Delayed completion by Persimmon

[frannic]

We reserved our plot on 26th May 2007 and paid a deposit of £500.00 under the pressures of having to sell our property within 6 weeks. This is exactly what we did and completed the sale in September. We were told our house would be ready in November.

We moved in with family, put our things in storage and paid Persimmon our 10% deposit.

On 17th September 2007 they sent a letter to our old address, therefore we didn’t receive until October, advising us that the plot would now not be ready until December. The mortgage offer we had was from June 2007 when we started this whole process would now not be extended past 21st December 2007 as the rates had increased and this would mean us paying an extra £140.00 per month on our mortgage repayments.

At this point my husband went to see the sales representative at the Marketing Suite on site to see if there was anything that could be done. We were put in touch with another financial advisor who helped us to get another mortgage and arranged a mortgage subsidy from Persimmon Homes of £100.00 per month for the next 2 years, in order to bring the monthly payment back down to what we were originally paying.

Further to this I have now been advised today that the plot will now not be ready until the end of February, looking to formally complete on 14th March 2008. As you can imagine this has come as a devastating blow as a process that started back in May 2007, supposedly to be finished in November 2007 will now not be finished until March 2008 taking a total of 10 months.

We sold our house in good faith and none the less under pressure from Persimmon Homes to exchange contracts as soon as possible, only to suffer continuous disappointment and let down. We have then being living with relatives that has caused a huge strain on relations and no end of extra cost for board and storage all of which is dead end money as opposed to paying a mortgage off. Not to mention Persimmon Homes have had a large sum of our money since September 2007 to which we could have been gaining interest on in the bank.

As stated in your pledge “From the moment you reserve your new Persimmon home, we pledge to make the experience as enjoyable and informative as possible every step of the way. We aim to take care of you, not just when you are buying but also after you have moved in. All of our staff are encouraged to provide a high level of customer service and to deliver our comprehensive pre move and after sales Pledge to our customers�.

This has not been an enjoyable or informative time for us at all but an expensive and extremely stressful time. I may also add that in the Marketing Suite there has been to the best of our knowledge at least five different members of staff come and go which every time you have to repeat the situation and constantly chase for answers which to us does not satisfy a high level of customer service.