Pennyfarthing Homes - New Milton

Aimee Looker

HOME FROM HELL – AVOID PENNYFARTHING AT ALL COSTS!!!

Here are the significant issues that STILL persist nearly four years later:

Pennyfarthing (PF) consistently delays responses, ignores emails, cuts corners at every opportunity and are aggressive in attempting to shut down complaints.

Blocked Drains
• We reported issues with blocked drains within a week of moving into the home, making half of our toilets unusable. PF initially blamed us for our choice of toilet paper and later claimed that, since only two of us live here, we weren't using all the toilets enough. We even suggested a toilet usage schedule and have had endless excuses for terrible workmanship against building standards.
• After persistent communication, PF eventually acknowledged the problem. However, they have attempted to fix it in a half-hearted manner many times, each time with poor execution. Numerous professional assessments have recommended effective solutions over the years, but PF has consistently ignored these suggestions. This led to our garden being dug up multiple times, with broken fences and digging up our neighbours block paved driveway without permission.
• Everytime, when the same professional returns to unblock the drains, they find the work was inadequately completed, just last week they stated that if they had performed the work, they would be shut down by trading standards given that the pipework was so poorly laid, the manhole did not use correct size pipes and so was not secured and had never been sealed, this means our house is at significant risk to rodents in our walls and ceilings with pipes left uncapped.

Failed Subfloor

• When we decided to install hardwood flooring, our flooring company informed us that the subfloor had completely failed. After much effort, PF agreed to let the same company fix the issue and pay for the extra work, then later refused to pay as it was “unfair.”
• Following a lengthy dispute and a court case, we eventually recovered our money. PF insists the rest of the subfloor, although all laid at once, is not the reason all the kitchen tiles have come up. And still refuse to sort the problem out 2 years later. The tiles have not bonded.

Major Temperature Issues

• Our room above the garage is uninhabitable for half the year due to extreme cold. Every winter, PF proposes changes, and we wait to see if any improvements are made.
• We have connected with other homeowners facing similar issues, confirming that this is a widespread problem.

In addition to these ongoing issues, a professional snagging company identified over 100 problems in our home, and we have had leaking ensuites replaced five times, with expectations that they will leak again.

We strongly advise anyone considering a Pennyfarthing home to reconsider, as they are negligent and uncaring. We are open to discussing our experiences in more detail.

Laura Guy

Absolutely awful! Where do I start?! I’ve never dealt with a company with such shocking after care as PennyFarthing Homes. Sales lady (Ellen) was brilliant, but we were given a lot of false info. ‘Customer Care’ needs renaming - it’s non existent! Any snags are logged with CC, yet they just forward the emails onto the relevant contractor & don’t follow anything through…. You can chase each issue a few times before anything gets done. Incredibly dismissive of any issues.

- We very quickly had cracks in walls, straight away found sockets & tiles not fully sealed, yet we were told it’s down to ‘settlement’, which surprise surprise, they don’t cover. How the sockets & tiles passed their ‘inspection’, I’ll never know.
- Our extractor fan was incredibly poor, meaning a very damp bathroom. After much chasing, they finally tested it & agreed it wasn’t good enough & replaced it. Every issue takes a LOT of fighting.
- The driveway has sunk in various places (not just ours!) which we logged with them, received the incredibly hilarious response of ‘it’s because you’ve parked your car on it’. The allotment spaces which don’t get parked on yet have done exactly the same thing.
- Our garden is awful. One side is always wet - The turf was not laid correctly & now we’ve laid a proper patio, you can see how unlevel the lawn is (a good 11cm!). This was originally logged in the 2 years but PF brushed us off, and recently literally ignore emails despite chasing regularly (it’s been 5 weeks since they last replied!). Our builder came round to measure up for the patio, and straight away said the garden looks uneven! He was appalled once he’d finished laying the patio, & advised us to get back onto PF (as we’d originally logged it within the 2 years, but they don’t even reply). Still nothing.
- Given the wrong back door keys on completion day. No one thought to check this!
- CC were meant to follow up after a few months of us moving in as we didn’t get a handover due to lockdown. Still waiting for this ‘follow up’!
- Carpets / underlay are very poor quality… we take our shoes off at the door, don’t wear slippers yet after 12 months it looked awful.
- Our house didn’t come with a garage. Was told by Sales that we can’t do anything to build one for 2 years, but once that time is up we can crack on but must ask PF permission first (?!). Exactly 2 years on, I email PF only to be told that they charge a permission fee of £375 + VAT (a copy & paste easy money making exercise!). Then said if I’d asked before completion, there is no charge?! Sales need to stop giving out false info for a quick sale!
- Promised by sales that we would be a closed estate & that the rumours of a through road were simply not true. Lo & behold, plans have been granted for the through road despite lot of objections by residents.
- Patio door fascia was cracked, and a dead bug inside one of the bedroom window panes!
- Boiler leaked after about 15 months, told to use the emergency number in the binder, this goes unanswered.
- Gutter joint not clipped together properly, they came out & said they’d done it but it’s happened at another join so clearly not installed correctly.
- We have a bath with a shower on the wall. There was no shower screen installed when we went up for a look before completion, & told our spec house didn’t come with a shower screen - how did they expect you to shower?!
- No consideration for residents when building the remaining plots. Roads were left in a very muddy state, vehicles would speed up & down the estate. Everything was filthy!
- We have an estate group, and the general consensus is that PF wash their hands of anything once they’ve sold you the house. There are some absolutely shocking issue that residents have experienced, and it’s a constant battle to even get a response!

I cannot explain to you how much stress buying a house from PF will cause you. Sales were lovely (as expected!) and the contractors are brilliant (once they come out!), but PF are horrendous.

Nicola Butler

I can only speak about the sales team. Jackie on site at Potters Wood was lovely on the telephone and has been friendly, professional and very helpful - far superior to other developers/sales offices I have contacted. Abbie and the new lady in their office, were also very pleasant and Jackie was kind enough to walk me around the site, whereas a different developer just pointed the direction to go! They are a terrific team and if the other reviews on snags and damp problems are correct someone needs to address it urgently as it will affect prospective purchasers.

Anthony S

The rapport with the ladies in the sales office and Sales Managers of the site is friendly and easy, creating good relations.

The quality of the build of the houses is brilliant, eco-friendly using solar powers and very energy efficient.

However, the customer care is just atrocious. There is no continuity, as your queries are not usually responded to for weeks, to be told someone needs to come to ‘investigate’ to wait a few weeks more etc.

Personally, I find having to chase for fixes after spending so much money on a property is an absolute farce.

Steven Rogers

2 En-Suites Replaced Twice!

Having lived in our new home for just over a year we can confirm that the customer care from Pennyfarthing is absolutely non existent. We have had one En-suite replaced twice, due to boarding not being attached properly to the studs and also floor adhesive being used on the wall tiles, and the second En-suite has had a similar issue where we are still waiting for the issue to be rectified. We have been left with damp and mould in a room where our young daughter is sleeping.

We are ignored by customer service, their operatives lie when they visit the property to discuss the issues and emails are constantly ignored. We have invited the MD over to view all the issues we have yet apparently he is too busy.

The houses look lovely from the outside but the aftercare is appalling. They sat on our independent snag survey for over 6 months. We have had days and days of missed appointments where they have failed to turn up. Health and safety on their live sites is appalling - random spot checks are needed by the council.

They hold your personal data, use it, pass it onto subcontractors and BREACH the data protection regulations.

All staff are rude, arrogant and want nothing more to do with you once the house is sold. They are too busy pushing the sales on phase 2 and have left all of the customers on phase 1 up in arms over their treatment of us.

When we have complained they don't get all the facts together, won't liaise with us and their only argument is 'we helped you with a border issue with a neighbour'..... you only confirmed where our border was!

If you want a lovely house after all the snags are completed then buy away, but if you want hell after you've moved in then I'd avoid this builder like the plague!

Matthew Townsend

I previously gave this a 3 star review however over the last 6/7 months things have gotten a lot worse. The poor customer care has not improved and issues are starting to bare their ugly head around our homes and our neighbours.
We had an issue where the integrated microwave oven stopped working. On inspection from the electricians it was found that the kitchen switchboard was incorrectly wired so that multiple appliances were wired off the same switch, additionally to this, and the most severe issue we have had, the earth cable within the fuse box had come loose. It then touched the live wire and caused a small fire within the fuse box. We are extremely lucky that this did not result in a serious fire!
As well as this there are ongoing issues with the bathrooms where the contractors cut corners, applying inadequate grouting and no moisture resistant boards behind the tiles. The grouting has cracked allowing water to soak into the boards and also drip through to the kitchen ceiling. This has been the case for almost every property and all of the neighbours seem to be given different advice and solutions. This issue has resulted in many houses having mould issues which have spread to other bedrooms!
If I can give you any advice... Do not buy from these cowboy builders! You will be living with multiple issues for the rest of your time in the home!

(previous review)The homes are well presented with lots of additional items as standard which makes them feel like a premium new build property which gives this review the 3 stars. BIG but, their aftersales customer care is some of the worst I have experienced. Massive lack of communication not only from customer care to ourselves but also between themselves internally and with contractors. When emailing the customer care team emails are often responded to in short half arsed responses, ignoring the majority of the email and just acknowledging a small amount of the issues. Still have issues and complaints which have gone unresolved for months. As they are still building homes they seem to be concentrating on selling the unbuilt properties rather than resolving the issues with the current ones that people actually live in. We have purchased a new build property previously with another company and although the build finish was not as premium their customer service was 100x better. Based on the customer service we have experienced we would not buy from Pennyfarthing Homes again.

Lauren Burnett

Don’t even bother buying a Pennyfarthing Home unless you are prepared for over a years worth of builders in your home fixing the problems. If your happy to deal with that then buy away, otherwise avoid at all costs!

Tiles downstairs replaced 5 times, Both en-suite and main bathroom redone due to poor workman ship.

I could only name 3 members of staff that aren’t undermining, rude or patronising.

As a first time buyer this experience was meant to be exciting but due to Pennyfarthing the whole thing has been awful from start to finish.

Jane North

Problems when rooms are built over the garage.
Design Fault - Cold Dressing Room and En-Suite
Dressing Room and En-Suite are built over the garage. Noticeable drop in temperature.
Moved in at the end of September 2020. Less than 2 months later found that Dressing Room had a distinct drop in temperature and the En-Suite was absolutely freezing so we could not use it. Thermal imaging showed that there was a lack of insulation.
Contacted Customer Services and after months of chasing, during the summer a heater was fitted (I was told the heater had a thermostat but in reality it was like any other heater and has a temperature gauge), and a number of small changes made. However, the bathroom remains very cold in the winter months. In reality, the heater is linked to the bedroom thermostat which does not come on often as the heat from down stairs keep the upstairs at a constant temperature. We were advised to turn the heating up and turn down the heating gauge in the bedrooms. A very expensive way of heating the bathroom! and it does does nothing to heat the freezing floor. As fuel prices are increasing, this is not an option.
I would like this problem resolved so I can enjoy my new house.