Exeter man describes 'nightmare' house buying experience
A man from Exeter has described his experience of buying a home through Barratt Homes as 'nothing but a nightmare'.
Mr Russell Newcombe,33, and his wife Carly,35, reserved a plot on the Hillside Gardens estate in Pinhoe in February 2014 after hearing that the area they hoped to move to benefitted from good schools and more importantly that the developers had a good reputation.
However, Postman Russell says it's wasn't plain sailing from the get go.
He said: "When we first reserved the plot we felt that because we didn't use their Mortgage Advisor that they were unwilling to give us much advice. They also pressured us to exchange within four weeks.
"We added on around £5,000 worth of extras to the property and they rushed us for the money. We paid them a deposit in March, but they didn't order the parts until October. The money was sitting in their bank account when it could have been in ours.
"We also never got a completion date. I kept chasing and chasing and in the end I had to go into their office to get an answer."
Despite the teething problems the couple experienced, they were excited to finally get the keys to their property and in November 2014 they finally moved into their home with their young son Jack (now 2).
Russell continued: "The very first day we moved in I put the dishwasher on and it flooded the kitchen! The pipe outside had had things shoved down it so the kitchen floor and carpet had to be replaced.
"Barratt Homes did pay for this and they did give us some money as a good will gesture, but I did have to take a day off from work unpaid in order to let the plumber in to do the works."
Two years on the couple, who have since added to their brood and have a nine-month old daughter Isla, say they are still living with problems such as faulty kitchen plinth and a twisted bath.
Russell said: "There's a part on the plinth in the kitchen that needs to be replaced and despite it being delivered to our home at Christmas we are still waiting for it to be fitted.
"There's also a design fault regarding our bathroom. The window is too big so when you have a shower the window screen floods and water goes all over the floor.
"They've given us a new screen but it doesn't solve the problem as it's because the bath is twisted.
"We just want our money back for the shower as we have paid out for something that we can't use. We also want the repairs done in our kitchen."
Paul Moran, Managing Director for Barratt Homes, said: "We are aware of the issues and have been working with Mr Newcombe to rectify them. We are committed to completing the few remaining warranty items and apologise for any undue inconvenience caused to date."
