Catalyst Housing Limited Reviews 265

One of the most poorly managed organisations ever experienced! Management needs an overhaul - incompetent is an understatement. All lip service (Mainly BS) and no action!

Avoidant, negligent, continuously attempt to misrepresent and overlook facts, continuously attempt to avoid accountability whilst adopting poor practices, guessing game when attempting to fix issues, never had so many different contractors attempt to fix the same issue - Catalyst should be shut down or be under the watchful eye of a governing body! So much to scrutinise!

House sold non-compliant, in breach of contract, Poor workmanship, property, littered with faults, no consideration for occupants safety, wrong materials used, timescales when reporting issues extensive and unreasonable - latest being 16+ months still awaiting resolution. Management admission sign off processes not followed in relation to Building Compliance.

Being forced by Senior Management to resort to legal action to ensure fixes are carried out in line with regulations and industry standards and prevent dragging on any longer! SHOCKING

DO NOT GET YOURSELF INVOLVED WITH THESE CLOWNS YOU WILL REGRET IT. PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFO.

HOMEOWNERS AND TENANTS PLEASE INSPECT YOUR PROPERTIES FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, REPORT AND DO NOT ACCEPT CATALYST 'PUT UP OR SHUT UP' APPROACH

We feel completely betrayed, lied to and fobbed off by Catalyst. Absolutely no sense of accountability with this Housing Association. Just a few of the issues we personally have encountered with them:

* Had something stolen from the building and Catalyst did not supply CCTV footage to the Met Police when contacted by them
*Have been waiting for OVER a year to get a repair done on our balcony (which was pointed out to Catalyst before we purchased the flat)
*Even a getting repair on a toilet flush system is proving impossible (waiting for 2 weeks now)

These people say one thing until you purchase the property, then forget about you after they have your money.

Complete joke of a Housing Association and they should be ashamed to call themselves as such!

UPDATE!

And such a generic response. This contact number provided here has previously kept residents and myself on hold for AGES when we call. This generic email that goes through to a general team does not (previously) garner any results. I have been chasing the aftercare team (individually) for over a year, Tamara. Do you really think passing me the general aftercare email and phone number will be of any help?

If they truly cared about resolving issues then they would have contacted me instead of leaving a response on Trustpilot.

UPDATE

now nearly ONE AND A HALF YEARS for a repair to be carried out on our balcony which was promised to be done by Catalyst when we purchased.

My experience with Catalyst has been nothing short of amazing. Krissy at the Lanes in Thorn Fields was always happy to answer my (sometimes silly) questions, and I was always kept up to date with the build process. The house came with a few snags and Sami has been helping me to get these resolved quickly. All in all a great service from start to finish, thank you

The customer service team who answer the phones are good and so the feedback you can give after your call is on them so would register as good. However the other departments badly let Catalyst/previously Aldwyck down.
I have had a problem with my service charges being wrong for years now but every year it's months of trying to get someone to deal with it and get it right. Even when you put it as a complaint it misses the deadlines and still no one has even looked at it. I've even been put back to the person I've complained about!
The repair team regularly send someone out 3 or 4 times before the repair is actually fixed.
They keep sending out glossy brochures on how they are improving the customer service and experience but they are definitely getting worse not better. It is a real shame because I love my little flat and am eternally grateful for it but constantly having to contact them for what should be a simple thing is really stressful.
I posted this review because the latest brochure shows Tamara the service improvement lead looks at Trustpilot reviews to help learn from the feedback and improve service. However I have just read her replies and the majority are asking people to contact the customer resolution team but they are one of the teams that haven't looked at my complaints and missed the deadlines.

It's a terrible attitude from Catalyst! They do nothing to fix our boiler since 16 October 2021. There is a nine months old baby and 4 years old toddler and a disable one in the apartment who are suffering of not having hot water. No words to describe our sufferings and frustrations. I just wondering how Catalyst managers going to sleep knowing that toddlers and disables one have not hot water. Shame! I would’ve given them Huge Zero!

I completely agree with Karen’s review. I have been subjected of harassment, criminal behaviour and been falsely accused by a neighbour’s relative who is not even on the lease ! Still awaiting an explanation of the Housing Officer’s unprofessional approach although this has been reported several times … no duty nor do they obey to the lease!
We had to fight to get our service chargers reduced after catalyst doubled them when taking over .
Not a happy customer! Although the care takers are lovely

Been with catalyst 2 or 3 years since they took over from alydwyck, with alydwyck 6 years service charge always the same within 2 years catalyst has almost trebled it, gardening I live in a flat and no gardens, poor maintenance and loads more try talking to them always the same no one available will call you back oh and they never do call back, only way to get things sorted is by withholding rent then they are quick to call to find out why it ain't been paid

We’ve just completed on our first ever home and working with Krissy and Joseph from Catalyst was a breeze! They are always super helpful and got back to us promptly about any queries we had, they were so family friendly and included our young daughter in the whole process also. Luckily we had no chain so it was a smooth and quick process but really helped along by the sales people at The Lanes. Would highly recommend!! Thanks again Krissy and Joseph at The lanes, Catalyst.

Trying to buy a flat, management pack was paid for 13th July. Its nearly the end of August and nothing. I'm the buyer and I'm already put off, going by the review this company should clearly not be in the housing business from negligence to incompetence in every sector. I'm now having to re think my decision! Just awful, there is no excuse for constant bad service.

Post Edit: I've sent catalyst an email to hopefully resolve the issue. I'm glad that they are paying attention. I will make updates accordingly.

My call was answered promptly!
I was transferred to the correct team fast!

The advisors where so manners-able!

My query was dealt with fast!

Thanks so much!

It is so much quicker and easier to get through to a customer advisor at Catalyst. I've found the receptionists very kind, understanding, and helpful towards my needs. I also note that there is clarity in their speech so it's easy to understand their explanations regarding my issues. I've never had a conversation ended without the advisor asking me if there's anything else with which they could help me which is very reassuring in case I'd forgotten something. Thank you.

Whatever you do don't live anywhere managed by Catalyst Housing, if anything goes wrong then that's it, their repairs team (The RST Hub they call it) do absolutely nothing. i'm told that the RST hub is the central department that deals with all their repairs so this is going to apply to every property they manage.
If you call Catalyst and press the number for repairs you don't even go through to Catalyst you go to some sub-contracted company, that company then calls the RST hub (they aren't allowed to put you through apparently) then the person at the RST hub tells them they'll call you back and never do. I've called, emailed and used their online complaints forms over months and they never respond. Their online complaints form responds with an auto response saying they'll get back to you in 48 hours, well it's been 2 weeks since my last one.
The last time I called I basically had to beg them to talk to someone senior at the RST hub because clearly the front line team are just lazy liars, I was eventually told that they would speak to someone called ******************** who supposedly manages our flats (thus far I'd be surprised if he manages to get out of bed let alone properties), unsurprisingly I still haven't heard from them. Seems the laziness and lies are the norm at Catalyst.
They're an absolute joke of the company, if you're suffering the same thing and that's how you got here looking at these reviews, don't waste any more of your time and just start legal action.

Edit:
I was forced to remove the name of a specific incompetent member of staff at the RST hub because Catalyst flagged it with Trustpilot. Apparently they have time to crawl through internet reviews but not to actually do their jobs. Not that it matters whether the individuals name is there or not, they're all lazy incompetent liars.

Edit 2:
Got the same cookie cutter rubbish response as everyone else.
Whether or not its reflective of the service they wish to provide, it's the one they do provide consistently as evidenced by the other reviews.

It's absolutely clear that the person who responds to these is as mindless as the rest of them, asking us to contact via email or phone. THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT YOU NEVER RESPOND WHEN WE DO THAT!!!!!

Edit 3:
And now they've changed their reply say that the reason they asked me to email or phone was because I didn't give my name so they couldn't find me on the system, this was intended to try and make out like i was being unreasonable about how insane their request to email or call them was. And yet in the background they were able to get trustpilot to send me a message asking for more info. Why didn't they just do that originally and say in their reply that they had done so? Literally the only way to get anything close to service is to call them out in public every single step of the way.

Edit 4:
They've changed the reply again to take out the bit about not giving my name, they've also said someone will contact me from the customer resolution team today and amazingly they actually did call me! Will keep this review updated with progress.

BTW I also tried twitter but all they do it ask you to DM them. When you do DM them they respond once asking for more details and you never hear anything again so keep it in the public eye.

Edit 5:
I said i would keep this review updated:

NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE - 16/11/21

Had a couple of phone calls and some emails and ended with them saying they have got 2 quotes and just needed to check them out. haven't heard from them since, that was 9 weeks ago on 7th Sept.

Note: this was originally reported DECEMBER 2018. I have had that recently confirmed by a member of staff that it is logged in their system from then.
3 YEARS and only from a significant effort on my part to hassle them on every platform they have in July/August this year did they even bother to get quotes and then have done absolutely nothing since. i made the mistake of thinking I'd got the ball rolling and they couldn't be that incompetent to not finish it now. How wrong I was, Catalyst housing plumb new depths of incompetence and laziness every day.

Edit 6:
Another depressing update.

STILL NOTHING - 08/03/23

It's now been 4.5 years and they have made no effort at all to repair the intercom.

This company is truly disgusting. I've explained on multiple occasions the daily harm this causes my disabled mother but they simply don't care. Besides, this isn't about being nice to an old lady this is about them failing to live up to their legal obligations in line with our service contract.

I had to take a break from actively pursuing this for a while because it was too tiring to run into a brick wall every day. This is exactly their intention though and I won't let them win so I've given up playing nice and am going to be pursuing it through the courts.

Even their complaints department does nothing.

Uncaring
Poor management
Liars

Do not buy a house with this company it will be the worst mistake you ever make

Great service from Krissy and Joseph at the Thorn Fields development. They couldn’t have been more helpful and guided two newbies through the process. When we were getting held up by other parties in the process both would act quickly to get things moving again. Thanks again for all your help.

Stop before you put one of your relatives into one of their complexes. Our mum of 86yrs who has lived in her flat since 2004 without any parking issues. Both myself and my sister while caring for our mother have both been booked by PCN. We both have appealed and mine was rejected even though I was only there for 15 mins before getting the ticket. I went up to her flat where she was not well, by the time I sorted her out and looked for parking permit which had been mislaid, I got booked. I tried to contact Catalyst who own the land but have got the PCM to work on their behalf to look after the car park. To be told that they can not intervene in stopping the fine. Our family have been charged £120 for just merely visiting and caring for our mother. When speaking to staff at Catalyst they informed me that even their staff have been booked!! What sort of firm deals with the elderly and vulnerable families, or staff in this way. Words cannot express our disgust on how we have been treated. So please think before you think of putting your loved one in there complex.

My mum is disabled with back problems and only has floor cuboards in the kitchen which is difficult as she to bend over inorder to get things out the cuboards, for the last 7 years we have been requesting and been told she will get wall cuboards. Brendon who I believe is the contractor manager has been there many times and told us the work will be done then never follows through. This has been going on for years. The bending down to get into the cuboards is taking it's toll on my Mum. I spoke to Kelly Mei, I believe is the repairs manager and explained the situation, she assured me she will look into the case and get back to me in a few days, this was over a month ago and still no response. To date I'm still chasing for this work to get done

On January 2019 one of the flatmate under alcohol effects attack me for not saying hello e miss respect him. After calling the police and complaining to the office I lived the worst experience of my life. After 1 .5 years he's still in the same apartment disturbing all the neighbours singing and playing the drum until 5/6am. Don't trust them, once you sign the contract you alone.

Is nice that after almost 3 years and several chat with catalyst the manager I've signed the contract never wanted to meet me, been moved in another apartment and being charged almost 18% on rental costs extra.
10 days ago I contract the number under my review to request a pest control ( rat in my sleeping room) and never received any assistance.

Shame on you catalyst

There have been numerous problems with the new NEON / Callier House premises since people have moved in from May 2020.

These include (but not limited to):
# Squatters
# Theft of property inside the "secure building"
# Lifts breakdowns with long repair times
# Misinformation given in the sales process (Shared Owners)
# Doors broken / not functioning correctly
# Unanswered complaints
# Unanswered requests for information
# Threats with a knife (shank)
# CCTV policy that makes it pointless/unusable
# Rubbish dumped in the service road behind the building
# Human excrement along the road and connecting paths to the building

Catalyst Housing are doing nothing for the residents to improve security or the issues.

I bought a flat from Catalyst with Help to buy. it is built as cheapest and lowest quality possible. I mean I've never seen such ignorance in entirety of my life. They claim they have a after care and fix their issues, thats not true , they actually came and caused more damage as they dropped the door and damaged the wall and flooring (and he had a cut finger from his previous project and blood was all over the door . I didnt know it was catalyst engineer blood and I touched it . God knows what type of illness can be passed by blood but catalyst doesnt care)

Home was soled andI got a key with no electricity! now after 3 months ,noticed that the extractor fan was off for a while because of no electricity and the extractor fan channel is full of spiders (it has no filters and if it stops working basically any insect can enter the building )

I raised this to so called after care but they simply ignored. Also the balcony door is not well sealed and the engineer who came to fix wanted to fix it with glue ! (same guy that his blood was all over the door )

Cables are left with no socket in the kitchen and under the kitchen cabinet was full of rubbish.I mean I can list forever but you get the point.

My advise , if you hear Catalyst housing , you will better sleeping under the bridge than a house or flat built by Catalyst.

It's too late for me as I'm trapped and lost the only opportunity of my life to buy home because of Catalyst. God knows how long I need to save and spent money to fix the issues that new house should not have!