BDW Trading Ltd Reviews 143

Lights are out again at Harlow Gateway.
FirstPort are a pathetic example specimen of ripp-off leaches. They and Barrett are both part of the same natiomwide scandal.

National and Local authorities turn a blind eye to what's going on known as daylight robbery. FirstPort and Barrett are disgusting. NEVER BUY A BARRATT HOME. STAY CLEAR OF FIRST PORT immoral blood suckers extorting an immoral living from hard working people by doing and providing nothing.

THE LIGHTS ARE OUT AGAIN
THE LIGHTS ARE OUT AGAIN
GET OFF your bums they must be numb, get out of your offices you despicable pathetic retches.

THE LIGHTS ARE OUT AGAIN
THE LIGHTS ARE OUT AGAIN

Not a bulb problem but a pathetic FirstPort and Barratt problem. You are both pathetic

David Wilson homes is also part of BWD. Purchasing the property was straightforward thanks to a very good conveyancing solicitor who dealt with any issues. After purchase a totally different mater. Various what my wife and I considered MAJOR issues where continually met with a standard response of “its correct to plan / specification” only after our continued perseverance with proof that things were not correct did they correct the issues. My advise to others is do not accept what i see as being a standard “correct to plan” excuse. Another piece of advise do not complete the NHBC survey because once you do they will ignore you

Good luck to anyone who has recently bought a home from Barratt - lots of happy customers at the point of purchase it seems but it’s just a matter of time before you find out how shockingly bad their build quality is. I’ve bought two new build properties from Barratt and in both cases it’s clear that corners were cut... regular plumbing issues/leaks, creaky and unstable floors, rusting external door handles, faulty airflow units, obstructions bolted inside the ceiling to prevent the ability change comfort cooling filters, building debris/litter stuffed under balcony floor boards, unstable energy centre, holes discovered behind kitchen cupboards (fire hazard which led to ‘major investigations’ throughout the development), but the most shocking of all is the fact that, following intrusive fire safety tests last year, one of these buildings has been found to be a fire-trap. We have proof that the building was not built according to plan and it was not compliant with fire safety regulations at the time it was signed off. Despite Barratt doing their own tests - and coming to the same conclusion - they are doing absolutely nothing to fix the issue so we are looking at extortionate costs to get it fixed. Imagine buying a new car to only find out that the air-bags don’t work... and that the car manufacture won’t accept responsibility or fix the problem. Now imagine that’s your home where your life is at risk every day and even the London fire brigade have mandated a 24/7 waking watch because it’s so high risk. I’m likely to be made bankrupt because of Barratt and their flagrant disregard for safety rules or the well-being of their clients. I suggest anyone who has just bought a new flat with Barratt to wait about a year before posting a review because I guarantee you will not be so glowing in your praise when you learn what unethical and unreliable developers they are.

David Wilson east division have no regard for their customers. They are now preventing their customers contacting them by phone. Unbelievable!! YOU CAN"T CATCH COVID over the phone. When I was buying the property constant calls now disconnected.

Don't go anywhere near a Barratt or David Wilson Home -- ongoing issues for over six years and still not resolved. Plus, uncovering more and more issues as time goes on!

NHBC are in the pockets of Barratt Homes and offer zero protection to home owners - as long as Barratt Homes are looking to assist, NHBC are happy - this would be fine if Barratt’s hadn’t tried to resolve over six times and for each time to fail. Barratt’s are simply not able to provide a solution as it requires people who know what they’re doing and not just odd jobbers.

Funnily enough our house type has been changed and can only assume this is due to issues with original design which simple is flawed.

One star is too much for this so called 5 star company - probably give the awards to themselves!

Barratt Home was contacted beginning of Nov 2020 regarding a water infiltration in the ceiling of my living room, from the balcony of the flat above. Roofers attended the properties, said they could not see any evident cause of the problem and needed further inspections. However, no further inspection was carried out. As of Dec 13th, water started to leak from the ceiling after torrential rain and continued leaking for several days. Despite the urgency of the matter, no roofer visit was schedule before Dec 22nd (i.e. 9 days after reporting the issue). No one showed up on Dec 22nd and Barratt Homes justification was that no one was at the property when they tried to gain access. Notably, the properties were attended all day and no one tried to make any contact or gain access.
Barratt Homes falsehood and lack of communication is utterly disrespectful. Their inaction has affected my physical health for two full months, as I have been living in a humid room, with damp ceiling from which, after heavy rain, water drips for several days. Furthermore, my landlord has been affected economically, since the original damage has significantly worsened.
Barratt Homes offered a roofer visit in Jan 2021. This means over 21 days will have passed between the major leak being reported and the first real attempt to fix it.
I know no adequate words to describe such negligence and carelessness about the standards of the properties they manage and wellbeing of their occupiers.

Not a happy customer! Back in July 2020 we had a leak in the ensuite which is above our kitchen, caused by poor grouting in the tiles in the shower by barratt contractors at the time of the build of the house. Barratt sent a plumber out on 2 occasions to try to rectify the problem. Then they found grouting in the tiles needed redoing which resolved the problem. The water from the leaks has damaged our kitchen door frame plus kitchen door which they are replacing. The flooring in the kitchen hallway and bedroom has been damaged also, however they are refusing to replace as they say there is no damage. It is as plain as day the damage is there! It looks like we will have to pay for it outselves at our expense from bad workmanship! not sure where to take this further, as Barratt head office have refused to help!

Having viewed a number of different houses on a development we liked, we settled on a house we loved and went for it. We were so excited but to be honest, that’s where the excitement finished!!

We had lockdown in the middle of our move and as soon as businesses were back, Barratt phoned and said we had met a deadline, despite their sales progressers never once contacting our estate agents throughout lockdown and never having sent letters to the chain as they said they had!! They were then also rude to our estate agents, placing all the blame on them when things hadn’t worked out!
Following a number of challenges in our chain, barratt decided to pull out and their reasons were reasonable in the circumstances. We were told our house would be placed on hold for us meaning it was ours unless somebody else came in to buy it.

What followed from then was daily phone calls setting us unreasonable deadlines (24/48 hours was the normal!!) to get our chain moving. With these deadlines was a constant threat of taking the house from us and heaping pressure on us, knowing full well I suffered with post natal anxiety and that we had fallen in love with our house.

The house was finally reserved officially back to us when we got close to exchange but following another glitch in our chain, barratt decided to re-list our house. This is where the fun really started....Barratts didn’t even have the decency to tell us it had been remarked; our solicitor told us! Having checked with barratt they confirmed that our plot was back on the market but again, if we could get our chain sorted, they would let us have it, unless they sold it to somebody else first.

During that week, I watched the website show our plot as available and then sold so I phoned barratt who confirmed they had in fact sold it to somebody else....yet again, no contact from barratt to tell us this; they just allowed us to work it out ourselves!!!

Every conversation we had where we were threatened to lose our house (which was 2-3 times a week!!), we were often met with the comments “it’s a business decision” as if that somehow makes it ok! Because they’re a business, it gives them no right to treat people like that but we’re constantly hiding behind their “business decisions and deadlines”!! It’s helpful that they get you to sign a contract at the beginning to say you’ll exchange within 28 days (id love to know how many people achieve this!!!) as this means they’re completely able to just pull the contact when you breach it...nice of them!

Throughout this process, the company has heaped unreasonable levels of pressure on us, despite knowing I was struggling with anxiety. Their contact at the end when they sold our house to somebody else was non existent and they have honestly shown their true colours. Whilst we were available to buy their house, they were happy to talk to us and make an enthusiastic attempt to be “on our side” but as soon as they had somebody else’s money, they couldn’t have cared less!!!

I have never been so grateful for this process ending and keeping my money away from barratt!!

I really wish we'd paid a professional snagger to pick things up for us rather than doing it ourselves and missing the poor build quality. After almost 5 years living in a new Barratts home here's some of what we have discovered:

- DPM below regulation on the front of the house and garage, when contacted said they wouldn't do anything as it had been too long (we hadn't originally noticed that the DPM was at ground level on the garage as it was hidden by grass).
- No thought about drainage outside, patio is a levelled surface so pooling occurs and water logged gardens (should have a 1:60 gradient away from house at least).
- Terrible final fitting, leaking heating pipes, leaking seals in Bathroom and Kitchen, leaking front door, loose kitchen pipes not secured to walls, sink pedestals at wonky angles, plasterboard pins falling out everywhere.
- Skirting boards glued on so removal means damaging the board, same with floorboards so no access to downstairs roofspace without going through the plasterboard.
- Bathroom shower cubical tiles falling off, this is after Barratts originally had to replace them due to excess movement and squeaking.
- Lumps, bumps and cracks all over the plaster finish, usually under window sills etc.
- Will not give you drainage or electricity plans for your property, even though I know they exist as we saw them during the original sale.
- Unused underground drainage buried in garden and sealed off with duct tape rather than proper blanks.
- Outside road has been entirely dug up 4 times since we moved in because council still won't adopt 5 years later due to issues.

First Barratts home we've bought and never will again. Make sure you get a professional snagger and make sure they put everything right before you move in.

Regrets

Whilst the sales team are on site selling houses, you can expect good service. The problems start two years after your purchase when problems of poor quality and safety issues start to occur. We have had pieces of stonework falling off the chimney (thankfully no one was in the garden when the stonework fell), condensation between double glazing panes and exploding glass to windows, flaking and pealing paintwork to external window and door frames.

Response from BDW, "..... unfortunately your warranty ended in 20.5.19 for this type of defect. Your still have the NHBC Warranty which is for structural but the attached is not covered .....".

This is the first and last time we will buy a new house. You don't expect to pay nearly £450,000 for a house and experience these sort of quality and safety issues 2 to 3 years after purchase.

Everything is the house is botched and falling to bits and they won't come out and repair it - claiming it is the owner's responsibility. They are meant to maintain the development but they do nothing and it is in a mess. It seems everyone has the same experience with these criminals

Deceiving Practice with Poor Customer Service
Nearly a year has passed since we moved to our Barratt Homes residence in Andrewes House,Ridgeway Site, Mill Hill, London. We fell in love with the showhouse, and subsequently, we moved in on 26th July 2019. However, upon moving in we noticed that the kitchen cabinets were different to the style shown at the time of sale. The quality of the cabinets was visibly cheaper and lower in quality, and the colour was a completely different shade which did not match the surrounding kitchen scenery. Whilst we love our apartment, however, the kitchen cabinets have been an eyesore for us and have been subject of the past ten months of communications with Barratt. We went to the site manager and asked them to simply replace the kitchen cabinet with the style they had shown at the time of sale, which was same as the cabinets displayed at the showhouse. Showing us better and nicer quality kitchen cabinets but delivering poor quality, unattractive cabinets is unethical and Barratt as a major home builder in the UK should not conduct themselves in such a deceiving manner. For those considering Barratt for a new home, make sure to be clear on what they will deliver. We are very disappointed with Barratt and have been waiting for nearly a year for Barratt to correct their deceiving practice. I am planning to highlight my poor experience with Barratt through more social media channels. We have received your response and are now forwarding our complaint to this Facebook page.
Regards
Mohammad Reza Alimoghaddam

Wish I had read the reviews before I purchased a Barratt David Wilson house ,I definitely wouldn't have bought 1 . After sale service is extremely poor . Start employing better trades staff then maybe people will get a better standard of home . And stop using useless Zanussi integrated fridge freezers I need yet another one . I've been speaking to Gillian customer services manager about the problems I've had and she said she would call me back she didn't the site manager called me , and because I have been dealing with Zanussi , BDW are not willing to get involved. Fed up of knocking my head against a brick wall . And I don't want to contact you though your Facebook page I'm hoping that maybe the CEO might pick up the phone and call me to discuss the many problems I have .

FLEECEHOLD FLEECEHOLD FLEECEHOLD

becareful of buying any barratt home as many are subject to these fraudulent estate charge. They build an estate an often keep a small parcel of land on the estate (often the size of the land is a garden) they then create a deed that sign your freehold house to paying exorbitant fee for looking after this freehold land they own and use it as cash cow. I currently have a complain with this firm as i am in a similar trouble they have put me in and tried charging money even though most of the land they claim they still maintaining have been taken over by the council. They use their legal team to threaten you using FirstPort/JB LEITCH

I would not buy any freehold house from Barratts homes. This firm business strategy is based on “fleecehold” sell you a freehold house keep a small land on the estate and put a deed that says you have to pay maintenance. They then continuously threaten you to take back your freehold house back. We have been facing this issue on the birchmere estate. PLEASE BE CAREFUL THEIR FREEHOLD TITLE IS NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY WRITTEN ON

My one hope from this is it stops at least one person from making the mistake of buying a barratt home. The build quality is woeful at best. Corners will be cut and each year you own the house you will find more and more issues. They are built on the cheap by sub contractors who dont care. Ignore the 5 star BS this is achieved by site managers pushing and begging for a good review using the snag list items you are waiting for as leverage to get good reviews. NEVER I repeat Never buy a house from Barratt

I wish there is an option to leave 0 stars rating as Barrat do not deserve any.
I would like to share my recent argument with the company. Storm Caira did some damage yesterday to our property as well as to around 10 others surrounding us. We were the very “lucky” ones because the 5 stars builders as Barratt call themselves failed to secure the ridge tiles on our garage roof. As a result 5 of them were blown by the strong winds and damaged both vehicles parked in front of the garage. After we had a close look we established that none but couple of the tiles are screwed down and all the screws are sticking up. We knew they are not going to be bothered about fixing anything as we moved in to the property nearly 3 ago, so no longer covered by the 2 year warranty. But some of their responses were hilarious. Firstly of course they said they don’t cover storm damage even under the warranty. And when i pointed that the reason is them not securing the tiles first place they said “the wind is the reason those screws to become undone 😮”. The response to the email we’ve sent (including pictures of those screws) to the regional customer care office was that the tiles were fitted correctly and to the current standards... I had multiple conversations with the local office and begged to speak to site manager (currently building phase 2&3 so still in the area) who can come and address the issue, but they are cowards and was told it’s not possible. Couple of my neighbours received identical emails from the office in regards to their roof tiles being blown away, it’s like they have some sort of manual they are using to fob customers off. Another one was told that unfortunately our houses are too exposed and there is nothing they can do...Pathetic!
They do not care, but what drives me crazy is their inability to admit they are in the wrong and need to face the consequences as this is dangerous and it’s an accident waiting to happen. My partner could have been injured as he was in the garage, about to get out and move his vehicle when the tiles smashed in to it. Don’t even want to think what could have happened.
Unfortunately all builders are the same and don’t care as soon as they get the money and especially after the 2 year warranty. All they do is avoid fixing their bodged jobs and making excuses about everything. And on top of all NHBC are signing off those houses as fit for purpose.

Lessons learnt from Barratt:
1. Read the reviews carefully and avoid the purchase if people do not recommend.
2. Do not trust anyone (like Barratt) blindly when they claim that they are five star rated.
3. Do not choose the solicitor Barratt recommends as they will sell you without proper documentation and you will struggle when you want to sell your property.
4. Do not give up as you paid for your property and it is your right to get the value for money. You will win.

New Mill Quarter Development, Hackbridge Honest Review.

Now. Where do I start.

Like all the other reviews on this development, they are all 100% accurate. Due to move in June, then moved to August, then December, then March 2020. At one point they gave notice of the delay so late my partner had already given her notice on a rented flat, so she had to move up to Milton Keynes for afew months. (8months!)
Barratt do not have a system in place to deal with delays on developments. The industry is not regulated to deal sufficiently with such long delays.

So much so I took them to the small claims court (a very easy process, please search for Money Claims.gov.uk on google) and we got £6,000+ compensation for costs incurred and the time lost on my business dealing with the BS this huge development company cant deal with. Remember now, they made multi billion pound profit this financial year. Do your research.

I hear no one else has gone down this route and I urge you to do so.

I’ve had meetings with the Project Directors who in turn were unable to explain the real reason for the delays. I am 100% there are issues that are not being explained openly to customers. I will say Barratt Solicitors were the only members in the company able to make any real difference.

To everyone in our position, buying a plot here, challenge them, and take it as far as you can... They will most certainly be breaching the Consumer Code developers sign up too.

Whilst we cannot prove it, the development was miss-sold in January 2019 claiming it would be ready in June 2019. In April 2019 they were months upon months away from any real progress. I honestly believe in life that you trust your own judgement and on this development it was never ever going to be ready with the timeframes they set. They gave the time frames to build the interest and get the exchange money secured.

We subsequently pulled out due to the alarmingly small size of the second bedrooms and found another plot on another development. Remember someone buying your HTB flat will not have HTB to buy it off you. They’ve crammed in so many plots in such a small space.

We really believed in this development in Jan 2019 and throughout the last 12 months I’ve learnt so much about the building industry I’m so glad I’m not giving Barratt our money.

TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN THE HAVE THE WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE

We bought our first flat (3 bedroom) last year in Hendon Waterside Peregrine Apartments and as you know it was a special occasion for me and my partner but Barratt with the help of their property management company (First Port) made it hell for us. They do not care about your well-being or what you have purchased and all they care about is the money and as soon as they take the money THEY DO NOT CARE what have they built and to fix the problems which comes with the property.

I give you some example of what we have gone through from the day we moved in. I wish i could add some picture so you know what I say is real. You can see they have not replay to any of the reviews here cause they don't care about the customer service or you as a buyer and all they care is to take your money and leave you on your own.

1. We moved in first week of December 2018. The first day we moved in, There were no hot water or heating for at least 10 days. After telling them so many times that we have no heating or water they finally came to look at the problem. When they look at the boiler they found out the heating is not even connected so they tried to fix it. After that the flat got so hot that we had to leave the windows open in the middle of winter and there was no way to turn the heating down. The second time they came to look at it, they found out the whole thing is not working properly and the had to fix the whole thing AGAIN.
2. The flat door was so hard to open that my partner always waited for me to open the door for her and after telling them so many times I had to fix the door myself and take the door closer out in order to be able to get in or out our own flat
3. There was and still is a part of the celling damaged from the day we moved in and I asked them to fix it and it has still not fixed.
4. 2 weeks after we moved in to our flat, on a weekend, The fire sprinkler in our third bedroom went off for no reason and the whole room was flooded and the water even went to the main bedroom. The noise it created was like a tsunami coming down our celling. After calling their “emergency number”, the project manager came and saw what has been done to our flat due to the technical fault in their system in our brand new flat. The water went everywhere. I asked them to change the whole carpet in the third bedroom and main bedroom but they did not do that and they said we are going to just dry it out. I did not agree to this but now they said we did all we could. After a few months and us complaining the project manager and someone else from the head office came and the project manager portended it was the first time he has seen and known about it. The whole room started to smell and now the floor parquet are coming off now. They fixed the celling but the work is so messy you can not even believe it.
5. They use cheap product even they promise you a good quality product. After a few months the kitchen sink started to flood the kitchen cabinet and when we brought in the plumber (who used to work for Barratt) he said that they have not put the sink together properly and there are loose screws everywhere and that is the case in all the flats. They have not answered my request to fix the cabinet till today.
6. The sale team are liar, Do not believe what they promise you. Nigel was the person who sold the flat to us and whatever he promised, never happened. They keep telling you that they never miss their deadline but they missed it for a month and you know how it is if you are renting a place and want to give a notice.
7. The property management team is useless. Their “manager” called “Salvatore” is irresponsible and can not do anything. If you send an email, don't expect to get any replay at least for 6 months. I have asked for a Bin to be put in the communal garden and they accepted to do that but I has been almost 5 months since they were suppose to do that. I don't understand how long it takes to just provide couple of bin in the communal area.
8. We have a Gym in the building but it took me emails after email, application forms after application forms to get access to the gym, after at least 9 months, paying for the gym, now I have access to the gym.

I spoke to an employer of the Barratt company and he told me that the company do not give funding or resources for the property they assume to be complete, no matter how many problems the flat might have or how serious the problem is. By saying complete according to him “as soon as someone move into the flat”.

I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect if decided to purchase property form Barratt London. If I could go back in time I would never even get close to their sale suit never mind buying from them. Buying your first house or flat should be something you never forget, Barratt London and First Port has made it unforgettable for us in the worse possible ways.

Hope this will never happen to anybody.

You sold me a stand-alone Tower and a year after I move in you put up signs merging us with another Tower! Your Sales Director claimed you rename blocks for marketing purposes only!
Isn’t this like marketing a Bentley and receiving a VW Polo? They’re both cars...but of very different standards. You would pay more for the Bentley than the VW Polo. How are these tactics legal? If you Directors are happily doing this what hope do we have of being told the truth by those lower down in an organisation - Directors should lead by example!