Dissatifaction from false assurances Given by Sobha Developers

I came across this below complaint from an existing customer of Sobha Developers, Swetasri Choudhury. I hope this information below helps someone out there.

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Sobha Developers Limited in Bangalore is well-known for building quality residential properties. Their reputation is wide-spread in Bangalore. And so, when we wanted to buy an apartment we chose to consider a Sobha property. We looked at several properties built by Sobha and were impressed.

After elaborate financial arrangements, we booked an apartment at Sobha Sunscape in July. We were in fact not ready yet and needed 3-4 weeks more time so that we could arrange for the initial payment. The sales-person assured us he would extend the time and persuaded us to make the booking. As a family we were pleased we could pool in our resources and buy an apartment from a good builder. After the loan was sanctioned by the bank, it was a sense of achievement that everything was in place and we were realizing our dream of having our own home.

We made the initial payment to Sobha which was partly from own funds and partly from the loan. After about a month, we received the demand from Sobha for payment for the next slab. This was the starting point for the surprises. In addition to the slab payment, Sobha also demanded interest on delayed payments. Over the last few weeks we have had several communications with Sobha on this matter and to put it mildly our experience has been disappointing. As a result of the rigourous communications, Sobha partly reduced the interest charges. The sales-person has backed out from honouring the rest of his assurance.

On analyzing the transactions, we found discrepancies too. Our bank had disbursed a lesser amount per their recommendation after assessing of the project progress. Sobha mentioned they were correct in their demand. They wanted us to produce a letter from the bank with this information and promised to act on the same. After we produced the letter, they stated that they would not consider it. We felt deceived. Why did they want the letter if they were not to consider it? We noticed that in the cases where we had handed the cheque to their sales-person, Sobha had recorded it only on the next day. Hence, they charged the interest for an extra day. On one instance the courier was delivered on the Saturday, they recorded the transaction on Tuesday.

We expect honesty from reputed companies. Sadly, my experience with Sobha has been different. As a customer of Sobha, my interaction with their people has caused me disappointment. For a reputed company, Sobha is not righteous in its policies. While they charge the customer interest at 18% by reflecting delays, they exempt themselves from any delays. They carefully do not commit any slab dates, so no delays come upon them. To my frustration, when I offered to make future payments in advance to counter some of the interest charged to me, they refused to account the advance in the same way.

At the outset, in spite of being confident that Sobha will deliver to me an impressive apartment and in spite of paying a premium price for that apartment, I'm afraid their trivializing ways have tarnished the pleasure of owning a Sobha property. As Sobha's customer, I have been through a false assurance; a false commitment leading me to obtain information from my bank; penalties for transactions incorrectly recorded by them and subjected to unfavourable policies.

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