COMPLAINT – 45
Dear Janine,
I have been postponing writing this email now for some time, in the hope, that maybe you might realise that I am a PAYING CLIENT of Amay, and therefore you might extend me the curtesy and respect that any paying client might expect from any company. But alas, my hope has been in vain.
I have agonised over the way in which I might express this email, not wanting to offend you, but then I referred to my email of the 30th, to which you ignored, I also copied that email to Lea, who interestingly, also ignored my email. I can only conclude collusion between both of you. To ignore your client is the most disrespectful behaviour of all and shouts your intent, that the client is not worth your efforts. Because of that, I decided to mirror your tonality and write a very direct correspondence.
In your email of the 29th Ultimo., you felt the need to tell me that you would control all the process of the Property. This is a brave statement. As a business man with over 40 years of experience, I would never say I would control anything, as a phycologist with over 20 years of experience, I would never suggest to my clients that they or I should attempt to control anything. As a human being, I would never state that I would control any situation, because we are never in control.
I cannot help to sense that you think Amay properties are gifting me this Property for free and any changes made are also free. I don’t know why you think this, as I am a paying client of Amay, I am paying for the Property like everyone else and I am paying for any changes made. In business, there is nothing for nothing, I don’t expect anything from Amay other than, to be respected as a paying client and the product that I am purchasing to be built and finished as agreed.
Your comments, “Your Property is the Property with the most changes in the whole residential”, is an appalling behavioural statement by you, 90% of the plan changes were agreed on purchase, then there were many changes because the Amay office crew made many mistakes, which were observed by me and relayed to your office for correction. The remaining 10% of changes were additions, at additional costs, over the course of 2022. If the Amay office crew did not make mistakes, I would not have had to request corrections.
Furthermore, by your comment, you are comparing me with the 45 other buyers in the Laguna residencia, the majority of which, think that I am insane to purchase a second property from Amay, these people are enemies of Amay, and feel that Amay are the worst building company in Spain. As I stated in my email of the 30th Ultimo., which you ignored, I have defended Amay, at every opportunity with my neighbours, I have been an Allie of Amay to date, however, thanks to you, that changes today.
Your comment, “Please understand that even for me, if I am going to check your Property and I must to read and check all the things many times, imagine how complicate it is for the workers. And I am the responsible that your Property will be finished with all the extras you selected”, suggests that I am creating a lot of work for you, again, I am the paying client and this is your job, but you don’t seem to think that’s fair. I did offer you a solution regarding our agreements in my email of the 30th Ultimo., but you failed to respond. I cant help feel I am such a burden to you and your fellow workers at the Amay office, that perhaps it would be a better and easier solution for you that we don’t proceed with the sale of the Property at all. This way, you won’t feel too overworked and I won’t feel disrespected. To that end, I am happy to discuss a settlement from Amay Properties to exit our agreement.
Your predecessor, EVA LLARIAS, left behind a mess, which has resulted in an assumption by you, that I was the creator of the mess, but the truth is, the changes I pursued were as a result of the mistakes made by Eva, then denial within your office created a camouflage of deflections as to why the mistakes were made, when all along it was fundamental mistakes by the Amay office team. Yet still you blame me and accuse me of always making changes. I am offended and annoyed by this. I have already highlighted this in my email of the 30th Ultimo, which you ignored.
In that said email, I asked for confirmation on a number of topics, the following is still outstanding:
• Confirm that you would prefer me to remain silent in the event that I notice construction proceeding against the agreed plans.
• Confirm that there are no schedules of material selections and nothing else has to be agreed for the completion of the Property.
• Confirm they you are wholly satisfied that you are in possession of all the scheduled changes agreed and that all those changes and materials will be fully executed.
The three points above require Amay’s confirmation. Because if these points are not confirmed, this email will be used to assume that the statements I have made are true and complete. Therefore, I WILL remain silent in my observation of your mistakes (see my note on mistakes below), and when the time for transfer and closure arrives, I will not close until all and any mistakes has been corrected and are in alignment with our agreements, in my opinion, it would be best to resolve our differences now and correct these as they occur. But that is entirely up to you Janine, as you say, you are the person controlling the process.
Your constant excuse that everything you are doing is for our benefit and to ensure our Property is delivered on time for us is unwarranted, I don’t care when the Property is delivered. September, January, March, I don’t care anymore if its never delivered. You have managed to turn, what should have been a wonderful experience of buying a new home, into a living nightmare, I am stressed, anxious and deeply upset, yet you have not even had the manners to address this from my email of the 30th Ultimo. This is why I have offered you the option to exit our contract.
We all make mistakes Janine, you, me, Carmelo, Lea, everyone. But its not the mistakes that defines us as human beings, it is how we manage those mistakes and how we learn from them. Some people apologise for their mistakes and learn, whilst others deny their mistakes, blame others, and never learn. That is how we are defined as human beings, that is how we are defined as having integrity or not, and as a consequence, this is also how the companies we own or are employed by are defined. How will Amay Properties be defined as a result of your behaviour? The answer to that question, only you can answer.
It is a business mystery to me why any company would instruct their salesperson to cease being involved in an ongoing relationship between the company and the buyer. The salesperson is a key element to the overall customer care and success of the business. I make this statement from personal experience: my companies in Ireland treat our customers and clients with the utmost respect and ensure we psychologically connect the right agents with the right clients so that they work in harmony.
On Leas instruction, my relationship was with Astrid has been severed, because of you. Astrid is one of the brightest employees of Amay, she is highly efficient, with superior knowledge of the product she is selling, she is versatile in her engagement of work and assignments as well as being confident and yet empathic, she can communicate and read her clients and most importantly she has the company Amay at heart.
During my relationship with Astrid, I always knew she would see logic in any decisions and she understood that a relationship between the client and the company was the most important aspect of successful business. She has the ability to keep the client calm, whilst at the same time, delivering bad news. She knows the company – client relationship is based on trust and it is always a negotiation and not a dictatorship.
I have grown weary of your behaviour and disrespect towards me, this ends now, and I will no longer liaise, or communicate with you. I will only liaise with Astrid or Carmelo from today. Any correspondence from you will be treated as a breach of GDPR and reported accordingly. There are topics within this email that need to be replied to, I suggest you allow Astrid or Carmelo to make those replies.
I am choosing Astrid or Carmelo because I have met both of these two individuals and I can say, they are the only two people in the company of Amay of whom I have met, apart from Victoria, whom have demonstrated Integrity, Respect, Product knowledge, Empathy, Business ethic and most importantly, Customer care. They care!
One final point. Prior to purchasing number 45, I had decided to create a website for people moving from Ireland to Spain. My plan was to document from personal experience our journey in moving to Spain, with recommendations and suggestions on Lawyers, Accountants, Agents, Builders, Suppliers, Furniture Stores and Restaurants. I wanted to let you know that it is my intention to use the transcripts of our emails as documentary proof of our experience.
Yours sincerely
David Ellis
CC: Javaloyes-Suarez Lawyers, Lea Garcia, Carmelo Murcia Caselles (I have requested his email today – ignored by Amay office crew as usual, but I will get this email translated and sent to him irrespective)
REPLY FROM THE CEO
Dear David, if you cannot understand that each company has its own rules and construction times and ours are that no more changes are allowed in a house after a certain time, in which case in your house it has been very extensive, I do not understand how we can help you.
If for that reason you do not take into account the attention given, the speed of problem solving and our best wish that your home is done correctly, it is your opinion and as such you can express it to the groups of people you consider.
For our part, Amay has a clear conscience that we have done everything in our power and that we have given you options for your home as if it were a home “a la carte”, when we both know that it is a model home Laguna and based on that prototype changes are allowed, and so you have had them, but you must understand that these changes at some point must end and should not be modified each time you visit the house. This is for the simple and straightforward reason that the documents are sent to the building site and the file must be closed so that there is no confusion. This is done for your peace of mind and ours as it ensures that your home is delivered correctly.
If you wish, it is with great pain and sadness that we will refund the money paid and cancel the Property. Our aim is to make the buying and selling process a pleasant one, but in all work processes there must be limitations in order to offer guarantees. We do not want you to go through a bad process and neither do we, but the main problem has been the limitations on your part and we are sorry to say that these limitations must exist and be enforced.
If your legal representatives wish, they can contact me and I will be happy to help you.
Thank you very much and I hope we can come to an understanding as we did in your previous sale and move forward with this new one.
We do not want to terminate this relationship for any reason, but our aim to make the customer happy is so great that we would be prepared to lose a sale to find a new one.
For no reason do we want to end this relationship, but despite this, our objective is so great that the client is happy that we would be willing to lose a sale if you were in a position to do so, because we want you to be happy and we can continue with joy this path. But despite the fact that your house is undergoing changes requested by you and it would be difficult to sell it again, we told you about that, something that I doubt another builder would do.
Carmelo, as I imagine you know and the organization chart specifies it, knows, approves and authorizes my movements and I in turn those of Janine and Astrid, but also thank you for informing him and translating the email.
Sincerely ,
LEA GARCIACEO AMAY PROPERTIES S.L
MY RESPONSE
Dear Lea
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.
The matter is not about changes, it is about respect and taking responsibility for the mistakes that have been made. It is most certainly not about money.
Allow me discuss the matter with my lawyer and see if we can find a workable solution.
I will revert to you in the coming days.
Yours sincerely
David Ellis
THE CEO RESPONSE IN SPANISH
Hola David, he visto que has hablado a Carmelo de respeto y nosotros siempre hemos respetado como cliente y como persona espero que reconsideres el término “respeto” .
Estoy entonces dispuesta a que por favor nos enseñes tanto a mi como a tu representante legal, algún correo o escrito en el que alguien de nuestra compañía no se haya dirigido a ti correctamente y en ese momento os pediremos disculpas y asumiré ese error mientras tanto tengo constancia de que habéis sido tratados de buena manera.
La persona que nombras en el e-mail ya no está trabajando con nosotros y entre otras cuestiones hay que destacar que no cumple con los requisitos que requiere Amay para que se trabaje con ellos.
Por lo que entonces intuirás que las acciones de esa persona nada tiene que ver con nuestra política de empresa pues además eres comprador por segunda vez y creo que conoces nuestra manera de trabajar y siempre es con respeto.
Y con respecto a esos errores de los que hablas el equipo de Amay al completo, incluso el aparejador arquitecto jefe de obra y demás ha estado encima de su vivienda para poder solucionarlos y hacerlo lo mejor posible. No entiendo por qué hay una queja al respecto.
Un saludo
Gracias
Lea
TRANSLATED
Hi David, I have seen that you have spoken to Carmelo about respect and we have always respected as a client and as a person I hope you reconsider the term “respect”.
I am then willing to please show both me and your legal representative, any email or writing in which someone from our company has not addressed you correctly and at that time we will apologize and I will assume that mistake while I have proof that you have been treated in a good way.
The person you name in the email is no longer working with us and among other issues it should be noted that they do not meet the requirements that Amay requires to work with them.
So then you will intuit that the actions of that person have nothing to do with our company policy because you are also a buyer for the second time and I think you know our way of working and it is always with respect.
And with respect to those mistakes that you talk about, the entire Amay team, even the quantity surveyor, chief construction architect and others has been on top of his home to be able to solve them and do it as well as possible. I don’t understand why there is a complaint about it.
Best regards
Thank you