Sobha Developers - biggest crooks

Review On Sobha Developers, Bangalore

I was stupid enough to fall for the Sobha brandname and book a flat in one of their HSR properties. This is what I got in return:

1. It's 16 months past their committed delivery date and still no signs of handover

   
   




2. There is no access road to the property. The 40 ft road that was marketed as access turns out to be pieces of land owned by different individuals who have filed cases of encroachment against SDL. One of them filed a case 4 yrs back and won it recently and has now fenced off his land thereby rendering the apts almost inaccessible. SDL knew about this for at least 4 yrs but still went on with the sale of apts hiding this litigation from customers. When some customers found about this through RTI, SDL flatly denied at first. When pressed further, they lied saying it is about some "other" stretch of land, whoch is NOT part of the access road. It has been 3 months since this road was fenced off and SDL has not been able to arrive at any solution.

   
   




3. As per CDP 2015 which was released in 2005, a 30-m road is supposed to run through the property cutting it into 2 pieces. SDL kept customers completely in the dark about this. It was only when some local villagers put up some banners in protest that we, the customers came to know about it. Even then, SDL first lied saying it was the act of some local miscreants trying to extract money. Now, the entire issue has come in the open. SDL, not only refuses to come to any solution - they are trying to pass the buck onto customers saying it is our problem. Strangely, even today if you call their marketing posing as a prospective customer, they will say that there is "no issue" with any CDP road.

   
   




4. Charges have been hiked by 150% for BWSSB and KEB. SDL says they are not liable to show receipts to customers as it is not "standard industry practice". They have levied an additional 20k for solar lighting to all customers citing a 2006 govt order while most customers purchased the flats well after that. An independent evaluation shows that they are making 6x profit on cost/watt. Service tax refunds are not paid back to customers - instead we are being told to take this up with the govt directly.

   
   




5. A major architectural blunder renders 3 blocks inaccessible from the ground floor level. Residents are expected to go to the basement and enter the blocks. Now, they are trying to make up by putting some iron staircase(remember factories) at the back side.

   
   




6. They have not paid compensation for the delay to any customer who have made even the slightest modification like changing a tile, fitting a bathtub or a switch(for which Sobha charged exorbitantly). To those, who did not make any changes(probably only 10% of the owners), they held back compenstation for 69 days citing reasons like Rajkumar's death, rains in Oct 2005, sand strike of 2006 - events that took place well before most people booked their flats. Wonder why they left out Indira Gandhi's murder, 1993 blasts, Godhra riots, .

   
   

And the list goes on. Last but not the least, they shout at customers, misbehave with them and have no shame or decency. Their customer service folks never pick up the phones, seldom respond to emails.

So friends, this is the true picture of the city's premier builder - arrogant, unethical and full of fraudulent practices. I made the worst decision of my life by going with them. Please don't go down the same path. If my post dissuades even one person from investing with SDL, I would consider to have done some service to mankind!

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