112 BIRCH HILL GROUP HOME

Very stressful placed to live. Park help is not regulated with their speeding and truck noises but residents are treated unkindly. We left after a stressful incident involving my husband who has Alzheimer’s and our dog who is now dead. Terrible.

I came to Maine to move My daughter and grandchildren out of Birch Hill Estates to find it to be very much to my disliking. I found my daughter's Double wide model home to be in very bad need of repairs. I also found out that I was told by a few of the neighbors that when they do call maintenance it can take up to 3 weeks for them to get back to you and longer before the work ever gets done. I would Not 🚫 recommend this place to anybody considering the amount of rent my daughter Michelle Veillette is paying specially for a single parent with a special needs daughter and a 21 year old daughter who has been at her sister's side.

Lot rent increases "every year per corporate" yet as an HOA they do nothing. Residents are expected to mow, keep debrie off the yard, driveways plowed and clear, keep stains off the pavement and if not then they recive a notice detailing a date for it to be fixed or fined for the park to take care of it. Spent 8 months trying to get them to pick up a tree that took out the powerlines and was laying half in our yard and kept getting "the tree removal company will take care of it they will come through" every month until either i payed to have it cleaned or took it upon myself to remove it. Had to mow the lawn when they sent out notice that debrie was to be removed within the week. 519 a month for an HOA that does nothing for Residents. Really isn't that great of a park seeing as how the police and ambulances are there periodically for overdoses or standoffs but they are on top of getting after residents to make it look prestine on the surface. The HOA is a joke.

Birch Hill Estates, in Bangor- recently delivered lists to their occupants who needed to complete improvements to their trailers/sheds in order to avoid being evicted from the park and to avoid fees. My 72 year old mother was one of these people. Most people who live at the park are on a fixed income and need adequate time and planning to make repairs that are of a high expense. Birch Hill Estates gave her a very intense list of needed repairs and improvements that she had to have done by July 17th. They allowed her about 3 wks to find a contractor, hire and complete the job. There are so many things wrong with this equation. For starters, expecting park residents to find contractors, all within a similar time period means that there is no possibility of an adequate amount of skilled contractors to be available within the time period. My mother, for example- lives alone, recently widowed and doing this sort of thing on her own is a stretch of her abilities; financially, physically and mentally. The pressure to not be evicted as a 72 year old disabled woman is cruel. So my sweet mother began the search for contractors. After not being called back quickly and repeatedly, and seeing the enormous expense and time involved of the project- she made a contract with the first person who appeared qualified and available. She checked the glowing references and I googled the person she was hiring. At this point I was aware that he had an extensive criminal history, and was recently out of jail. SO we were guarded, however he was very kind and motivated and my mother really wanted to give him a chance since there was very little time to work with. He did very good work for about a week. There came a point when we became aware that he was misusing his medications and drinking on the job. My husband would have been able to do this work for her IF she had been given adequate notice and time. Most employed people can't take off time from work with little notice, and this was our situation. SO we watched closer. Donald Chandler is the contractor that my mother hired. He disappeared for about a week. At this point other family members got a chance to look at the work he was doing. It was sloppy, bizarre and badly done. He manipulated her into adding more projects to tie it all together(and get more cash in hand). Some of these, he didn't even do. My mother was panicked. She kept trying to point out major issues and he would drunkenly reply that he only had some painting and trim left before he expected the rest of his payment. The last 2 days he was on the job, he would sleep in his car, sweat pouring off of him. He was detoxing. Which is why he disappeared for a week. He fell repeatedly. He rummaged through her cupboards in the bathroom and back bedroom, as she was nice enough to provide them drinks and allowed them to use her bathroom. He fell and bumped his head on the way out of her house that evening, so badly that he had a very large bump. He was wasted. He also talked her into giving him a 550$ advance on the money she owed after the job was completed. When he left, he went on a drunken, drugged out trek through towns- eventually getting arrested. His employee informed my mother of the situation and returned the next day to try to complete the job. This is when I became involved. I drove up and met the guy, trusted him enough to give him a chance. We paid him 500$ to get more supplies needed to complete the job because Donald had apparently spent supply money, returned items to get cash and tried to use old materials he had to do the job. His employee had managed to work about 2 hours before he recieved a message that Donald and Donald's ex needed to talk to him and he needed to return the truck. Basically Donald stopped his employee from being able to complete the job. He told him to give the truck he was using and the keys to the work trailer that had been left on my mother's property, to his ex. This place takes advantage of the elderly and sets them up for failure. Do not recommend.

Homes are well kept. The first impression is positive. The layout makes one feel they have space and privacy. Close to downtown and interstate . It has been in existence for many years but it's age doesn't show ,due to the excellent care by the owners and resident. Families and single or retirees blend well...