Sobha Santorini At City, Kannur, Bangalore

By Sobha Developers, Bangalore

I fell prey to the supposedly good name of Sobha Developers, and some good references. I booked a flat in Petunia and paid the booking amount. They took several months to provide all the project papers. Their agreement is very one sided. It says they can change the clauses at will without any discussion. There are no milestones that they are obligated to meet for future payments to be made. The penalties for delays on their side are very weak. I questioned all of these several times and had numerous discussions. They just don't listen - their expectation is for the customer to fall in line.

My way or the highway. Very arrogant. CRM team is spineless. When I refused to make future payments till the issues are resolved, they expected me to pay huge fines even though there was no agreement to that effect. When I objected, they prompted canceled the booking and have withheld the booking amount. I am now fighting to get the amount back.

I wouldn't recommend Sobha Developers to anyway, ever.

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I am pissed off with Sobha and unfortunately never read any of these websites before paying them for the apartment. I had booked an apptt at Sobha Carnation, Outer Ring Road. Every Blog is cursing them but there seems to be no impact on these guys.

From increasing club house fees, to never-ending delays in the project, to false promises by the sales team on accomodating payments, to them refusing to even honor promises given in writing thru their official email id, it's way too much beyond my patience and tolerance now.

I wish to now go to consumer court as any other court would simply cost too much money and hold their one-sided agreement as binding. It’s crazy that a public listed company can get away by cheating highly literate / educated people like us.

If u r keen to join me or support me with all evidence to build my case, please email me at chiranjiv@yahoo.com

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I don't have much idea about other developers or builders, but like many other customers of Sobha Developers I feel disgusted to have dealt with this so called "reputed builder". I wonder how we Indians grade these people as "reputed" so easily.

For new home buyers, my honest ranking about  the company below , based on my and my friends' experiences, may be helpful : (Scale of 0 to 10 and 10 is the best)

Quality of Construction:  7

Quality of finishing (Civil work):  7

Quality of finishing (Doors, windows shutters, sinks etc.):  4

Response of the sales team:  7

Response of Customer Care:  6

Response of the legal team (you are at their mercy at one stage of the deal) :  2

Response of the employees at the lower levels: 2

Response of the top management (you will obviously feel like speaking to top management when

you get frustrated by the dishonesty and lies of lower grades) :   0

Keeping up with their words:   1

Overall Honesty:   2

Transparency:   1

Sensitivity:   0

Undeserved hype for the company:   9

Value for your hard earned money:   4

I must also tell you that many apartment owners hesitate to speak negative about their property fearing depreciation in value for their investment, despite having all the wrath and frustration.

Ok, you too may compare and evaluate your experience and comment upon the same for the benefit of other customers.

After all, if someone had warned me about them before, or had I read the other comments here earlier, I would've missed this "opportunity" to be called as the customer of this "reputed" builder !!

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Dont's even think of going to them. Booked an apartment in mid 2005, promised delivery by 1 st Q 2007. Yet to no signs of handover.

Another e.g. of Cheating, replacement marble flooring sobha charge at Rs 2400 Sq M. Same available outside at Rs 900 Sq M. Believe me, It is waste even investing in Sobha.I will not suggest to book any apartments with Sobha. Instead buy something they have it ready for Registration.

You will be royally cheated and the will have all the hidden clauses written by their high profile lawyers (lier's).Stop reading this ...Repeating so that I can get 150 words pre-req for posting..Dont's even think of going to them. Booked an apartment in mid 2005, promised delivery by 1 st Q 2007. Yet to no signs of handover.

Another e.g. of Cheating, replacement marble flooring sobha charge at Rs 2400 Sq M. Same available outside at Rs 900 Sq M. Believe me, It is waste even investing in Sobha.

I will not suggest to book any apartments with Sobha. Instead buy something they have it ready for Registration.

You will be royally cheated and the will have all the hidden clauses written by their high profile lawyers (lier's).

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Delivery - Always late

I have booked a flat in Sobha Iris in Jan-06. The flat was supposed to be ready by Feb-07. The delivery was postponed 3 times till now. Sobha gives a date and when the date nears they postpone it by 6 months. The current promised completion date is end-July'08(mind you.it's completion date but not handover date!). Even if they handover in Aug'08 it's a good 1.5 Yrs delay.

Financial Loss.

If you book a Sobha flat, be ready for a loss of about Rs.10 lac. I have calculated my financial loss to be about Rs.11 Lac(assuming delivery will be in Aug'08).

Do they cheat?

Am not sure whether it is intentional. We were given a payment  schedule and were told by their sales that the construction will be completed as per that schedule. However, 96% of  the payments have been collected by Aug-2007(means 96% of the construction should have been completed) and the rest 4% takes more than an year! It means, Sobha completed that part of the project which gets them money on time and conveniently  delays the rest for any period as they have already got their money(including profits!).  Very efficient cash flow planning with customers money indeed! Mind you, they are right to have collected the money, if you look at the agreement wording. I only hope that this is not a new form of organizational cheating.

*Agreement Terms

*They are mostly one-sided. They also charge hefty Advocate fee from customers. This basically means you are paying the advocate fee to have the agreements designed for the benefit of the "Other Party". Considering that all the agreements use the same format - Advocate fee is really wonderful profit margin!

Be cautious of delay clauses: What happens if the project is delayed? Developers may also have a clause to pay penalty on delay. But look at these clauses carefully to see when they are not applicable and argue with them to change suitably.

Be cautious of Payment Schedule: Ask them questions on, what it means in terms of actual completion. Most probably, you will pay all the money at least 1 yr in advance, though they claim otherwise !

Ask them questions on sharing of financial loss. e.g. if they delay the project by 1-2 years, govt may increase taxes & levies. If the increase is substantial, then you will lose a lot.

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Sobha's reputation as a dependable builder both in terms of quality & delivery made me opt for them. However in reality my experience has been quite the opposite. On quality - I do not know yet as they claim to have German engineers certifying each apartment. This also needs to be verified as rumours abound that they have done away with German certification. On the delivery side the project is already delayed by 1 year and by the time the handover is made it looks like it will be another 6 months.

Whatever the reasons I have lost substantially, in terms of interest on amounts paid, higher registration, electricity and water levies etc. An approximate amount would be Rs 10 lakhs as losses.

Sobha has displayed a'don't care' attitude to the several queries and demands to share/compensate losses taking cover behind one sided agreements. Customers are not eligible for compensation for delays if they opt for even minor modifications, say changing colour of floor tiles or adding electrical switches. Ridiculous by any sense!

Please be extremely careful when signing agreements with them. Fortunately it is a buyer's market and all intending buyers should ensure a win position as much as possible.

Regards

Krishnan.P.G

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I booked my appartment in Sobha developer's IRIS porject couple of years back.

The reason I chose Sobha was their quality and their timely delivery. Or that was what I thought.

I'm going through a harrowing experience now. The project is already delayed by a year and as of now im expecting another 6 months delay. Builder has confirmed about the delay just today but are yet to give another date. I wont be surprised if they say another 8 months.

Project is due for delivery( after a year of delay) on Feb 2008. Even today, just a month and half ahead they are not able to confirm the new date. The project planning is absolute poor, CRM is just a front office handlers just to ensure you dont reach the actual site engineers. They are not part of planning, do not have a proper insight to the project, do not know if the project is under staffed and cannot take any decision.

As all expects Sobha, a big brand, will pay the penalty if the delivery is delayed. its absolutly false.They have a clause in the sale deed, which says if you make any modification in the appartment you purchace, Sobha will not be liable to pay any penalty. This will eventually mean if you choose vitrified tiles over ceramic or even move a plug point you are not going to get a single penny.

Sobha is absolutly insensitive to customer's problems.

Quality I cannot comment as of now since I havnt started living in one.

I guess sobha is better than other builders in terms of quality. I hope this is not just a guess and its reality, which I will come to know once I start living in it. God knows when.

So if you are looking for a good appt, but do not care when u are going to get it( if they say proj delivery as one year, add 1.5 years to it. thats when u may get the flat), do not have much problem in paying all the pre-emi, do not have problem with losing tax exepmtions as per ur plan, then go for it.

otherwise look else where.

Good luck on ur hunt.

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It has come to our notice that Sobha and other developers are not being very transparent in their dealings. Suggest all to seek  original proofs/receipts (specially financials). Heard that SDL is not willing to share the proof of Service Tax submission with the customers and are keeping quiet when people are asking for refund. Heard that lots of Sobha customers are trying to get to talk to their MD, but they are not being allowed to go beyond CRM. Suggest all customers to ask for the details of each financial transactions.

Get the commitment of water supply (in Bangalore specially). It seems SDL gives fake promise about water and customers spend 3-4 k per flat to get tanker water. Check the BWSSB, KEB, all hardware purchase receipt, STP MSA etc. Go as one unit instead of seeking this individually. Heard that they are very stingy in refunding money...so better go as one unit and demand all these. If anyone has any official statement of service tax return, please post. Not sure whether SDL used to perform the same way as they are doing today. Kind of arrogance in their dealing (post sales). Doubt whether they act in a similar fashion with corporate customers (definitely not).

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I am not sure of the past, however after staying in US for 11 years I recently moved back to Bangalore and Bought an apartment begin developed by at Shobha. The harrowing experience needs some time to be told

Very good at giving part of the information, never tell you the whole story. Messed up 7 out of my nine modifications requests. Took money for special motifs in Bathroom and did not install them, same with under counter sinks and did not install them, messed up the height of a special wall.

Messed up the tiles in the main room. Installed tiles of various colors in kid’s bathroom, saying they were only a shade apart! Promised a 9% interest on early payment. I paid up 6 months in advance, later was told this was not a true statement unless the amount was paid with the booking amount( half lie while collecting the money) I can go on.

Yes and yes 8 different crm (Customer Relationship Manager) executives to deal with in a year.

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These guys lost all of my trust and respect. I have taken

apartment in primrose, the marketing person(Anil D) took extra amount for Lake facing(around 1.5 Lac). But now they are building a

new apartment in front of me and blocking the full view. Now since whole

registration amount is paid. So they just say that, they wouldn't do any refund

about lake facing.

Beside this, these people charged extra (100% more) for community center.

This charge was taken, without getting anyone's agreement on this.

Problem doesn't end here, after completion, I have many issues with construction

quality. Door knob, water leakage in bathroom, cracks on the tiles, broken

finish of balcony.

Sobha made very good apartment at the beginning, so that was to just attract

new customers like me and also get into the market, however now I think, they

don't care anything about the quality and customer. They are just into robbing

NRIs as much they can.

Sobha is no more as earlier, beware of that. Stay away from them.

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Probably the worst builder in Bangalore for the following reasons:

1. Very bad design - thoughtless design. Even the master bedroom in 1750 sq ft flat will not be more than 150 sq ft.

2. worst carpet area - comparable only to Purvankara. So, you will wonder whether the common area will be higer - hold, even common area will be smaller. So, no one knows where the area vanishes.

3. Worst external color in Bangalore - Look at Sobha Quartz on outer ring road and sarjapur road jn and you will agree.

4. Charge interest amount of as low as 15 Rs for 1 day delay in payment.

5. Very process oriented when it comes to cheating the customer. Even for registration they will threated with a cancellation fine if for some reason you can't reach the site. Have a big CRM team just to harass the customer. Cheat on area, quality has also become suspect.

6. Basically the whole experience from booking to occupying your flat will leave a very bad taste in your mouth.

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Same here-- Can you let me know how did you send legal notice to them---

I booked a apartment in Shobha dreams in Jan 2006. They took the booking amount after convincing us with Shobha's reputation etc.Even after a year , and still no construction started. We approached them personally and also wrote mails, but in vain. We were told that they haven't got the BDA approval yet; they are still trying for that. We got a mail in Feb 07 saying that since there has been no progress made; they will return the booking amount with interest of 9%.

We again made to their office, and write mails telling them its not fair, as they have kept the money for over a year, and we will not get anywhere at the rate which we booked at that time. They said they can give a discount of 2-3% on current (not booking rates) of any other project, which we put as 'inappropriate' for the

increase in property rates in bangalore.

They have returned back the booking amount (with not even 9%). In their letter they indicated that they had informed at the time of booking that there were issues with the project (They never communicated anything like that to us, not replied to any of our mails/registered letter).

Seems they did not even have the DC conversion done, there are several other issues highlighted in the letter (government laws that they failed).I want to take this to some good consumer forum as Shobha has kept booking amount for so long. I have also lost an opportunity to have a Shobha

apartment, because the current rates are outside my reach. Also, they have not communicated anything (we even visited them thrice over the last 4 months). As they r a listed company with Sebi, I even want to highlight this to Sebi.

Till now, Shobha Developers have not shown any regard for their mistakes. If it was a land which is under industrial zone and other issues in their mail, why did they even take money from us. To cover deficit funds or take money at a low lending rate/Could anybody suggest what could be done regarding this?

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Booked a Flat in Sobha Dreams Porject 2years back the Project is suppose to be completed in March 2007. They delayed the project for almost 2 years. The real issues is that Sobha launches project that does not have any approvals from BDA.

After 2 years of waiting they dropped the project and for all the customers who have booked on this project they offer a 3% discount on existing projects on the current rates. The prices have skyrocketed almost 100-150% since we booked.

And its highly unethical on Sobha developers part to do such business most of the customers has gone legal and few even complained to DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS Here is Sobha's act on they unethical behaviour even to DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS.

Never trust Sobha, even thier IPO documents show that they are persuing Sobha Dreams project, which is completely untrue. Looks like Sobha Developer are so indifferent that they don't even bother to reply even to the Government of India.

Here is the snippet from the Government of India

The General Manager

M/s Sobha Developers,

368, 7th Cross,

Wilson Garden,

Bangalore(Karnataka)

PIN-560027

Subject: Complaint of Ms. XXXXXX

Dear Sir,

Kindly refer to our earlier letter on the above cited subject. It is most unfortunate that an organization of your repute has not responded till date to the complaint. We would request you to respond to this matter at the earliest and in case you have not received the earlier mail, kindly find the attached letter for your immediate action. We are confident, you will agree that resolving complaints is of great value for you and needs prompt attention to have a satisfied customer.

In case we fail to receive your response within a fortnight of the receipt of this letter, we shall have no other option but to make your attitude public in terms of dealing with your customer complaints and to advise complainant to initiate legal action. We hope you will treat this matter as most urgent and do the needful. Kindly mention the reference number given above, for any future correspondence with us.

Thanking You,

Yours Sincerely,

XXXXX Manager – Complaints

Encl: As above Copy to: For information and necessary action please. 1. The Under Secretary Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

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I am not personally involved with any of their projects but have lot of people I know who have business relations with them, and so I often get to interac with Sobha folks and find them very courteous and reasonable. I frequently go to my friends and relatives' houses who live in the projects developed by Sobha and see the very good planning and facilities provided by Sobha. Parks, jogging tracks, parking, maintenance, security, speedy response to issues; I feel like I should buy a home from Sobha, but I have own home. Good to see such standard of living.

This is the best project where everything come near from metro train to city railway station to the city bus stop which is just 15 min drive from it .Sobha developers are one of the pioneer builders which we have today generation.the quality of the product what they use is really good they manufacture their own products which is of precise quality they have own technician team to guide the whole project.Project name is SOBHA INDRAPRASTHA .Concerns is the price where middle income person cannot purchase it.

I recently toured the first project of Sobha Dream Series at Balagere, and I could not believe how nice their team were. At an amazing price range, they were offering facilities like tennis courts, basketball courts, jogging tracks, squash courts, swimming pools, club houses, and so on. It’s definitely a wise investment option .All of this was being offered at a jaw-dropping price, which meant I could not say no to them.

Most of the time, it’s a compromise in a city like Bangalore. The apartments are congested with no open spaces around. I came across Sobha Dream Acres recently, a project which is spread across an area of 81 acres. With 80% open spaces, in a city like Bangalore is too good. This one feature caught my attention and made me buy a Sobha Dream Acres home. Here the open spaces are clean and quiet. This surely is a project worth its money.

The major reason that made me purchase a 2bhk home with Sobha Dream Acres is, it’s located in the area surrounded by the Outer Ring Road, Sarjapur and Whitefield. Since my office is in Whitefield, the travelling hassles faced while going to and coming back from office will be eliminated now.

The project is set back from the main roads and so makes for nice, calm surroundings. It is close to everything and so very convenient. This project is just ten minutes away from Sarjapur-Marathahalli ORR, and Whitefield. Forum Value Mall and Central Mall too are just around the corner.

Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Sobha Developers Limited, said, “Despite the economy growing below 5%, increasing concerns on high interest rates, continuing inflationary pressures and the steep depreciation of Indian Rupee, our performance has been operationally better vis-à-vis the previous quarter. We have sold 1 million square feet of new space compared to 0.95 million square feet in the same quarter last year. The sales value in Q2’14 has increased to 6, 323 Million from 5, 274 Million in Q2’13. The average price realisation has increased to 6, 304 per square feet from 5, 575 per square feet a year ago.”

Wanted to share my experience after visiting a friend at Sobha Malachite at Jakkur. Very impressive and I am sure it's a construction benchmark and housing experience yardstick in Bangalore. The row houses gives a European and laid back feel to it.

Quite accessible with necessities like Hospitals and week end hang outs. Well out of budget for me, but was wondering if there are other similar row house priojects at a lower price range in Jakkur area.