Maidstone Borough Council Review

This is a very bad Council the hound people and use safeguarding as harassment take large sommes of money from old people by threat.
They try to make ill people homeless and make people live in fear. Disgusting.
They over charge for council tax by thousands and keep the money.
A member of staff was allowing a friend all full benefit and making a poor person pay extra by telling lies for years. They also lied to police and courts saying no money has been paid but more than what was entitled was paid by force and threat the simply lie to Ombudsman police and courts. The get away with it.

Fleeing domestic violence me and my three children, two younger ones parting with father atm, youngest has special needs, took them 4months to accept me and get me in temporary accommodation, to then refer me over to golden homes without me knowing and offer me a maisonette right next to a prison with a communal garden where any body can enter and children can get out, and for me to get my two younger children back with myself and there sister the property has to be suitable. I Refused this accommodation as it is not suitable for myself and children's needs as not only my special need soon has no fear he would be playing with the traffic on main road, I also believe convict that has been released have been giving propertys locally to where I've been offered as a close friends family member is living there that's on the sex affenders list!. For then the council to then chuck us out on the streets with no where to go. We are homeless and not only will I now lose my children, me and my eldest have no where to go. Never known such a disgusting borough council in my life.

By far the worst possible council. Issues are never dealt with, the borough is never improved on and the employees at Maidstone borough council do not know how to answer their phones.

Awful service, cannot even get a decent rubbish collection, despite charging thousands in council tax every year. Typical civil servant sector.

So if you happen to find yourself at risk of homelessness with a family apparently even if notice leave with a non fault s21 , I have to pickup a phone from the gateway wall opposite reception, phone a call centre I can see 8 meters away from where I'm standing. Then get told after I've waited on the phone that I have to register online. THEN told that no one will help my family until I'm actually told by court to leave , so what ever happens to human contact? Whatever happened to diversity needs? What is the point of Gateway? "Absolute farce and embarrassment" - the new tag line for Maidstone Borough Council

Bloody wast of time I have Cancer do you think I have time for waiting around on my phone.
Just waiting for someone who is not a machine.
Had a return phone call guess what they did not even
Boughter to speak to me. I am not paying my Council Tax ever.

Not fit for for purposes why does it not open early like everywhere and other places

They so ruthless and unfair to people. I hope one day they well be in my possession.

Reported green bin missed online, message said will collect in 2 days - please leave bin out?
4 days later, guess what!! Bin still hasn't been collected.
Rang this morning- basically called a liar as they could not find my request and told- i will look into it but cannot garuantee will will pick it up. SO.... what a waste of time and a couldn't care attitude does not feel me with much hope of getting the bin collected - OOh I forgot, of course. .?... they work to rule, dam doing anything over and above.

I do not know where they find their staff, but they know sod all. I recieved letters telling me to upload evidence I do this and get no reply and then get told I failed to act. Excuse me Maidstone borough council, you failed to act. You always do. Poor poor services, no work ethic, seems you just sit in front of the computers doing everything but work. It's like a yo yo trying to get a message to you only you do not come back with a response, just ignore all correspondences I send to you and then punish me because someone did not open, read and action their email! Pathetic.

I have to say Maidstone council is one of the best council in England , staff and services are both very quick they didn't let me down at all and sorted my issues out , I have to say thank you for them .

Had an issue with my council tax, got straight through to a chap called Amo, very helpful and sorted out my question.

Embarrassing, did anyone been consulted about King Street new layout? Maidstone roads has thousands of potholes and always get fix in a very poor quality.
But MBC trying to make it worse, like what they done in King Street and messing around, just wondering who's designing full of hassle roads like this?

On hold for over 20 minutes to be told 'do it online' I specifically wanted to speak to a human, which is why I didn't go online in the first place. Now I get to wait another six weeks plus before I hear anything. Yay.

The building has been refurbished and now houses the offices for the council, Council Tax, job centre and benefit enquiries for maidstone residents. It is light and airy, easily accessible, escalators, lifts and no narrow walkways with trip/wobble hazards for those with mobility issues. There are even toilets for visitor use which I was surprised by.
I didnt want to post an urgent letter so I delivered it by hand, and was assisted by a very helpful young lady who showed me the councils internal mail box. I think this is an extremely useful facility.
I also had a quick query and this was dealt with by a "floor walker" advisor named Jack. Although I had no appointment, he saw me immediately and dealt with my query professionally and in a very appreciated friendly manner.
Based on this visit today, i am very satisfied with the service I received and shall have less concerns should need to go here again.

How about opening on a Saturday, at least in the morning so people who are working outside of Maidstone get a chance to use the services.

Terrible customer service, placed from pillar to post and kept waiting for over 10 mins before actually speaking to someone.......awful

what a rubbish service they are quick on taking our money but not answering the phone toke me over 45 minutes to get some one on the phone and I was told to phone back tomorrow because they are short of staff

Came to work in the town and parked in an almost empty car park and got a ticket for the wheels being a few inches out of the bay, pathetic , jobsworth of a sad official. Wont be coming back to Maidstone and don't advise anyone else to with a council like that.

Never had a problem. Always got through by phone and had everything sorted out pretty quick.

Unreliable.

Staff don't know what they are doing or even bother reading about your situation. Having to send off email after email before anything is done.

Trying to contact Planning only to get a message to say that the contact centre is closed until 14.00. So, Maidstone Council go into inncommunicado mode so you cannot talk to anyone at the council for 4 hours. What a farce!

Missed small business help during covid because they delayed. Internal communication is really bad and their work process is so slow. Also they charge full amount of council tax for empty property. Thieves.

helpful and kindly to the pensioner when they are distressed.

Disgusting unprofessional public sector workers; not fit for purpose

They keep opening building sites even though the existing new builds aren t selling, but their infrastructure is not expanding to deal with the new people they are trying to attract to the area. Only move to Maidstone if you want to wait 3+ weeks for a doctors appointment, you want your kids in classes of 35+, you re willing to wait for hours on a trolley in A&E and you re happy to have full bins sitting outside your house for over a month. Oh, and you don t mind paying out for new wheels and tyres when you go down one of the massive potholes in the roads.

TRYING TO SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING............IMPOSSIBLE .
Where are all the staff that are employed,what do they do?
OUR BINS ARE NEVER COLLECTED......we have put in so many online complaints.

Took awhile to get through but eventually got through to Dianne about my council tax, was very helpful.

The Service of Remembrance at the Memorial, Maidstone was a disgrace to both the Military and residents of Maidstone, the sound system was not working adequately, the two minutes silence started early, and as most people couldn't hear what was happening talking went on through it.
Every year more and more people want to remember our war dead and veterans but it seems as though Maidstone Borough Council can't be bothered to get things correct, why couldn't a sound check have been done? Why didn't someone check the time? A Disgrace!

One of the most ridiculous council know to england!
To many stupid decisions and ideas

These are poorly trained staff with an unempathetic outlook towards any individual asking for help. It's clearly another part of the government public services that doesn't work and doesn't care.