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Cala Homes Problems
schrodinga
Posts: 43 Forumite
We have been interested in purchasing a new build Cala Home, but have really been put off by the attitude of the staff on site.
We had visited the show home on three separate occasions. The first, we had been set out by another Cala home site to look at the house style, and at that point we werent particularly interested in the development location. I has explained that to the women in the office and noticed she was quite standoffish, but put it down to her not taking us a serious buyers.
On our second visit to the site, we were now actively considering the location and took my Mother out to show her round (we plan to granny flat the garage into a separate dwelling for her - so it was important she is bought into the process).
On the third visit to site, we wanted to talk figures. But the woman we dealt with (different lady from first time) was horrible. All our questions were treated with one word answers, and she was very unpleasant. She refused to show us round the plot we were interested in, despite it being complete - and didn't even take our details.
We called their head office and registered a complaint. The person we spoke to was very apologetic and organised for us to visit the plot we were interested in (that the development wouldn't allow us to see!?!) with a sales person from a neighbouring site. It was a very productive visit and we started to make plans to purchase.
We got our own house house valued for part exchange. The woman that visited to do a PX checklist from Cala was a bit 'weird' on the day, but we thought nothing of it at the time. They then offered us £30k less on PX. We figured they would come under value, but £30k was a bitter pill to swallow.
We therefore went back hard on our offer price, asking for a 10% reduction on list price. We knew it would be ambitious, but expected them to negotiate us up.
They refused our offer and basically said list price plus carpets. We said no thanks, come back to us when you are prepared to negotiate.
That was last Friday. Today the house was advertised in the press with a 6% reduction of list price - they haven't come near us. !!!!!!?
Really annoyed. Feel like they just don't want to sell to us. What with the original rudeness and now this.
My partners is Asian and he's convinced that they just don't want to sell to him. I hate to think of it like that, and really hope he's just being paranoid - but I can't understand their behaviour towards us.
Any thoughts?
We had visited the show home on three separate occasions. The first, we had been set out by another Cala home site to look at the house style, and at that point we werent particularly interested in the development location. I has explained that to the women in the office and noticed she was quite standoffish, but put it down to her not taking us a serious buyers.
On our second visit to the site, we were now actively considering the location and took my Mother out to show her round (we plan to granny flat the garage into a separate dwelling for her - so it was important she is bought into the process).
On the third visit to site, we wanted to talk figures. But the woman we dealt with (different lady from first time) was horrible. All our questions were treated with one word answers, and she was very unpleasant. She refused to show us round the plot we were interested in, despite it being complete - and didn't even take our details.
We called their head office and registered a complaint. The person we spoke to was very apologetic and organised for us to visit the plot we were interested in (that the development wouldn't allow us to see!?!) with a sales person from a neighbouring site. It was a very productive visit and we started to make plans to purchase.
We got our own house house valued for part exchange. The woman that visited to do a PX checklist from Cala was a bit 'weird' on the day, but we thought nothing of it at the time. They then offered us £30k less on PX. We figured they would come under value, but £30k was a bitter pill to swallow.
We therefore went back hard on our offer price, asking for a 10% reduction on list price. We knew it would be ambitious, but expected them to negotiate us up.
They refused our offer and basically said list price plus carpets. We said no thanks, come back to us when you are prepared to negotiate.
That was last Friday. Today the house was advertised in the press with a 6% reduction of list price - they haven't come near us. !!!!!!?
Really annoyed. Feel like they just don't want to sell to us. What with the original rudeness and now this.
My partners is Asian and he's convinced that they just don't want to sell to him. I hate to think of it like that, and really hope he's just being paranoid - but I can't understand their behaviour towards us.
Any thoughts?
0
Comments
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On the point about converting the garage - have you checked that would be possible? I could be wrong but suspect that you would not get permission for that.0
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schrodinga wrote: »That was last Friday. Today the house was advertised in the press with a 6% reduction of list price - they haven't come near us. !!!!!!?
Given you wish to p/ex. Then a different situation to a straight sale.0 -
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Sounds like they would rather give a straight forward discount on a sale than take a property in part exchange.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages, student & coronavirus Boards, money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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Developers who offer Part Exchange as an incentive have to make the ££s work (in their favour). They generally need to offload the "old" property asap, and if this does not happen they can take a hit on their profit.
Part Exchange can work for the purchaser, but in reality developers would prefer a cash buyer or one SSTC.0 -
Schrodinga, I have just had the exact same same experience with staff on site at Cala. I found the woman to be patronising and unhelpful and when I said, 'ok, let's forget this viewing', she said, 'ok'. Ha ha. How's that for customer service!0
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