Pennyfarthing Homes Anmeldelser 

Evaded responding to questions about their contract, crucially one concerning the absence of indemnities, and revoked the sale without notice following a 6+ week wait for a reply. Our chain collapsed from lack of progress between times and although restored shortly after, the developer seemingly had advertised, sourced & authenticated a replacement buyer in the interim all whilst maintaining the "Reserved" tag on their website and without any notification to us as the Reservee! An incredible feat given the somewhat sluggish market but more astounding as we were in correspondence with their MD at the time about their delays !!! Our request for timing details of that ‘resale’ not too surprisingly failed to elicit a reply. The net result was that we lost out on the purchase and left with abortive legal costs as a result of failures on their part. The implication being, whatever the "weaknesses" of the contract, the prospective purchaser must accept it unconditionally under threat of unilateral withdrawal of sale without warning.

We do wonder whether the ‘irregularities’ in the contract would have come to light if we had appointed the developer’s recommended solicitor to act on our behalf (billed as giving surety of completion but at twice the cost of high street equivalent). Certainly personalising finishes by non-refundable payments in advance of seeing the contract which we felt pressured to do, would have placed us in a more submissive role in relation to accepting the contract ... thankfully we repelled such overtures.

BEWARE

A special mention and thank you to Malcolm, he has gone above and beyond to assist us with his customer care.

He has been very friendly and professional in helping us.

Just moved into a newbuild, beautiful home , and any slight issues after moving in all i had to do was speak to the site manager Malcolm who was friendly and professional, who had people out very quickly and made sure issue was rectified asap. Great service

Positive Points
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The quality of our house is good. The finish and insulation are brilliant, and our home certainly appears well-constructed.

Initially, small problems were fixed quickly with no trouble (dents, scratches, paint touchups, etc). Malcolm and Raf were especially brilliant at communicating/sorting.

Jackie on the sales team was also friendly and very helpful.

Negative Points
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With any new-build project, issues can be expected. This review is based on how these were handled (rather than the issues themselves).

More complex issues were met with denial, misdirection on actual costs to put you off, lack of apology and were generally poorly managed.

Each issue felt like an exhausting fight, rather than two parties working together to solve a problem. Calls/emails to Customer Care often went unanswered and required constant chasing.

Decision-makers were unwilling to communicate or have a simple phone call. Often preferring the use of posted letters to respond to emails. Processes designed to make replying as difficult as possible for the customer.

The legal team were extremely aggressive/uncaring. When we purchased, it was a seller's market. Interest rates were skyrocketing with huge backlogs/delays faced by all mortgage lenders. Issues beyond our control.

Penny Farthing enforced unreasonable timescales, disregarded our concerns, applied excessive pressure, and were in denial about delays faced by lenders.

They even put our house back on the market to apply pressure. Just all round rotten tactics.

Summary
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The quality of our house, and the on-site team would easily have made this a 5/5 review.

But the behaviour of their legal / head office team was just inexcusably poor and uncaring.

Upon completion of the purchase of the property, I was extremely impressed with the workmanship and the level of customer service I had received.
Sadly, all this is a distant memory. When looking over the property with finer detail now I have moved in, it’s clear that standards are slacking. The carpentry is pretty poor in places & the painting and decoration lacks a fine finish. I genuinely haven’t purchased a large spirit level as I really don’t want to highlight how poorly aligned some of the interior walls are.
Additionally, don’t use their carpet fitters or tilers. The carpets have been fitted with absolutely no pride and the tiled floors in the bathrooms are all scratched from boot wear.
Also, we’ve been one of many plots to have had our bathroom ripped out since the tiling was so poor, leaks were found.
I’d suggest using an alternative developer.

What initially appeared to be a positive experience has sadly been progressively soured by consistently poor customer service from Head Office. The staff based at Potters Wood are fantastic and very helpful, but ultimately they are let down by their Head Office. My house recently had failed coaxial cabling for satellite tv, a replacement en-suite required due to poor workmanship and no hint of an apology. Poor tiling and damp loft voids are common faults throughout Potters Wood, and Head Office refuse to address this, stating instead that buyers should expect their lofts to be damp and mouldy for up to two years. They don’t tell you this until you’ve moved in, and they refuse to reimburse you for items stored in the loft that are damaged by the mould, or the inconvenience of having a brand new en-suite ripped out and replaced. The timber roof rafters in my loft and the underside of the ‘breathable’ roof membrane are covered in mould, and this is getting worse over time. Penny Farthing insist this is normal. On the surface these properties appear very good, but sadly over time poor quality and workmanship becomes apparent, made worse by the woeful customer service experience from Head Office.

First class company. We have been in our new build for two years now and have had a few minor problems but all have been dealt with very courteously and efficiently by an excellent Customer Care Department. Sue located some chrome screw covers for our shower which we had accidentally broken and within a couple of days we had an email to say they had been sent by the manufacturer and would be forwarded on to us. Excellent response Sue- thank you!
We have been pleased with the response to all the issues we have had since moving in. We would highly recommend Pennyfarthing to any potential purchaser for their quality of build and aftercare.

Sue from the customer care department was very helpful. I had a query on a colour for a product used on our house when it was built in 2016, which wasn't in the house file. She came straight back to me with the information I needed same day.

Great customer service.

Thank you

Glenn

Malcolm was fantastic , he looked after us at Potters Wood (customer care), pre and post moving in 👍
Sean .

We've been in about 6 weeks now and still as happy as they day we moved in. There have been no issues with the house at all and everyone we have dealt with have been helpful and friendly.

During the whole sales process Jackie has been incredible and really helped our first time buying experience go as smooth as possible. From the day we moved in Malcolm has looked after us and been helpful and efficient getting the few minor snags taken care of and its been a pleasure to deal with him and his team.

Do not buy a penny farthing home. We purchased our home back in 2021 yet we are still waiting to have a fully working bathroom. We paid extra for tiles which had to be relayed 8 times due to poor contractors and poor workmanship. We then have had our en suite replaced now 5 times due to the same error happening. It is appalling that such a large company cannot get a bathroom correct. We now have no faith in our entire home. If you want a stressful, disruptive and time consuming home please go and buy one because thats exactly what you will get.

The complaints team do absolutely nothing when it comes to raising a formal complaint, had to go to trading standards and they have advised to make a formal complaint. Next step is the ombudsman as we have been purely ripped off. With a brand new bathroom each time installed they refuse to extend warranty, some how they can't guarantee their own work will not fail. This is the reason why. With over 250 bathrooms being replaced across Potters Wood and Augustus Park due to using cheap parts, not what you would expect in a premium home.

The only reason we have had things moved is due to Matt from customer care. He has been brilliant. I wish I could say the same about everyone else at the company.

Like the first house I bought from Penny Farthing, from Jackie and the girls in the sales office to Malcolm quickly sorting out any snags I have found that they are an excellent company and deserve there 5 star rating.

The house is superb, the quality of finishes is spotless, great care to all detailes.
From the first day we decided to buy a new house and visited the Pennyfarthing site at Potters Wood, the experience we had with them was fantastic. Jackie and rest of the team of the sales office were very suportive and helpful, always in contact with updates, so every step if the process went smoothly.
The house is fantastic, better than expected. Since we moved in, around 6 weeks ago we only found a handfull of minor issues, but thanks to Malcolm from aftersales care and the rest of their team, they were fixed in no time. Malcolm always helpful and very knowledgeable in everything we needed to know.
I would strongly recommend Pennyfarthing to anyone who wants a new house.

Jackie the sales lady was fantastic, honest, new her product and was helpful with information on the area and gave suggestions regarding mortgages. I could not fault her, was good at listening and asking questions. Good follow up phone calls. Very impressed

We had some work done on our windows by Greg from Munster Windows and he reported a secondary issue. The very next morning, without us having to chase it someone was there to correct tissue. This was excellent customer care. In addition, Matt, Chris, Clare and the whole customer care team are always excellent; quick to respond and quick to remedy problems. We have been vey impressed.

Amazing Customer service from Jackie, she was very knowledgeable and was able to answer any questions we had. The build quality is superb, only a few little snagging items (door not closing properly, etc.), which were fixed very quickly with the help of Malcolm.

Definitely recommend them for a new home, don't let the online critics of new builds put you off with a Pennyfarthing home. Top Quality.

Great experience purchasing a new home with Pennyfarthing Homes. The sales team have been excellent from the outset, keeping us updated on the progress including the photos and estimated completion date. Jackie, Gaye, Sina and all the sales team at Potterswood have gone above and beyond to ensure our move went as smoothly as possible. We honestly felt that they had our best interests at heart.
Since moving into our house 1 month ago, we have been more than impressed with the quality of construction and the finishing touches. Malcolm and Rafael from the after sales team have been excellent and the very few imperfections we found have been fixed quickly. We would definitely recommend buying a new home with Pennyfarthing.

Thanks to Matt, Chris & Clare at the Penny farthing Customer Care team, they respond extremely quickly and work hard to resolve all the little issues that have come up in our first year. They've also helped organise & resolve some of the more significant challenging issues with an ongoing leaking shower and chimney issues that a few folks in Fordingbridge have had.
Thanks for the help guys, it's appreciated!

With Malcolm of the aftercare team you get a can-do attitude that gives you the sense that everything will be seen through, whatever it takes - & that's been my experience this past fortnight. I could hardly have asked for more really.

Sue in Customer Service helped me with a query about buying spare parts for a fixture in our house. We are past the end of our warranty period but she could not have been more helpful and responded very quickly. Excellent service and problem solved.