Troubling times with persimmon @ hampton, peterborough

[dubiousbuyer]

Hey There,

New to all this and very pleased firstly to find this site, i think iv leart a lot already about Persimmon today kind of making me regret the reservation of what I was lead to believe was our new dream home!!

Well where do I begin..........We reserved our home early August and were looking forward to moving into the grand Kensington design property, we negotiated a price of 265,000 down from their original marketing price of 299,995, including incentives like, stamp duty paid, fully carpeted house, tiles/laminate to the hallway, kitchen/diner, study and downstairs cloaks, fully tiled walls & stone shower trays.......so ofcourse we thought we were on to a winner!!

We have had issues at different stages, we were told we could as a paid extra have spotlights in the kitchen and lounge which we agreed we would pay for along with small bits like tv points in bedrooms 4 and 5 and an outside tap! we were never given the prices to get the extras and when i returned from my two week holiday last month i was told it was too late as the plastering was done and non of the extra;s could be put in now!

truelly disheartened we fought and fought and were told we would be allowed the tv points and the outdoor tap but thats it as it was too late in the build stage, we decided perhaps best to stop pestering them and we would just leave the extras for now!

We thought these will be the only issues we will have to contend with....until yesterday we had a call from the sales lady at persimmon (which by the way has changed 4 times since we reserved our plot, so yes you guessed it plenty of blunders that were overlooked).....we were told we should come and see our house which had now been plastered but 'we should be prepared for a shock'.....worried we made our way down straight away, when we went through the house we didnt see much reason to worry until we arrived at the upper floor (its a three storey house), where we were told the dimensions were somewhat smaller becuase of the new roof design, the trusses were taken inwards etc etc!, and that we had lost almost a meter lengthways in the two top floor bedrooms!!!! ..........we have also lost a very nice reading area in the big landing (we thought we were getting/or we were promised)....... I immediatley shreaked at the lady and asked why were not made aware and when was all this decided, she sais that non of the sales team were made aware and in fact the house we thought we were buying was indeed the house they thought (as per the showhome and the drawings which we had been shown) are what we would be getting until she came on site for the first time today!!

i am now not sure what we should do, we had made plans, brought furniture to suit the new house layout (or the one we thought we were getting) and we were expecting to move in by 25 November which now looks if we dispute to be delayed not to mention the issue of going back to the mortgage company......

Shocked and astounded we went home in dissapointment but we have now got to ask the question,...........what do we do?? I have written to the senior manager, the managing director of persimmon, the regional director and ofocurse notified our solicitor who is consulting their legal team now......but what should we expect them to do about this blunder? should we compromise?
is the house worth what we thought it was? and should we also be compensated for the loss in time that we will inevitably face while all this is resolved???..........HELP PLS!!

[moony1234]

Ok it sounds like you got a good lot of extras thrown in and 35k off the list price, quite impressive.

The first thing you need to establish is if you are happy with the house in the condition it is in at the moment, regardless of price, so would you be happy living in it as your dream home?

If the answer is yes then the next stage is to get a whole load more money knocked off the price due to the screw up of the design and essentially a smaller living space being delivered.

You haven't mentioned what the sales person said about all this? What did the site manager say? Area manager? If you haven't got a reply out of them then go visit their office in Peterborough and demand some answers. I would imagine if they have screwed up and admit to it they will be willing to compromise on the price...

I wouldn't bother chasing any sort of "fix" to change the house, you will only end up with a rushed/bodged job.

If you like the house as it is, accept it and get another x% knocked off the price. If you don't like it, forget it and run.

Good luck though....

[dubiousbuyer]

Hey there Moony1234,

Thanks firstly for your response very helpful post!

now to answer your questions, Yes we did raise the question to the sales office and the field sales manager (the sales lady's boss and first port of call) and the sales women has admitted that there is a problem and one that is of their making and she also double checked that the drawing i had seen is the one of the bigger show-home not of the current reduced size design, she also pointed out that there was only one drawing of the property which they had which was the one we were shown, so in short we screwed up....oops!:

She also advised me before the site office closed on Monday that they were investigating and had people round with measuring tapes etc etc to calculate the size difference in order!!

In short we would compromise with the house only and only if the price reduction was significant, otherwise we would not be happy to proceed with the purchase of this house as its way smaller!!....either way I am angry and want to be compensated for the time delays this will mean for us, the fact that we cannot vacate our current house also has serious implications for us, but that is a whole other story as well as the discomfort and heartache for the family who had set their hearts on the house they thought we were getting!!, the other thing is we wanted to be moved in before christmas, which I would assume is now highly unlikely either way!!

I intend to offer two options to them, 1, Handover your show home for the same price and inclusive of all extra fixtures and fittings or 2, give us a very serious price reduction on the smaller house, and hopefully try and get some more freebies out of them if possible!!!.........will it work? will let you know!!


stay tuned for future updates!

dubiousbuyer.

The matter has been addressed to Persimmons Regional chief/Director, the sales manager and of course my solicitor has also written to the legal department at Persimmon asking for some answers, in the meantime we just have to sit tight I guess!!

[CoolBeanz]

Sounds a difficult situation dubious buyer; I suppose at this stage you need to think what the smaller house is worth to you - and offer that. If that is unacceptable, end the contract with them (I assume you have exchanged?) as they broke it... then walk away.

Let us know how you get on.

[dubiousbuyer]

Hey there,

No we had not exchanged but i think had things not gone belly up it would have been this week sometime probably but luckily, we managed to get to know on the Sunday thanks to the very nice sales lady (who has been reading my thread) who promptly informed us upon noticing the blunder on the same day!

I had a call from Persimmon asking if we can meet on site to take things further, we will be meeting tomorrow at 4:30pm hopefully we can manage to resolve the matter, if not then at least we should have a clear thought on whether to buy or not to buy!!

Spoke to the site manager today who said he could not comment on what went wrong as his job was to build the house based on the plans they had and that is exactly what he had done, although he was nice enough to assist in measuring the rooms with us and explaining what the core differences were between the two homes etc, not that it helps unless Persimmon are willing to sacrifice their show house in exchange at no extra cost??.....we will just have to wait and see the outcome.

will let you know once i know what the outcome is, am quite interested to hear there side of the story and what they think is an acceptable form of compensation?

Stay tuned.......will update you soon!!

[allan.fulton]

Dont hold your breath I was always advised from the director in Glasgow they don't do compensation, no matter what!
Allan

[dubiousbuyer]

Hey there Allan,

Thanks for your post, however we have just returned from a site meeting today where we discussed the matter with the Senior Sales Manager who openly admitted to me and my family that yes an error was made that was very serious and that she in her long career at Persimmon Homes had never seen a blunder that was so big!! We were also shown the drawings of the house we were mis-sold and the one that we should have been sold which has now been amended on their websites and the 'on site' literature which had the dimensions of the same house style.

Also they have asked us very openly after we have discussed with them the level of discomfort that it has caused to the family, the long list of issues that we have had in relation to the purchase, the forever changing sales ladies etc etc, to make an offer and to renegotiate the pricing structure as they were well aware the house has totally undergone radical changes and that until now when the house is fully built, kitchens and bathrooms installed, plastered and ready for first coat of paint that in fact its smaller, substantially at that!!.that this problem was noticed.......

The lady appeared to be very compassionate and said that she was well aware of the list of problems after viewing the full plot profile and therefore the issue was now with the senior Directors who are indeed involved now and wish to 'reach a compromise with us one way or another'

I have also made it very clear that we would rather not get into the unpleasant issues of speaking with local and national press on the issue and of course that we would prefer to avert the threat of legal action for mis-selling which I think was noted and agreed that it was better to find an 'amicable' solution to the problem, so fingers crossed that it does pay off or it seems we will be left with little choice!

We now have to make the tough choices this weekend as a family how we intend to proceed with this matter going forward and if we are willing to compromise at what price??

Will let you know the outcome soon, thanks for your interest & valued comments!

Dubious Buyer.

[Disheartened]

We may have been the ones that made them realise the problem but were assured that everyone else on site had signed the correct plans and we were the only ones that had seen the incorrect plans. We asked if we could go in to measure for curtains as the window sizes were not the same as the showhome and upon getting to the top floor were shocked at the loss of space - nobody at this point had picked up on the fact that this was completely different to the showhome! We had signed the plans to show the floor space was that of the showhome and were completed devasted at what we were getting.

We have had all the meetings that you have had and finally completed at the end of November (should have been September), part of our compensation package included fitted wardrobes in bedrooms 2 & 3 along the backs of the rooms that had been reduced in size, we were assured that these were ordered and would be fitted before Christmas but two months after completing we are still waiting for them. Clothes are having to hung on a borrowed clothes rail - we wanted a 'perfect' house and even our teenage daughter is upset about the state of her room as it doesn't look tidy!

We have a 3 page list of snagging issues, bedroom 2 has two large holes either side of the window that go through to the void area, the heating in this bedroom also does not work and the toilet in the en-suite leaks constantly, having to be mopped at least twice a day - what should have been a dream bedroom for our teenage daughter has turned into a hell hole.

Heating issues throughout the rest of the house, doors and windows that cannot be opened or closed, radiators that move and have holes behind, lights switches that move, fire that can be pulled out of the fireplace, kitchen cupboard doors missing, gates not fitted to the driveway - where shall I end - not one room is without fault.

We had a note from the site manager stuck through the letterbox last Friday saying that the kitchen fitters would be in on the Monday - nobody showed.

In addition to this I have just issued a 7 day notice of intention to sue for Persimmon failing to repay the estate agents fees on the sale of our property, we have had many promises of payment with the last being made at the end of December - the last update on this failure to pay is that the person who was dealing with it is now away and no-one knows what is going on - if the ball was on the other foot they would have sued us long ago. Admittedly an error on the Solicitors part but this was realised before we completed on the purchase and Persimmon then insisted on an invoice from the Estate Agents with a promise that this would be refunded after completion.

My experience with Persimmon has not been a happy one, what should have been the house of our dreams has turned into a bloomin nightmare, I find it so hard not to make comments to prospective buyers looking at the site and am sorely tempted to display posters on our windows to put off prospective purchasers of the house next door, I am on the verge of going to the press as it seems the only way that I will get our issues resolved

[outforjustice]

dont believe a word that comes from them, take legal action as they would have done to you months ago. highlight your case by going to the papers but dont make any false statements as persimmon has a legal team that will tie you in knots

good luck

[Chuck Sidfrum]

[QUOTE=dubiousbuyer;5155]
the Senior Sales Manager who openly admitted to me and my family that yes an error was made that was very serious and that she in her long career at Persimmon Homes had never seen a blunder that was so big!!
[QUOTE]

LOL, me thinks I can name many bigger blunders, and of more concern, numerous errors that repeat over and over, year after year.