It would appear the company behind these adverts would really like you to spare your old clothes, so they can turn them into a tidy profit.

The leaflets do not directly claim to be in aid of any charity, but they are designed and phrased to make you feel good about giving this company, previously noted for their misleading advertising style by the ASA your old clothes for them to profit from.

I don’t know how many homes in Oxley Park this leaflet is hitting, or how widespread in Milton Keynes, but if you do even a tiny bit of google research it appears that Rutex Ltd are running nothing short of a nasty scam, and it matches, almost word for word, previous scam mailers by a company named W&W Ltd, who were apparently dissolved last year.

Knowing this is not a charity, but seemingly a long running (so one would assume, profitable) scam, it makes you wonder what “Donations are sent to the third world countries to help clothe the poor” actually means. Do they SELL this stuff to the third world, or does it never get there at all?

In short, avoid this sort of scam leaflet, and if you really do have spare clothes, sell them and keep the money for yourselves. Even better, donate a few to a REAL charity, not some door-to-door collection con company.

Shameful.

When we reported the issue, the team on site here at Oxley Park arrived quickly, and came up with a proposal to fix the problem, and ensure it doesn’t happen on any of the windows. Before lunch we knew what they thought was causing the issue, and how they planned to (neatly) resolve it.

It does sound as though these NEW windows have another design flaw. It seems that once they’ve been weathered they can shrink and move a little (they’re wood, after all), and as a result rain water can penetrate and make its way through the “mullion”/joint, and into the property. Despite this apparent lake of water tightness and weatherproofing, it is still claimed this latest window design is “excellent”.

We’ve been having windows “fixed” for nearly two years, so I hope my lack of faith in ANY fix working is understanding. Especially when we’ve been out of our home, had the windows replaced with a fantastic new design, only to find that leaks too.

So hats off to a quick response, lets hope we get a proper, permanent, fix.

Go figure.

Nice work all involved, nice work.

This time, it would seem, it’s a case of chasing new money over looking after current customers that has put our plans down the pan.

One week ago (last Thursday) we were scheduled to have a number of remaining issues resolved. Things like having some poor fitting glazing replaced, finishing the balcony work, replacing compromised Trespa panels, sorting out (hopefully) our wet skylight area and generally snagging all the work that has gone on since last November/December.

The day before work was due to take place, a Wood Newton representative contacts us to say they can’t do the work due to “pressing issues” with the new builds. Completely out of order, but what can you say “No, do it like you said you would?”, like that would make any difference.

Anyway, we were told they’d be in touch next week (this week) to reschedule. Completely, sadly, beleagueringly predictably there’s been no word since. So here we are, a week since work was due to take place, and yet again we’re in the dark without a clue as to if and when they will fix things.

We’ve always said, be honest, keep us informed, and life would be so much better, we’d feel much less stress, and things would just be nicer…

The silence is deafening.

Love it or loath it (and it does divide opinions) the exterior finish on the properties is like pretty  much nothing else available to the average house buyer.

Personally, I think it’s really good stuff.  The way it looks impressed me from the off, but there’s some hidden bonuses too.  The biggest plus for me is how bright it makes the whole development .  In the morning, sunshine beams through our high level bedroom window, flooding the room with light.  Our window faces west.  The house opposite is cream in colour, and very reflective, so we still get the benefit of the light!

In fact, with brightly clad properties all around, the light bounces all over the place, making what would be dark, shady places on a brick built development much brighter and cheerier.

There are some downsides, it can chip, scratch, and suffer noticeable damage more than a brick clad property, but overall I think Trespa is a really brilliant choice for cladding properties.  Perhaps in a few years people may get creative and re-clad their properties, there’s plenty of choice, Trespa comes in a wide range of colours and they’ve been quite conservative at Oxley Woods, perhaps in sympathy with our neighbours in the rest of Oxley Park.