Outcome: Complaint not upheld

The Issues

The customer purchased a property which had been used as a show home on the development and raised a number of issues with the developer after the sale had been completed.  Specifically the customer was concerned that the sanitaryware was not as described on the specification and that this had been concealed from them during the home tour.

The Circumstances

As the property was a show home, it was complete at the time of reservation and purchase.  The customer had a home demonstration visit but said that the sanitaryware was taped down and it was not possible to see the units properly.  The customer reported having been told by a member of the developer’s sales team that there had been problems with supplies during COVID and that this may have resulted in smaller units being installed in the show home. 

The sales and marketing material referred to the brand and colour of the sanitaryware, but not a particular model.  When the developer examined the units they agreed that the seats were an inappropriate size and offered to replace them, but the customer wished the space saving units to be replaced with a full size model.  The customer rejected the developer’s offer.

In their response to the Ombudsman service, the developer confirmed that they had experienced some supply issues during the pandemic but that sanitaryware had not been affected.

The Ombudsman Services Decision

The complaint was not upheld.  Although there had been aspects of the after sales service which had not been dealt with in a timely manner, the Ombudsman service noted that the marketing material had only specified a brand of sanitaryware, and that brand had been supplied.  The developer had offered to replace the seats to match the bases, and this was a reasonable and proportionate response in the circumstances.