Countryside Properties

Bought a house a few months ago from Countryside. I was expecting it will be of the same or better quality as my previous home which was also built by Countryside about 20 years ago. However, since I moved in it has been a nightmare. I have done my own snaggings (so I am not an expert) and so far reported close to 200 snaggings. The workmenship is terrible. It's frustrating, time-consuming and a waste of time trying to get snaggings resolved, because the Customer Care department hardly responds to any emails, any responses are provided after many, many follow-up emails, can't reach them via phone, escalations to their manager are pointless. Never ever buying again from them and not recommending anyone to buy. I would have given 0 stars, so being very generous giving it 1 star.

Countryside sold my own property through 'House to Home' in just over a week which enabled me to reserve my plot on Countryside Properties Abbostfield development. The whole process has been great, even though everything went on a go slow during the COVID pandemic, Lisa, Tara and Team were brilliant. Every business involved in the process kept the sale and purchase moving and ensured that everything was in place so that we were all ready to proceed once lockdown restrictions were eased. Finally I exchanged and completed in May 20! No business or purchaser has been faced with such unprecedented challenges but Countryside and House to Home have pulled it off.

I feel giving Countryside 2/5 is probably far too generous of me...

Me and my Wife moved into a "Dunham" type of Countryside home in early 2019. Around December 2019, I noticed water dripping in the wall of our Master Bedroom. Several weeks later, around Jan/Feb 2020, a Contractor visited to assess the problem and assured me that it should hopefully be promptly dealt with and he didn't foresee any reasons why it wouldn't be sorted reasonably quickly.

Fast forward to today- end of May 2020- what's happened?

No more visits from Countryside.

Yes we're in the middle of "Covid 19", however, the initial fault was reported several months before this was known in the UK.

I've sent several emails to Countryside- The lady I had been in regular contact with- roughly once/twice a week- very polite and trying her best, but seems like the various different people she has contacted simply failed to respond to her requests for them to assist.

Since Covid 19 has occured, Countryside have understandably closed their call centre, however, they are failing to respond to any emails- both on the generic customer service email address for the area of the UK where we live and also the personal email of the lady who had been helping me, which now seems to reject any more emails, as if she no longer works at Countryside.

We've been unable to use the Master Bedroom, owing to the mould the leak has caused.

Also previous issues we've had, include faulty smoke alarms- to Countryside's credit, they did remove the old ones and replace them within a few days of me calling them- very grateful- but there was no way of silencing them in the mean time.

Also have had a leaky ceiling in the kitchen- again reported early 2020, but no one been to rectify the issue.

We bought our Countryside home in Cheshire as we were relocating from Gloucestershire and it is one of the best things we have ever done!
We found Countryside purely by accident after looking at other new builds and there was no comparison due to the build quality and the fixtures and fittings that were built in as standard!
We met Penny (sales rep) who steered us through our purchase, one of the friendliest and kindest people we have ever met, so knowledgeable who gave clear, concise information but never at any time applied any pressure to purchase our Countryside home! Her colleague Annabel (sales rep) who we got to know later was just like Penny, both so professional and approachable and never too busy to answer any queries we may have had!
Off course like any new home we had minor snagging issues but these were dealt with by Countryside competently and professionally in a short space of time!
We love our house which was built to an extremely high standard and from the experience we have had would definitely recommend Countryside!

Bought our ellesmere port property off plan a little over 18 months ago, (the dee), we found the sales team Penny and annabel very helpful even answering questions on their days off, there is no pushy sales and you are treated like a friend, which in viewing other new build companies before I found those to be very aggressive with trying to push a sale, you won't get any of this with countryside. Moving day came, bang on time everything went to plan, small list of normal snags which were very quickly fixed in the same week of moving in. Again all the builders and site manager I found very helpful and friendly, always took their shoes off at the door ect. We love our new home and I couldn't recommend this company enough. The service has been spot on. Jess and Ash Davis.

Bought in Runcorn our first house. Annabel (sales rep) was amazing, gave us all the correct information, no pressure selling and was just an all round lovely person who made you feel so welcome.
Our house is perfect, the care we had from.the countryside side team from first purchasing and to the aftercare was AMAZING. We cant thank the team enough for everything they did so effortlessly.
Annabel really made us choose countryside for her customer care and wonderful personality.

Thank you
Phil

Shocking company, no after care, customer service staff are rude on the phone and inexperienced with the houses they sell, customer service managers are clueless and have no idea of the layouts of any of the homes, I have been in now 7 months and had floors relayed twice and now it’s worse than it ever was, cheap contractors used who was caught having a wee against a neighbours brick wall on there ring camera !! If It allowed me to put no stars then I would, be aware they trick you with lots of freebies and added extras but once you have the keys and moved in they become your enemy.

We recently reserved a house with Penny at Hindley green, Belmont place. Penny made this Whole experience easy and stress free and would always keep us updated on the progress.
Nothing was ever too much trouble, especially having to do everything via phone and email.
Overall countryside and Penny have been exceptional and i could not recommend them and Penny enough. ????
Many thanks
Gavin

I have recently been dealing with Penny Agnew on the Belmont Pace development. From the initial contact to speaking with some people who had already moved into their new homes the feedback on Penny was exceptional with one occasion Penny responding on a Sunday evening. Overall my experience of Countryside and in particular Penny has been very positive.

Exceptional customer service from Rachel, Anne, Jo and Megan. Really helpful and friendly. Unfortuntely though the quality of some of the work on the house is of a very low standard along with the attention to detail and has been rushed. The ongoing snag list is becoming a joke. I've even had to have an emergency plumber out as the drains were full of building rubbish and blocked all the water in my toilets, shower and bath. Its a disgrace such laziness. Such a shame as it really has detracted from the pleasure of buying my home. I also think that it will take a long time to get things fixed having to go through customer care. Should of got it right in the first place to save me all this hassle and stress.

Fantastic customer service can’t stress enough how easy the whole process was from the day we put a reservation fee down right up until the day we got our keys upon completion

We’ve recently reserved our first home through Countryside and it couldn’t have gone any better. We are first time buyers and hadn’t ever considered a new build but the lovely Angie has guided and helped us through every step, especially during lockdown! Angie has been available at all hours answering all my questions no matter how big or small and we really wouldn’t have been able to do it without her! We used the mortgage advisor and solicitors recommended by Countryside and everything has ran smoothly! We still have a little wait until everything is complete and we can move into our home but we couldn’t be happier!

We have recently reserved a property with countryside, We are first time buyers and we have been lucky enough to have Angie help us through this whole process! She has been there to answer all questions and has talked us through each step! She’s been great! Would highly recommend!

I’ve been in my property for 2 1/2 years. For 2 of those years I’ve been trying to buy my freehold WITHOUT ridiculous covenants in! I have ONLY JUST had a reply to be told no, even though you took them out for my neighbor at the point of purchase!!! I was lied to by staff at the show homes saying any restrictions are just temporary and once the builders were off site they wouldn’t apply. I was enticed to use their recommended solicitor with a free dishwasher who neglected to tell me anything about covenants, which are actually in for LIFE!! These include things like making me PAY for permission to add/remove plants from my own garden. Or paint my front door, or change internal doors. If you wanted an extension you have to pay for an architect to design it, so you can pay to submit your plans to countryside and they can just refuse anyway.

When we were first in they tried to get out of fixing most of the snags. They sent a manager out at one point who spoke to me terribly infront of my 10 year old and made me cry! Absolute disgrace of a company!!

Countryside please don’t reply to this saying I’m sorry you’ve experienced this bla bla bla. If you want to make things right, contact me directly about selling me my freehold WITHOUT restrictions in it!! My name is Siobhan Tan and I live in the Gateacre development in Liverpool. I’m sure you can find my details on your system!

We can’t believe we have managed to reserve our first home when we aren’t even allowed out the house to go to meetings etc. Our sales advisor Angie has been absolutely amazing, answering all our questions big and small, and supporting us as first time buyers.
We are not aware of all the stages involved in buying a house and she gave us plenty of recommendations of people to get in touch with etc to make the whole process run smoothly.
Still a few steps to go before our new home is finished but we are over the worst bit now thanks to countryside and Angie!

Handled by Angie
And I can say with confidence that I coukldn't be happier with the help and support I have received as a first time buyer, there are not enough stars on the rating for her but I would give the maximum possible each time

Myself and my partner are first time buyers and we popped into Countryside in Duttons Field Flintshire, we were kindly welcomed by Annabel who instantly made us feel comfortable she talked us through all of the houses and what they offer and all the process and told us everything we needed to know and answered all of our questions for us. Myself and my partner instantly knew this is who we wanted to buy our first home with. Since starting the process Countryside have been amazing with us, what we thought would be a difficult process they have made so easy for us and most of all we would like to thank Annabel at Countryside she has been beyond amazing with us and has been there for us every step of the way and continues to be, she has made this whole experience so relaxed and enjoyable for us. Our house is currently in the stages of being built so we are also currently in the stages of acting like excited little kids waiting for Christmas! Thank you so much to the Countryside team in Duttons Field and a big heartfelt thank you to Annabel. Sincerely Steph and Ryan x

I’m 6 months into my new home, built in Stockport (Blackberry Point). I read some of these reviews and felt nervous so wanted to put my honest thoughts now that I’m settled.
My experience has been excellent - the house is well built, the design is great, the estate is lovely and each house is slightly different which gives character. There was a small snagging list but to be fair to Countryside they got it sorted pretty quickly.
There was a complication with my mortgage which Countryside were a little unforgiving over. They charged me interest each day on the value of the property - but I guess those issues weren’t their fault so I’m not too annoyed by that.
There is also a bit of a drainage issue in the garden which I feel should have been thought-out by a company who builds homes. However I’m not majorly annoyed by it.

So all in all I’ve arrived at 4 stars as my rating. Good customer service, a nice buying experience, friendly staff, a clear regard for post-sales service, unique & characterful designs. Every day I get home I feel chuffed to bits, so they’ve got the company strap-line bang on.
In a market full of shady characters, this company is excellent in my view.

I bought a new home on the Wilson Chase development in Liverpool in September 2019 and it has been a disaster start! Our back garden resembles a lake after only a shower of rain due to the builders not digging out the clay soil and using top soil when laying the turf. I have patio doors that have gaps in them big enough almost that my cat can get in and out without me opening the doors! Plasterwork resembles a roller coaster of a ride in most bedrooms and when the wind blows I fear for my roof. The whole development, due to the disruption of the rat habitat has a bad rat infestation, the council are aware and are writing to the developer to put a pest control protocol in place, which should have been done from the start. The council are fed up of calls reporting rats on the development. If you call customer service and nothing ever happens the site management team should be sacked for letting the sub contractors get away with shoddy workmanship! Am I being picky or am I just wanting what I paid for?

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