Eldeco threatens

We got a letter today from Eldeco asking us to pay the monthly maintenance deposit. If we fail to do so, our power and water will be cut off. We took possession of the flat last year August(2006) and paid an year's advance deposit. So, our deposit finishes only in August. However, Eldeco has always been very prompt in collecting their money, and so they have 'cared' enough to remind us 3-4 months in advance. Needless to say, any letters we write to Eldeco never ever elicit any response, leave aside a fast response!

Now comes the funny part. Eldeco has not furnished the accounts for last year. We really do not know where the almost 3k per house we are paying per month is going. I have some guesses, and I am sure you all will have the same guesses, but other than that, the company is silent on the accounts. Maybe Eldec officials need some urgent cash for their Merc maintenance.

The company has installed a single prepaid electricity system for the entire building for which we have to buy coupons in advance. This is when we had paid about 25k for a proper electricity connection from the electricity board. 25k*72 houses was eaten up by Eldeco, and instead they have taken one single connection from which they have submeters to each house. Now the best part, this prepaid system will be clubbed with the annual maintenance, and if you have some issues with the maintenance and want some answers, you have no coice but to pay up, else your water and electricity will be cut off.

Smart move, are they sadists or what?

Another dead email chain

Email written to Mr Hemant, who apparently is handling our case. More than one week since we last heard back. Thsi email chain is in continuation with our April 8 email chain.

Sonal Goyal

to Hemant, Ruchir

Hemant, can you please spare some time to respond?

- Hide quoted text -

On 4/19/07, Sonal Goyal <sonalgoyal4@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Hemant,

Its been some time, can we please know the status.

Thanks.

On 4/17/07, Sonal Goyal < sonalgoyal4@gmail.com > wrote:

Hi Hemant,

Today, I just noticed some bloating of the wooden flooring in the guest room as well. Please add this to the list.

Thanks,
Sonal

On 4/17/07, Agarwal, Ruchir wrote:

Hi Hemant,

Thanks for your email. I wish to assure you that there has been no "masive internal work" executed by us for the floors to be in this condition. The only thing that we had got done is the essential wood work in the bedrooms and kitchen, which I don't think would affect a good quality wooden floor.

We do have other issues apart from the problems with the wooden floor mentioned in my earlier email on this topic. We have already provided a list of such issues to Mr. Deepu (Estate Manager, Eldeco Ananda) on 6^th March 2007. This list has also been shown to Mr. Rajeev Sharma and Mr. Rajesh Dubey at various times. For your reference I am listing down the issues once again, which fall under two broad categories. Please note that it is the list of issues that we are facing right now and needs to be addressed. It by no means can be termed as complete, as new issues may crop up from time to time.

1. Construction quality related issues
1. Wooden floor in the Kids bedroom has bloated around the joints of the wooden tiles.
2. There are remains of white paint on the wooden floor near the door of the toilet in the Master bedroom
3. The wooden lamination of the profile on the toilet door of the Master bedroom has come out completely.
4. Wooden skirting in master, kids and guest room is sticking out from the walls.
5. Seepage in

i. Kids bedroom and toilet

ii. Master bedroom and toilet

iii. Kitchen

iv. Study and its toilet

v. Living room

6. Handle of the main door of guest room has come out
7. Cracks have appeared in the walls of

i. Kids bedroom

ii. Master bedroom

8. Cracks in WC of kids bathroom
1. Services related issues
1. Water quality: The water supply is either yellow or grayish black. It has such a heavy amount of silt that the Zero-B engineer has suggested that the pre-filter in the RO requires a change. Which is surprising as the RO was installed only in last week of January 2007 and a typical pre-filter has a life of 1 year, even in Noida.
2. The maintenance office refused to accept our letter of complaint which I, eventually, had to courier to you and which caused me to start this mail thread. The reason that I got for not accepting the letter was that they are not authorized to accept such letters. Which brings me to ask then why they are here? If they cannot accept a letter of complaint regarding the very complex which they are responsible for maintaining.

Hoping for an early response to this list,

Regards,

Ruchir Agarwal

GC2/002, Eldeco Ananda

---

Thank you readers

This post is for all the readers of this blog, who, time and again, have written to me sympathising with the problems we have faced with Eldeco. I wish to thank you all for your kindness, for the hope that good will finally overshadow evil, for the support of right versus wrong, for consumer activism and awareness, for quality consciousness and for using my experiences to make your own personal choices with respect to property purchase. I am grateful for your trust, and for your understanding. Thank you very much once again.

Other blogs on Eldeco

Seems other harassed owners of Eldeco Ananda, duped by the false promises of the company and disillusioned by the service offered are airing their disappointment in their blogs. Check:

http://anurajsoni.blogspot.com/
http://ruchir75.blogspot.com

Eunuch racket

I opened the door in answer tot he doorbell, only to see two eunuch smiling gleefully and asking for badhai - their term for extortion money of buying a new flat. I was shell shocked, I never expected eunuch to be walking down the supposed secure building complex, right at my door and ringing the bell. Ok, Eldeco cant stop them, but at least I could have been informed on the intercom that they are visiting, just like other *guests* who come over. For other people, even my parents, the guards promptly stop them at the main door, call m up and confirm if I want them to visit me. Only then they are allowed in. But seems Eldeco does not measure everyone with the same scale, and the eunuch have a different setting with them.

After major excuses, relentless bargains, I had to pay up 2100 Rs to them. So much for living in a fully gated secure Eldeco Ananda Premium residential flats!

Funny

I was searching for something when I reached this promotion from Eldeco in the guise of a news item. According to the article, Mr Pankaj Bajaj from Eldeco says:

"We screen buyers before selling them homes here so that our customers will have quality people living in their neighbourhood."

How about doing some introspection and assessing the quality you are offering to your customers Mr Bajaj? Last heard, our resident's welfare association had requested some time to meet you personally. One week has passsed, you have not even acknowledged receipt of our request, let alone telling us when we can meet you.

Eldeco marketing

I have had one of the most eye opening experiences of my life interacting with Eldeco marketing. Eldeco has a number of projects in the NCR - Delhi region and I expected Eldeco staff to be customer friendly. Eldeco is a listed company, and one kind of assumes that the marketing department will be smart and savvy. However, they are savvy and smart, but only for their own good, is what I realized once I had paid the booking amount and legally agreed to buy the flat ( or else forefeit the booking amount).

We did not want wooden flooring in any of the bedrooms, as we were not sure how it would work out in Indian conditions. Before booking, we were told by their sales person, that these are small and minor things, to be taken care of once we make up our mind about the flat. "You are paying for the flat, so what issue can the company have in extending the marble flooring of the drawing area to your bedrooms, especially when cost of both wooden and marble turns out same to the company. We are here to serve you mam". Of course, how simple it seemed. Alas, the story changed completely as soon as the booking got done.

"We surely cant change our flats for each single customer. Else the project will never get delivered. Customizations are not possible. You are however free to change the flooring of the flat once you get the possession." Of course at our own cost. Eldeco will not even give us rooms without any flooring and just reduce our time, effort and money of first removing their stuff and then replacing it with ours. Needless to say, the wooden flooring is rustling under my feet, maintenance is a big pain in the dusty areas of Noida and all complaints about the peel offs lead to no result.

Possession was to be given to us in April, but we got it only in August last week, and that too after a lot of hassles. Eventually, we had to agree to broken marble pieces in the drawing room, undulated walls and all kinds of poor construction issues, as we needed the possession of the flat to start our own woodwork. When we asked Eldeco authorities to change the marble pieces that were broken, they told us that this could happen anytime, what would we do if the pieces broke after we took possession. They were not ready to change the marble, and if we insisted, they would replace it, but they would not make sure to match the replaced piece with the surrounding pattern. We gave up.

Similarly for the front door. The margin of the front door was badly cracked. It took us almost 5 meetings with Eldeco staff to get them to agree to change it.

Registration was another harrowing experience. We paid up the registration amount in first week of May. It took Eldeco about 5-6 months to get ready for the registration. We really hated the fact that they sat on our money all the while, refusing to listen to any pleas for getting the registration done. With a floating rate home saver loan account, it would have really benefitted us to get our registration amount and pay it only when they really wanted to do the paper work. Another case of complete customer apathy.

For the registration, we agreed to a date and time. Unfortunately, my daughter got down with measles. She was about 7 months at that time, and it was risky to take her to the crowded registrar office of NOIDA. I requested the Eldeco authorities to give us another date. It was something we really wanted to avoid, as registration was something which we wanted to get done as fast as possible. However, given Nandini's condition, there was no choice. But, their point of contact was not ready to budge. He told us that the date of the registration had been printed in advance on the stamp papers, and the stamp papers can not be changed. Or, if we agreed to pay the stamp duty again - some 5.5 lakhs, maybe it can be done. If the date is printed once, it cant be changed. I knew this was just his way of resisting our change request, so I requested again. Surely, if the date is printed and the person meets with an accident, will s/he need to get the papers printed again? The Noida authorities, for all their bureaucracy, can not be that foolish. After umpteen calls, Eldeco relented. Surely, when we went for the registration, we found that no date is even printed.

Thanks Mr Pankaj Bajaj, honorary managing director of Eldeco, for choosing such brilliant customer service representatives. Surely it is flowing from the top, isnt it?

More on Eldeco

Found this post from a fellow sufferer on how Eldeco has cheated them
http://www.noidascoop.com/story/2006/8/28/2724/49006

It is really disheartening to see how people have been taken for a ride by Eldeco. And all this is coming from a BSE listed company.

Pathetic customer service from Eldeco

I have stressed in my previous posts about the problems faced by residents of Eldeco Ananda. I have moved in to the apartment block, and I realize there is a lot more to add to the list. Here are the big issues:

1. Eldeco has a power backup facility, where a diesel generator powers the complex when the main power goes off. Needless to say, the power backup running cost is about 3 times that of normal power. Which is fine. However, what is suspicious is that there is no way of knowing when the power is coming directly and when it is backed up, so there is simply no way you can control the bills. Good planning Eldeco to keep your coffers filling. Requests to know the charging rationale ofcourse falls to deaf ears.

2. The flat above mine is doing some renovation, and there is big seepage into my house. I requested the Eldeco authorities, who are caretakers and complex society guardians, to look into the matter. I am told it is my problem.

3. No water in kitchen for 3 days.

4. No greenery yet

5. Eldeco had charged us about Rs 25000 for electricity connection. However, we have not been given individual connections. There is one big connection for the complete building and sub meters to our individual flats. Who is paying for the usage by Eldeco authorities during construction and maintenence is anybody's guess.

You still want to buy something from Eldeco? Braveheart!

Eldeco Ananda, the biggest scam of all

I am terribly disappointed with the service and quality of Eldeco's Constructions. I own a flat in Eldeco Properties' premium housing project in Noida, NCR - Ananda. Ever since we have got the possession of the apartment it is a continuosly painful exercise to get the basic amenities from Eldeco. It is very disheartening to be promised dreams and then lacking in delivery of the basics. From the outright, the possession of the flat was delayed, without any intimations and reasons given to the buyers. On possession, we noticed broken marble slabs in the drawing room, and the engineer in charge refused to change them. Its been six months since we took possession, and one of the bathrooms still does not have the towel rods. The promised swimming pool has turned out to be small little water body. Greenery is non existent. On top of it, the security leaves so much to be desired. Enunch walk into the complex, and demand their extortion fee, taking as much as 11k with them. I have heard that Eldeco has now negotiated the rate with the enunch gang as 2500 Rs, and we will get a receipt!!!

Eldeco authorities are the most customer unfriendly, they treat you as scums and do not care a word of what you say and request.

God save me, I am really shuddering from the thought of moving in next week..

Ananda final round

Final set of activities under progress in the new house, kitchen tidbits, paint, wrap up of the woodwork. Long list of items still to cover - electrical fittings, registration, curtains...

Eldeco, NOIDA, marketing et al

I booked a flat in Eldeco Ananda, hoping I will save myself from the travails of constructing my own house. Though the prices were exorbitant, I was expecting that I will get service asI am opting for top-end premium stuff and paying the price for it. How wrong could I be!

1. Before booking the flat, the marketing executive told us that it would be possible to replace the wooden flooring in the bedrooms with marble, just like the rest if the house. No cost would have to be borne by us. As soon as we decided to book and communicated the same to him, he said that the flooring will be changed subject to a very nominal amount. After booking, I was told that flooring can not be changed in all the rooms, only the flooring in one of the rooms can be changed. The cost was to be about 15k, which is even more than the flooring cost of a similar sized room. To say the least, if I want to get it done, Eldeco expects me to pay more than double the cost, one which I have already paid in the base amount, and second is the extra charges for "alteration"

2. The company asked me to pay them the registration amount along with the miscellaneous amount and only then they would start thehalnding over of possession process. Registration is to be done in NOIDA authority and the company, being the seller, is also a party to the process. However, Eldeco mandates that registration be done through them, and they charge a hefty fee for that. Its been more than two months, I have been following up with Eldeco like crazy, and there is no reply. They say it is in progress, whereas I know ATS and other builders are queuing up at NOIDA office and getting their stuff done easily. Even individuals are able to get registration done at the authority within 2-3 days, so I am wondering what makes Eldeco spend that much time sitting on my money..?

3. At the time of booking, I was told I could opt out of the power backup(12k per kva!!) if I wanted. Ofcourse, now the reps tell me that they could NEVER EVER have told me that, how could they when it is just NOT possible? Ofcourse, some miscommunication, if at all..But I wonder why all the miscommunication seems to fit their ends, not mine...?