Breaking Up With ProFriends

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Last December, we made our first step to our own home. We reserved a Sabine unit in ProFriends’ Bellefort Estates. Two months after that big leap, we made another life-changing decision – we cancelled our reservation. So much for an update, eh?

The house that we had to let go

It all started when Tine shared with me a PinoyExchange forum thread on Bellefort Estates. I didn’t ask how and why she saw that thread, I immediately read through the most recent discussion. I cannot put into words exactly what I felt but it was as if I picked the only topic of a Theology oral exam which I never reviewed. We just made a hefty first down payment and then we are reading a lot of negative feedbacks from current and soon-to-be residents. Most of the discussion was around unit construction being delayed and turnover units having very poor quality. We reserved for a Ready-for-Occupancy unit so we weren’t worried about construction delays, but the poor quality of turnover units was very alarming. It was 3AM but my blood was pumping. We created an account for PinoyExchange just so we can participate in the thread. I basically asked: “if you had the chance would you have backed out?” We got four replies the following day, one of which was a private message. None of them gave a positive response.

I spent the next couple of days reading through the thread (it was a 29-paged thread then). Our second down payment will be due in 3 weeks so we need to act fast. I read through our contract and came up with the following action steps:

• Request for an early inspection of our unit.
• Request for the pullout of the post-dated checks we issued for our monthly down payments.

Tine agreed it sounded like a good plan. If we can pull out our checks, then we don’t have a 3-week deadline for our decision. If in case we decide not to pursue the unit, our reservation will be cancelled automatically after 3 months. On the other hand, if we decide to push through, we were willing to pay for the late payment fee (P50/day). Consequently, we’ll have 3 months to convince ProFriends to allow us to inspect our unit early as this is not allowed as per contract. Buyers can only inspect the unit once it is ready for turnover and down payment total has been paid in full. We thought that the clause was intended specifically to prevent potential accidents in units undergoing construction. Since our unit was 95% complete, we thought that ProFriends will be considerate and grant our request for early inspection.

[Indulge me of skipping my rants of unproductive calls and follow ups both with ProFriends and our agent.]

Eventually, Tine and I decided to visit ProFriends’ office on a weekend to raise our requests [again]. I was armed with print outs of our requests. After telling the receptionist the purpose of our visit, she told us to go to their specialist upstairs and wait for our number to be called. Tine and I joked (half meant) that they kept customers with complaints in a separate room. We waited for 2 hours before our number was called. Ren was the specialist who accommodated us. He was easy to talk to and I felt that he readily understood our concerns. Unfortunately, he cannot make any decision by himself and had to go out multiple times to consult with their upper management. This was frustrating. You have a room full of customers with complaints and there isn’t one manager present to whom concerns can be escalated to! During the times that Ren was out, Tine and I would eavesdrop on the conversations of others. The guy on our far right says that ProFriends did not recognize some of the payments he’s made. The couple next to him has been paying for 3 years already and they still cannot transfer to their unit. The couple on our right was dismayed with the unit they were made to transfer to, and eventually requested to cancel their reservation. Negative vibes all around. Finally, Ren said that he will receive our requests and come back to us with a reply the coming Monday. Tine and I thanked Ren. We both felt that it was a productive afternoon, and that there was hope.

I made sure to follow up with Ren on the day he said he would give ProFriends’ official reply to our requests. Hours after my follow up email, I got an email from Ren. None of our requests were granted. And their response wasn’t satisfying. They did not even state what the rationale was for denying our request for early inspection. They simply repeated the policy which I understood and acknowledged in the letter. And their response on our request to pull out our checks was that we cannot do that unless we replace them with other checks or cash. WHAAAT??? With that, Tine and I decided to cancel our reservation. I went to ProFriends’ office 3 days after to formalize our decision. We got our post-dated checks back including our supposed second down payment.

Tine and I weren’t happy with how this story went. Despite the negative feedbacks, we were still hoping to proceed with our unit. That’s why our initial action steps leaned towards giving ProFriends the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, they did not give us a chance to give them the chance.

We are charging the money we lost to experience. As we re-start our search for our future home, we know better. Some basic things we are keeping in mind next time:

•  Research for the good reviews and more so for the bad.
• Check for the seller’s track record.
• Talk with residents in the neighborhood if possible.

This might be too long [and boring already], so let me just end this by sharing you the thread that led to this entry: Pinoy Exchange thread on Bellefort Estates

Til next time,