Davidsons Homes - www.davidsonsgroup.co.uk

Moved into new home recently, the ceilings and walls are plastered/finished poorly. The ceiling has lumps and bumps in it and trowel marks all across ceiling. All walls in most rooms have lumps and bumps, some attempts appear to have been made to sand down the walls but were left unfinished when I moved in with the sanded walls left in painted and dusty.

Other areas of the property appear to have been ‘rushed’ not completed to the standard we expected from Davidsons when we purchased the property. Disappointed.

I was offered a part exchange and agreed a completion date about 6 weeks from reservation. After 3 weeks Davidsons said that completion would have to be within the next week (i.e 4 weeks from reservation) or my reservation would be cancelled. I was quite shocked by this as the sales manager said at the time of reservation that there would be absolutely no problem with the 6 week completion date.

I tried to meet this new deadline but it wasn't possible as my solicitor was working towards the originally agreed completion date and it wasn't possible to get all of the searches for the mortgage done in time. Davidsons went ahead and cancelled the reservation.

Trying to work out why this had happened, I managed to find out that Davidsons did not have sufficient funds to complete the part exchange. If this was the case then I've no idea why it was offered to me in the first place. This seems to be a major accounting failure on the part of Davidsons.

I feel like I've dodged a bullet as I wouldn't want to buy a house from a builder that can't manage their cashflow properly as this is bound to lead to corner cutting during construction.

Pressurised to move in early to meet their sales targets, promised the world to make the purchase, things promised were not done prior to moving in, bad workmanship, snags list as long as your arm even though promised no snags would be needed 'as they fully snag before you move in' that is definitely not the case, ignore you once you move in and snags left undone for months and many still not done over a year later. Obnoxious management who don't get back to you and constantly pass the book. Once they've got their money, you're forgotten - go elsewhere. Houses overpriced for the lack of service and workmanship they deliver.

So we are yet to move in so hopefully we have exciting times ahead, however our buying process has lacked quality customer service, especially from a first time buyers perspective where you are expected to be looked after rather than being seen a sales person goldmine, which we later realised!

We had been to see the house we was interested in a few times and advised we would have to wait a few months to get our figures together, we then had a phone call advising that someone else was about to reserve the house we wanted so to "get a move on" if we wanted it, we questioned the extras available if we was to buy this house "flooring included, intergrated AEG appliances, reduction in asking price" we was told once we reserved with head office (paid £500 over the phone) we would discuss This all on site, so the phone call was made that day, £500 paid and then few days later we arrived on site to discuss the potential extras we had been aware of when first viewing the plot, the response we got was "sorry you have reserved now there is nothing we can do". This day was a sign of things to come from Davidsons, a look of disgust and anger of the way we was treated resulted in £2000 being taken of a £5000 flooring bill (2 other buys we have spoken too not had to pay a penny) but was point blank told anything else was not an option. A deflated trip home compared to the previous trips where we had been promised the world if we was to go with Davidsons, ones which made us return to reserve!

Next was the question of their website plot details and literature on site all stating "INTERGRATED AEG APPLIANCES" the laughable response we got to this was it was just a microwave, this actually went to head office who strangely confirmed that what site told us was correct and they would be updating their literature going forwards to ensure future customers were not disappointed.... Well guess what... This still hasn't happened to this day and I have again had confirmation from 2 other buyers that they had intergrated freezers and washing machines included. From site staff to a person at the end of the phone at head office, currently I don't trust a word I hear from them and I am posting this to make all future buyers aware of their "tactics", which seems to be especially aimed at first time buyers, when wanting to complain further about this to "head office" it didn't seem that a complaints department was an option, either that is true or they always try to "fob you off" before seeing how serious you are.

Davidsons weren't happy to listen to our concerns via contact direct with them, so fingers crossed we get a response to the above. Will keep all posted.

Davidson homes Ravenstone, problems after problems.

Moved into a unfinished plot, a lot of things poorly finished and mould after mould around door frames and skirting boards.

Very poorly managed, very unprofessional to say that the MD originates from David Wilson homes if he was at David Wilsons now he would be sacked.

Very poor workmanship,very poor attitude towards the customer after they have took your money,when defects are pointed out just come out with the same statement every time,shame really my old house was built by David Wilson in crick just of the m1 and was perfect from top to bottom wish I had stayed there

We bought a 4-bed detached Davidsons house. The house wasn't finished when we moved in but that was just the start. Within a short time we had amassed a 'snag' list that was over two and a half A4 pages long. After a year we were still having work done e.g. the lead flashing over the kitchen slid down the roof and it was found to have just 6 securing clips instead of the 18 that were required. 6 years on and the ground floor has just been flooded when the push-fit mains connector at the back of the cloakroom toilet had just blown off. Cheap parts or shoddy work or both? When contacted Davidsons didn't want to know and said that after 6 years they couldn't be held responsible. You can get a 10 year guarantee on a conservatory but only 2 years it seems on a Davidsons home.

When moving into a new home you can expect a few minor niggles but with Davidson homes they are major. Great taking the money but workmanship in the final stages is poor. Customer service no help and reply as and when they can be bothered. My advise would be don't bother.