Small triumph with Service Charges

Anyone who pays services charges towards the home they live in, I've just confirmed a refund of some of those charges which is now going towards a much anticipated holiday. 

Queries regarding the services charges first came about from a neighbour who spotted we were paying extortionate amounts towards services for things which were non-existent. We also discovered that not only did the organisation were overcharging the tenants/leaseholders, they were charging us all differently. Some were paying more or less than others where it should be equally proportionate.

After months of emails and phone calls, it had to be escalated into a complaint for the organisation to look into it and take the matter seriously. It's now ended with my service charges now almost halved which means I'm saving a bit extra from my outgoings going forward. Everything little helps as Tesco say. 

Organisations do make mistakes but if it looks fishy, the chances are it is fishy and worth pursuing until you get the answers you are satisfied with. It's a minefield how they come up with what to charge their tenants/leasholders. Some of them obviously don't visit the properties before they sit down to decide what to charge for. 

My father is over 80 and he's been paying services for years, but like a lot of others has never questioned where the money is going (maybe it's a generation thing) and I dread to think if he's been getting ripped off...