Bovis Homes Kent reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Dreadful build quality and design

Dreadful build quality and design. Little thought given to logical layout. Therefore if you are in a semi detached they put both lounges next to each other with a breezeblock and plasterboard partition wall. Brilliant work Bovis! You can hear everything. Thudding footsteps also because they put the flimsy floor across both properties to cut corners. I expect a little noise but I may as well be living with the neighbours. This being a £370k house by the way. Weatherboard outside coming off after a year and a half. They don’t care. They are sunning themselves in the Caribbean with the profits they make for lousy houses. This country is bottom of the heap in Europe for bad building and Bovis at the forefront.

Brian · 13 January 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The issue they put people to play in…

The issue they put people to play in media to change people feel to buy house after they buy found the reality about Bovis . Or some staff of Bovis write good review .To honest i met many people work for Bovis they buy from deferent company not from Bovis why? even them staff.please do not buy from Bovis there many company best and very good care . the Manager of Bovis did not care if your house fix or not.6 months for pain and more and more

David · 18 December 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

*** Over 3 Years to fix a porch and the street left like a bomb site ***

If I was to say that I have several emails regarding sorting out a porch would be a massive understatement. I have checked my inbox and have well over 100.Moved in September 2017 and noticed beginning of 2018 that the porch was peeling on our Southwold. Firstly they tried bodging this up by painting it (bare in mind the porch is plastic). As you can imagine this did not work.Fast forward to summer of 2020 (Yes 2020) and we finally had our porch replaced. This has been after years of fob offs about the porches being sent damaged and me constantly chasing for a resolution. The porch was fitted while I was working so it was only upon completion that I could inspect it. The porch fitted was worse than the original. Substandard quality finish and filler all over it. So noticeable it would question as to who they have supplying these porches.Since this there have been 2 porches sent out to us to be fitted and these are even worse quality that what they have already fitted (didn't think it would be possible but it is) which I have refused to accept.We have currently been left with sourcing an alternative ourselves. We have sourced this and put the cost forward to Bovis which they have accepted however expect us to fork our thousands of pounds of our own money and wait until they are ready to refund us. I have requested a same day transfer as I am sure many people can agree that a few grand is not pocket change. As it stands I have been waiting the best part of 3 weeks to be told if this is possible or not.From a residents perspective. Our area of the development has been completed over 3 years now yet the road has still not been adopted. What should be grass along the footpaths has been left year on year to allow weeds to grow as high as 5 foot!When they do cut the trees it's done with so little care that debris has been fired the best part of 20 feet from the ditch to our front doors, striking our cars and front windows.Recently had to dig up everyone's gardens because the roads wouldn't be adopted due to them planting our boundaries too close to the curb (yes took them 3 years to notice). Left mud all out the front of residents houses with no rush to 'make good' the mess they have made. Been 3 weeks now and they have still not rectified the mess to the front of peoples properties.Anyone considering buying from them should seriously consider. While there have been instances that have been rectified, on the whole once you are in they couldn't make it any more blatant that they don't care.

Steve · 9 December 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

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I’m hoping they improve but we had a…

I’m hoping they improve but we had a terrible pre-purchase experience so pulled out. Reserved a £1m home but we received no updates on revised build dates or any communication unless we pushed. We were meant to be moving in in October but the house hasn’t had a brick laid! Understand the Covid issues but we were not being kept up to date and this one simple thing of communication made us pull out as we thought if this is the service we get pre-purchase, what will the post-purchase customer service be like?

Claire · 12 November 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Bovis ...inaccurate advertising

I have been looking for a house for over 6 months and considered a couple of plots at various sites across Wawickshire. Each time I ring up for a sales enquiry the deal changes. Their website does not correspond to what is actually on offer. Different prices/incentives and often the adverts contradict. They need somebody to accurately keeps there details correct on the websites (as often you can't get somone on the phone - sign of the times I guess). Their website is often the first place people go to get information and no point if the information is incorrectPoor sales. God knows what would happen after you reserve and leave a deposit

Manny · 31 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible builders and awful customer…

Terrible builders and awful customer service. They built a drive that we can’t park on as our car bottoms out but they won’t put it right because we are beyond warranty due to having a higher car. Don’t touch with a barge pole

Heidi · 10 July 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

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Want a job as an unpaid project manager? Sign here!

All smiles at the beginning of my ownership of a Bovis property, but during the last 18 months I have taken on the roll of an unpaid project manager. Bovis seem unable and unwilling to take ownership of any problem, and it is down to you the owner to find the cause of any issue and suggest the fix (difficult when you're not knowledgeable in those areas) . Then the pain begins with getting the problem resolved. During the last 18 months, I have had upward of 50 visits by various contractors (do you like your annual leave from work?) to fix anything from leaks, to replacing the same fixtures and fittings multiple times. Some issues are still outstanding to-date - some of which have been highlighted by a survey (at my cost).I fully understand and appreciate there are problems in life. However, it is not the problem, but how it's resolved that matters - and this is where Bovis fails miserably.Would I buy another Bovis home? No!

Djvrs · 28 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The worst company ever

I bought a Bovis built home and their partner company Chamonix. Chamonix mange the places built by Bovis at a huge cost. It means you not only pay council tax on it but also have to fork out £250 to get three sq metres of grass cut once a month or two. Then when you try to sell it, they take three months to process the application and hold everything up due to a lack of focus or action. I recommend you do not buy a Bovis built home as you will struggle to sell it or get corrective action on faults. Also after four years since it was built, there is still no road surface or pavement tarmac completed.There are muddy roads and numerous potholes everywhere and they refuse to tell you which year this will all be finished as promised.So i bought a house based on their sales brochure promises in a completely finished road of houses and its still not as promised since 2016 when the house was complete.Dont do it, you will regret it......

Dodgy · 13 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Run by Morons

I was trying to make an offer on a house with them for over a week. No one answers phone. Left voicemails, emails etc In the end I had to ring around other offices to try and get through to them, they told me that because my online query had the box ticked that said i dont want to be contacted about marketing, they could not ring me.....even though my voicemail said to please ring memadness...as you can probably imagine, i'm now not going to be buying that house

Joe · 8 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Misled, unprofessional and disappointed

I don't usually write reviews on companies, however this experience was too dreadful to not write a review about. Initially everything was perfect and the sales advisor we were dealing with was attentive and a pleasure to deal with. However as soon as we placed our reservation fee on a plot, this soon changed. The sales advisor went on maternity leave and Bovis Homes hadn't arranged cover in their absence, so all communication was moved to another site which as you can imagine is not ideal for both parties as that site now has double the workload and the buyers have no direct point of contact on the site they are purchasing from. After discovering we were misled in terms of what we could select from the additional options list and our affordability (not Bovis Homes fault) we decided to pull out of the plot. After doing this we were redirected to their Field Sales Manager and all communication funny enough became very prompt and attentive. They did all they could to incentivise us into not cancelling our reservation, however unfortunately this was not enough and we decided to proceed with cancelling. We then had confirmation our reservation fee would be refunded within 3-5 working days... nearly over a month later the refund miraculously appeared. Now for someone of a Field Sales Manager's title, I would have expected a lot more professionalism. Instead I was left constantly chasing with no response and they had completely ignored all calls, emails and voicemails. It was only when I contacted the sales office I believe the refund was processed and dealt with. This whole experience has made it certain that I will never look to deal with Bovis Homes again and my advice to anyone looking to buy of them is make sure you understand everything they are offering/ not offering you before they rush you into reserving a plot because things can soon change once you have signed yourself up.

Matt · 2 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

LOOTERS AND CHEATERS

LOOTERS AND CHEATERSI bought a new build 3 bed room property in June for a price of £450K and similar property next door was sold for £395K in July which is less than £40k from the price I paid. The sales people are heartless people, it will be take me several years to save £40K. I always trusted the sales people and considered that the price they quote is reasonable and I believed them, but look at their selfishess, money greedy property builders, no humanity exists in this property business world. Shame on you bovis.

Tamilan · 30 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Dreadful customer service AVOID

I was sent a message from Bovis homes claiming that a nearby plot was back up for sale at a reduced price with incentives. When i called the number provided they claimed they knew nothing about it and must have been given the wrong number. I was given the number for the development office only to be put through to a woman who I can only describe as less than useless. When I asked about the property she told me "Sorry I don't really know anything about it I'm only a temp worker"!. When I said i was interested in the property i was told to call back 2 days later when someone would know!.I then called the main office who told me they would get someone to call me with the information of the property only to be called by Mrs Useless and informed that i would get a phonecall the next day!I drove to the site to have a look around and i saw red flags and many many estate agent signs as most people are trying to sell their houses already!The next day I was luckily told that the house had been sold by a very rude member of staff!If this is how potential buyers are treated i dread to think how actual buyers are treated.

RF · 23 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Awful customer service

Awful customer service! First call with them today, I’ve asked for an appointment to get some information and the guy from St Mary Kings, Bedford couldn’t even be bothered to book one as apparently I haven’t sold my property yet! Absolute rubbish, how do you turn your clients away like this? Imagine the actual buying process and post move when you have issues with your new property! Can’t believe his attitude, just rejecting potential client straight on the call. I had to pull info instead of being offered info! “What do you need to know?” “Call us back when you’ve sold your house”. With that attitude I won’t ever buy a house from such company. And I was looking at 5 beds! I wouldn’t even rate you at 1 star!

Dimi · 11 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Awful company

Awful company , once they’ve sold you the house they’ll leave you to deal with dirty filthy communal areas . Their “technical “ team couldn’t plant a tree even if their lives depended on it. Everything they planted has died as kids have pulled them all out and use them to fight each other . The plans , which look nothing like what we were shown , have left a large space for kids to play football using our front doors as goal posts . The gates on the electric sub station have been kicked in and now that’s another play area . Bovis , couldn’t care less. Don’t buy from them

Karen · 8 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I had the unfortunate displeasure of moving into a Bovis Home

I had the unfortunate displeasure of moving into a Bovis Home. I moved into a new build home in the Oxfordshire area and the list of problems were ridiculous. I naively thought a new build would be perfect unlike older builds. The list of problems: all of my door handles and window handles have fallen off for the fourth time, my back yard has flooded several times due to the sewers being block by the builders dumping rumble down them (according to a council investigation), I've had internal doors not being able to close due to poor fittings, I've had builders constantly block my driveway which is really annoying due to my work at the JR hospital, I've also had builders walk into my garden unannounced and use my back garden external tap, I've also had a street light beaming directly into my house disturbing my sleep. I have spoken to the site manager, area manager and customer support and received nothing but fob offs and some abuse. I'm currently considering legal action.

John · 8 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unprofessional, incompetent & inconsiderate

Awful company - once we’d paid our deposit, their true colours started to show but we had no option than to see it through. They use the cheapest materials & contractors, their quality inspector is a joke, customer care is shocking. 3 years later & we are still waiting for issues to be sorted. We paid just under £600k but had to have the carpets replaced as they were faulty, cut too short & missing most grippers, floor tiles replaced as they were all cut too short & gaps filled in with massive amounts of mastic, wooden floors replaced for the same reasons, walls replaced, every wall & ceiling entirely replastered & repainted, woodwork repainted, all doors replaced, heating system replaced as stuck on 28 degrees for months (they initially convinced us that we had set the thermostat incorrectly but it turned out it had been wired incorrectly & after pulling down all our ceilings to get to the wires, they still couldn’t find the fault so left it & put a wireless thermostat in), plumbing issues including every hot & cold pipe the wrong way around (hot water toilets!), radiators replaces, 43 pieces of glass from windows replaced, external doors that were damaged yet still installed & covered up needed to be replaced, waste pipe from the downstairs wc fitted sloping towards the house so waste was just sitting there & stinking the house out (they had to dig up our driveway, garden & under our house to fix), they forgot to put fitted wardrobes in & when they did, they were incomplete & the rail is 3 inches higher at one side, all mastic was so thick it all had to be replaced, all guttering replaces, roof tiles not fitted properly, garden plans not followed, extractor fans installed in wrong positions so caused damage. These sound like problems that are obviously the builders fault & responsibility yet it has been the most stressful, long battle to get things sorted. They won in the end - wore us down - it made me so ill so we gave up & let them get away with so many thing which we are still paying to get fixed. They are the most utterly unprofessional & inconsiderate company. The whole estate is a dangerous shambles - the children’s playground was build on the rubble they piled up so the ground is covered in dangerous things that have been left to the residents to constantly remove, the drains are full of rubble so are always blocked causing a backlog into everyone’s homes, streetlamps which haven’t even been connected remain, metal railing are half finished, bollards which were broken when they were installed remain. Astounding how this company are still tradingForgot to mention - they build the ground floor with one type of brick & the upper level with another so someone had to come & do a paint effect on the bricks to make them match!

Mrs · 5 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Worst experience of our lives…

its the worst experience of our lives promised so much.Ended up with a house with cheap Kitchen bathrooms, Leaking garage roof which the continually try to fix on the cheap, all internal door don't fit properly. It goes on and on. Bovis cheap and nasty bodge it builders. If you complain you are ignored straight away. We were lied to to over and over again£450,000 house we were ripped off big time by a bunch of bully boys.

Ian · 26 February 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Shambles........

We have lived in our Bovis house for coming up to 9 years this year. I’ve been meaning to write a review for some time but having recently done my bathroom this was the final straw. Once they have your money no interest what’s so ever at dealing with any snags/issues. Had to have our garden done several times because of flooding. Fence came down which we had to replace as wasn’t fit for purpose. Had a leak from the bathroom, took the the bath panel off to deal with the problem to find a great pile of rubble swept under the bath. Loose pipes (how it had lasted so long without leaking before is beyond me)Broken bath and shower panel concealed with sealant, this was only found as we have recently redone our bathroom, And now our plumber who has just helped redo our shower etc has told us that our water cylinder needs replacing (they should last around 25-30 years, not 9)I didn’t realise how bad the tiling was until I’ve just done it myself and I’m no expert.God knows what else we’ll find here as time goes on but I honestly don’t know how some people can sleep at night, because I’m sure if it was there house they wouldn’t be so negligent.I would NEVER buy from Bovis again!!!!!!

Lee-Annn · 17 August 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Awful management

Obviously, this is an organisation that does not care about its reputation and reviews. We have been living in the house for 6 months and a long list of issues seem to be ever-increasing. The site team seemed to be involved in hearing us out and resolving the issues in the beginning and has now decided to drop us like a hot potato. Please steer away from them. I am sure there are better builders in the market.

Adi · 16 February 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Customer care is a job title and not an execution....

Terrible experience with David Boys (customer care manager south east) and his manager Robert Caister. If you have a snag but the contractor does not want to do any remedial work then you are forced by the aforementioned individuals to go to NHBC...of course NHBC do not find in favour as the contractor knows the loop holes. Bovis take no responsibility of ensuring their contractors do the work they are paid to do. Processes are awful. Houses are only as good as the contractors working on them and Bovis put their name to them. When you try to make a complaint further up the line then it’s pushed back down to aforementioned individuals. Disillusioned and disappointed with Bovis and would not recommend people buy a Bovis home.

Daniel · 8 August 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The builder that cannot be trusted!

Over 4.5years after buying from Bovis, we are still fighting to get all the defects fixed. We have had to pay for our own surveys to prove the defects, as Bovis ( who re branded as Vistry, in the hope of hiding their previous mistakes) have refused to acknowledge all their bodges. I would rather lick broken glass from the M25 during rush hour, than trust what Bovis promised in their glossy Pamphlet! Once they have your hard earned cash, they do the bare minimum and eventually walk away from you. Disgusting behaviour from what used to be a reputable builder ... shame on the CEO and his henchmen.

Peter · 25 July 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The most diabolical house builder by…

The most diabolical house builder by far!!! Following three bouts of heart surgery we bit the bullet and purchased a new build home from a Bovis (now Vistry), and in December 19 moved into what we thought would be our perfect home thinking there would be nothing to do albeit we anticipated the odd snag here and there. How wrong could we be?We had ordered a wood burning stove which was not installed when we moved in as Bovis had not correctly fireproofed the plaster behind the wood burner (although for months we were fobbed off with other excuses), then the floor tiles on which it was due to sit had to be removed and relevelled as they were ridiculously uneven. We had a cracked bi-fold door glass, and two damaged bi-fold panes, the front and rear gardens were just thick mud - no landscaping whatsoever, paint work was unfinished, we needed new balustrades on the stairs, new internal doors, the front door had been fitted to the wrong side of the door frame, there was a hole in the loft where I could see down to the ground floor which was dangerous as they had just covered it over with lagging. I could go on, suffice to say we ended up getting a professional snagging firm in who found 431 snags, some very serious and others not so.We have spent many weeks accompanying contractors around our property to get things corrected and even post Covid-19 we continue to chase remedial works.We have had NHBC adjudicate on two uneven floors and despite this Bovis has done nothing in the last 6 weeks. Having written emails chasing up the works including writing to Greg Fitzgerald (CEO) and copying him on every email there has been a serious lack of activity.Our landscaping around the development is still piles of mud and all we get is fobbed off.Why did this all happen? Because Bovis had to complete the sale of all houses on this phase of the development pre Christmas so that they had funds in accounts prior to their Financial Year End of 31 December 2019 so all contractors cut short their work, cut corners, bodged finishings, left things in potentially dangerous conditions - all because they chased cash!!!!In summary DO NOT EVER PURCHASE A BOVIS / VISTRY NEW BUILD PROPERTY.This company is nothing short of a cowboy outfit.I wish I could allocate Zero stars on this rating.

D · 22 July 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I bought a house reluctantly from Bovis…

I bought a house reluctantly from Bovis homes after they talked me into it. Since then I have had empty promises, no site manager and my defects have still not been addressed after 3 months. Customer service is appalling they are rude and argumentative and once you have committed they really don’t care. One of the most expensive and stressful experiences I have ever had. I would not recommend them at all!!!!

Caroline · 2 March 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unbelievably Poor

Purchased a new house in Bicester from start to finish it was a nightmare, if I could give them no stars I would. In the end I could not face moving in and sold the property. Six months on I'm still getting bills as it seems Bovis never did any paperwork correctly. I understand the new owner has ongoing problems, strangely ones which I had raised and Bovis told me I was making up. Complaints are just returned with rude Emails from managers.My completion date was pure fantasy, and after eventual completion I was told it was never going to be completed when I was told it would be. They write a six months extension clause into the contract and said contract had a completion date later than the verbal completion date and the estimated quoted completion date so they get 8 or 9 months leeway. Even then on completion much work was incomplete.To list the problems would take a fortnight, they don't care they have no customer service in fact they can't even manage to post paperwork to the correct address or even put a stamp on the envelope. Don't touch with a bar pole if you want to remain sane.

Aardvark · 8 July 2020