As Reading Chronicle reports, Tracey and Jason Bass and their daughter Emily are three of the 11 Loddon Park homeowners who have moved into temporary accommodation at the Winnersh Holiday Inn by developers Taylor Wimpey over recent weeks.
Their three bedroom property is currently having its walls ripped out, the latest in a long line of serious renovations undertaken on Taylor Wimpey’s Loddon Park development.
In late 2014 they discovered frost on their living room carpet, leading them to realise that Taylor Wimpey had failed to install any insulation!
When they returned from holiday in February this year they discovered a loose pipe had leaked gas into their home. On inspection, British Gas said the house would have gone up in flames had they turned on the lights!
Another gas leak poisoned their dog, requiring treatment by a vet.
Elsewhere on the development residents have had to cope with leaking roofs, wobbly walls and windows and a septic tank that leaked raw sewage into the street.
I understand, CEO Pete Redfern visited the site on Tuesday 14 September 2016 but, I am reliably informed, he did not talk to any of his new home-owner customers to discuss their issues and what he proposes to do about it!
So much for his Annual Report statement earlier in the year:
"our focus has been on understanding our customers’ priorities to enable us to deliver at and ahead of expectations. We have developed a customer mindset focused on delivering proactive, positive and professional service, which we want to ingrain in our behaviour with customers. We have also developed and will be embedding four customer commitments in the business, focused on getting it right first time, communicating well, keeping promises and finding solutions"
The MP for Reading East constituency Rob Wilson told
GetReading "The excessive list of problems identified by residents, both individually and collectively, shows clearly the unacceptable level of sub-standard workmanship – indeed, it raises serious concerns about why the properties were ever signed-off in the first place. This is something that I will bring to the attention of the Housing Minister."
