Allison Baden-Clay - GENERAL DISCUSSION THREAD #37

[Maigret]

That is bizarre - it doesn't even look like they've cleaned it after taking out the furniture - why would you as the owner be happy putting pictures like that out there - not inviting at all!!

The curtains in the main bedroom are dreadful lets hope Allison had others up and they were in a cupboard for the last six years (that's what I did when renting)

 

[Mystique75]

The Courier Mail just published a brief article on the house being listed for rent. The secret is out and I admit I do feel guilty for sharing this news. I feel bad for her family if people are saying negative things about her house. From the outside it looks really nice and it is the location they would have loved, being around the corner from the school,
so living with dated decor and a small kitchen was obviously worth it for her. She did a brilliant job making do, and her priorities were elsewhere, like with raising her kids. I think that says a lot about her character.

So well said, I totally agree! When I first saw the pictures, I could actually picture the girls talking and giggling, I don't know why.

This can't be easy for the owners either, they would have needed to make some tough decisions.

 

[Tishy]

That's okay ..... wasn't thinking of the ad itself, more the Century 21/sunflower thing when I posted.

IMOO if those are new ads, the sunflower reference has got to be either an incredibly insensitive oversight or a sick attempt to repair the battering the company's image has taken by using a direct positive association.

Maybe they simply severely underestimated how deep and wide (yes, even in beautiful SA! Go The Crows!!!) the perception of the company's association with this goes; the public perception of a broader corporate culture of complete disregard for ethical and moral behaviour - sex with staff? Using client properties for extra-marital liaisons? Yuck. Sleazy, seedy behaviour representative of and simply perpetuating the apparently well-founded poor reputation of the industry. And of course despite their head's previous seeming 'support' - the company appears to have gone to ground - a classic error in corporate image management where convention says the best approach to a potential image disaster is to be fast and up-front in dealing with the issue. D'oh.
Pity the other poor franchisees and honourable people in the company and the broader industry who actually do care, have morals and ethics, and work in their clients' interests at all times rather than their own.

Quite aside from The Accused's apparent complete stupidity, despicable behaviour and cold, cruel selfishness...

I'm in the media industry; IMOO considered independently of the link to Allison's MURDER, I thought the ads were an interesting departure from the norm of real estate television advertising. I will find out whether the sunflower reference is a new inclusion in their advertising creative.

Even if only for my own peace of mind so I can know whether they are in fact just stupid and insensitive, or cold and calculating.

Rant over. I feel better now, thank you for your patience. :banghead:

 

[No1 Ladies Detective]

On a different topic, I wanted to check this out since I have rarely looked on this forum, did the issue of the missing hand(s) get confirmed? *I have heard it from two completely different local sources- one via a solicitor and one via an ambo on the scene reportedly. *The legal thought it was to hide DNA evidence after Allison scratched Gerard. *I know this is horrible to think about, but if it is true it will all come out in the trial. *It would of course explain all the blood found in the Prado, but that would mean it was done prior to moving the body, right? *So most likely at home or outside the home, in the garden? *It does look private at the house, especially with the child care next door being vacant at night. *

The other thing I was wondering about was the fact the kids must have been home since Gerard was sending those rediculous texts early in the morning saying they were waking up, etc. *Yet the neighbours heard arguing and screaming. *The arguing and screaming made me think it was impulsive and anger driven, though it does look premeditated at least in fantasy land (since he rang the life insurance co before she went missing and had all the money problems with no other way out). *If it all blew up on that night with the arguing, then wouldn't the girls have heard, or at least there was a high risk they would hear- unless he drugged them? *If he drugged them before bedtime, then it was completely premeditated and he would be stupid to allow an argument to start and would have done many things much better- blood in the car for one. *It makes me think it was a rage and he was damn lucky the girls didn't wake up (heavy sleepers?) and he was desperate and scrambling after the fact which is why he made mistakes- despite having fantasized about doing it before hand. *But did his mum come" babysit" or did he leave the girls home alone? *When he contacted his dad, did his dad expect this call would come (if not that night then some other planned night)? *And not to be horrible, but I imagine his dad doing the hand removal since he was a hunter in Africa by all accounts with the skulls at his house, so would be desensitized to such things, at least with animals.

 

[they'll get you]

So well said, I totally agree! When I first saw the pictures, I could actually picture the girls talking and giggling, I don't know why.

This can't be easy for the owners either, they would have needed to make some tough decisions.

The amount of police and forensic people swarming through the house with luminol, dusting for fingerprints & dirty shoes/boots would have been a shocker. Me too, I pictured Allison and the girls with all the good times.

 

[alioop]

Hi No 1 LD, welcome to the forum. I believe we have established that the missing hand rumour is untrue. There was only some blood smears in the captiva, not a lot of blood but a lot of cleaning fluid around the smears. Also it appears the girls were home that night. We don't know what they heard or saw. Nothing we hope for their sakes.

On a different topic, I wanted to check this out since I have rarely looked on this forum, did the issue of the missing hand(s) get confirmed? *I have heard it from two completely different local sources- one via a solicitor and one via an ambo on the scene reportedly. *The legal thought it was to hide DNA evidence after Allison scratched Gerard. *I know this is horrible to think about, but if it is true it will all come out in the trial. *It would of course explain all the blood found in the Prado, but that would mean it was done prior to moving the body, right? *So most likely at home or outside the home, in the garden? *It does look private at the house, especially with the child care next door being vacant at night. *

The other thing I was wondering about was the fact the kids must have been home since Gerard was sending those rediculous texts early in the morning saying they were waking up, etc. *Yet the neighbours heard arguing and screaming. *The arguing and screaming made me think it was impulsive and anger driven, though it does look premeditated at least in fantasy land (since he rang the life insurance co before she went missing and had all the money problems with no other way out). *If it all blew up on that night with the arguing, then wouldn't the girls have heard, or at least there was a high risk they would hear- unless he drugged them? *If he drugged them before bedtime, then it was completely premeditated and he would be stupid to allow an argument to start and would have done many things much better- blood in the car for one. *It makes me think it was a rage and he was damn lucky the girls didn't wake up (heavy sleepers?) and he was desperate and scrambling after the fact which is why he made mistakes- despite having fantasized about doing it before hand. *But did his mum come" babysit" or did he leave the girls home alone? *When he contacted his dad, did his dad expect this call would come (if not that night then some other planned night)? *And not to be horrible, but I imagine his dad doing the hand removal since he was a hunter in Africa by all accounts with the skulls at his house, so would be desensitized to such things, at least with animals.

 

[SouthAussie]

IMOO if those are new ads, the sunflower reference has got to be either an incredibly insensitive oversight or a sick attempt to repair the battering the company's image has taken by using a direct positive association.

Maybe they simply severely underestimated how deep and wide (yes, even in beautiful SA! Go The Crows!!!) the perception of the company's association with this goes; the public perception of a broader corporate culture of complete disregard for ethical and moral behaviour - sex with staff? Using client properties for extra-marital liaisons? Yuck. Sleazy, seedy behaviour representative of and simply perpetuating the apparently well-founded poor reputation of the industry. And of course despite their head's previous seeming 'support' - the company appears to have gone to ground - a classic error in corporate image management where convention says the best approach to a potential image disaster is to be fast and up-front in dealing with the issue. D'oh.
Pity the other poor franchisees and honourable people in the company and the broader industry who actually do care, have morals and ethics, and work in their clients' interests at all times rather than their own.

Quite aside from The Accused's apparent complete stupidity, despicable behaviour and cold, cruel selfishness...

I'm in the media industry; IMOO considered independently of the link to Allison's MURDER, I thought the ads were an interesting departure from the norm of real estate television advertising. I will find out whether the sunflower reference is a new inclusion in their advertising creative.

Even if only for my own peace of mind so I can know whether they are in fact just stupid and insensitive, or cold and calculating.

Rant over. I feel better now, thank you for your patience. :banghead:

I was surprised to see the ad Tishy, and thought that perhaps the ads were made in the USA for worldwide distribution (with appropriate voice-overs) and Century 21 just assumed that SA was far enough away from Qld to use the ads here. Little do they know that many of us in this fair land of ours have been following this tragedy closely, and will continue to do so until justice has been served. It will be a long, long time before I don't think of the Baden Clays every time I see Century 21. Not good for Century 21 as a business, I know, but that is just the way it is now.

 

[alioop]

Century 21 is a huge international business and they have to continue with "business as usual" despite the damage done to their reputation at least locally, by the arrest of GBC for the murder of his wife Allison.

 

[Maigret]

Century 21 is a huge international business and they have to continue with "business as usual" despite the damage done to their reputation at least locally, by the arrest of GBC for the murder of his wife Allison.

Really no different from newsagent's assistant arrested for murder- we don't stop using newsagent's

 

[SouthAussie]

Yes .... I just wish the sunflowers didn't feature so predominantly in the ad ... or maybe the sunflowers aren't dominating the ad and I just noticed them so much due to following this case so closely.
Anyway .... not a big deal, just thought it was an interesting coincidence.

 

[Mountain Misst]

I was surprised to see the ad Tishy, and thought that perhaps the ads were made in the USA for worldwide distribution (with appropriate voice-overs) and Century 21 just assumed that SA was far enough away from Qld to use the ads here. Little do they know that many of us in this fair land of ours have been following this tragedy closely, and will continue to do so until justice has been served. It will be a long, long time before I don't think of the Baden Clays every time I see Century 21. Not good for Century 21 as a business, I know, but that is just the way it is now.

Century 21 has advertised on TV in Q'land as well, so I have heard. Don't know about the sunflowers, however the mustard jackets were seen.

 

[Tishy]

Century 21 is a huge international business and they have to continue with "business as usual" despite the damage done to their reputation at least locally, by the arrest of GBC for the murder of his wife Allison.

Absolutely right they do, and they have every right and responsibility to their clients and employees to do 'business as usual' as well. Unfortunately in this age of social media, internet and the 'global village', in corporate terms one local incident like this - particularly given the scale of the coverage both locally and internationally- can permanently tarnish the reputation of a whole company and the other people who work for it; despite the majority of those people, as in any large corporation, being without doubt honourable, normal people.

You'd think though that the high profile and the direct involvement of the local head of C21 vis a vis lent funds, press coverage and direct relationship with The Accused, that such a large company in an industry already burdened by a (however undeserving) reputation for unethical behaviour, would monitor and handle these sorts of local issues with the potential for brand damage with extreme sensitivity; be actively monitoring the situation to as to not cause further brand damage (or offence to those involved).

So much money is harvested from their franchisees and spent promoting the brand, it seems only sensible to closely protect its value. Coincidental or not, simply running a TV campaign while this murder is still in the media, ain't gonna fix that damage. Especially when its creative content has the potential (however unintended) to offend those who care.

SA has a point too; the depth of passion about this one may cause us to see meanings where there is nothing. MOO, and hope this discussion is not off-topic....

 

[Nads]

That is bizarre - it doesn't even look like they've cleaned it after taking out the furniture - why would you as the owner be happy putting pictures like that out there - not inviting at all!!

The houses we have lived in and sold have looked extremely sad when the furniture was taken out. The carpet and walls can look awful, but when you are in them with furniture they look fine. My son does photography work for rental agencies and he hates to photograph places unfurnished as he says they always look like that unless they are brand new.

 

[Rational]

IMOO if those are new ads, the sunflower reference has got to be either an incredibly insensitive oversight or a sick attempt to repair the battering the company's image has taken by using a direct positive association.

Maybe they simply severely underestimated how deep and wide (yes, even in beautiful SA! Go The Crows!!!) the perception of the company's association with this goes; the public perception of a broader corporate culture of complete disregard for ethical and moral behaviour - sex with staff? Using client properties for extra-marital liaisons? Yuck. Sleazy, seedy behaviour representative of and simply perpetuating the apparently well-founded poor reputation of the industry. And of course despite their head's previous seeming 'support' - the company appears to have gone to ground - a classic error in corporate image management where convention says the best approach to a potential image disaster is to be fast and up-front in dealing with the issue. D'oh.
Pity the other poor franchisees and honourable people in the company and the broader industry who actually do care, have morals and ethics, and work in their clients' interests at all times rather than their own.

Quite aside from The Accused's apparent complete stupidity, despicable behaviour and cold, cruel selfishness...

I'm in the media industry; IMOO considered independently of the link to Allison's MURDER, I thought the ads were an interesting departure from the norm of real estate television advertising. I will find out whether the sunflower reference is a new inclusion in their advertising creative.

Even if only for my own peace of mind so I can know whether they are in fact just stupid and insensitive, or cold and calculating.

Rant over. I feel better now, thank you for your patience. :banghead:

Tishy
I couldn't have said it better myself. You are spot on!! IMO

 

[SouthAussie]

A substantial donation towards the fund for Allison's girls would do more to lift their public profile, in my opinion. Although, they may have done that already and we haven't heard about it?

 

[enthralled]

I hope that someone does rent the house and is able to make it a happy family home as no doubt Allison would have done for her girls. It would have been rather difficult for her when there was only four people committed to the family and not five. I was just very disappointed that after all the years of hard work and the love and commitment for her daughters that gbc didn't provide what his family deserved.

 

[enthralled]

If the house doesn't rent can the owner try to get compensation from the bc family?
The photos don't give a good impression of the agent handling it? I thought one of the responsibilities of an agent is to follow and make sure the house is clean for the next tenant. Why haven't the bc family been made to come back and clean it up seeing as they emptied it?

 

[ozazure]

If the house doesn't rent can the owner try to get compensation from the bc family?
The photos don't give a good impression of the agent handling it? I thought one of the responsibilities of an agent is to follow and make sure the house is clean for the next tenant. Why haven't the bc family been made to come back and clean it up seeing as they emptied it?

It's very sloppy work, in one photo the Venetian blinds could have been put to similar heights and made to look nice at least ... in the bathroom it is at half mast with the cord dangling. Maybe if someone had spent the $ on having the floors cleaned and the walls wiped it'd look even better again. I have to assume the market is so robust there they can afford not to bother.

 

[Maigret]

It's very sloppy work, in one photo the Venetian blinds could have been put to similar heights and made to look nice at least ... in the bathroom it is at half mast with the cord dangling. Maybe if someone had spent the $ on having the floors cleaned and the walls wiped it'd look even better again. I have to assume the market is so robust there they can afford not to bother.

Must be I know when my daughter and her boyfriend were looking for a flat it was a real race to get applications in etc ( but we are in Sydney)
But yes just a bit of a wipe around shake those curtains down so they sit right and adjust all the blinds to look like they might actually work
Is it normal for a fridge to be with the rental or maybe because it's a tight spot so easier to leave one there that fits the spot
Also how weird is it to take the toilet paper ?

 

[alioop]

I think a lot of rental property managers don't overly care about the presentation of the property. In Brisbane the rental vacancy rate is very low so there is competition for rentals.

I have a unit in another city and when our tenant left our agent advertised for a new tenant and didn't get any applications. After about 6 weeks we went to check it out and I was really embarrassed that the the agent had been showing people through as it was grubby. 3 family members including me spent 5 hours scrubbing it and it was rented a week later. The agent just didn't see or care about the dirty windows, blinds etc. Presentation does make a difference.

In view of the possible difficulty of re renting the BC house, one would think that all efforts would be made by the owner to present it as sparkling clean as possible.

Having said all that, I am sure that Allison would have made it a lovely happy home for her family as best she could.

From looking at real estate.com, other than a 1 bedroom cottage, it is the cheapest house to currently rent in Brookfield.