Vistry Reviews 284

I was recruited as an experienced TF manager in their timber frame factory in Bardon, Leicester. I was constantly undermined and belittled by my line manager. Subsequently discovered him bellowing at workers using obscene language and telling them they want sacking. Wasn’t the only outburst. Moral is low. His skills as a manager are that of a poor performing team leader. He’s no manager. Real anger issues on shop floor. He blames others for the poor production levels and convinces higher management that it is the poor performance of employees. What a vile person. And in total contradiction to Vistry values that claims bullying does not happen. It does. He is. Don’t work at VWEM (Vistry works East Midlands)

I would give Countryside zero stars if I could! Buying a house from them has been nothing short of a living nightmare. Our home has become overrun with mice, and we're not the only ones suffering – our neighbours at 10B and 10D are dealing with the same horrific problem. It's clear that Countryside is selling shoddy, poorly built homes that are infested from the start.

The level of infestation is disgusting. We've found mice droppings all over the house, to the point where my baby almost ate some. The health and safety of my family have been completely jeopardised, and Countryside couldn't care less. The thought of my children being exposed to this filth is sickening, and the company has done absolutely nothing to fix it. They are endangering our lives and our children's lives!

This company is a complete scam – they take your money, sell you a substandard, dangerous property, and leave you to deal with the consequences. It's disgraceful! If you're considering buying from Countryside, RUN! They're more interested in profit than delivering a safe, livable home. We are already in discussions with other affected neighbours about taking legal action, and I will make sure to spread the word on every platform possible about how truly terrible Countryside is.

Avoid Countryside at all costs unless you want to be living in a rodent-infested death trap! They are incompetent, negligent, and have sold us nothing but misery. Absolutely DISGUSTING company!

Cowboys aswell as Linden Homes. They do not know how to build homes and are happy to sweep their problems under your carpet. They fob off their mistakes and you have to deal with it. If you buy a leasehold they leave you with Firstport who are complete Pirates.

This review doesn’t even deserve 1 star. Appalling company which owns Linden and Bovis. No customer service at all. Passed from person to person to sort small issues out. Snag after snag not getting done. Refusing to pay back money for additional items (outside of mortgage) that were fitted to a very poor standard. Property covered in black mould only weeks after moving in. Cracks appearing on every wall. Does not carry out fire risk assessments for blocks of flats. Does not put in place insurance as agreed under the lease agreement. Stay clear. Take your money elsewhere

Iv already written a review of my Vistry homes experience.
However. I wanted now to offer some advise for anyone unfortunate enough to have already purchased a home from Vistry. Especially if it was within the last two years.
I quickly realised that every-time I spoke to Vistry about a snagging issue. They “repeated”said:
“Don’t worry, you have two years to list issues on the snagging site” which always made me feel like everything would be ok.
However. At the end of those two years. When nothing was repaired. In order to make a LABC warranty claim. I was having to go back two years to find evidence/remember who I spoke to/ what was promised and by whom. AND gather all that together.
For every single one of my two hundred issues. It was a nightmare. !!!!
So my NUMBER ONE PEICE OF ADVISE IS: put your issue on to the snagging site. Do not wait two years to take it further. AS SOON AS YOU THINK A REASONABLE TIME HAS PASSED. OPEN UP A WARRANTY CLAIM WITH YOUR LABC WARRANTY COMPANY.
For example. If you find an issue and put it on the snagging site in January. Then chase it a couple of times with the builder, and when two or three months has gone past with nothing happening.
Don’t waste your time and effort.
GO STRAIGHT to the warranty and start a complaint. Make sure you
Have a screen shot of when you first let the builder know that there was an issue, and that’s pretty much all the warranty needs to go ahead and chase the builders, on your behalf.
If you do this with every single snagging issue. AS AND WHEN IT SURFACES.
You will find that unlike so many people who are left trying to do masses of paperwork at the end of the two years. Which can leave you overwhelmed and struggling for time.
DO EACH ISSUE AS IT ARRIVES.
furthermore. Take as many pictures as you can.
Screen shot your snagging site entries, emails and texts and even follow up telephone calls with the developer with a email to reiterate your telephone conversation. And ALWAYS DATE ANYTHING YOU SEND OR RECEIVE. INCLUDING THE YEAR.
As this goes on for years.
FINALLY;
If you have lost my paperwork, or simply didn’t keep it.
You are completely within your rights to ask for a “Freedom of information request from the builder”
Which basically means that EVERYTHING THEY HAVE REGARDING YOU AND YOUR HOME, THEY ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO SEND YOU.
At no cost to yourself.
I hope this helps. Iv been fighting Vistry for 5.5 years.
I have about 80% of my snagging issues resolved and I won’t stop until I get it all done.
I PAID for a new home and that is what I’m entitled to.
FAILING ALL THIS. GO TO THE OMBUDSMAN.
It’s really not as complicated as most people think.
Don’t let them grind you down!
They’re relying on people just giving up.
If I had know then what I know now (all of the above) my process would have been much easier.
If I had stopped arguing and pleading with Vistry for month after month after year to come out and do repairs. If I had stopped listening to their promises and actually believed they were going to repair my home. Which all turned out to be absolutely untrue. I could have saved myself so much stress, time and worry. I say again;-

LIST YOUR ISSUE ON THE SITE.
CHASE IT ON THE SITE TWICE.
AFTER THREE MONTHS OPEN UP A WARRANTY CLAIM.
DONT LISTEN TO THEIR PROMISES. ACTION IS THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS.
DON’T WAIT TWO YEARS. !!!
good luck to you all.

Vistry/Linden/ Counrtyside/Bovis whoever you are - If it were possible to give you zero stars I would.
Your Sustainability Policy states:
We will place people and communities at the heart
of our decision-making process and build sustainable
communities that last and flourish. To ensure that
everyone’s needs remain central, we follow the
Vistry “Building Communities” approach, from
master-planning and design, through to building
and aftercare, working closely with communities and
stakeholders throughout the development journey.
To achieve this, we will carry out placemaking focused engagement with local communities and local
councils and develop an approach to post occupancy
evaluation to ensure a cycle of continual learning
To safeguard nature, we will work towards ensuring
biodiversity action plans are in place on all projects
and maintain relationships with Conservation
organisations..

Focused engagement with local communities - what a joke. We, the residents of Glen Parva has asked for your attention to our concerns over the last few months whilst you construct a site of 165 homes on a previous landfill site. We have repeatedly asked for analysis of the dust that coats our homes, our cars and our children's lungs ! we want to know what is in it because we know what is in the ground below your site and what is being released into the air because of the work you are currently undertaking. Why won't you meet with us to discuss these concerns - where is your promised 'focused engagement with local communities' ? What an absolute shower of reckless constructors you are; and judging by the reviews on here, there won't be any aftercare for the poor souls that buy these properties, once ready for sale...

Absolutely shocking - DO NOT BUY THEM

The sale process is manifestly stacked all in their favour that expose the buyer to unfair and significant risks. They are steadfast in refusing to budge during reasonable negotiations and are alarmingly intent on pushing the buyer hard and fast into legal obligations which may go significantly adversely financially against the buyer. Yet they demand significant flexibility too from the buyer in protecting their risks. Frankly, they can keep their houses.

This company is appalling. They have no consideration for local residents whatsoever. They do not reply to emails. Their staff are rude and unhelpful and the MD is a total disgrace. I would not buy any property they have been involved with. They have made local residents' lives a misery in Glen Parva. A load of rotten apples and no response to criticism

If our community could give you a 0, we would. Such a poor company. Hiding from the thousands of unhappy vistry group homeowners, and the community of housing estates they interrupt during construction. Hello? Anyone there to complain to? Anyone there doing more than the bare minimum? Nope.

To: Drew Smith - regional Sales or Customer Service Director

I am the owner of 1 house in Pembers Farm Avenue, Pembers Hill Park, Fair Oak.

If I could go back in time, I wish I had never bought this house.

Buying this house from Drew Smith was the worst decision in my life.

We have sent follow up email to your customer service team for repair follow up and arrangement since Apr 2024. No update schedule and/or solution was given so far. We have sent a complaint email in July 18, 2024 to complaint team but no reply from Drew Smith so far.

Unfortunately, no reply . . . . . Very dissatisfied and disappointed.

We moved into our Bovis/Vistry new home in Warwickshire in 2019. We are now 5 years on and the handover to, and creation of a management company still isn’t fully complete. We’ve experienced numerous issues with Bovis/Vistry and there’s a pattern of poor response and weak customer service. Once they completed on our sale they just lost interest. This approach seems to be endemic throughout the company. Staff won’t answer emails, and I’ve reached the conclusion that it must be a deliberate strategy to delay and deflect customers, hoping that they will eventually go away. Managers at all levels adopt the same approach of refusing to action anything or reply to phone calls/emails. You occasionally get a response if you resort to pursuing legal remedies. In our two year warranty period we had 147 separate communications between Bovis/Vistry and ourselves.
We would never again buy a new home from Bovis/Vistry, we couldn’t face again having to deal with the toxic culture in the company, and the inevitable atrocious customer service, it’s just exasperating.

If I could give a 0 I would these workmen have no idea how to build a house sufficiently let alone safely and take no responsibility for any defects they have caused. Avoid any property built by these at all costs happy househunting guys.

I would give 0 stars if I could. Horrific experience from moving in to end of warranty period 2yrs later. Still lots of defects that vistry refuse to fix. Had no heating when I moved in, which should be signed off on the cml check? Just calamity after calamity. Fixtures and fittings are the cheapest of the cheap, low skilled workers build the houses that half the time don’t show up, lots of agency builders used. Customer service - wow - that’s a whole different calamity. Show up an hour late for an appointment with not even an apology just surprised you’re not able to still keep the appointment. Tell you they will fix something, then in the next email it won’t be fixed it’s general house maintenance. Appalling. Will move out as soon as I can and will not buy from them again. My personal experience was with Linden Homes

When my husband and I agreed to purchase our property in Fair Oak, Hampshire, from Linden Homes in May/June of 2021 we were advised that there would be a further phase of 35 houses to be built on a field to the rear of our property. We were shown plans which detailed a narrow 'nature reserve' with a very large and beautiful oak tree directly behind our fence (which we were told was covered by a Protection Order and therefore could not be cut down) and that the shrubs surrounding it would be left, therefore leaving a large area of ground between our house and the new build. In 2022, Linden Homes was acquired by Vistry Group and unbeknown to us the original plans were completely scrapped.
On returning home from a day away, we were horrified to find that the tree had been cut down and Vistry had redrawn the plans for the whole of the plot and a house would be built directly behind our fence. When we complained we were told that a tree surgeon hired by the local council had said that the tree was diseased and had to be removed. We have now been informed (by the same Vistry employee) that the tree was perfectly healthy, and was only removed to fit in with the new plans. The shrubs will be removed as well. Vistry drew up the new plans in 2022 but chose not inform those of us who would be affected by it's decision to change the layout of the plots and therefore giving us no time to contest this decision. We now have to face looking out of our back garden onto a brick wall which will block the light,be so close to our back fence that it will totally destroy the rear aspect of our property and that any windows will overlook our garden.
Obviously, this will all impact severly on the value of our property and that of our neighbours and we shall be out of pocket by thousands of pounds if we decide to sell. We have been misled and lied to by Vistry Homes. Absolutely disgraceful. I realise that this complaint will not achieve anything as large corporations seem to be able to steamroll over people without consequence or conscience.

Absolutely shocking cowboy developers
Do not buy off them. New builds are horrendous the gardens are not done properly
The customer service is shocking
They are not following correct building regs

If we could leave a 0* review then we would have done!

The customer service is just absolutely appalling. We have been going back and fourth over snags that we reported with the site manager at the time, which we have evidence of, yet because the site manager didn't complete the necessary paperwork at their end correctly they have no records of some of our snags and now are refusing to fix them. They also won't provide any evidence to support their stance either!

It seems very much like a large amount of snags were not reported to improve their statistics.

I know a very small handful of people on our estate (over 100 homes) that have had a good experience. The rest are going through the same if not worse!

The most shocking, diabolical developers. Very difficult to get hold of, lack of communication and even worse workmanship. they are law bound to sort out defects and are leaving residents to their own devises. I implore you to report them to the new homes housing ombudsman. The more complaints the better.

My freehold house was built 10 years ago when they were called Bovis, and I still have legal problems that would make my house virtually impossible to sell.
We have a retaining wall at the rear that was supposed to be maintained by the residents via a residents management company, but they issued incorrect TP1’s to some of the purchasers and didn’t legally tie those properties into the residents management company.
Because of this problem Vistry still own the retaining wall and the land that it occupies, because they can’t transfer it over to the residents management company unless all of the residents contribute to the costs. At the moment they are desperately trying to cover up the mistake and quoting GDPR as a reason for not discussing the problem, well we all know what happens when large organisations try to cover up their mistakes.
I don’t care if the wall and land are never transferred to the residents management company, but my TP1 makes it very clear that Vistry are responsible for the maintenance until it is transferred, which is something they have failed to carry out. The land is now very overgrown and the fence (part of the land) is in a very dilapidated and dangerous condition (the drop is about 20 feet!).
On top of all this they use Firstport Ltd as the managing agents, and Firstport have invoiced SOME of the owners for the administration of a management company that doesn’t currently have any management responsibilities.
The whole situation is a complete mess and after 10 years we are no closer to a resolution.

We have had nothing from problems with our new build house built by Drew Smith Homes. The garden floods as they put in no drainage. Contractors have damaged both inside and outside of our property. Vistry don’t care and will not put right the damaged caused. There is no aftercare, non-existent. They even make promises, put it in writing and then go back on it. The most unprofessional company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. Avoid and buy elsewhere.

We will have been living in our new build 3 years in June this year. We are still waiting for our ‘snag list’ and other issues to be fixed. Trying to communicate with customer services is exhausting, passed from person to person, when you escalate your case, you speak to a half capable human who promises you the world. Then back to square one. We have had more people around to ‘assess the job’ than I can count. We have been waiting for a replacement toilet for two years, good job we have three! Have I chased it up I hear you ask, yep, they cannot give me any information because a contractor supplies it, they will contact you (they don't) can I have the name of the contractor so I can chase it up? Course I can’t. All the finishes in the house are horrendous, I decided to decorate the kitchen/dinner because it was the only room that wasn’t waiting for things to be fixed (apart from the window and patio door) it took me two days to sand the walls down and other prep which you just shouldn’t have to do in a new build. When we unscrewed the sockets and light switches we realised that they had been filled around the edges to mask the awful job. We now have holes around the sockets/switches. Just one example, I could right an essay. I honestly think it’s hilarious at this point. Thank goodness we don’t have major issues.
If you have to buy a house from this company I would 100% recommend getting a snag Dr in, it will be the best money you have ever spent, this company will literally tell you the earth is flat!