This post on based on my own experience when I bought a flat in Prestige Ferns Residency by Prestige Constructions Limited (Prestige Group) in Bangalore. The property is located in south-east Bangalore, near to HSR layout.
Getting the papers of the flat
I purchased the flat from someone who booked a flat with Prestige for investment purpose. Once the deal was done, Prestige Group said, they will take 45 days to assign the property rights from the seller to buyer (me). All they had to do is following:
1. Change the owner in their system.
2. Print two copies of an agreement and get stamps on them from Notary
3. Sign the agreements themselves.
4. Get a signature from the land owner.
45 days for a tasks which can actually be completed in two days if they have good system in place!!! But the story has just begun. They did not do the same in 45 days, they took exactly 92 days for them to provide me assignment agreements, after following up with 200 calls and 20 emails (out of which around 80% were unanswered). I can't imagine a company to retain top position in market if they work so inefficiently and lethargically.
Getting the flat itself
Anyway, that was just the tip of iceberg. Let us talk about the hand over process. Basically, Prestige needs make sure that everything is fine with flat and then hand it over to the customer. Customer should be satisfied with the flat. At that stage, they made us feel that their sole purpose is to get the handover satisfaction document signed. They do not care about whether or not everything in flat is proper or not. First time, they said the flat is ready for hand over, I found so many problems -
- Improper alignment of doors
- Improper alignment of windows
- Cracked wall and floor tiles
- Uneven gap between tiles. Improper slope of tiles.
- Rusted door locks
- Chipped doors without proper polishing/paint
- Some windows could not be locked/unlocked.
- Improper functioning of main circuit board covering. You have to actually punch the door to close it.
- Taps and other bathroom fittings damaged due to acid wash
- Huge gap between slab and walls so that water can easily flow down from there.
- Unpainted portions in balcony.
- Switch board covers missing.
- Window lock cover missing
On contacting them, I learned that they have an internal inspection team and they approved the flat for hand-over. I mean, how many of the above could be missed by a so called professional team if they deliberately not wanted to miss them.
Moving on, I handed over the list to them and they contacted me back after 3 days saying everything is done.
All they actually did is changed broken tiles and put switch board covers. Only 2 things out of 11. Are you kidding me. Again, I handed them the list, they fixed door alignment, change 1 or the rusted locks (did not change 3 more rusted locks), re-polished the door where it was not needed and left the portions where it was needed, filled the gap between slab and wall. So basically 4 things out of 9, and 2 of them in a wrong/incomplete manner. I kind of gave up. I took the so called responsible person with me, spent whole one day with him and got most of the things fixed. Even though he had the list of all items, after every possible fix, he would ask me to sign the handover document.
Things which could not be fixed were:
1. 3 of the 4 rusted locks - excuse is they are not rusted enough to be changed.
2. Improper functioning of main circuit board covering. You still have to punch it. - excuse is - it works like this in all apartments.
3. Improper window alignments. - Excuse is - this is a lot of work, complete frame needs to be taken out and it will damage the flat, and will not guarantee complete alignment.
4. Paint of the bathroom doors - I gave up on that - after they painted the wrong place thrice.
The complex
The complex has more than 1000 flats, including 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 BHK. It has a large, nice clubhouse with a lot of facilities like badminton, squash, large swimming pool, small gym, spa, sona, board games, reading room, children's play area. All of that is good.
STP -
The sewage treatment plant does not work properly, we can feel the foul smell in water coming in pipes. One of the resident found insects in his flush due to bad quality of water. The STP also releases a lot of smell, which you can't escape if you are standing in balcony or basement parking. Funny thing is - none of the prestige people can feel the smell, whereas even a 3 year child (my daughter) says "papa bahut gandi babbo (badboo -- smell) hai". Excuse - There is a proper process for STP maintenance and it is being serviced on time. The smell could be there as flush tanks are not used regularly. This is the worst example of how much they actually care about hygiene and health of people in the complex.
Fire system
The possession started more than 12 months back. However fire control systems still do not have proper instruments/cylinder. Reason - these are costly items and could be possibly stolen by workers.
Water Softener
The TDS is generally around 400-500, whereas expected levels are somewhere between 80-200. Even after showing the test results by multiple residents, nothing has been done in past 4 months.
Security Guards
There is only one security guard for two towers since last 6 months. They can't find security guard in bangalore?
Grocery Vendor
Since it is such a large society, a grocery vendor is required. A vendor was voted and finalized 6 months back. He did not start his operation in given 60 days time. But Prestige group does not allow other vendors to come and set up their stores - or even to send there truck of groceries - Vested interests ???
The above are only some of the issues, the list is long and time is less. I also want to cover - Registration process, other issues in the complex, car parking allotment process, interior work process, use of clubhouse, maintenance of complex, some of which I may cover in near future.
