £46 for my half yearly advance charge covering the period 12/11/07 through to 15/11/08. I have not paid it yet why pay in advance for a service I am not receiving?

I have now received a letter telling me that as I have not paid my advance charge on time the factor is adding a £15 administration charge to my account.

JOHN WALKER, Barrhead

Admin charge rip-off

BRIDGEWATER Housing Association in Erskine charges all homeowners a landscaping bill, currently £172.

When it sent the bill this year it charged £22 administration charge.

Now the association wants to bill people twice a year instead of once, supposedly to help with payment. Will it take the admin charge twice?

We have also been told it is going to charge us £25 a year for the next five years to keep the car parks in order!

ALLAN ELLIOTT, Via e-mail

Cashing in on quotes

I AM not convinced that "competitive" pricing "of communal works is "competitive".

Many owners may be unaware at the huge sums their common works are costing because the account is multiplied by the number of people staying in their whole estate.

STEVE ARMSTRONG, Via e-mail

£400 to fix a few slabs

I SAW your article on problems with factors and would like to provide some information on mine for my ex-council flat.

I frequently receive large invoices for expensive repairs to the building and communal areas.

Last November we received our bi-annual invoice for £256, which included our share of a bill for the repair to the pathway coming into the close.

The contractor charged £400 to repair some slabs that had become uneven.

I phoned the factor because I considered the cost far too high for the work involved and was told this was the price we were notified of before work started.

I also questioned why it did not obtain the cheapest quotes possible for repairs and was advised it has contractors it uses and does not attempt to look for the cheapest quotes.

CLAIRE EADIE, Via e-mail

We can't get refund

MY wife and I stayed in a flat in Whitecrook, Clydebank.

She had stayed in it from new and I moved in in 1999.

The accounts were always paid on time and we incurred no debts with the company.

In 2002 the residents within the development decided they were dissatisfied with the service they were receiving from the factor and decided to change factors.

This change coincided with us moving to a new house so it did not affect us because we would have moved before the new factor took over the maintenance.

As my wife had paid a float to the company when she moved in, we received a final account saying the factor owed us around £200, but it could not pay us back because other residents owed it money at the termination of the factoring contract.

After we moved we sent a number of letters asking for a progress report, but were told the factor still did not have the funds to pay us back.

To be honest we had forgotten about it until we read about the Evening Times campaign.

The factor has now had five years' interest on the money it owes us and we have heard nothing from it for about three-and-a-half years.

DAVID HARKIN, Via e-mail

Bills are too high

MY husband and I have stayed in our upper cottage flat in Rotherwood Avenue, Knightswood for three years.

The two bottom flats are Glasgow Housing Association tenants and the two upper cottages are owned by us and another couple.

We recently received a letter from GHA about a "serious underlying problem" with our drains.

The letter stated the repairs required would cost £10,000. We were asked to sign and return a consent form, although the form did not state our share of the cost.

I presume it is a quarter of the total cost.

In addition to the £2500, we are still waiting for the bill for cladding works carried out over a year ago, so we probably owe GHA about £7000!

There is no way we can afford to pay £7000 and will need to re-mortgage or flat or take out a loan.

We are a young couple trying to work our way up the housing ladder, yet the housing association seems intent on getting us into debt.

LOUISE ROBERTSON, Via e-mail

---

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Email your views to us here.

WRITE: Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. Please include your name and address.

TEXT: key in the word 'etletters', leave a space then send your comments to 88010. Max 160 characters. Please include your name or initials and where you're from. Texts cost 25p at all times.