Berlin Wall culture at TDS comes tumbling down

The TDS seems determined to show that it will remove the ‘Berlin Wall’ culture that has blighted the organisation.

Members complained that they, er, couldn’t actually speak to anyone to complain to. That the switchboard experience was awful. And when you did get through, the computer said ‘no’.

But at last week’s ARLA conference, a photo opportunity to show that things have changed commandeered  Clara Oliver of Chelsea lettings agent Soames to help kick brick.

The ‘wall’ was demolished after chief executive Steve Harriott (right) told the conference of the launch of a new system to give direct access to the senior management at TDS and a facility to switch calls from the call centre to the TDS head office in Hemel Hempstead.

Clara Oliver took the penalty kick as one of the winners in the TDS ‘Guess the Number of Tenancy Disputes’ competition.

The correct answer was 9,255 disputes between April and December last year. The other winner of a magnum of Champagne was Andrew Huddison, of Huddison Jacob Property Management.

Now that the TDS has cleaned up its act, LAT hereby calls on readers to nominate their other worst experiences in being unable to get through.

Sorry, but there’s one very obvious contender. Are you thinking what we’re thinking?