Homepage  |   E-mail this article  |   Print

---

---

Advertisement

1:00 am, June 23, 2008
Disgruntled investors use blogmail to get cash back

By Simon Binns

Disgruntled property investors have used the power of the internet to secure the return of deposits paid to office and apartment developer Dylan Harvey.

One investor managed to secure the return of an £8,300 deposit put down on the developer's Hatton Park office scheme in Liverpool. The investor hadn't even signed a contract when the reservation fee was paid.

The investor, who asked to be named as Investor A, was dissatisfied with Dylan Harvey's response, so she decided to post a blog on a number of online property forums. Some, such as www.totalproperty.com, were used by Dylan Harvey sales staff to offer investment opportunities to potential buyers. Toby Whittaker, director at Dylan Harvey, which built the Fresh Tower apartments in Chapel Street, Salford, said that he was unaware of any dissatisfied customers.

“The complaints department normally deals with anything like this, so I haven't heard anything about it.

“There are always refunds. People are getting twitchy in the current market. If they've got a good reason, there'll be a refund.

“It looks like someone has signed their reservation form, decided they want a refund and made some noise about it. La Schappe is one of our developments that is doing really well.”

Another investor is understood to have reached a settlement on an investment of nearly £25,000 in Dylan Harvey's La Schappe serviced residential scheme in Briancon, France, by starting a blog to appeal for any other investors involved in a dispute with the developer. The blog has now been removed and the investor, when contacted by Crain's, was unable to comment, although they had also been taking legal advice from Manchester law firm Pannone in order to retrieve the deposit.

“Blogging is the poor man's lawyer,” said Investor A. “I didn't write anything in my blogs that weren't true and I wasn't prepared to negotiate, but Dylan Harvey weren't going to refund me and I wasn't prepared to take it lying down.”

Investor A's purchase was carried out through a broker, PropertyIQ, which told the buyer in an email that if they were not happy with any details of the deal, they would be able to “request a full refund.” Crain's has seen a copy of the email.

Investor A said the original completion date given for Hatton Park was summer 2008 but building work has not yet started.

“I found a few forums that Dylan Harvey staff used to sell on, so I used them to ask what was happening to the project I had invested in. I didn't write anything malicious or say anything that wasn't true.”

Pressure

Kevin Gaskell, a Dylan Harvey sales consultant, made contact with the investor by telephone after reading the postings.

Investor A said she was told that she could have a full refund if she stopped blogging and removed the posts. “I agreed on the basis that they sent me their intention to refund me in writing, which they did,” she added. “I was so angry with the way they'd behaved during the entire process, I wasn't going to settle. Lawyers charge nearly £200 an hour, I decided to go online because it's a free way to put them under pressure.”

At least one other investor who launched a blog complaining about Dylan Harvey has had a deposit partially refunded.

Pannone is also currently advising a third investor over a separate wrangle with Dylan Harvey, again over La Schappe.



COMMENTS? sbinns@crain.com