[Salarpuria Greenage] Concerns regarding cuddles fees

Hello all,

I have 2.9 yr son and I have been visiting various pre-schools and daycare.
I went to our in-campus cuddles to check after-school daycare. And I found their fees really exorbitant. They have just added various components under the label of admission fees, application fees, maintenance fees, deposit fees, extended hours etc etc to extort money. 

    

* Day care kit is 7000 Rs, which includes 2 bedsheets and 1 bag. I have never bought so costly bedsheets before.
* Refundable deposit is 9000 Rs, Anyways they take quarterly fee in-advance and we leave our precious ones with them, why there is need of deposit amount?
* They are operational in evening till 7 pm. But standard fees is for timing till 6.30pm. For those extra 30 mins, there is extended hours fees.
* So annually daycare fees of my son comes out to be Rs 1,14,500  + 9000 (refundable deposit)
*For younger babies annual daycare fees will come out to be Rs 1,60,000 + 9000.  In my experience this is way too high compared to other similar daycares.I am not considering cuddles playschool. But for reference here is their nursery class fees, that is almost Rs 78,000 annually.

    

Here is my opinion on the playschool:
* Founder of the school, Mrs Chandrika has another 'little millenium' franchisee school in HSR layout. After talking to Ramya (cuddles centre in-charge), i felt they are using same little millenium curriculum here without taking the franchise. They claim to have designed their own curriculum. When i asked what are the improvements that they have done over that curriculum, she couldn't give convincing reply. They are charging double the fees and even saving the franchise costs. 
* To cross-check, i visited 'little millenium' franchise playschool in bellandur. They also have similar curriculum. The explanation that bellandur centre head gave was very similar to what Ramya gave. They seemed to be coming from same source. And annual fees for this centre comes around 40,000 Rs.

We, working parents, have given our next many years of earning to buy an apartment here and one of the main reason was in-campus daycare facility.  Because of the convenience and safety of being in-campus, we have to go with this option.
Do other parents also find this fees unreasonable? If yes, may be we can take it up with them together.
I understand some greenage members were also in the panel for deciding daycare provider. Cuddles daycare was chosen among 14 other contenders. Can anybody shed light on what were the points considered? If GOA intervene, can we change the daycare provider? Is that an option?

Plz share your thoughts.

Regards,
[deleted]
PS: Above mentioned opinion is my personal opinion

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Yes very nicely put [deleted].
I had enquired about their fees and found it to be exorbitant. They are charging some fee or the other on some or the other pretext.

Also, quality is not what you would expect by paying so high a fee. I personally asked many parents about the quality of teachers etc , and the response that I got was its not great and the only reason they send their kids is coz of convenience.

Im not sure if Greenage is charging any rent, but given that they have got this opportunity, they should act responsibly and not extract as much as they can from parents.

Seriously, there should be a cap on their fee. Any vendor that gets in here gains a monopoly and starts looting the helpless residents. Same thing happened with the grocery shop, the car wash guy, newspaper guy and others.

Cuddles should be given a 1-2 year contract and if their performance is not good, they should be replaced. Such kind of clauses can only force them to have reasonable fee.

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This robbery will only stop when GOA takes over management of complex. Otherwise, builder knows how to make money in the pretext of maintaining complex.

I hope our legal team would mention this issue also in court in next association hearing and expedite decision. All pricing detail is attached with previous email which can be produced in court.

Once we have control we will kick them out and get someone who does not believe in robbing customers.

Till then from our side we should keep building pressure on builder from all aspects.

[Salarpuria Greenage] Creating confusion & consequential harassment of the community residents

The overhead WTP & STP water storage tanks cleaning schedule is yet another instance of Facility Management team creating confusion & consequential harassment of the Greenage residents ‎by mailing improper time line. 

Already "Boom Barrier" operation for 4 Wheeler Access Control System has missed 2 time lines without any clarification from FM team.

Here it is also prudent to mention about similar time line assurance mails from them for bigger problems like Cauvery Water Availability & Khatha Transfer which are apparently  ‎put in perpetual abeyance.

[Salarpuria Greenage] Re: [Greenage Update] TWO WHEELER STOLEN FROM BB PARKING

Dear Neenu,

This is indeed an executive summary of a thorough investigative report!

Few questions arise out of this report: -

1) When the garbage truck was going out of Greenage with "garbage" covered by plastic sheet tied all around, why did it not trigger the main gate security guards to have a check on the content? From the cc tv footage it appears that it is perhaps not a normal practice of such trucks to be covered all around. Has the Security Officer been taken to task?

2) Did the Facility Management team call the truck owner for interrogation? I'm sure they must be having the record of this truck registration number & perhaps the contacts of the owners also. If it is not done, what is the reason for such wilful inaction?

3) Despite the fact almost 9 days have passed after the incident it is very unusual not to see any progress in this bike theft incident. Facility Manager is primarily responsible for providing security to the residents. How can he remain silent after second incidence of similar two wheeler thefts where there are are startling similarities between these two thefts?

My inference : the root cause of all such cases is the incompetence of our Facility Management team & the Facility Manager as the leader of this team has to own up the responsibility specially when thefts are repeating in quick succession. 

I can assure you of my personal support to any reactive action from our Community as a fall out of such lackadaisical approach adopted by Facility Management team of Greenage.

Since I stay very close to your apartment, please feel free to drop in any day if you need my help.

Best regards,

Kanchan Chakraborty

Sent from my iPad

On 27-Apr-2016, at 5:59 PM, Neenu S Kumar xx@gmail.com [greenage_owners] <greenage_owners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hello everyone     

                                                                   

I would like to update you all on my earlier email regarding my bike being stolen from UB parking of Birch B block last week.

It has been a WEEK since the theft was realized and reported to the facilities team and I thought of updating you with all the details which I have collected so far on this incident …

Before that, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those Greenagians, who had responded to my earlier emails with their timely guidance, suggestions, support and next steps.

Kanchan Chakraborthy : Yes, it’s a serious issue which demands strong security measures to be deployed in Greenage.

Ranjani Nair: Thanks for your supportive words. Yes, I have filed a police complaint.

Saji Kumar : As you had boldly pointed out , this is not the first of its kind as we were already used to vehicle theft (parts and vehicle as such!) which makes this matter all the more crucial to investigate into and to take strong actions to prevent such offense.

Rajesh Menon : Thank you so much for your guidance and assistance extended in this investigation. As you said ,we really need to get the residents to support the cause, for SS management to act strongly in-order to implement fool proof security measures at the earliest so that we are not forced  to hear even worse news in the future.

Deepak Gupta : Thanks for suggesting  me to check the CC cam deployed at UB entry; it was surprising to note that the garbage truck went much inside ,instead of parking at the ramp near the curve  and collecting the garbage as you had mentioned. This also brings out a valid inference that the Garbage van is free chose its route and stops inside Greenage. I too agree for a big NO for “chaltahai attitude” wrt all such discrepancies we experience inside Greenage.

Chellappan S :  Yes , I had become a scapegoat  being a witness of those  “ceremonial rituals” carried out by the facility team with the support of the management to while away those tensed moments when the theft was being reported and then later on with a BIG silence !

Nikhil Narendran : I totally agree with the suppression of crime by SS which indeed is a defeat to themselves, as you had rightly pointed out. If that was not the case (If the crime was taken with relevant seriousness when it was reported by Rajesh Menon ), such kind of an offense wouldn’t have been reported for the second time ! High time for SS to indulge police as they themselves has proved their inefficiency in taking either proactive or reactive steps when such thefts are brought to their notice.

Vishnu Nair : Thanks for your kind words. I hope SS will whole kindheartedly involve police to investigate and catch the real culprits.

Abhliash Nair: This case being a repetitive offense, it puts more pressure on the security agency and since they themselves have no clue on how such a theft had happened , they are left with no choice than to come forward with compensation offer for their survival and sustenance within Greenage!!

Coming to the main update: The investigation by the facilities team was winded up the very next day after the theft was being reported. Their investigation process included:

• Security guards being sent to each and every corner of LB, UB and Basement parking area of A, B, C, D, J, K blocks.
• Rewinding back the CC cam clips for any evidence.
• Interrogating the Car wash laborers, garbage vendor/laborers and other cleaning staffs regarding the missing vehicle.

Facilities team reported that they don’t have any clue regarding the culprit and that I can go ahead and file a police complaint and SS will also inform police about this, once a police complaint has been lodged.

The Scorpio security agency officials visited my home, to communicate regarding their willingness to compensate for the loss of my vehicle and also to accompany as to the police station (what a better way to prove their innocence before police enquiry). We bombarded them with many questions regarding their inefficiency having given a chance for such a theft to happen, but there was no answer to any of those questions but a long silence.

We went ahead and filed a police complaint and received the FIR. To our surprise, we had to hear all sarcastic statements from the Police, questioning us on how such a theft was ever possible amidst so many security guards inside Greenage.They asked us to demand SS facilities team to strongly inquire on this matter as with the presence of CCTV cams, it was too easy to find the culprit, as they were unaware of the absence of both- the CC cams and security guards inside the parking area!! It was informed to us that they will visit Greenage for the enquiry process.

With my personal interest, I spend few hours rewinding and checking the CC CAM clips on the day of theft suspect and the previous days. I would like to include those screen shots with my inferences. The respective details are texted on each of the clip.

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Key findings from the clips 

1. The van was covered while entering Greenage on Apr 18th prior to garbage collection unlike the normal days
2. The van was fully covered from all the three sides while exiting Greenage ,even when it looks lightly loaded on the day the bike was found missing
3. To compare , pls observe the van leaving Greenage on Apr 16th when it is fully loaded with no covering
4. Garbage vendor Register shows the fully loaded van on Apr 16 th took only 1 hour 43 minutes where as the partially loaded Van took 4 hours 6 minutes to leave the campus  on Apr 18th.
5. Garbage van on Apr 18 collected Garbage from 11 blocks where as the van on Apr 16 collected garbage from 8 blocks and still the garbage was found partially loaded and covered.
6. To conclude with a more generalized inference - I amplified the data set width – checking the register to find the average garbage collection time for the past and current month and it didn’t exceed 2hrs -2 hrs 30 mts even on those days when the entire 13 chute rooms were covered !!
7. There is no presence of any security guard from the time Garbage van enters Greenage till the time it exits.
8. Referring to the CC cam clip of the Garbage van which was entering Birch B block (not attached as I couldn’t transfer the clip due to digital non-compatibility) after the collection from Juniper ,Cedar, Deodar and Oak blocks, it was not covered and was pretty empty having ample space to dump a Honda Activa either in a standing or sleeping posture !!!

With all these references and with the inputs from facilities team that the security guards have no clue on how the bike was stolen, and also with the close resemblance with the previous bike theft from Juniper with close proximity to the chute room, I strongly conclude that the Garbage vendor should be the culprit.

It is a tough luck for me to share that I had visited the Birch Facilities - CC cam surveillance corner thrice for checking the CC Cam clips and it was found unattended with any operator presence who was supposed to monitor the CC cams on a real-time basis !! 

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This even adds up to the security distress which we are discussing.

Having cited all these points, it boils down to one single concern: LACK of STRONG SECURITY MEASURES and LACK OF WELL-TRAINED SECURITY GUARDS andPROPER MONITORING OF SECURITY GUARDS/DEVICES/SERVICES BY THE POWERFUL AUTHORITIES.

We all should stand together and strongly demand for better security services whether it is by demanding a better security agency in place or deploying additional and high resolution CC CAMS , getting better TRAINED security guards where ever any third party presence could be traced inside Greenage.

I have received the FIR (which has been shared with Lenin) and further waiting for the police enquiry, which requires involvement of SS teams to find the thief and to curb criminal practices reported inside Greenage.

As mentioned to you all earlier, I don’t have any hope of  getting my vehicle back. The security agency has promptly come forward to provide compensation against my loss so that this theft incident wouldn't go loud and could be suppressed with no more voice against this. 

As it’s the second time ,such kind of a crime happening inside our community in such a short span and with the probe from the Police suspecting the real culprits are well aware of the security loop holes within Greenage, I request you all to strongly support us and demand for the safety and security of each of our assets!!!

Looking forward for your support and request you all to raise this issue for the betterment of our security while residing in Greenage.

Thanks for your time and patience.

Best Regards

Neenu

[Salarpuria Greenage] No Water in OAk-C-25XX for more than 11 hours - No response from facilities - Escalating to Mr. PK Mishra & Bijay Agarwal

Dear Mr. Mishra and Mr. Agarwal,

Writing this mail with utter distress. I don't have water for over 11 hours in my flat. Lenin, Facilities, Hegde everyone have stopped accepting my phones.

Reception security does not have a clue, every time he is coming up with a new reason - "water tank cleaning still going on" or "overhead tank is leaking" and many more.

None of these are plausible.

Morning, despite the planned time of 2pm to stop the water, in reality it was stopped at 10am. Even after calling facilities & helpdesk multiple times, they didn't start the water nor they supplied any bucketed water as promised.

 On top of everything Rashmi had the audacity to lie on my face that she sent bucketed water and I supposedly "refused" to accept! 
I don't even have water in my toilet flush!

I demand an answer from you on this utter mismanagement. And please justify on what basis you are asking us to pay monthly maintenance if you can't supply the most basic amenity as water.

And I also need to understand why none of the facilities team ever picks up my phone call?

Awaiting a response

Thanks

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Do you really believe any one of your mail addressees will ever respond to your demand?

However, it is always better to keep on record instances of such incompetence of our Facility Management team.

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Lenin,

On top of everything it is surprising that you have the extremely audacity and rudeness to lie!

Despite my 20+ phone calls n the evening you never even bothered to pick up the phone even once!

And Rashmi lied flat on my face that she sent buckets of water which never arrived my house till 1pm yesterday! 

11 hours of no water and you have the guts to say 'delay in restoration'?

Mr. Mishra & Mr. Agarwal,

Hope the seasoned businessman like yourselves know what a bad word of mouth can do, no matter how big and reputed the company is.

-Priyanka

  

On Thursday, April 28, 2016 11:35 AM, Lenin L <lenin@sattvagroup.in> wrote:

-----------------Please type your reply above this line and leave this line intact--------

Lenin L (Facility Manager) wrote:

Dear Ms. Priyanka,

 

We accept there was a delay in restoration of water supply for some flats due to air lock in the pipeline after the overhead tank cleaning activity.

We had provided water in bucket to the flats who are requested.

 

Regret for the inconvenience caused.

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

Lenin L

Manager – Facilites

 

[Salarpuria Greenage] Swimming pool used back side locality kids

Dear facilities,

Today at about 9:30am it was noticed that kids from near by locality were using our swimming pool. When asked they ran away and crossed the fence using ladder on other side.

Some of the resident kids reached out to JB security and told about kids in pool however he decided not to even get out of his chair.

Thanks for providing top notch security in Greenage. Every new day is adding a feather to your hat. Keep it up.

To remind few

1. Child molestation 
2. Two 2-wheeler theft
3. Unknown cars parked for months
4. Lifts vandalised
5. Tyres stolen from parked car
6. Security gaurds helping in transferring goods through fence
6. Sleeping security
7. No record of visitors and visiting vehicles
8. And now, nearby locality kids enjoying swimming pool

Regards
Deepak

[Greenage Update] TWO WHEELER STOLEN FROM BB PARKING

Sent: Thursday, 21 April 2016 16:05 Subject: [Greenage Update] TWO WHEELER STOLEN FROM BB PARKING

 

Hello all

Three months back, when a fellow Greenagain (Mr Rajesh Menon - JC X03) brought to our notice about his two wheeler being stolen from his parking lot, I never thought of such a shocking incident ever happening to me in a short time span, making me a similar victim !!

My Honda Activa was missing from my parking area from last Tuesday (Apr 19) . The bike was very much present on Sunday and Monday (Apr 17 and 18th) in our allocated parking space in UB parking of Birch and not in any common/public space .Soon after the realization of theft,I got the security supervisor- Ajay,  Lenin and Kiran - from facilities team, SSO - Muthu and a bunch of other security guards from Greenage to investigate on this.

Initially they demanded two days time to trace the bike elsewhere in the other parking lots of A, J , C, D, K and to screen the CCTV clips. With our strong foot forward, pointing the irresponsible security forces held responsible for this theft, I got an update yesterday evening from Lenin that the CCTV clip showed that the Garbage truck leaving Greenage was fully covered on the day when the bike was found missing unlike the usual days of garbage collection.

Same, as in the case of the Bike which was stolen from Juniper last November , my bike was also parked in the area with close proximity to the chute room (UB) near the lift.

This gives a strong clue that the Bike which was on central stand and handle locked (which was in an unused condition with battery being down and hard to start) , was lifted and kept inside the garbage truck and transported during the odd morning hours (2-3am) of garbage collection.

I was informed that the Garbage collection is supposed to happen in the presence of security guards wherein they unlock the chute room for garbage collection. But to my surprise ,I am yet to find a lock for the chute room !! Also had never found any security in UB or LB parking area.

Today morning after tight follow-ups, I was given the update that the garbage guys are ready to prove their innocence, willing themselves to be handled by the police and the only chance they suspect is that the bike to have got unlocked and pushed outside the Greenage complex. In-that case - where is the proof ? No CCTV clip showing the exit of Honda Activa by any !

If SS management is so supportive with respect to the Garbage vendor - then dont you think that it will be the Security guards who should be held responsible for having supported the theft crime and should be held liable for my loss????

To be precise, the contract with such lame security agency has to be cancelled in that case.

I strongly believe - mainly because of the unused condition of the vehicle which cannot be started and ridden and because of the coincidence of the earlier bike theft being in the parking area adjacent to the Garbage collection room, its is the Garbage vendor who should be held responsible for this.

As per the latest conversation with SS, they don't have any plan to get the police informed from their side, which unlikely should be an imperative decision to curb such kind of repetitive thefts happening inside Greenage.

I would urge each one of your support on this as many essential checks have been overlooked by SS team which matters a lot with respect to security of our assets.Now that, I don't have any hope of getting my vehicle back , SS being taking the matter so lightly.

But at the same time, I would like to escalate such a sensitive issue which we have been facing in such a reputed apartment complex in the city, which never compromises on the maintenance charges which includes such premium tight security services !!

Yes friends, today its a two wheeler, if this is the case: for the "N" number of trucks, vans and other large vehicles entering and exiting our community- we should be even scared of our small innocent kids who could be easily kidnapped inside those trucks !!

I would require your support to collectively raise this issue to the SS management so that they are forced to take stringent measures to tighten the security and lay down strong processes in place for each and every assets of fellow Greenagians !!!

Let us stand together for foolproof security measures to be implemented at Greenage so as to avoid such incidents in the future...

Thanks for your time and patience

[Salarpuria Greenage] FW: Alert !! To all Residents

Hegde V (Asst. Facility Manager) wrote:

Dear Residents,

Greetings from Salarpuria Sattva !

We have observed that today early morning (14/04/16) around 4:10am vandalized one of our CCTV camera inside the elevator in ALPINE A-WING by someone who want to disturb the peace and safety of others. It is also observed that there are some more footages being recovered of these concealed persons indulging many other cameras too. We have attached the captured footages for your review & if you recognize this elusive person/s

This has  happened thrice in the past 3 months damaging 5 cameras , signage’s , lift buttons , lift lighting & casing. Around 5 Lift doors have been damaged in the past 15 days due to kicking of doors.

We urge all residents to help us in capturing this person/ persons if you notice something unusual by informing our FM team. If its repeated again and again then we have no option other than removing all the cameras.

A CCTV footage has been recovered showing this person breaking CCTV attached here for all of your reference.

Thanks and regards

Greenage facility team

Some random weekend thoughts ....

I have been watching a heated email exchange between two residents -which started on the election process and quickly deteriorated to personal slander. Some fellow residents bravely chipped in with advice and requests to cease - but are being quickly vilified by the original participant. Some references in the exchange go back 2 years in time !!!!

All this email traffic made me wonder about 2 things - firstly, how much passion and energy do people possess to engage in this type of writing (/typing) and secondly, could it be that the fact email is free is what makes people rush to voice their thoughts on email? Although one does pay for broadband/data plan ...etc, the cost per email can be considered insignificant. Notice how when we pay for services by quantity (petrol, call minutes, parking space, entrance tickets), we tend to be judicious in use of them.

If email cost money directly, maybe people would think twice before engaging in these types of email. In fact, I have so many relatives and friends, who are not on email, but haven't heard my opinion of them only because I can't afford to write them a letter or visit them across town.....

I was going to end my post here but just noticed another email with interesting last lines from the writer - thought it helpful to list below:

" ....

Having said this,which i feel is sufficient, i humbly request both of you to let bygones be bygones and channellise your energies in retaining the Greenage spirit of oneness.

Yesterday being Ugadi, i was hoping and praying that river Cauvery would flow by our habitat as early as possible and enable us to have a healthy stay.Please join me in my prayers.

With the best of wishes for a long, healthy and peaceful life, "

[Salarpuria Greenage] RE: Greenage Zero waste management

 HI,

   The wet waste digester generated too much of Bad horrific smell, specially on higher floors in the wings it was placed. Please consider fixing that before restarting it. 

Thanks,

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Lenin L (Facility Manager) wrote:

Dear Residents,

This is to bring your notice that, we have planned to start waste segregation process in next week.

We will be having a meeting on 9th Apr 2016 along with volunteers in Alpine conference hall at 11:00am.

Expecting maximum participation from residents for this Social Commitment!!

Thanks & Regards,

Lenin L

Manager – Facilites

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Dear Residents,

In co-ordination and with active participation of all our esteem residents we are planning to make “Greenage” - Zero waste society.

It is necessary to sensitize the residents on the impacts of unsegregated waste. It can be efficiently managed with minimum of effort from the residents & through training to the housekeeping staff and maids. With the right training & awareness the residents can take responsibility of the waste generated and can resourcefully manage the waste by segregating the waste at source.

In this regard we have engaged a non-profit organisation who are specialized in this field to actively participate in providing training & sensitization to residents, maids & housekeeping staffs.

The Training will cover:

§  Introduction on the Team

§  Current Scenario of waste in Bangalore

§  Waste categories & terminology

§  Importance of segregation at source

                         The Impacts of training & Sensitization:

§  General awareness on waste

§  Volunteers – Waste Champions formed

§  Better segregation at source

§  Reduction at the point of generation

We welcome all of your suggestions & views. We are proposing this event to start on 6th March 2016.  We request all of you to send your name who would like to volunteer for this program from each block.

We solicit your active participation in this program and make “Greenage” as “Zero Waste Society”.

           Thanks & Regards

         Greenage Facility Team