Countryside Homes Home Counties South Paddock Wood reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Horrendous Delays

We have been waiting for over a year for our house to be completed, was meant to be moving Feb 2022 and still not moved in. Nobody seems able to give us ah actual answer as to why. This has impacted hugely on us - particularly financially due mortgage rate changes in October - we nearly lost the house because of it. Although they can't change that, had the house been ready a year ago it wouldn't have been a problem. Terrible service, no compassion. After the length of delays in building I can only hope the house will be perfect.

Clare · 29 January 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Wilson Chase

We have just reserved our dream home and we couldn’t have done it without all the help from Annabel! Annabel has been amazing from the start! Nothing is ever to much for her!Every question, worry or visit we have needed she has sorted for us!

Emily · 14 April 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

My parents decided to downsize to a new…

My parents decided to downsize to a new Countryside home, hoping to have less upkeep and a less stressful life. Their move in date was delayed again and again, which wasn’t a good start, but the sales ladies were brilliant and kept them informed throughout. However, when they actually moved in, they found lots of things wrong, which they weren’t expecting. The Head of Customer Care from their East Midlands office spoke to them, chatting about their life, which football team my dad supports etc etc and assured them that their issues would be sorted out. They really trusted him and believed what he said………Yet here we are, months later, still with half of their initial list of issues outstanding and strangely the charming man has not been available to speak to since. Perhaps he would be better suited to a career in football, or maybe as a politician, as he’s done nothing to help my parents or follow up on his promises. We’re appalled.

LRG · 24 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Worst decision and terrible customer…

Worst decision and terrible customer service.House leaking. Water through my living room. Took 7 weeks to do anything for it to happen 8 days after saying it was fixed. Happened again. Have been ignored, gaslighted by staff, not communicated with and not told about investigations that have occurred (as if it is not the property owner's business). I cry every day because of the terrible customer service and how I am being abandoned by Countryside who have clearly made a huge error as the mistake has occurred in 30 properties on my development. I made a complaint and was fobbed off, told other people are leaks too. Terrible communication. They act like water coming through my living room ceiling isn't a problem.

Al · 20 January 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Customer service

I been dealing with countryside from the last few weeks I am very pleased with their customer service that they have provided for me, I was accompanied by Bethany at the Featherstone site and she has supported me towards my purchase and she has given me advice and opinions on making the right choice for my home, it's amazing to receive Bethany customer service and I would recommend Countryside to many family and friends. Their homes are unique with outstanding features inside and out 🙂

Markus · 14 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Damaged my property before Christmas…

Damaged my property before Christmas was told we will see you in court which i cannot afford now started piling again alarm went off but they carried on piling mirror shaking in bedroom glass cabinet shaking in living room went over and told them to stop as were damaging my house answer was NO piling going down approx 22m deep

GILDA · 16 May 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

If I could give a minus…I would

If I could give a minus…I would! The whole experience has been a nightmare! From 3 completion dates, all pushed back and costing us thousands of pounds, to 17 months later, still snags and water leaks! I’m in absolute despair and wish we’d never purchased this house! I don’t call it a home…it’s a house! Shame on Countryside! So our 2nd Christmas and we are left with holes in the kitchen ceiling (again) due to leaks! From the garden to the boiler, we’ve had problems! Land drains had to be installed, new toilets, damaged work surfaces and plinths, water pouring though electric light sockets, no personnel door, radiators not connected properly, lawn had to be replaced twice, floor uneven and waiting for that to be rectified! Customer care team splashed paint resulting in new carpet and having to ask them to remove the contractor! Tiles lifting, air vents in loft not set right…walls having to be reskimmed, damaged doors, really could go on and on! Either I’m extremely unlucky with this house or it’s Countryside’s acceptable “happy to take my money” policy! I’ve never been so sad living in a home!

Claire · 24 December 2022

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

St Lukes Park, Runwell

St Lukes - WickfordStart with the nice as i will not pretend its all bad.Sales team were fantastic, but to be expected when you're about to hand over a bunch of money! The buying journey was great and the standard setup rather than thousands in upgrades was ideal.They will badger you to instantly leave your trust pilot score while the new buzz is still there. That's because they know once you experience after care (or the lack of) you will have no good to say, which takes us to the bad!!After care - non existent, some examples.had no end of issues - customer services don't answer the phone or return voicemails and i would go as far to say as actively avoiding specific numbers (based on ignoring my partners several calls, but answering mine instantly) Spent the first 2 weeks living here with no oven while they batted back and forth with manufacturer - leaving the customer on the back foot.Having out of hours engineers tell you they are 2/3 hours away at 2am so you wait up and nobody arriving till 9am.took 2/3 weeks to arrange to come back to glue down a piece of floor despite this being noted on our meeting prior to completion.the whole meeting prior to completion was pointless as none of the items were complete.Had a broken bulb which we just fixed as yes its simple but definitely detracted from the concept of buying new when it was already broken.driveway was not weeded per notesstill have no confirmation on what the plug in our cupboard is for... dont have the list to hand but this was a few examples of incomplete.and the current issue... I have an emergency plumbing issue, countryside coded this emergency as water is running and i cannot stop it.I have had no instruction on how to stop the water.I have had no call from "emergency" plumberand were now 2 hours into running water...I am unable to make my own arrangements as i had asked due to their incompetence to arrange, or answer my partners calls!I have been at the property for 5 months now so quite a few issues in a 5 month spell... Moral of the story is its all smiles until you exchange, whereby you will be treated like you bought a selection box for £3 and not £375,000 worth of property.unfortunately we have a fixed 5 year mortgage so will be stuck living in the paper mache house for another 4 and a half years - the count is on because we certainly will not be staying, nor will we consider countryside again.To be honest - might have put us off the new build concept overall...

Reagan · 22 December 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely disgraceful company they…

Absolutely disgraceful company they lie, and lie, to you and never get back to you, they ignore all your calls. when your on one of their schemes to buy a property half way through they put the house price up another 28 thousand pounds, I'm telling anybody who tries to buy a home off these people you will be stressed to the eye balls don't just take my words for it look up other people's reviews on country homes absolutely disgraceful the way they treat you, if your unlucky enough to actually buy a home the stress levels go through the roof!! the sales representative in Fletton Folly 'well she's absolutely useless she lies so much you can actually see her nose grow don't buy a country home you have been warned.

Simon · 26 November 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Lots of unfulfilled promises

Bought a new flat in 2019 in Enfield, London, we were told that all parking spaces were sold, which turned out to be a lie. They were keeping the last few for the last few flats so that they can sell quicker. Was told there'd be parking permits, and parking wouldn't be an issue. it's now a huge issue.Was told that they'd leave the 1st floor of the building, so that a gym could be built, but they're still using it as an office and not looking to move out anytime soon. They're just a bunch of liars, don't trust them..

Ibrahim · 5 December 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Excellent people

I had a chance to meet with Karen Hall when I went to check the countryside show homes at Wynyard Park. She was very helpful and gave me proper information. She is very patient and friendly with a beautiful smile. I feel so happy to talk with Adam Robinson, too. I thank both Karen and Adam for helping me with deciding to reserve a house there. I do believe they will always be ready to help me through out my house completion.

Aung · 3 December 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Nightmare

Foundry Gardens - Haywards Heath Awful experience. Property was rushed for completion (end of their financial year). Unacceptable amount of snags, which took forever to get sorted and required repeated chasing. Management don't appear to be interested. Since moving in at the end of September, we are still waiting for all the following: • Communal garden is unfinished and heavily waterlogged as a result of poor drainage. • Surrounding landscaping unfinished and used for material storage for the next build phase. Looks worse than the local tip. • Footpath bollard lighting not installed, we still have orange pipes sticking out of the ground. • Streetlighting doesn't work. Need torches to go out at night. We have been given repeated assurances and deadlines for the above, which come and go, but there appears to be no real commitment from Countryside to get this finished. Priority appears to be to sell the next phase, rather than deliver fully on what has already been paid for.

Customer · 23 December 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Hi we bought a house in Essex

Hi we bought a house in Essex, we have no end of bad issues that are ongoing, from no hot water on day one, electrics tripping, floods with bad damage we had to rebuild our wardrobes and have carpet replaced due to damage, drains all backing up, rude builders, bad quality windows, fixed kitchen doors instead of replacements, swopping broken items from our house to another, waiting in for builders that don’t turn up and a promise of planting for an apology that never came. I’m so sad this has all happened as the marketing team were fantastic but the aftercare and quality of the finish is disgusting.still have ongoing issues. The reply below is automatic and no one contacts you with help.

M · 28 November 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

We are in the process of buying our…

We are in the process of buying our forever home from Siskin Park. We have been dealing with the sales consultant called Karen and we could not find a bad word to say about her. From the very start she has been helpful, knowledgeable about the properties and area. She has always been on the end of the phone whenever we have needed her and has made the process up to now as easy as it could be for buying our home. The houses are amazing and we can't wait to be able to move in all been well love the area would highly reccomend

Tracy · 21 November 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Siskin Park-Wynyard

We bought our property from Siskin Park. We have been dealing with the sales consultant called Karen and we could not find a bad word to say about her. From the very start she has been helpful, knowledgeable about the properties and area and has guided us to our perfect first home. She has always been on the end of the phone whenever we have needed her and has made the process as easy as it could be for buying a first home. The houses are amazing and we couldn’t have done it without Karen and everyone working around/with her.

Customer · 20 November 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Problems from the get go

We had problems with Countryside and their sales process even before we moved in, but we would have forgiven this if things had gone smoothly once we had completed. Sadly this has not been the case. We have been dealing with their head of customer services (who we shall call Mr P as we are not allowed to give his full name on here), almost from the beginning, due to serious problems with our property. He was attentive at first, keen to avoid us being negative on the HBF NHBC survey, but after that has been very difficult to get hold of and is very non committal. We have been very patient, but are now considering taking legal action. We’ve had to speak to the NHBC and the Consumer Code advice line on more than once occasion and we’re still no further along.

A · 11 November 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid this Company

I would not wish The Boulevard development, or Countryside upon my worse enemy. I have been passed from pillar to post, from person to person, continually getting asked to send in the same details or photos again and again because there’s no record from when I sent them into the last person. There’s no point in asking to speak to a manager, as they have no interest in speaking to us people that have spent large amounts of money on their houses. When you do get to speak to their managers, all you get is make false promises that they won’t put in writing and then won’t follow up on. They told me some of my repairs would be withheld until I completed a survey from the NHBC saying I’d recommend Countryside to my friends and family. If the only way they can get people to recommend them is by bribery then surely this tells you everything you need to know!

Reviewer · 31 October 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Spend your money with a company that cares

Customer service? Countryside don’t know what that means. Multiple emails sent due to defects on my property including to the managing director and I get ignored every time. I should have read the signs from the sales team when they told me I shouldn’t buy a house from them. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

Mike · 8 September 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Beautiful design, appalling build, appalling aftercare.

Very very very poorly built houses. We moved into a Countryside property in the midlands and have had problem after problem.Aftercare has been absolutely shocking, the initial snaglist (which is expected) was handled terribly. Instead of making a list of snags and working through to fix them, they kept losing the list and we had to keep contacting them. Every-time it was a "shock" when we told them about things not fixed.We had kitchen fitters in 4 times, floor fitters in at least 5 times to try and fix the floor which had been left with glue.We have had 4 toilets replaced due to leaks.Our most recent experience is mold in our bathroom due to a shower leak, which resulted in mushrooms growing in the walls.Perhaps the most difficult part about all the above is the lack of ownership from countryside. Housing builders are nothing more than management companies with sub-contractors, but they don't even try and hide that with a level of support or aftercare, they just say "oh its xxx contractor", then next time you call "oh its yyy contractor", they take no responsibility for the frankly appalling workmanship.I would avoid countryside at all costs. The house design is very very nice, and makes them very attractive, but unless your very lucky you will have no end of issues, and most importantly they will be such a nightmare to get fixed.

Mike · 1 July 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unprofessional and seriously lacking in customer service

I've lived in my house for 16 months and STILL cannot use my garden! I’ve had a professional snagging company and 4 different site managers visit to agree my garden needs levelling, turf replacing and adequate drainage as it constantly floods when it rains. To this day half of my garden is still dug up!! Non stop broken promises, writing loads of emails and making lots of calls, to then be completely ignored and fobbed off has really impacted me. It's honestly so painful to keep repeating yourself and still nothing happens. Topped it off yesterday when I called at 12pm to say I had no heating, was told everyone’s in a meeting but someone will call you back shortly. Over 24 hours later and still no call back. Customer service is non existent once you’ve completed, the whole company is so unprofessional, please don’t be fooled like I was

Kerri · 14 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

We moved into our countryside home a…

We moved into our countryside home a few months ago in Stanton under Bardon. The sales team Rachael and Adele were really helpful along the way and promptly answered any queries that we had throughout the process.When we moved into the house the site manager Lee was very approachable with a few little snags we had, He even noticed a few that we had over looked and they were quickly sorted. The whole team at Stanton meadows are very helpful and very friendly, always finding time to talk even when they are busy.

Will · 13 May 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Do not buy their properties

Do not buy their properties. We are having lot of issues with house we bought and their standard on completion is very poor. They promise everything but when it comes to actually doing it, they are not at all reliable. Our house was delayed by 10 days and that was notified to us 3 days before moving date. We sold our house and we have to sort everything out in that time frame.. we were homeless for 10 days and we had to stay as PG.. with 2 young girls.. after that, when we moved finally in December, the day we got keys, house wasn’t cleaned at all... it was dirty and untidy and floors were not even cleaned.. you can see left over paint marks etc... There were many other issue and poor quality finish... we are in May, still they have not sorted it... We had 2 no shows and no one tells you beforehand so just stay indoors waiting.Very poor and bad customer service.. would not recommend at all

Pranav · 7 May 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Shocking aftercare

Once you complete on your property they do NOT care. I've lived in my house for 13 months and STILL have snags. 100s of emails and calls, staff turnover is high and you end up having to forward emails and explain things again. It's honestly painful, completely ruined my experience buying my first dream home. I've emailed directly to staff at CS, East Midlands team and group mailbox. It doesn't make a difference, simple things takes them months to rectify, the company isn't professional or efficient and CS operatives often turn up not knowing what needs to be done and often snags end up being in a worse situation.

Simon · 10 October 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

How many people have to die?

How many people have to die before developers like Countryside Properties "do the right thing?"I've been living in utter hell for the past 18 months. Building declared a fire risk and now we're being burdened with the bill to put right. Even though all our evidence shows that Countryside Properties were at fault.COuntryside have let us down, the Government has let us down.No house buyers survey could have found these major structural problems out.I am beyond angry.STAY AWAY FROM THE CHARLATANS!

Unhappy · 16 April 2019