am i unreasonable?

em_9187

my husband and i recently moved into a brand new home on a new estate in a prestigious area. the builders i do not wish to name but they are renowned for their good quality builds.

however, when we moved in our house didn't live up to my expectations - there was a hole in one of the walls and several doors do not shut. our garden hasn't been turfed and flowers hadn't been planted like we had agreed.

some of that, after two months, has now been rectified but we still can't shut doors, our French doors have something wrong with them, and some other minor problems.

the builders have the key as they are still on site but they haven't done anything further on our snag list. I feel like I'm moaning about them all of the time. we had a huge leak in the kitchen and downstairs toilet when we first moved in. my husband leaves all the running and chasing around up to me so i look like a witch.

i love the house but i think there customer service is crap...

moneyistooshorttomention

You even asked that question???????

Absolutely not.

You are being perfectly reasonable in my book.

Actually I am wondering whether you might have a good friend in my generation that will help you with the chasing (ie I'm in my 60s).

Reason being because people in my agegroup remember when "normal service" was the norm - be it from private firms/Councils/government departments/whatever....

It has been the case for quite a few years now that people are being expected to accept "bad service" and treat it as "normal service". On the other hand "normal service" (ie like I recall from the 1970s/1980s) is being treated as "Ooooh....customer thinks they're Someone Special and expects special treatment".

Someone of my agegroup will remember what "normal service" is like and they know we will - and we're still at an age where we've not stopped being taken seriously in case "age has caused us to wither....so to say".

Get a man or woman in their 50s or 60s on the case for you if you have a good enough friend in that agegroup.

dirty_magic

No it's not unreasonable, I'd keep complaining until it's sorted. It wouldn't take long to put the doors right! Maybe you could write to someone higher up in the company if they don't put it right.

ruggedtoast

The house might be in a prestigious area but it's still a British new build.

Do you get wet when it rains? If not you are doing okay.

kinger101

Why don't you post a big sign in the garden with the list of snags? Making sure it's in a place where other potential buyers on the estate can see it. I'm sure there would then be a greater sense of urgency on the builders part.

moneyistooshorttomention

kinger101 wrote: »

Why don't you post a big sign in the garden with the list of snags? Making sure it's in a place where other potential buyers on the estate can see it. I'm sure there would then be a greater sense of urgency on the builders part.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Well...if you do...then make it professional-looking. I've seen that done (on a regular basis) by two different households before now and because the sign looked amateurish and constantly changed and was constantly up, then I wondered about the person concerned iyswim.

But...possibly a professional-looking one on one issue only and up for a limited amount of time might come over the right way and embarrass them into action.

ca55ie

We bought a new build in the 1980's and it seems to me nothing has changed. Once you've handed over your money the site manager isn't interested.
After much chasing round and nagging of the site manager we just made a complaint to the NHBC.
Strangely a couple of days later we received a note from the site manager promising that we would have all the snags sorted within the next couple of days and we accepted this with good grace.
What the site manager didn't know was that we had also received a reply from the NHBC informing us that the site manager had been spoken to and would contact us to arrange to sort things out :rotfl:

Back then the building teams were paid a set amount for each house built and then had to find the time to go back and carry out any rectifications for which they were not paid. Guess were their priority was?

Keep pushing them, complain to as many people as possible, especially in the showroom reception when it's busy and if you have a NHBC cert get them involved.

Good Luck

jbainbridge

Saturday will be busy in the sales office, a good time to go and mention it ... loudly!

Paulmy51

jbainbridge wrote: »

Saturday will be busy in the sales office, a good time to go and mention it ... loudly!

100% This.

We had a probem with a kitchen wall which slanted enough for our fridgefreezer to fit at the bottom but not at the top. It's amazing how quickly the builders move when you go into the sales office where someone is about to sign a reservation and start discussing the issue very loudly with your partner and how poor the builders' response had been up to that point!

em_9187

i wish i was brave enough to be so vocal - i really don't want any hard feelings but I'm getting seriously peed off

katejo

When I bought my first place (not a newbuild but a refurbished period flat) I discovered that the new hob failed as soon as the boiler came on. I then had a gas leak and had to call someone out as an emergency. A pipe hadn't been connected properly. The guy who came also checked my hob and boiler for me. Told me that the (cowboy) builder had fitted the wrong size gas pipes as a cost cutter. I wrote to the builder/freeholder who had managed the refurbishment and threatened to go to the small claims court if the alteration wasn't done within 7 days. He got it changed for me.