Anyone wish to comment re their experience with s*monds?

Djelibeybi · Jun 06, 2008 7:26 pm

claego

i told them that i never have a tender appointment, i don't even seen my plan, no color selection (booked in on 20 June), so how i can sign a contract?

Yeah, they did the same for us, with the same response. The tender appointment (as described above) was great, as was our colour appointment. I think they are victims of their own success and are trying to clear people as fast as possible. However, if you take your time and slow things down, they (appear to) respect that as well.

So far, our CSR has been OK, colour selection person was great, as was the guy from Solid Rock Landscaping. The home theatre guy at E-HOME was fine, but a bit slow. YHC (Electical) are pathetic, I still haven't received my electrical plans.

However, as the land settlement has been delayed by 2 months, I don't mind letting them take their time a bit more.

I'll just blame it on them.

VJ · Jun 06, 2008 11:45 pm

Gosh, I thought we're the only ones who has got issues re: communicating with our builder's CSC...

I can feel your pain... remember, it's not only S*m*onds.. even M has got some issues like that.. although ours were only due to our CSC's vverrryyy verrrryyy poor communication.

dembi_2000 · Jun 08, 2008 2:45 am

I can see the consistency in S's customer service.

The Sales consultants are really great and amazing. Haven't seen anyone complain.

The CSO's are crappy. Well probably 90% of them.

Lastly, delays are inevitable...

This is only good if your land if gonna be delayed. This way, they won't be able to charge you for the thousands of dollars in price increase.

Primary reason we left S is unacceptable service. Deposit made last Nov 2007. Up to last month, there was no contract, no floorplan draft, no color selection, no tiles selection... I hope you guys can see why its just right for us to leave them. And of course, right now... there's still no refund for the deposit. I'd be amazed if they return the money to us within 6months. The 1.5k would have already earned 1year's worth of interest.

Well, they said that the hardest/longest part is the paperworks. Hope its true.

BTW, we changed to a private builder. Can't be happier with the service. And the new floorplan that we drew ourselves.

dembi_2000 · Jun 14, 2008 9:26 am

So... we've cancelled our build with Simonds... and after a month or so we got 1/2 of our reservation fee. Well, were not satisfied with 1/2 as we didn't get anything but frustrations and headache.

According to their mail to us, the other half was used for (with my comments):

1. Soil Test -- land isn't titled, how can you get a soil test? And where are the results?!? And it was a surprise that that cost $50 only. Just shows how much they overprice!

2. Site Leveling -- what's this? Land isn't titled. How can they have access to the land. And at $250!!!

3. Drafting of Plans -- what plans are you talking about?! When we talked before I canceled, the plans haven't even started yet! And now they are charging me $450 for something they didn't do?!

I'm expecting to get back the whole reservation fee. And if they did the soil test, I need the results. The mail they sent said that docs are attached, but of course there is none attached. Surprise!

Do you guys think I have a fair chance of getting my money back?

Thanks.

Sorry for the rant again. They just drive me crazy...

hysterical1144 · Jun 14, 2008 3:22 pm

dembi_2000

Site Leveling -- what's this? Land isn't titled. How can they have access to the land. And at $250!!!

Escalate it, if they claim that they have done site levelling, i would think that they are trepassing on the land as it is still not titled and henceforth, you are not the rightful owner to allow them access to it yet.

Either way, i would say take it to the highest possible level to get all your money back.

Cheers and good luck

dembi_2000 · Jun 16, 2008 5:26 am

Thanks hysterical. I've sent them an email asking saying that it's impossible to get soil test, site level or anything to do with the land. I'd be surprised if they have any report to show as proof.

Djelibeybi · Jun 16, 2008 8:42 am

dembi_2000

Thanks hysterical. I've sent them an email asking saying that it's impossible to get soil test, site level or anything to do with the land. I'd be surprised if they have any report to show as proof.

Interestingly, they did a soil test on our land (pre-titling) by arranging it with the land developer. This was done to give us indicative site costs and to determine the most likely slab type. Once the land is titled, they will do a second soil test to fix the site costs.

claego · Jun 17, 2008 2:35 pm

I just had tender with them last Friday and they did provide me a copy of the soil test report.
The second soil test will be done after the land is titled... but at least i know what soil type is and the estimate site cost...

nlx · Jun 25, 2008 10:28 am

In any case S*monds should be able to provide you with receipts for the soil test and other work they did. They usually charge 25% extra on the cost price for their profit. I think you have a good chance of getting some of your money back.

.........

I have been given a sample contract to review before I sign the real thing on the 16th of July.

Is anyone at the same stage as me?

And do you want to discuss the details of the contract in this forum?

I have gone through the contract 3 times and have found it to be biased towards the builders. There are 20 items I found in the contract that I would get changed. I will email my CSO with the details today.

Djelibeybi · Jun 25, 2008 5:34 pm

nlx

I have been given a sample contract to review before I sign the real thing on the 16th of July.

Is anyone at the same stage as me?

And do you want to discuss the details of the contract in this forum?

Yes, we are supposed to sign on the 11th July, but we still haven't had our electrical stuff done. I've just sent a rather stern email to our CSO saying that I will not be prepared to sign the contract before the electrical plan is finalised, so if she is not confident of that happening before the 11th, we should just postpone now.

I would be happy to discuss the contract with you, as I don't have much experience with it. Even if you can just PM/CC me on the comments you make to the CSO (if that's OK?).

Sharee · Jun 25, 2008 6:01 pm

Djelibeybi - Where building with Simonds and our slab is being poured this week and we are still waiting for our electrical plan! (first one had no lights on it !?!)

Djelibeybi · Jun 25, 2008 10:15 pm

Sharee

Djelibeybi - Where building with Simonds and our slab is being poured this week and we are still waiting for our electrical plan! (first one had no lights on it !?!)

Wow, good luck to you! I've been adamant with Simonds that I'm not prepared to sign anything until I'm happy with the progress. I'm certainly not signing the final fixed priced contract until I've at least had one or two electrical meetings.

nlx · Jun 25, 2008 10:29 pm

i got a call from a sales person from YHC and she asked if i wanted to come over to their office at Ferntree Gully rd or prefered communicating via email to decide my electrical layout. I was furious at her coz i wanted to go to the display house and discuss it there and not on paper. Anyway i gave her my email address as i had no choice. i havent heard from her for more than a week now.

i have told my CSO that i wont sign the contract untill i get the electrical prices locked in. she said that should not be a problem .... and Iam still waiting for YHC to contact me.

Djelibeybi · Jun 25, 2008 10:32 pm

nlx

i have told my CSO that i wont sign the contract untill i get the electrical prices locked in. she said that should not be a problem .... and Iam still waiting for YHC to contact me.

Yes, same, except I've been waiting over 2 months for an email from YHC. I have also told my CSO that I will not sign the contract until the electrical pricing is locked.

claego · Jun 26, 2008 1:28 pm

I actually have both electrical and color appointment on the same day, at Simond Gallery...
unfortunately my DH was sick on that day so i have to go myself and i forgot to ask a few things, and now i have to go through paperwork/fax, to ensure that they include into the contract... too bad, but it's my fault

Miss Piggy · Jun 27, 2008 12:25 am

Hi
I have just foung this place, we are buliding with Simonds, (Millbank 2900)and are about to get our slab done, well stuff has arrived on site so i guess it wont be long!

We have had no problems with them, our CSO went out of her way to help us and nothing was to much of a problem for them, the selection of things and tiles we did the same day, and our electrical we did via email, it has all been easy, we even changed the plan around, no problems there either.

However now that we have changed to our buliding CSo, we dont like him as much as the person we used to have, site supervisor seems ok though, fingers crossed.

dembi_2000 · Jul 02, 2008 5:22 pm

They finally agreed to give me another part of my deposit with them. They will be retuning the drafting cost. But the soil and site level survey is really non-refundable.

But u know what... i just found out that the drafting cost they are refunding me is different from the list breakdown they sent

How really annoying!

nlx · Jul 02, 2008 6:04 pm

I got a reply from my CSO that they wont change the contract coz they are a volume builder.

I kept insisting that I would not proceed and eventually they gave in and agreed to the terms partially which Iam happy with.

At the end of the day even volume builders need to make money so they have to accomodate our requirements!!

Djelibeybi · Jul 03, 2008 6:35 pm

We finally had our YHC Electrical appointment -- and it was probably the easiest, quickest and most professional appointment of all of them! We were in and out in about 1.5 hours with everything we needed and for our budget too.

I was quite surprised and just really annoyed that it hadn't happened months ago.

nlx · Jul 04, 2008 9:40 am

Quote:

We finally had our YHC Electrical appointment

Was your electrical appointment at the Display Home? If not then where was it?