We were 'encouraged' to move into our new house less than a week before Christmas 2012. We had internal flooding on Christmas Eve which resulted in no heating over Christmas. We then had a leak from the dish washer through to the living room, then another under the kitchen sink. The original site manager was great. Everything was repaired and/or rectified in good time and we were offered a meal out on Barratt Homes which we accepted. He also offered to obtain and fit some plinths to a kitchen cupboard that we'd ordered ourselves (but forgot to order plinths). In March this year we had issues with our front door. First the key wouldn't turn, a locksmith saw to this, and then the door dropped. We have been promised a new door but are still waiting. We saw site manager#2 in March who looked at the door and we showed him a kitchen light that only worked intermittently. He tapped the light and it has never worked since. He said he would fix the light, sort the front door and add plinths in the kitchen. He asked if there was anything else he could do to make us feel better about our new home. We asked for a tub of wall paint as this was very thin in places and we wanted to touch some areas up. No problem he said. Then he left and we now have site manager #3. He has repaired the kitchen light but prevaricates about the front door. He said if we order plinths he would have them fitted (we can only order in 2.6m lengths), but said he cannot get any paint. This week we saw that 2 tubs of paint had been left at our neighbours house. We called site manager #3 who said he had no idea where the paint came from. Said he had checked with Customer Care and they told him they didn't order it. He then said that we need to go back to site manager #1 to have our plinths fitted. Have we asked for too much? Have we been greedy? These things were offered to us and we are still waiting for the new front door. What do you think?
You were 'shoe horned' in so your completion could be included in Barratt half-year-end ( to 31 December) figures reported to the City. So you had an internal flood and no heating over Christmas and you got a meal out and a section of kitchen unit plinth. Both wouldhave been at minimal cost to barratt, but at least it was a gesture in the right direction! I doubt Persimmon or Taylor Wimpey would do this! Kitchen light not working, front door dropped, So your emulsion is a "bit thin in places" and you only want the paint so you can paint it yourself! And site manager number three (bit of a pattern here!) says he can't get any paint!!! Blimey, all he has to do is take it from a house being decorated. The painting contractor did the poor job in the first place and he would be more than happy to get away without having to re decorate the walls himself! Perhaps you should tell site manager number 3 paint comes from a paint factory, or you could find yourself dealing with site manager number 4! You are most definitely not being greedy. In fact you ahve been very reasonable. You should not be expected to order the plinths, the paint as your neighbour shows is obtainable and you should not be required to deal with several site managers. You must WRITE to the Customer Care Department, stating what you have gone through, what has been promised by various Barratt site managers and what you require Barratt to do now. Please copy your letter to Barratt CEO Mark Clare mark.clare@barrattplc.co.uk He really needs to know what has gone on here. Barratt have improved their customer service over recent years and he will be rightly appalled to learn of your experiences.
Thanks NHE, I wrote to Customer Care and said that unless they sorted all the outstanding issues that I would write to Mark Clare. A manager from Customer Care has now visited us and has promised these would be sorted - including the paint which was more about the principal than the cost. She also said she would put right a couple of problems that we'd not noticed within the 7 days from moving in they gave us to confirm our snagging issues. Thanks again, will keep you posted!
No house builder can require you to notify them of all snags within seven days of moving in! Obviously, things like a cracked basin, scratched glass or damaged worktops would be an issue if not reported quite early as such dmaaneg after a couple of months may have been caused by the household. But all snagging and defects can be reported to the house builder within TWO YEARS under the NHBC warranty. Regarding the paint, it would appear you were originally lied to about this. Not good!
