We are having a terrible experience with our first ever new build home from Story Homes and we were wondering if this is all normal practice and we are naive or if we have chosen a particular stubborn builder that does not have any pride in any sort of customer care.
We feel bullied, ripped off, stressed, unhappy and astonished at what they keep claiming is normal procedure.
In summary
We reserved our plot in March after being told we had to be able to proceed (not dependent on selling our existing home) to be "allowed" to reserve. We sold our home and went into rented 30th March 2016
At that time, the estimated CML was 11/11/16 with legal completion on 25/11/16 with the home at "phase 4 groundwork and drains."
It is now August we are still at stage 4, nothing further has been done in five months, however the completion date is still the same.
We had to get the valuation done last month, so we could have the mortgage in place as Story Homes were pushing for exchange of contracts. The valuation and mortgage was done 28th July, but we have refused to exchange as house has not been progressed.
Story Homes MD Ian Worgan has started to be vague on the completion date, not surprising as nothing has been done in 5 months. The worrying thing is the mortgage offer runs out at end of December. Story will not provide any solution or compensation if the build spills into 2017, leaving us potentially with a 10% deposit paid, contracts exchanged and no mortgage in place, a very stressful situation to be put in.
This is not even the tip of the problem iceberg!
We requested to pay for the plans to be altered to have access to a spare bedroom to create an ensuite dressing room and wanted the changes which include a lintel being installed, during the build. Building Control, the NHBC and our structural engineer all strongly advised having the changes done and amendments done during the build as a brick has still not been laid.
The response from Story Homes would have been no different if I had asked for a three-storey underground 'iceberg' extension done. A flat refusal, no bespoke, saying that building control and NHBC would not sign off etc etc. I explained at length that these bodies actually strongly advised getting the work done during the build. The response was then "we don’t do bespoke" end of.
Next was the list of upgrades and would we like any extra sockets?
We compiled a list of what would make our home layout better for us. The resulting fees were more than my first pair of flats! The upgrade prices were astronomical which we did expect, but there was no give on price at all, way to go on customer service again.
The worst bit was the fees for moving sockets on the plan, £1,550. To compound this rip off, we were then informed that this was for the plans to be changed, the extra costs the contractors will charge and re submitting the plans.
My burning question is now when is bespoke not bespoke? Story Homes will happily do and excessively charge for upgrades, plumbing changes and plan changes for these items, however refuse point blank to add the dressing room change on the very plans they are resubmitting at my cost, still with the excuse of no bespoke!
This action alone will mean we have to complete on the sale, then put plans in again, pay rent and mortgage until the work just built is ripped out and amended, then carpets, blinds, electrics, then move in. Plus the additional costs for undoing and redoing post completion.
The NHBC have told me not having this work done in with the build will mean those works will not be covered by their 10-year guarantee as the works will be post build, carried out by a third party. We are talking about a 36" concrete lintel to create a doorway instead of a full brick wall, and a door blocked up that is not been put in yet, ridiculous.
Basically are these rip off fees normal practice?
Does the MD always have final say when common sense is not prevailing with his decisions?
How do we get the build progressed to avoid the mortgage offer running out?
These decisions have been neither fair or reasonable, it is creating a massive bill for us unnecessarily on completion. There has been zero customer service other than the MD saying no. This company makes out it is a friendly, family run business, proud of it's build and active on waste. We have seen no evidence of any of this to date.
We have literally been told today, pay for what you want, no negotiation and decide if you are going ahead by Friday 12th or pull out. Customer service zero.
This is the biggest purchase we will ever make, £400,000.00 and we have had better customer service when buying cars or even furniture.
Shocking and even more shocking if this type of treatment is industry standard. We hope at least to get some basic advice. We are appalled at the bully-boy antics of Story Homes and their take it or leave it attitude, especially when they are building homes which are actively promoted as "let Story build your dream home."
I have not found one sentence on the no bespoke policy anywhere other than in email from the MD and the sales line the reps are fed. Their attitude is terrible and has literally made us uncomfortable to be giving them so much of our hard earned money to a company that clearly could not care less about its customers.