Shattered dream
Builder cancels first-time buyers’ reservation for new home... after they kept complaining
LIKE most first- time buyers, Emma Moffatt and Jordan Burns wanted their brand new home to be perfect.
So, after developers made a string of errors while they waited for the four-bed property to be completed, they decided to take their concerns straight to the top.
Miss Moffatt wrote to Bellway Homes chief executive Jason Honeyman to complain about unanswered questions over a former mine shaft nearby and claims they had been overcharged for flooring.
The 22-year-old also asked for a ‘gesture of goodwill’ by way of apology for the mistakes.
But the response she received spectacularly failed to make amends, with the developer informing Miss Moffatt that nothing in her complaint ‘warranted a goodwill gesture’.
The reply ended with the bombshell that Bellway had cancelled their reservation and would refund the fee and put the house back on the market.
Yesterday, Miss Moffatt said she was driving when her partner rang to say they had lost the home. She added: ‘I had a panic attack on the side of the motorway and my parents had to come and get me, I literally cried the whole night as my dream house had just crumbled in front of my eyes.
‘We are extremely upset but angry more than anything with how we have been treated.’
The couple, from Lydiate, Merseyside, had been looking for a house ‘to start a family in’ for about a year before they chose the Willow Grange development in nearby Huyton for their ‘perfect home’.
After being shown the plans for the detached property – valued at around £162,000 – they were also told that there was a mine shaft close to the house, prompting Mr Burns, who is a site manager himself, to ask about the risks involved. But they claim the issue ‘ was brushed under the carpet’.
Miss Moffatt also claimed her name had been misspelt on documents – with the deposit amount also written incorrectly. But the final straw was when they were allegedly overcharged for flooring and they emailed Mr Honeyman.
Last week, a reply from the company’s North West managing director David Williams informed Miss Moffatt that ‘all’ of the errors could have been easily rectified. He said: ‘We do not believe that any of the issues raised in your email warrant a goodwill gesture from Bellway, and we also feel that due to the nature of your email and how unhappy you seem to be, Bellway is not the builder for you.’
Yesterday, Miss Moffatt slammed the response as the ‘worst customer experience’ she had ever encountered. She added: ‘I hope nobody else has to go through the stress and upset we have been through.’
Bellway said that it was ‘incredibly proud’ of its customer service but refused to comment on individual cases.