John Vella

Dear Peter & Janette, Once again many thanks for all your help and support in relation to my retirement living situation. I have told my family and friends of the wonderful service that you provided to me and have highly recommended you to them as well as others that I meet.

Your service, professionalism, kindness and courtesy were nothing short of amazing.

As per our recent discussion about our dealings I have noted below my situation and how I found your service and business to deal with, I hope that this helps in you further promoting your business.

You are most welcome to show this letter to other retirees like me who are considering moving into a retirement village or something similar and who may be considering utilising your professional services.

I trust that you are both well and being kept busy. I look forward to speaking with you again sometime soon.

Best Wishes

John.

John Vella's Story

When the time came for my elderly parents to quit the family home and enjoy their retirement years they decided to move into a retirement community as a lot of retirees these days do.

At the time I and other members of our immediate family offered to get involved and help out but our folks who are fiercely independent people declined our offer instead opting to do their own work and investigation which ended up being one huge mistake for them.

So in doing their own investigation they visited quite a few retirement villages over a period of about 6 months and were given all sorts of assurances and promises by these villages without fully knowing or completely understanding what they were being told and ultimately committing themselves to. Notwithstanding this though they were by the time they had completed their investigations basically worn out, very frustrated and ill at ease with the whole process. They told me on several occasions that to do all of this work by themselves was one very big mistake and that they would never undergo such a difficult process again.

In the end though they bought into a retirement village that they thought would be ideal for them. Their decision at the time was made I think by sustained sales pressure from village management who were offering among other things so called “special deals” which at the end of the day amounted to really nothing special at all.

After they moved into the village all of the niceties and friendship that they received when they were making their enquiries started to fade and all of a sudden there they were treated just like another resident in a large village. In fact a couple of their neighbours spoke of similar problems that they had experienced after moving into their new homes.

In view of how my folks were being treated at the time and by their level of apprehension I decided to go through their resident contract myself and to my utter dismay I found that everything in the contract was set up to benefit the village so much so in fact that when the time came to sell their unit they or their estate would lose substantially. In addition the original amount that they had paid for their unit was over the top when I compared it to other similar style and sized units sold in their local area and this when combined with their departure fees, sales agent’s commission, share of capital gain and refurbishment costs etc payable there was no way that they were ever going to get their money back. I also wasn’t too impressed with their Solicitors as they should have found all of the negatives that I found and I am only a layman.

When the time came for me to look at my own retirement housing needs I was determined not to follow in the footsteps of my folks by falling prey to an unscrupulous retirement village and so on that basis I decided to engage the professional services of Platinum Retirement Solutions (who came highly recommended to me by a past client)

From the moment of my initial contact with Platinum Retirement Solutions through to my move they have been the thoroughly professional and have gone beyond the pale to ensure my total satisfaction in every aspect of our dealings, it’s as though they are part of my family and that’s exactly how I feel.

Peter and Janette Hogg Proprietors Platinum Retirement Solutions are a credit to the industry that they represent and I cannot speak more highly of them and have no hesitation in recommending them and their business to other retirees like myself who are looking to move into a nice and financially affordable retirement community.

Platinum Retirement Solutions negotiated on my behalf with the village and in doing so saved me money on my initial outlay and ensured fairness in my resident contract. Interestingly I noticed that the villages that I visited with Peter were very much on their toes and were very careful in their responses to questions posed and requests made to benefit me as a client. There is no doubt that his presence helped my cause.

I have a warning to others who are considering such a move, don’t do it without first engaging the services of an industry specialist and the only industry specialist in NSW that I am aware of is Platinum Retirement Solutions.

When I sold my home I used a specialist real estate agent and in buying my next (retirement) home I used a specialist retirement industry consultant, that being Platinum Retirement Solutions and the results of my decision speak for themselves.