My Wilcon-Built Nightmare (Wilcon Homes)

Member Name: rdobbie

Product:	Wilcon Homes
Date:	13/04/02 (5059 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Shoddy workmanship, Terrible customer care, Dangerous electrics

I bought a newly-built three bedroomed house from Wilcon Homes (who are now called Wilson Connolly) on a new development in South Manchester three years ago.

I thought I would be buying a new home which gave me peace of mind from the problems sometimes associated with buying older properties.

Sadly, though, this was to be the start of a very long and stressful Wilcon nightmare.

It is very hard to know where to start in describing the problems I have faced with my Wilcon Home. The following points, however, should give you a general idea...

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The radiator in the dining room continually leaked for the first six months. Wilcon unsuccessfully repaired it three times and the constant leaking water left my carpet mouldy.

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The hot water pipes under the bedroom floorboards started leaking, causing water to leak through the lounge ceiling. I had to move all my furniture from upstairs while Wilcon took up the floorboards in all three bedrooms until they found the leak; after much argument Wilcon eventually agreed to do the redecorating work to the lounge ceiling and walls. Wilcon's attempts at this redecoration work were a disaster and I eventually did it myself.

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The hot water pipe under my bath started leaking, causing water to leak through the kitchen ceiling. Wilcon refused to even inspect the problem. I took the bath out myself and located the pipe then replaced the connector which had not been installed properly; I also had to replaster and repaint the damaged kitchen ceiling, and re-tile the area around the bath, at my own expense.

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In November 1999 my house was wrecked by a flood caused by the cowboy plumbing in my Wilcon Home. Without any warning the main cold water stoptap under the sink exploded, causing a massive torrent of cold water to spray out, drenching the entire kitchen within secon
ds. The entire ground floor of my house was swimming in 2 or 3 inches of water. There was irreparable damage to much of my furniture and belongings. Wilcon refused to admit any liability and refused to pay for any of the damage to my house. For four weeks, I was living with family over 60 miles away while the house dried out. An expert's report later showed that the stoptap had burst because the joint was held together with something resembling PVC wood adhesive, and had been like a "time bomb" waiting to explode.

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The boiler in my kitchen started to leak water onto the wall below and onto two plug sockets and two main switches, causing the electricity to trip at the main circuit-breaker board. I got an electric shock because the circuits were incorrectly labelled on the circuit-breaker board, causing me to turn off the wrong circuit while I attempted to dry out the switches in the kitchen.

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For all the residents living on my Wilcon development there has been nearly five years of life on pot-holed, unsurfaced roads with no drainage or street lighting. It is Wilcon's responsibility to do this work, yet they disappeared off site as soon as all the houses had been sold.

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Forty-one houses on my development had faults with their heating system. Wilcon had shamelessly used incompetent, unqualified cowboys to fit the boilers, tanks and pipes in every house. It was left to each individual house owner to make a legal claim against Wilcon, which they defended every time.

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And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, more problems have come to light on Windermere Park during the middle of 2002. From what I understand around ten houses are having to be virtually rebuilt. This is because Wilcon used a weak mix of mortar on some of the houses, and peoples walls started to literally fall apart.


Anyone looking at the development will notice that some of the houses are covered in scaffolding. These are currently being rebuilt and their occupants have had to be put up in hotels. Wilcon are working their way through rebuilding the affected houses one by one. Sadly these affected houses have caused prices to drop sharply on the whole development - I have suffered the knock-on effects of this as I currently have my own house up for sale.

With every problem I encountered, it was virtually impossible to get Wilcon Homes to carry out remedial work. Their "24 Hour Careline" was never answered when I phoned up. My letters were never answered. On the few occasions that Wilcon did inspect the problems, their standard of customer service was appalling, with endless excuses and broken appointments, causing me to take needless time off work which was spent twiddling my thumbs, waiting for contractors that never turned up. In one year alone I lost eleven days of my annual holiday entitlement because of Wilcon Homes.

Earlier this year I successfully sued Wilcon Homes for the cost of the repairs to my boiler, and for an additional sum to compensate me for having no heating or hot water for a long period of time.

If you are thinking of buying a Wilcon Home, I have one piece of advice for you... DON'T DO IT. Wilcon want to take your money and run.

If you want to know more, please read my website http://www.wilcon-homes.com where you will find lots more information about my Wilcon nightmare, and links to other relevant websites about Wilcon Homes.

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