Story 5 – Phase 5 Kanata – Bad
It was a beautiful day. My daughter and I were driving home from her Sunday morning soccer game. Our regular route was under construction so we took a detour. The detour took us right by Mattamy Homes. They were so lovely from the outside that we just had to stop and look at the models. They were gorgeous inside, too! But, as a struggling single mother of two, buying a bigger home just wasn’t something that I could afford on my own…
Fast forward to February of 2007…I met the most wonderful man! Eventually, we – John and I – decided that running two homes – paying two mortgages, two phone bills, etc, was just ridiculous. I mentioned Mattamy Homes and we went to take a look. John loved the models as much as I did! Finally, on May 22nd we decided to take the plunge – we were going to buy a house together! We agreed that we both loved the Oakriver and that it would be the perfect size for us as my children are both older and won’t be living at home forever…we think. We chose a lovely lot on Coriolus Court.
We couldn’t have been more excited. John sold his house and moved into mine. The fact that we were jammed into my small place didn’t seem to matter – we decided we could manage until our closing date of May 13, 2009. It seemed like a long way off but visions of our new home kept us positive and believe me, that’s hard to do when four people are sharing one bathroom! We spent hours looking at new furniture, appliances and window coverings. We knew exactly what we wanted and couldn’t wait to get in the house and start enjoying it! We were just waiting for someone to let us know that it was time to pick out all of our options-cabinets, flooring, and so on. We couldn’t wait!!!
Then we got the ‘delay letter’ from Mattamy. We were stunned when we read that our closing date was going to be delayed eight to12 months – minimum!!! We had a million questions, but Mattamy hadn’t included a contact name or number in the delay letter. Considering that so many families had their dreams and their money tied up in Mattamy, this was not only unprofessional, but incredibly inconsiderate.
First thing the next morning, we called our lawyer. We asked him all the pertinent questions. That same day, after work, we drove to the Mattamy sales office hoping that someone – anyone – would shed some light on the situation. The young lady in the sales office was unable to help us when we showed her our delay letter. Instead, she gave us the phone number of our customer care contact person. We called the contact person twice, but didn’t get a call back from her. My phone calls were getting me nowhere fast, so I decided to go directly to the office on Huntmar and try to connect with someone in person. The young lady that I spoke with – our customer care contact – was very sweet and apologized for not returning our calls. Despite my frustration, I understood that she was being inundated with phone calls. After speaking briefly, we agreed on date for a meeting. John and I were prepared for our meeting, with a long list of questions. By the end of the meeting I was more agitated than anything. Most of our questions couldn’t be answered. We were told that we would be contacted with answers to as many of the questions as possible. We did get a call with answers to some of the question, but many were left unanswered.
During our meeting we asked if, given the special/unusual circumstances, we could get our deposit back. The answer to that was “no.” We were told that Mattamy was going to “honour” the contract. That was not the answer we were expecting! Leaving the meeting that day knowing that Mattamy had $25,000 of our money and wouldn’t give it back – even though they had already confirmed in writing that they would not be able to have our home built anywhere near our closing date, made me feel beyond angry. I was livid!
Buying our first home together (first new home for both of us) was supposed to be fun and exciting. We’re not having fun. We’re not excited.
