Crest Nicholson Nightmare

[arunsoni]

Our experience started in November 2007. Having bought the property we found certain parts of the property were not to the advertised specifications, the workmanship was at best shoddy, and on survery we found in excess of 600 defacts. Crest Nicholsons customer service works in a way to frustrate you and hope you go away. My issues were too serious to go away. Their customer service and build quality contradicts their staements on their web page. Read on

I will begin this blog with the bottom line - DO NOT BUY A CREST NICHOLSON PROPERTY -We bought a new Crest Nicholson property in December 2007. The property cost close to one million pounds. Since I bough it, it has been nothing but a nightmare.
One month before the completing date Crest Nicholson contacted me informing that they could not meet the completion date. Signs of trouble... they were behind schedule and rushing the property. At this stage I could have claimed substantial amount of money, however I decided I would only claim what it would cost me and agreed a compensation.
Sales at Crest Nicholson had agreed that we would be allowed access to the property a week prior to completion in order to lay the flooring. This they did not allow which forced me to delay my move to the property.
When we finally completed we found the property in a complete mess. There was builders debris all over the house, dust and rubbish. A NICE WELSOME!! In days to follow we realised the property was full of defects, all kind of defects. We quickly realised that the specification of some parts of the property did not match the advertised property or the brochures. We quickly got to work and contacted Crest Nicholson customer services. We were soon to realise what a big mistake it was to buy a Crest Nicholson property.The followig year was full of anxiety, frustrations, anger, time off work and telephone calls and emails.

I will attempt here to details of defects with pictures, the issues and problems in dealing with Crest Nicholson. I will post copies of communications and pictures as I go along. Here is a quote from Crest Nicholson Website "A Crest Nicholson home is more than just bricks and mortar, it is a new home designed to exceed your expectations"A MAJOR CONTRADICTION - Crest Nicholson were FAR FAR from my expectation. They use tactics to put you off and hope you go away. Another Crest Nicholson quote "Ultimately however we must strive to achieve the highest levels of customer service and whilst our independent consultants verify that our customer satisfaction is improving year on year"ANOTHER MAJOR CONTRADICTION - This couldn't be far from the truth. Crest Nicholson customer service seem to work on the bases that if they do not respond to your communications long enough than you will eventually go away. Most residents on my estate will concur with me on this. At this stage I will note that I am by no means alone with defects in the house or issues in dealing with crest Nicholson. However, I seem to be worst effected.With the large number of defects in the house we decided to employ a specialist surveyor who spent two days surveying the house and list the defects. In my notes to follow I will detail out the notes and map out the progress (or lack of) time line over the next 12 months.

[zednine]

Any news?????????

[donna]

I again know how you feel, my home that i purchased in Dec 2005 also had alot of bad defects. 6 years on and we are still fighting.
You are absolutely correct about the fact that if they ignore you they think you will go away. I have not gone away and i spend my days emailing and calling them

[SteveF]

Originally Posted by donna

I again know how you feel, my home that i purchased in Dec 2005 also had alot of bad defects. 6 years on and we are still fighting.
You are absolutely correct about the fact that if they ignore you they think you will go away. I have not gone away and i spend my days emailing and calling them

Hi Donna

Is it just the builder that you are dealing with or are the NHBC involved also?

SteveF