Where is the after sales?! (Wilcon Homes)

Member Name: KarenPotts

Product:	Wilcon Homes
Date:	01/04/02 (881 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful layout, Location excellent, Will be wonderful when finished!

Disadvantages: Poor after sales service, Poor communication, Length of time to rectify faults

I bought my first ever new house last year.

First experience - delays from Wilcon solicitors meant that they started threatening to pull out of Exchange of contracts unless I paid a few thousand more pounds. My solicitor put them right about that and exchange went through smoothly.

Second experience. Visited the site on a thursday morning in the middle of June when the site manager was available to discuss the progress on the house. He gave me an inkling that the property should be ready tail end of August (sales details stated July / August) due to unforeseen delays with contractors etc. This suited me down to the ground as it would give me plenty of time to pack etc.

Received a letter Saturdays post giving me 14 days to complete the purchase.

Went back to the site on the Monday and the site manager couldnt believe the news either. The house was no where near ready! The balcony hadnt been done, the roads werent laid, not painted, no BT - you name it and it wasnt finished.

I spoke to my solicitor and he was not very happy as by rights I should be allowed to complete whenever I liked within the 14 days. It was obvious I had a choice of which day to complete - the last day in the 14 days notice! This date I picked and booked the removals company.

The morning of the move - we were told that the cleaners were in my house and could we come back after lunch. This we did begrudgingly and our removals firm were not happy with this!

The real reason I have since found out was that they were installing the last bits of the kitchen and painting white gloss - yes - on the day of moving in!!

Since I have been in, there has been no end of problems with the house. Most of these were fixed whilst the builders were on site apart from about 25 items. Most of them were also due to the fact that they needed completion by the end of June (financial yr goalpost) and didnt care whether the house was ready or not to mo
ve into. Most of the defects were due to being rushed in finishing the house. Paintwork abmissmal, locks and doors not fitted properly, no shower door upon moving in (have one now that doesnt fit!).

All carpets need replacing as they have worn through in under 6 months. I have been told this is due to the terribly poor underlay underneath the carpets. It is like tissue paper! The only carpets I have yet to replace (at my own cost so far!) are in the bedrooms. I have replaced 10 rooms worth to date! Three more in hand for sometime in the next two months. This cost was not budgetted for and would like to warn other potential customers of this one!

Since Wilcon have left the site in December, we have not seen or heard from them again. I have written numerous letters asking for when they will complete the defect list, and rectify faults etc. I finally got to speak to a manager last week - who promised to call back on Thursday to confirm dates for when contractors could come out to rectify the remaining defects. Did he call back? No.

I have more than 18 letters (all detailing different problems with the house) as yet unanswered.

I have had defects ranging from internal bathroom doors that wouldnt lock, to windows that will not shut properly, shower doors that are not fitted properly and leak, to pipes knocking together and sounding like a pneumatic drill!

I also have floor boards that are not even and have been "fixed" three times to date and still differ by about 1/4 inch in height.

The house itself is lovely, and I did expect teething problems and settlement problems as you would from a new house.

However, I did not expect to never hear from customer services / sales office once they had allowed everyone to move in.

The site is not finished. There are no outside lights which makes it dangerous to walk around in the dark - especially as I live alone!

The planting has not been fi
nished - and those bits that have been, the residents are looking after even though there is meant to be a maintenance company doing all the work. This is because the maintenance company cannot get involved until the site is complete and handed over to the council.

The roads are not adopted, nor any idea as to when they will be.

This site - unrelated to my own experience - may also be worth reading...

http://www.wilcon.fsbusiness.co.uk

Also - love their name WILL CON!

If anyone wants to contact me for further details please do - wilcon@kitservices.org.uk

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