DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. You are led to believe that you are entering a loving, inviting retirement village, but you may be shoring up years of misery and financial costs for yourself and your children when you leave this place. Tudor Village and Pinnacle Living delivered us 22 months of the most miserable years of our lives in dealing with our mother's departure from the Village. The fees are exorbitant (approx. $500 per month) and ever increasing for very little in return. After 10 years Pinnacle take 35% of the sales price, plus renovation costs that they deem essential. Mum was never happy here and had many unpleasant experiences. She left with less than she paid for her unit 14 years earlier (despite Melbourne property prices skyrocketing in that time). Her unit sold for $625,000 - she only received $300,000 of this amount to fund her aged care. The "exit" fees were more than our mother received. Should you have any doubts about our experience with Pinnacle Living, PLEASE WATCH the ABC's 7.30 REPORT of 3 October 2024 on iView. Tudor Village was our mother's, and our, living nightmare. Caveat Emptor. Thank you for your response below. In reply we would like to point out the following: (1) There was no original “sale”. Pinnacle Living refuses to provide proof that there was. This “phantom” sale held up the selling process for about a year, at great cost to our mother. (2) We employed an outside agent in desperation when, in our opinion, it appeared that you were concentrating on the sale of the newer (leasehold!) units, rather than the older (freehold) units. (3) Our mother paid approximately $10,000 in costs for “services” when she was no longer living in the village. You showed not a skerrick of goodwill, compromise or compassion. (4) Our mother moved into Tudor Village in 2010 and was obviously not properly advised of the consequences of her decision in relation to the sales process (although who could have imagined what happened to us). (5) Resident satisfaction surveys are, in our experience, only answered by satisfied customers. The rest don’t want to make things worse for themselves. (6) You refuse to engage in productive correspondence privately, so here we are. (7) You may not be interested in our concerns, but I can assure you that other parties are. (8) We can at least agree on something, however. Caveat Emptor. Buyer beware.
