Typically I would not even consider wasting the time to file a public report. But in the event that this report helps someone avoid the same outcome, or even rethink the decision to purchase a home from John Laing, its worth the effort.
The short version of what happened is that the price on the home escalated by over 15% from the initial estimate. The sales person misrepresented about everything imaginable — from the lot premiums, to the costs of the interior finishes, to the delivery date (which was off by more than 4 months). The misrepresentations were severe, its not even arguable that it was a matter of degree.
The catch is, you have to sign a written contract that gives John Laing the benefit of every doubt. While the contract cant bless fraudulent sales practices, in the end your left with oral statements as to the price of the home and the delivery date; its an uphill battle trying to prove any of the basic contract terms in court (or arbitration, a hoop you'll undoubtedly be required to jump through first). You dont find out the real bottom line until you have invested $15-20K as a down payment, which they, of course, will refuse to refund if your unhappy at the total cost.
The Contract is also designed to allow them to play a niffty little trick with the market. Read the first page, it gives them an out if they dont deliver a signed contract to the consumer within 3 days. I am willing to bet that not a single contract has been signed, sealed, and delivered within the allotted time frame. The company just sits on the contract and waits to see what the market does, if there are other buyers or the market goes up, dont count on a delivered product.
After this miserable experience I am now out of pocket $15k because we could not afford the home after its real price ($74k above initial estimates) was disclosed. To make make matters worse, my wife and I found out she was pregnant midway through the home build (only exacerbating the financial pressure caused by their misrepresentations and the pressure caused by the 5 month delay in the build time).
Now I have a tortuous arbitration followed by a civil suit to look forward to — all said and done, purchase a finished product, the contracts are even and the product is done/visible. There are no risks to be taken as to build time and product expense.
Chris
denver, Colorado
U.S.A.
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