kurtstadler
New Member
End of September 2013 we bought a property from Countryside Properties at their Abode development in Cambridge, Great Kneighton.
Now, end of June 2014 and after a big amount of patience and energy invested, we think it is time to share our expereince of how Countryside is handling snags. Not that we expected a completely snag-free property, but our surprise of how many snags we collected, and how much time and energy it costs to get them resolved, was great!
In fact we handle two snag lists, one for snags inside the flat (42 snags), a second one dealing with issues regarding the attached winter garden (18 snags).
Snags inside the flat: to be fair, some of the snags were minor, and anyhow, 9 months later, all but one snag have been repaired! But the issue is the incredibly long process to get things done. Since October 2013, in average, we had one interaction per week with customer service – w/o intense communication, nagging, pleading, we would still have most of the snags unsolved (other neighbours are still waiting for their repairs!). Uncountable breaks from work were necessary in order to be present whenever a repairman was announced, who often had to come several times, due to different reasons (no material, to ask their bosses what to do, insufficient repair, etc).
Winter garden: the REAL scandal is in regard to the second snag list - just ONE snag has been resolved within 9 months (insufficiently), all the other 17 are still open or under discussion! Weeks of discussions, false promises to send information updates, and still up to now no date fixed when, and how many of the snags will be repaired.
As a summary I can only repeat what other posters already wrote:
timearnshaw (in 2006, 8 years later this is still true): "almost anything I report to Countryside is simply passed onto the relevant subcontractor who then contacts you to arrange a time to come and resolve. Invariably they work 9am-4pm Monday to Friday, are not able to provide you with a specific time during the day that they will attend, and generally you have to wait weeks before they are able to”
StructuralAssistance: “… response time is sllllowwww to snail pace. Beautiful properties. Questionable rigidity.”
Countryside customer service works unprofessional, re-active, and only if customers spend a ridiculous amount of energy on permanently nagging the responsible people. This is VERY disappointing, indeed!
Will keep you updated about further progress ...
Now, end of June 2014 and after a big amount of patience and energy invested, we think it is time to share our expereince of how Countryside is handling snags. Not that we expected a completely snag-free property, but our surprise of how many snags we collected, and how much time and energy it costs to get them resolved, was great!
In fact we handle two snag lists, one for snags inside the flat (42 snags), a second one dealing with issues regarding the attached winter garden (18 snags).
Snags inside the flat: to be fair, some of the snags were minor, and anyhow, 9 months later, all but one snag have been repaired! But the issue is the incredibly long process to get things done. Since October 2013, in average, we had one interaction per week with customer service – w/o intense communication, nagging, pleading, we would still have most of the snags unsolved (other neighbours are still waiting for their repairs!). Uncountable breaks from work were necessary in order to be present whenever a repairman was announced, who often had to come several times, due to different reasons (no material, to ask their bosses what to do, insufficient repair, etc).
Winter garden: the REAL scandal is in regard to the second snag list - just ONE snag has been resolved within 9 months (insufficiently), all the other 17 are still open or under discussion! Weeks of discussions, false promises to send information updates, and still up to now no date fixed when, and how many of the snags will be repaired.
As a summary I can only repeat what other posters already wrote:
timearnshaw (in 2006, 8 years later this is still true): "almost anything I report to Countryside is simply passed onto the relevant subcontractor who then contacts you to arrange a time to come and resolve. Invariably they work 9am-4pm Monday to Friday, are not able to provide you with a specific time during the day that they will attend, and generally you have to wait weeks before they are able to”
StructuralAssistance: “… response time is sllllowwww to snail pace. Beautiful properties. Questionable rigidity.”
Countryside customer service works unprofessional, re-active, and only if customers spend a ridiculous amount of energy on permanently nagging the responsible people. This is VERY disappointing, indeed!
Will keep you updated about further progress ...
