Mortgage Rates with Cajasol Bank Spain

My experience is their real customer service is appalling, when something is not right. The girls like Vanesa are very pleasant and quite helpful, but customer service starts from the top and I beleive that is where the problem is. They appear to be using "bully boy" tactics, which is spoiling the whole experience. To them it is their job (as I have been told by the Director of Customer Services), but to us, it is meant to be a pleasant experience, something we should enjoy away from our jobs.

Les

Hi does anyone know what happened to the people who were to complete on block 72 where all the faults that were pointed out by Inspectahome. Have these problems been resolved?

 I am concerned as to what I am buying, as they have already changed several things in our appartment, The terrace now comes from the side of the block and where there were stairs, coming out and around the side of the building, we now have spirial staircase. They have taken the Patio Doors out of the Main Bedroom and no Balconet ,the more I hear what is happening the more concerned I become.

Margaret

In the interests of fairness I think that most people on this thread appear to have missed a paragraph of Inspectahome´s posting regarding the POA which states that  "I understand, having spoken to a colleague that operates a similar business in this area that he is aware that the new POA requirement applies to all third party professional snagging organisations" So in fairness to Roda they seem to be simply applying regulations in Spain which have just come on stream.

I am personally delighted that Roda are applying the law and asking for confirmation of qualifications as it is very important when you are paying for a service to ensure that you are getting competent and professional workmanship and it will ensure that any cowboy operators are kept off site.  

The negativity on this subject is just so depressing to read and I seriously worry about people who pay in excess of 250K for a property and rather than focus on the beautiful location and the potential for Roda to become one of the best developments in the area they spend their time focussing on snagging issues which in some cases have not even happened yet and when they do I assure you that they can be resolved very easily with a positive and pleasant approach.

Coments like Mrs H "To be honest it makes me more determined to give them (Roda) so much grief when it comes to our completion that they will wish they only had Roy to deal with!" make me despair especially when the property is not completed and she has not even seen it. If you expect the worst in life Mrs H you are rarely dissappointed!

To respond and in the interest of fairness when commenting on the requirement for the POA it was because he also inspects on RODA and has been asked to provide this for future unattended inspections, and this is not new legislation in Spain

We both work on more than 50 sites locally, including all of the large golf developments and RODA are the only company that require this and in their case they brought in a policy, overnight, that immediately effected 12 owners, all of whom were planning to complete via POA and all of whom are now having to pay additional money to travel to Spain or have their lawyers attend the inspection, costing at least another €400 per property. It is normal to get a written letter of authorty from the owner on thses sites but a Notarised POA is unheard of.

Not only did they change the policy but they failed to let ANY OWNER WITH A CONFORMED APPOINTMENT know about the change and they refused to confirm this is writing to em as I was not the customer

Please remember that we do not actually contract directly with RODA and we are employed by the owner and hold a contract with them so legally RODA cannot impose any restrictions if the owner or their representative is present at the inspection

There is only one company, MASA, who refuse all inspections if the owner is not present but they make this very clear up front

As far as the qualification is concerned I will, as I have a recogised EU Construction Qualification, I will be delighted if RODA bring in a fair and even policy here that will apply to ALL organisations that carry out inspections, including Estate Agents, and of course their own customer services staff, that assist and supervise the inspections

The problem here is that, on another thread, and on another forum, there is an increasing number of people are starting to complain abour snagging repairs on later phases, when they come over they want to enjoy their properties and not wait in for builders, and most people only base their opinons on history

The more cynical are now  asking questions on why RODA should want to prevent inspections and make it more difficult for their customers, who have waited a long time, so perhaps we should understand their comments 

I find this whole situation very frustrating as considering the number of properties that we have checked on RODA we have found VERY FEW with significant problems, normally snagging work is the normal astetic things, and we have always praised RODA for the quality of the resort and build, which past customers can testify to.

This is one of the best developments in the area with good quality properties so please RODA stop upsetting your customers

Ip

Enjoyed your message.  You are obviously highly delighted with your purchase and to assure everyone that 'snagging will be resolved very easily with a positive and pleasant approach' makes me wonder if you are reading some of these threads properly!  The majority of properties do seem to be of a high standard but there are obviously those less fortunate than yourself who have experienced a poor service and this is why we have these forums to discuss our experiences. I do think it is disgusting that Roda have changed their policy over night.  Whilst I have not completed on my property yet I wanted to use Roy's services and that is not being negative, that is my perogative to use the services of a professional snagging company.  He could well report back that my property is as perfect as yours!  I am glad you remembered to add an exclamation mark at the end of my quote because intimidating as I may be, I also have a sence of humour, so lighten up and share your views without the criticism please.

Mrs H

First time on this fourm just heard about it yesterday. I am part of an investment group which has properties in different developments in Murcia region.

As everything seems to be done publicly on this forum can anyone confirm if there is any truth in the information that Inspectahomes need Power of Attourney for inspections on Polaris as well as Roda as we were just about to make contact when we  heard that this company has been denied access for snagging inspections by both developers without power of attourney and extra costs.

A quick response would be appreciated as we need snagging inspections done asap as we have properties completing in Polaris in the next month and later in Roda. Can anyone recommend a reputable snagging company which has access to Polaris and Roda without Power of Attourney or which is acceptable to both companies at a reasonable cost for a professional job?

Thankyou for your help

Watching the euro!!!

I can´t read the message which you sent me as it has no subject line and won´t open - perhaps I am doing it wrong if anyone can help please do so. Perhaps you would detail the names of the companies on the forum for me which would be a great help as time is of the essence in this case. 

Thanks

India I have sent you another PM which I hope that you can open

Just for all people watching I received a statement form RODA yesterday that stated that effective immediatley a POA is required for any company wishing to check a property where the owner has not yet completed and is not at the inspection

I cab provde a copy of the statement if required howvever this has benn verified by another company working at RODA who is alo being asked for a Notarised POA for owner not present inspections

The options now are either to be at the inspection in person or, as a number of people are doing, get your representative who has POA to attend the inspection with us and they will sign the snagging list.

Once you have completed, or if you complete prior to inspection, there is no change to the service that we provide as we will continue to, and has no restrictions, in checking work that should have been done, checking utilities and furniture packs

We are also happy, in order to minimise expense to the buyer, collect people from, and return them to the airport if they only want to fly in for the day, at no cost

I hope that this clarifies things for everybody

sorry wrong thread 

Thank you for your help.

 Sorry  Roy but can not work out the PM thing.

Can I take it from your reply that Inspecta home can do the Polaris snagging for us if required. next month?

I have been following the posts with interest and there appears to be a bit more clarity. As I understand it from the posts Roy can be used either with your lawyer or with ourselves as owner being present-however I've not been advised of this by Roda.

I am very clear though that if you make a major purchase you only complete if it is perfect on handover. Once you complete with outstanding work you will inevitably have problems (apologies to those in that particular boat).

I'm also sure that Roda is a major investment for Calidona and they will want to make sure that residents are happy. Perhaps they should employ Roy or someone similar before they accept completed work from their contractors so that when they want us to complete the problems have been sorted.

Does this not happen in the building trade or am I being naive?

What people don´t realise is that often in Spain and England that resorts companies don´t  actually build the properties themselves but subcontract to another company an example being Polaris who I believe use at least 4 different builders

These organisation are more commonly know as promoters in Spain

The quality of the build, and even the specification can vary and it is not uncommon for a promoter to change builders, half way through the development if there is a problem, and I have actually been at inspections where the builder & promoter have openly argued about defects or the speciification, during the inspection

The promoter then relies on the builders staff, often they don´t have their own formal QA team, to advise them that the property is completed and ready, again similar to the larger UK companies

We regularly visit properties where the owners may not have spotted the defects so again the builder is OK and they sometimes rely on what we call the stary eye effect, where the owner is so excited that they don´t really look properly, or the in the dark effect, where they didn´t realise there was no electicity or lights so they really couldn´t check the bathroom tiling.

Another issue is that the properties should be re checked after they have been cleaned as aditional defects, like grouting coming out of tiling, can be created by cleaning

Often the promoter just doesn´t have time to throughly check properties before completion

There is 1 local promoter where, because they are a promoter and need an independant check, we carry out QA inspections for them, not on all properties, but on a random batch on a new phase.

This is because defects are often common across the entire phase so we are then able to identify the defect in most properties. 

A good example was on a development in Almoradi they have very long front walls and they had not put in any expansion joints so they were regularly cracking in the similar places, on a number of properties, easy to fix just put in the joint, but an interesting one to get the builder to agree to do.

QA and QC costs money to put into place but the short term cost will always outweight the long term benefits

I would just like to say how wonderful a service Roda provide in an after sales customer service!!!!???

We completed last January with lots of minor defects.  A lot more came to surface after we moved in.  We have had so many problems with our boiler and water pressure. 

We have spent so many family holidays since then waiting  around for someone to fix these.  This is a truly frustrating process especially when they don't turn up.  Every holiday we go home feeling a bit deflated as this always leads to stress.  We,  like I am sure everyone else who has bought here, thought it would be a good place to get away from the stressful lives we have at home.  NOT SO!!!

We again have a problem with our boiler, no heating or water pressure.  Our representative went to see Roda aftersales who basically have washed their hands off it.  They have told us to deal with Roca as the system has a 2 year guarantee.  I feel that as the problem previously existed that Roda should in fact do this for us.  They  are obviously sticking to their "one year rule"  and not budging.   I think this is totally unreasonable and wonder if anyone else has a view on the matter.

As for the people who seem to defend Roda, they have obviously been very lucky.  I think the bad stories outweigh the good.

Please don't get me wrong.  The concept of Roda is fantastic and I have no doubt will be very successful but if you don't get good service the excitement and good feeling is taken away!

For this type of fault the 3 years rule applies as this is something that results in the property being non habitable

Anything that results in this has to be dealt with by the builder

Thankyou Roy

I have never used your services mainly because when we were completing I had never heard of your service.

I am very impressed you have taken time to answer my post even though it is of no financial gain to yourself.

I gather from your answer that we should once again approach Roda as obviously they are required to sort this matter out.

For those of you being defensive of Roda, please take note of this posting.  Another clear example of "roda not wanting to know now that they have their money"!!!! 

Thank you for your comments and we actually give lots of free advice and will always respond to queries to help people

If you look through artucles that I have had published on this site the one headed querstions to ask the developer explains your legal rights on snagging, the 3 year rule, and the process to complain when things are not being repaired or if you PM me with your mail address I can send you a PDF copy

One common reason for your problem could be a blockage in the external vent resulting in the boiler not getting enough oxygen

Read this BEFORE approaching RODA

All white goods etc by the way have a 2 year guarntee in Spain

Hi

I am reluctantly supporting the negative postings as I have always had a fear that bad news travels fast and would only aid in depreciating the value of our appartment.We purchased on phase one around february last year.I was emailed by Roda and informed the property was completed and given a target date.I visited 3 times to do the snagging.On the first visit workmen were still laying floors,on the second visit the apparment had been used as a storage facility and there were half empty bags of cement every where.On the 3rd visit I agreed to complete and the various snaggs were eventually completed except the floor which was flawed and pitted.We visited several times during the summer and enjoyed the humorous situation of the electricity failing daily and the hot water not being there on demand.I cannot count the number of times we visited customer services to be told some one would be with us that day.Blatant lies from an under resourced department.To be fair at this time we were quite relaxed and not particularly stressed.The situation changed around October when the store room flooded and we lost furniture and bedding which we had purchaesd for freinds with a baby using the appartment.I emailed Roda and visited twice to sort out the lighting ,lounge floor and the store area.I have tried thesoft approach and failed miserably.Since upping the tempo and completely losing the plot we have lights,the floor has been filled by a 5 year old chimpanzeeand roda have acknowleged that the  continual flooding of the storage area could be A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM.We thought it was fairly seriuos when the garage roof area was bowing during a heavy shower.Like every one else I still try to belive in RODA we have had some great times.When asked by my future son in law who is a club pro and a group of his mates one of which won a european tour event last year  about Roda,I lied and it still bothers me.If they considered purchasing I would come clean.

My advice, he who shouts the loudest gets the service.

Tom B

Well said Tom

Can you please give me an idea what happened with the storage area.  Does insurance cover it or did you have to replace everything yourself.  What is the point of having a storage area if it can't be used??

We consistently have problems every time we visit and it ends up not being a holiday but a very stressful time.

I know that Calidona do keep an eye on this site so why do they not listen to the customer.

Is it a case of now that they have our money they don't care.  They certainly need a course on customer service.

kroda