Another Victim Of The Evil Housebuilders.

[manterik]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

I went to see george wimpey that I was a teacher and wanted to buy a flat but had no deposit.

The sales assistant at the time told me the flats were being sold for 300k each to which I responded there was no way I could afford to buy one.

She then explained to me that she could give me 15 percent off making the price just 250k avoiding the expensive stamp duty, I then carried on and insisted that I had no deposit how could I buy this flat?

She then told me that the bank would value the flat at 300k on its completion and lend me up to 90 percent of this so that I would get 280k which I could give 250k to george wimpey and keep the rest.

I said I would think about it after which she continued to call me every single day harassing me asking me why I wouldn't want to have 20k in my pocket for free. In the end I agreed and gave her my credit card details which she took 2500 on.

Within a week she phoned me and said that if I didn't give her a further 10 percent that I would lose my 2500. At this point I told her that I never had that money and had only agreed to buy based on the fact I had no money. She said I needed to put 10 percent more down and legally exchange contracts. After she realised I didn't have the ten percent she offered me exchange bond and said don't worry this is an insurance policy so we can carry on.

I filled out all of the forms, and duly exchanged not realising what I was committing to. The solicitors I used, silvers, now silvers arch did not tell me of the liabilities that could arise from this exchange bond.

6 months later Rene had left the site and I was receiving more calls from george wimpey asking me if I had a mortgage. I told them that I never had one and then they asked me about the deposit. To which I responded that I had no deposit and told them what rene had told me. To this they responded that I could not borrow that much and that they had never even sold and of the flats there for 300k in the history of the site (even though this was my contract price). They told me I had better find a deposit and fast, and that if I didn't then they would draw down on their bond and bankrupt me for their loss of income.

At first I didn't understand what they were talking about and then later I felt very cheated, george wimpey had lured me by inflating their sales price 15 percent, made me formally exchange by threatening to make me lose my deposit if I didn't. Failed to explain the complexities of ebond and and if I didn't buy they would come after me for 25k and then bankrupt me.

As a teacher working for very little pay, this will ruin me, george wimpey have been completely ruthless since they got the bond in their hands.

Having spoken to experts on this matter they have stated that:

1) George wimpey misrepresented the sale by inflating their sales price and the rental values then discounting them to still unrealistic levels in order to lure me in as a buyer, apparently this is a tactic they regularly use. I thought I was getting 15 percent off when in reality I wasn't getting anything off, it was on this basis that I got involved. I was unable to do any due diligence because you cannot have a survey or valuation done or even get a mortgage for a flat that is almost a year away from being built so was very vulnerable.

2) George wimpey explained to me how I could buy the flat with no money because it was worth 15 percent more then I was buying it for. They now deny they said this and that it is mortgage fraud.

3) George wimpey knew full well that I could NOT complete especially as I had been very open that I had no deposit, yet still made me sign the ebond, this was so that they could conspire against the bond company and receive 10 percent of the value of their sale even if I didn't buy.

George wimpey at altius has acted fraudelently in many ways:

1) By misrepresenting the sale

2) By making me take out the exchange bond, knowing full well I could not buy the flat, their intention was to defraud the exchange bond company all along by using me as a pawn.

I have also contacted the fsa, as;

1) Exchange bond never advised me I could be liable for 25k in the event I didn't buy the property

2) Exchange bond never told me that the value of the property may go up or down or might now be worth what george wimpey said it was

3) Exchange bond never advised me of the fact I might not be able to finance the property or of any of the pitfalls

I am now forming a lobby of innocent people who have fallen victims to this type of scam and have found george wimpey to be perpetrating this on a very large scale. Can anyone else who has been done by this scam please contact me via this thread?

Can anyone out there help me?

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

[Si1]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

this does sound sad - and ytes, loadsa educated numpties out there

[Radge]

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the response I gave elsewhere some moments ago: Sometimes I think summary shooting is justifiable.

That this feckwit is a teacher is beyond belief.

[Kyoto]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

Yes. the author doesn't sound like the brightest bulb in the pack, but George Wimpey hardly cover themselves in glory in this story.

I get the impression from stories like this that the buyers were just pawns that enabled the homebuilders and EAs to defraud the banks.

[Fudge]

The thing is a person can be both clever and dumb.

Clever in that they could be an expert in some field such as Physics and dumb in other ways such as

finance.

In fact someone who wanted to do a fairly straightforward and above board transaction like buy a flat

would not consider it could end up in such a complicated scam.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

Yes. the author doesn't sound like the brightest bulb in the pack, but George Wimpey hardly cover themselves in glory in this story.

I get the impression from stories like this that the buyers were just pawns that enabled the homebuilders and EAs to defraud the banks.

personally if this was me i would seriously make it my only duty in life to do everything in my power to track down Rene and kneecap the b!tch

[HPC001]

The thing is a person can be both clever and dumb.

Clever in that they could be an expert in some field such as Physics and dumb in other ways such as

finance.

In fact someone who wanted to do a fairly straightforward and above board transaction like buy a flat

would not consider it could end up in such a complicated scam.

I'm pretty poor when it comes to mechanical knowledge (cars for example) but that only makes me more keen to research the options, and avoid being ripped off by unscruplous garages\mechanics.

[tiggerthetiger]

I was unable to do any due diligence because you cannot have a survey or valuation done or even get a mortgage for a flat that is almost a year away from being built so was very vulnerable.

This line says it all really....Just will not take reponsibilty for her own actions...she basically gambled,and it didnt work out.

Your hair doesnt get any better Sibley

Edited August 9, 2009 by tiggerthetiger

[Charterhouse]

You don't need a degree to be a teacher any more do you?

And yeah, she sounds thick as 2 short planks, but it also sounds that Wimpey's practices were hardly legal. I hope they get hammered.

[Fudge]

I'm pretty poor when it comes to mechanical knowledge (cars for example) but that only makes me more keen to research the options, and avoid being ripped off by unscruplous garages\mechanics.

Yes OK if you have the time. But most people simply dont.

If I want to buy toothpaste I dont have time to research which is the best product.

[Guest KingCharles1st]

George Wimpey's sales office would be run by professional sales confidence tricksters as team leaders ,using very carefully choreographed legally obtuse pitch routines to hammer in a sale. The Sale would be driven hard by the company, most likely using carefully constructed layers of veiling to hide and confuse. There would be little risk to Wimpey at any point, but the sales operative (working for a pittance till the sale goes through) would only get commission once the deal is done, the goal scored and the money in the bank.

The more confusing the deal- the more you want to stay away from it basically.

[Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable]

You always do this on here.

You find the worst case scenario, blow it up out of all proportion and insinuate this is mainstream Joe Public.

Most people are paying their mortgage, living happy in their house, don't want to move or sell until prices go up and don't even know there is a site called HPC.

[HPC001]

You don't need a degree to be a teacher any more do you?

And yeah, she sounds thick as 2 short planks, but it also sounds that Wimpey's practices were hardly legal. I hope they get hammered.

Some alternative qualifications can suffice...PTLLS and some range of that nature. Not sure on details, but they cost a great deal anyway.

[200p]

It may or may not be appropriate to say "they saw her coming".

---

If you can learn the skill of recognising salesmen [or women] from 100m, and learn how to deal with them, you'll go far in life.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Pseudo Lord Sandwich

[Si1]

You always do this on here.

You find the worst case scenario, blow it up out of all proportion and insinuate this is mainstream Joe Public.

Most people are paying their mortgage, living happy in their house, don't want to move or sell until prices go up and don't even know there is a site called HPC.

true

however, the market price is set at the margins - and the margins are currently very extreme and very downward-pointing

the emotivism is unnecessary, but the analysis wrt where it points at house price direction is very very relevant

[Si1]

Yes OK if you have the time. But most people simply dont.

If I want to buy toothpaste I dont have time to research which is the best product.

indeed - it's the old asymmetrical markets hypothesis

these clowns (Wimpey etc) should have been better regulated

[HPC001]

Yes OK if you have the time. But most people simply dont.

If I want to buy toothpaste I dont have time to research which is the best product.

Doesn't take long now that we have widespread internet availability

[200p]

Educated people aren't stupid, per say. It's just they have been conditioned, and this makes them cannon fodder to this type pressurised tactic and hype.

[GBdamo]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

An education, to whatever level, is not a measure of intelligence, a fact that many educated people don’t have the intelligence to understand. The whole education system is geared towards making very ordinary people believe they are intelligent. Education is merely force feeding information/knowledge, intelligence is how well you apply that knowledge.

This poor sod has been done up like a kipper, believing she was clever enough to understand what she was doing. When it all goes wrong she blames it on someone else.

If she’d have made £50,000 it would have been a result of her own ‘hard work’.

Empathy, yes.

Sympathy, no

[Guest skullingtonjoe]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

Anyone can get a degree these days. Hell, if you don`t want to go to university just buy one off of that new-fangled Internet thingy!

http://www.degrees-for-sale.net/

[Guest skullingtonjoe]

A bog roll is of slightly more value than a degree. I mean I`d rather wipe my ass with a nice quilted triple-ply roll than a degree certificate.

Paper cuts central! OW!

[Toilet-Currency]

Slightly at a tangent, but one feature of a lot of these off-plan sob stories is people are not rational when faced by an escalating series of deposits. e.g.

First a pre-booking fee - £500

Then a reservation fee - £2000

Then a deposit - 10%

What marks out a lot of these buyers as being especially stupid is that they have doubts at an early stage, but stubbornly put exponentially more of their money at risk rather than lose a relatively much smaller amount of money already paid. (Of course, the sales tactics of the housebuilders rely on this.)

The canny flipper/BTL investor would be the one that walks away after paying the reservation fee rather than exchange contracts in a falling market (which was presumably the case when some of these developments now nearing completition were originally marketed). But we dont hear about very many of those on the various forums/ comments

Edited August 9, 2009 by Toilet-Currency

[manterik]

You always do this on here.

You find the worst case scenario, blow it up out of all proportion and insinuate this is mainstream Joe Public.

Most people are paying their mortgage, living happy in their house, don't want to move or sell until prices go up and don't even know there is a site called HPC.

Yo Sibley, you rock man.

[kingsgate]

personally if this was me i would seriously make it my only duty in life to do everything in my power to track down Rene and kneecap the b!tch

I agree. Sodomise her with a broomhandle with nails in, then pour petrol on her face and light it. For starters.

[iLegallyBlonde]

Having enjoyed the Pan Peninsula thread on the Moneysupermarket.com site - yes I am a bad person so sue me - I had a look at another thread. A poor teacher screwed by George Wimpey, so they say.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/...erty-28693.aspx

How idiots like this can get a degree and become a teacher God only knows. I would not want this moron teaching any of my kids.

I find it very hard to believe her solicitor didn't explain what an exchange bond is and if they didn't she'd sue them surely.

I hate that my children have to go to school and be influenced by these twats but truly hope they can still achieve despite the teachers best efforts