Bellway kitchen upgrade problem

Pantobabe

Hi all,

Apologies if this isn’t the right part of the forum, but I’m after some advice.

We have bought a new build with Bellway and we have just exchanged contracts. The house only has the foundations at the minute.

Basically, before we reserved the plot, we were told to head to another site around 20 minutes away to look at the showhome at that development as it was the house type we wanted. We went and took photos and decided that we indeed wanted that house type. We then on reservation at our Bellway site and showed the sales advisor (who told us to go to the other site) a picture of the kitchen from the showhome as that’s the one we wanted in our house. We were told this was fine but it would be an upgraded kitchen of £500 which we agreed.

Last week now that we have legally exchanged, we went back to confirm our kitchen choices, only to be told when choosing that unlike the kitchen in the showhome we saw, our development’s kitchens only came with white carcas cupboards, so if you change the colour of the kitchen (we want dark grey) it is only the doors that would be changed and all the remaining cupboard would be white- ie there are no matching end panels for end cupboards. We were shocked to hear this as the Bellway site that had the showhome included matching end panels which gives a gorgeous finish. We have seen the same kitchen in our development and it looks nothing like the showhome as it basically looks like you have just added random grey doors onto a white kitchen. Really tacky.

When asked why this development didn’t have the same finish, we were told that the two sites were different regions of Bellway therefore they had different finishes. However, we can’t seem to get our head around how they can sell a kitchen without end panels as every kitchen we have seen in wickes etc seems to include them. The kitchen is from the same supplier in both developments as the name of the option to choose is the same. I phoned the kitchen supplier directly to ask if the kitchen did come with end panels to which they said yes if you want them. We then asked if we could pay for the extra to have them, but was simply told by the site manager ‘No’ we won’t do it.

We are gutted as we really don’t want a white kitchen, and one of the reasons we decided to go for that house type was after seeing the showhome kitchen- when we showed the sales director the picture of the kitchen as reservation we were never told this kitchen wouldn’t be possible and no feel like we have miss led.

Could anyone provide any advice as to what we could do?

Thanks for your help

theartfullodger

Good heavens, the salesman lied!

Jennifer_Eccles

I would be furious too, and suggest it is a form of misrepresentation. It certainly makes a mockery of their published Customer Charter (taken from Bellway website):

CUSTOMER CHARTER
Here at Bellway, we aim to make moving home as simple as possible and provide you with a first class home that you can be proud of.

From the day you walk on to a Bellway Development to the moment we hand over the keys to your new home and beyond, we undertake to provide you with the best possible customer service.

This Charter describes the level of service and standards that you can expect from Bellway

1. Prior to reserving your new home, we will go through in detail the specification and layout of your home and details of any pre-contractual information to enable you to make an informed decision. . . . .

Here is the Bellway complaints procedure taken from their website, I would pursue it.

CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Thank you for choosing to buy your new home with Bellway. We hope that you have had an enjoyable experience with us and want you to be happy with your new home.

We are committed to helping you to resolve any after-sales queries or complaints quickly and effectively. If we have fallen short of your expectations in any way, we want you to let us know.

Our customer complaints procedure has been designed to ensure that your query is resolved as soon as possible by directing you straight to the person best placed to help. You can rest assured that each member of our customer care team is empowered to make decisions to resolve your query as quickly as possible.

If you!!!8217;d like to make a complaint, or simply have a query about your new home, please follow the step by step guide in the order below.

Please note: You can find contact details for each of the relevant people at Bellway, including Divisional Office contacts, on our !!!8216;Contact Us!!!8217; section here.

Step 1:
Our local teams are empowered to resolve most of your enquiries and so your first point of contact should be with the Customer Care Department at the Divisional Office for the region in which you!!!8217;ve bought your home.

For example, if you!!!8217;ve bought a home in Newcastle upon Tyne you should direct your query to Customer Care at our Bellway North East office, and if your home is in Birmingham, then you should get in touch with our West Midlands divisional office.

Step 2:
If your enquiry has not been resolved to your satisfaction, please get in touch with the Customer Care Manager at your Divisional Office.

Step 3:
We hope that your query has been resolved at this stage, but if not please contact the Construction Director at your Divisional Office.

Step 4:
If you still feel you haven!!!8217;t reached a satisfactory conclusion, please feel free to contact your Divisional Managing Director.

Step 5:
In the unlikely event that your complaint has still not been resolved, please write to our Group Head of Customer Care, John Enright, at Group Head Office. John has full and final responsibility for resolving your complaint, but can only do so if you!!!8217;ve completed all of the above steps.

Please don!!!8217;t be tempted to skip a step - our process has been designed to help to resolve your query as quickly as possible, by putting you in touch with the right people at the right time.

Good luck and I hope you get this sorted to your satisfaction.

jennifernil

Could you buy the end panels from the supplier yourself and fit them afterwards?

Pantobabe

Thank you so much for all that information regarding their customer charter. I did send the sales person a very lengthy email explaining that we had been missold something which he passed onto the site manager who according to the sales director just went ‘no we aren’t doing it’, so I think I will forward that email to the customer care team and also include our solicitors in it.

Thanks for your help- I’m so glad to know I’m not being over dramatic about it and you would feel the same too. We are just so disappointed and feel like this Bellway site is clearly a ‘poor relation’ of the other site if they’re throwing in a kitchen half finished . If we’d have know that from the outset fair enough, but we were never told this until after exchange when they had our deposit money and we are contractually tied to the house.

Loanranger

Are the builders just going to put grey doors on the units or are they not going to finish off the kitchen and leave gaping holes at the end of the run of units? I am confused by your post so can you clarify what it is the builder is proposing?

Thrugelmir

Pantobabe wrote: »

to look at the showhome at that development as it was the house type we wanted. We went and took photos and decided that we indeed wanted that house type. We then on reservation at our Bellway site and showed the sales advisor (who told us to go to the other site) a picture of the kitchen from the showhome as that’s the one we wanted in our house.

Show homes can be fitted out as one off's. Might be the case that this option isn't one they offer as an upgrade.

Pantobabe

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138601167@N05/shares/Y9S085

The first picture shows the showhome kitchen, the following two show the kitchen we would have to have, with the white cupboards. Hope this clarifies what I mean a little better.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138601167@N05/shares/1zzT6e

Cakeguts

What is the difference in prices between the two sites? I can see that they might do this so that people paying more for a house feel that they get a better (?) kitchen. I think they both look nice.

Pantobabe

There’s about £10,000 difference between the two sites for house price. However an upgraded kitchen costs the same- £500 for an upgrade (which this cupboard type is) on both sites.

If that’s the reason why, I do completely understand that- what I’m cross at is that when we reserved and we said we wanted the kitchen the same as the show Home we were told fine and took our £500 happily. Only now are they saying we can’t have it like that.

lincroft1710

I know that photos will not always show true colour but I actually think kitchen in 2nd photo looks better