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Author Topic: New Persimmon Home Problem  (Read 53972 times)

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Josh4523

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New Persimmon Home Problem
« on: April 24, 2015, 10:40:39 pm »
Hi, I have recently just come across this website while searching for advice on a few problems I am having with my new home.

Firstly, this is a Persimmon home which is a new build completed 1st September 2014, so it is about 6 months old. I was quite excited to buy my first home but I have had a problem with just about everything inside the house from leaks, internals pipes not fitted, floors bubbling up etc.

I phoned up Persimmon about 10 days ago with about 8-10 new faults that had cropped up for them to say we are going to send our 'Head of Customer Services' out to come and check as if they didn't believe what I was saying - they have come out about 6 times already, electrician once and the plumbers about 5-6 times also.

Anyway, the reason for this post was the customer service man basically tried to fob me off and said all the faults are normal and not covered. One of my biggest concerns was my back door which as warped/bowed at the top and slightly at the bottom so it doesn't meet the seals and cold air blows a gale down the hallway. He said this was perfectly acceptable and he would maybe arrange for someone to come out and put in bigger seals to allow that the door no longer creates a good enough seal.

In my opinion because they have provided such poor quality fittings and it has done this they should replace the entire door for a new one that is not bent.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this and can advise me in the right direction?
I am really concerned with how poor quality the work is inside that someone has advised me to get an independent building inspector (or along these lines) to come inspect the house and submit a report, offer the report to Persimmon and failing to put right to take them to a small claims court to resolve?


moaninminnie

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2015, 01:42:05 am »
Persimmons are known for being poor builders in general and customer services will always fob you off-they have to save money to keep the shareholders happy. Stand your ground and tell them it is not acceptable to just have new seals, that door is defective and you want it replaced. To Persimmon, a door won't cost much as they buy them in bulk anyway. Tell them they are responsible for the first two years to put things right and new seals for a defective door is NOT putting things right. Should Persimmon refuse you'll have to consider making a claim.

Photograph everything, write everything down in a diary until you're satisfied things are put right. Write to the Build director and tell him about the list of snags which have not been completed-after giving customer service a reasonable time to put right-and tell him you're going to the small claims court.

Good Luck

Tim Fee Snagging Inspector

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2015, 08:26:17 am »
Indeed Persimmon are well-known for building poor quality homes and then failing miserably to provide anything that resembles Customer Service.  Perhaps this would explain why they are one of just three house builders to be rated only three stars by their own customers in the HBF Customer Satisfaction Survey and why they won only 8 NHBC Quality Awards last year (Barratt site managers won 89!)

As you have found out they just don't care. From their un-contactable by e mail CEO Jeff Fairburn, whom you should write and post a stern letter, right down to the site managers and their trades.

You will have a warranty, but I expect it isn't from the NHBC.  Why you might ask? 
One theory being that apparently, the NHBC were finding and reporting too many defects and breaches of the NHBC standards.

You probably have an LABC warranty, so you should make a claim if Persimmon fail to fix your defective new home.
It might be a good idea to have the home inspected by a professional snagging company.
I say "might" because you and anyone buying a new home (especially from Persimmon) should have it independently inspected and snagged BEFORE they Legally Complete. That way they can delay the purchase until the home is as good as it should be. The house builder will want their money and have an incentive to fix the faults.
In your case now, it will just highlight to you how bad your new home is and you still have no certainty that Persimmon will put all of the defects right.

The reason the "Head of Customer Services" (he is probably the only "Customer Services" person at that office!) needed to come out and personally see the problems is to assess the likely cause, who was to blame and what needed to be done, by which trades. All of which is perfectly reasonable.  It is also a good idea  to have personal contact with their customers - again a good thing! 
Trying to fob you off wasn't - shame on you Persimmon Homes!

If you want to take Persimmon to court contact Geoff Peters at  www.wingrovelaw.co.uk  He is based in Yorkshire, handy for Persimmons corporate head office in Fulford Yorks!
New Home Blog - New Home Expert is committed to providing help and advice for people having issues with their new homes and difficulties with house builders as well as helping potential buyers reduce the risk of possible problems if they do buy.

Josh4523

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2015, 01:29:36 pm »
Thank you for your comments.

I did get the Head of Customer Services' card because I thought it would result in further action from the report he sent. I see it only has a generic email address anyway so it was rather pointless giving me his card!
He really was a smarmy smug character as well!

Unfortunately I did not come across this website until after I had bought the property, otherwise I would have taken the advice and completed the checklist, but I had no idea the problems that I would of had.

Because I have been in the property for 6 months, would it be worth getting someone to come and inspect the house and present them with a list to sort out and if they ignored it or refused push to small claims court?
I have attached few images just to show some of the quality of the work they carried out in my house and it is very poor quality. I could fix a lot of it myself, but this is their job not mine so why should I redecorate the whole house because they have done such a sloppy job? I do have a crack window lintel also on the outside which has cracked in half and he said they would look at patching it up first to see (these are concrete middle then a sandstone look cast round it for the area I live in).

I do have quote a lot of cracking/shrinkage which he did say they would come look at after 12 months and will fix anything which is about £1 coin thickness he said.

Josh4523

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2015, 01:32:07 pm »
Also, I forgot to mention I do have NHBC warranty as well not LABC, I have just dug out the paperwork and checked.

Josh4523

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2015, 01:33:07 pm »
More poor quality images...

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2015, 07:48:25 am »
Get your home professionally snagged and send the list to CEO Jeff Fairburn and write and tell him how disgusted you are with your house.  give Persimmon 28 days to fully complete all the items noted on the list (you don't want the work to drag on for month after month)
Tell Persimmon that failure to do so will mean you will be instigating legal action against them using Wingrove Law and making a claim under the NHBC warranty.
From what you have shown in the photos, it is mostly the "normal" dire quality of workmanship and outstanding snagging items that should have been picked up before you moved in anyway.

There is no need to "wait" for 12 months before coming back to attend to excessive shrinkage cracking.
This is just a delaying tactic, they hope they wont be on site in 12 months time and would deny they ever said it if they were!  Bigger than the edge of a pound coin?  It used to be a 10p coin. Twice the gap -that's inflation for you!
New Home Blog - New Home Expert is committed to providing help and advice for people having issues with their new homes and difficulties with house builders as well as helping potential buyers reduce the risk of possible problems if they do buy.


Poppy

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2015, 04:23:06 pm »
We bought a Persimmon Home in Nov 2014 and have had nothing but trouble!
We did have a professional snagging survey (4 pages of defects and snags) which we presented to Persimmon Homes and to date there are still outstanding works to be done.  
The most serious of these being insufficient drainage outside the house with subsequent flooding which has now been sorted out and internal floors which are not level. They are attempting to rectify this, all the downstairs tiles have been removed and is in the process of being re-tiled however the 2 rooms with carpets will now be lower than the tiled areas!

Never buy a Persimmon Home!!  >:(

Josh4523

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2015, 08:24:49 pm »
Thanks for all the advice, I have already got in contact with a snagging company and I will get them to come do a list and follow your advice outlined above.

Hopefully all will go well but from my dealings so far, this is unlikely.

Many thanks!

custking

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2015, 06:55:52 pm »
Hi bloggers, I was shocked to see Watchdog reports on Persimmon last night.  Mind you, I think such things do happen and when I think of it my home could have made a sorry picture in the week we overtook it because it rained and rained and rained, the Sommerset floods were underway, December 1915 we took up our home.  We rushed to it, husband worried the front would flood as it cambered slightly towards the house but when we got there, Persimmon had done exactly what he planned to do to stave off the water so we just dug more trenches as we weren't at the property.  Persimmon did a soak-away for us not much later, no water transgressed our damproof course.  When we took the house over Persimmon staff were great with us, never fobbed us off as there was some damage on the cooker etc., and the sales lady took note of some initial things telling us they'd be sorted and they were.  They had a run of sales and changing site managers so we were unfortunate things had been more rushed as well as the weather not helping matters.  The damage on the cooker looked like carelessness from fittment and there was some drying out problems but only surface old that cleaned away, they gave us dehumidifiers etc.  They sent someone down to help the houses here and he was really helpful.  We never had to argue for refunds.  We've bought two Persimmon Homes, this one has the best kitchen, no damaged cupboards etc. Moores kitchens, the best sanitary wear and the brickwork, garages and drives are done like a pin.  I think Persimmon get panned more than they deserve.  We bought off Wimpey, it was 8 years of snags.  I even looked up at my roof one day and noticed it looked odd, only to discover the roofer had tiled even though a baton had been missing so we then had to have scaffholding up, then mised the rotivating we'd waited ages for as they couldn't get passed the scaffholding.  This highlights how tradesmen will do a job knowing the previous one is going to impact but don't care.  A lot of the problems are the tradesmen taking advantage of the big builders.  We've had the door problem mentioned above at our Persimmon home and the guy called out tried to fob my husband off and got nasty but the spirit level didn't lie, they tried to blame Persimmon's framework but that measured up fine, so after a tantrum by the door company's rep. etc., we had a new door, hold your ground!!  It's the only way companies will stop trying to palm off damaged goods on housebuilders.  Of course, the goods need to be stored properly and if not the builders are liable.  The dry-liners are a big problem, they could do a proper job but don't.  There needs to be more tradesmen and more control of the quality of their work.  Persimmon aren't mean at point of sale either.  Redrow screw you for every bean in my opinion.  We've bought two Persimmon homes and their sizing is what it ways it is.  We're the most critical purchasers because we're highly experienced.

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Re: New Persimmon Home Problem
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2015, 08:07:33 am »
I was going to correct all the mistakes in the previous post but decided to leave it as it was written[sic]

"December 1915 we took up our home."[sic] 
During the first world war!   If you moved in a year earlier you could have climbed out of Persimmon's trenches and played football with the Germans on Chirstmas day!
You moved in just before Persimmon financial year-end too - the worst time to move into any new home, but especially at Persimmon!

"Scaffholding"  [sic] 'Holding' it up no doubt as shown on TV BBC Watchdog this week?

"There was some drying out problems but only surface old [sic] that cleaned away, they gave us dehumidifiers etc.  Good old Persimmon. helping get rid of health damaging MOULD in your new home!

"We've bought two Persimmon Homes, this one has the best kitchen, no damaged cupboards etc." [sic]
Whoop-de-doo!  Persimmon managed to fit a kitchen without damaging the cupboards this time but still damaged the cooker though!  Oh silly me - it wasn't Persimmon it was their contractors so not poor Persimmon's fault at all!

"The best sanitary wear" [sic]
How do you 'wear' a toilet or a basin?

"We're the most critical purchasers because we're highly experienced."
Yet still make the same mistake over and over again, buying a Persimmon new home!

Anyone who doubts what Persimmon are really like needs to watch the video Persimmon featured on BBC Watchdog here
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