[Resolved]  Mittal Builders, Pune — Inferior Quality

Address: Pune, Maharashtra

We purchased a flat from Mittal Builders in the project Sun Satellite, Sun City road, Pune. We got the possession couple of months back (builder had delayed the possession by several months than what said at the time of booking).

The bad experience started even before taking the possession. The vitrified tiles used are of cheap quality, imported from China. Several of the tiles have cuts on them. About 8-9 tiles had black color on it which wasn't going even post cleaning with acid. I couldn't see this before as immediately after the tiles were laid, POP was put on entire floor. Later, I had no choice but to ask builder to replace them. They were hesitant a bit but later agreed to change 4-5 tiles, but all this was shattered when I came to know that as builder brings unbranded, cheap Chinese tiles from China, the new batch was not the same as before. Not only the shade was different but even the size was different!! Ridiculous. I personally then was searching for older tiles in the project (not my job) & found one in adjoining building & other in basement. One of the tile I carried myself (again not my job) while other was bought by contractors' men, who were helpful. For remaining tiles of different shade, good part was new lot had bigger tiles so the tiles were cut & replaced. But once laid, because of color, they were looking shabby but still better than black color all across them. But to my horror, when we were doing interiors, the tile broke after my friend walked on that tile. When shown, I was told that the sand + cement quanity was less & due to air inside, the tile came up & cracked. I was fed up by then & had no option to replace it as wardrobes, dressing was already done near to it.
The only option remained was to go for carpet or wooden flooring. We chose wooden flooring & had to spend over 25k for that, for no reason. Had tiles were of good quality, this money could have been saved.

The issue didn't stop here, the wooden flooring people when came to the flat informed that the wooden floor given by the builder was of extremely cheap quality. The thickness of the laminated wooden floor installed by builder was almost 40% less than branded ones!! The locking strips used by builder was of PLASTIC & not WOOD. The builders' wooden flooring didn't have skirting either, I got it done & had to spend another 5k on this. Another shocker was the locking strip used at door (plastic) had nails driven directly in the floor!! What non-sense? The wooden flooring people then removed this strip, inserted a steel plate in the floor & then locked the flooring in this steel plate with the help of wooden locking strip.

The builder has done coba below wooden flooing which is not in level, so even today we hear 'kuch, kuch' sound when we walk on it.

Therefore, I ended up not only doing wooden flooring in one bedroom but had to repair the wooden flooring in master bedroom provided by the builder (again, this was not supposed to be done by buyers). Later came to know that some 2-3 people too have done this in their flat as the wooden flooring came off as nails gave in.

The story now heads to bathroom:-

Here too the tiles got broken & as these tiles too were Chinese of cheap quality brought in lots, these are not available in open market. Therefore, for not to let the bathroom look shabby, had to re-do the entire bathroom flooring. Spent another few thousand bucks on tiles & labor.

To save cost even further, the builder did not use single laminate sheet from inside for bathroom & dry terrace/utility area of kitchen (door size is 7x3 while sheet size is 8x4). To use this left-over material, the builder made groove & stuck 2 pieces together. Our carpenters informed that the gap in the 2 sheets will let water in (the adhesive wasn't enough) which will swell the door & damage it completely. So, the doors were taken down, the laminate pieces of builder were removed & new ones in single sheet were put. Again wasted money here, just becuase builder wanted to save some by providing crap.

And as if this was still not enough, the slope of dry terrace was partially towards door so large part of water rather than going towards drain hole comes towards door and by now I had no patience left to redo the flooring here.

As the flat has concealed wiring (which is good), I asked for wiring plan several times, but no one knew where it was. One of my neighbor managed to get for his flat but threw it away as the plan was far different than actual. The excuse given was some 3 different wiring contractors worked on site so it may have got changed !! Don't know whether to laugh or get angry with such statements.

Now comes fixtures, entire lighting fixtures are Chinese, including the CFLs inside & foot lamps. I have replaced all the CFLs in just few months, some were not working on 2nd day after we took possession. Fortunately, we had removed all the tube-lights initially. The builder installed Wipro lights on first floor & in some flats in 2nd floor, so no one complained, but from 3rd floor upto 11th floor, entire units were of Chinese.

The footlamps have been replaced thrice till date. I had bought Anchor Roma footlamp, but the electrician is so stupid that he has taken not only the lamp wiring but even TV cable wire, telephone wire & remaining wires of fans etc. from inside the metal box inserted in the wall rather than behind it. If I need to replace this cheap Chinese lighting fixture alongwith the metal box, the electrician will need to cut all the wires, including that of telephone, hence had no option but continue using this cheap fixture (the anchor roma lamp went waste). Fortunately, this Chinese model is available in local market, so it can be replaced for Rs.100/- but is a headache of removing wires, replacing new fixture, use insulation tape & fixing it back in wall. In all this process, some paint has been damaged.

The basins are Chinese, unbranded & rejected lot. Can say this as the basin in our flat is not in one line, is uneven & one side has a bump on top. When seen sideways, this can be clearly seen. The attached napkin holder with the basin has already started to rust, and many people are facing same issues. The pipe of the basin is very cheap, thin MS & just steel plated to give a stainless steel look. The attached mirror is so thin, that it has been placed on a glass, which looks cheap. Some flats mirrors have already been broken. Though this issue is minor, it is now a headache of finding a basin which will fit in the current dimensions, especially regarding the plumbing.

We were told that we will be getting sliding glass partition in master bathroom just like Sun Orbit, but we never got this.

Next comes the doors, even the main entrance door frame is on low quality plywood (not even water-proof) & not wood which is recommended. If not teak wood, he could have given atleast some normal wood. What can the strength of the door be if on plywood, that also main door?? Not only this, even this ply frame is hollow, 2 plys have been joint with gap in between to give thick/wide look.

The eye-peice has been installed at a height of 4.5 feet & to look through it, one needs to bend everytime. The standard norm is 5 feet, doesn't he know basics ?? The video door phone in Sun Orbit is of Commax, good quality & Korean make but in Sun Satellite, it is Chinese & I got my replaced twice.

The locks used throughout the flat, including entrance door are cheap Chinese. 2 locks, both of bedrooms failed before taking the possession, so replaced it. But didn't want to take any chances, so replaced the lock of few doors, entrance & bedroom terrace with Godrej locks. Spent another few thousand bucks on these locks (over 11k to be precise).

Besides this, the issues which are common in general are:-

Seepages, & hardly anyone is competent enough to locate the source & stop the seepages.

The streetlights within the project have failed, all are Chinese & builder is not able to find suitable lights which can be fixed in them. Large part of the project on backside is in complete darkness at night. The builder hasn't given sufficient lighting even in the parking, only light points are made with no tubes in place.

The rods from the RCC structure have come out at several places which looks very shabby. The builder simply has painted this rods. The pergola at top of building is not in straight line, tilted. The external plastering is of shabby quality, even a kid will plaster in better way.

Not a single wall is in 90 degrees. It can be seen how walls & the RCC frame is tilted by standing near a duct. I personally experienced this thrice:-

a.) While doing flooring of bathroom, a small additional piece of tile was required at one end, which means wall was not straight,

b.) While installing safety door, the difference between bottom & top was a whopping 1.8 inches. The safety door maker was professional, he installed a metal plate from side so as to hide this gap & secure the door from side.

c.) The carpenters while doing furniture had informed us about this issue as they had to use plywood on wall in some cases before doing wardrobes so as to make them straight. They faced major issues while making loft & their doors as the height was different from one end of the ceiling to another.

The builder has not used cement plaster internally, but over 1.5 inch gypsum + POP directly on wall. Atleast 5 flats curtains have fallen down & this material being non-waterproof, those who have leakage issues near bathroom & basins have water clogged in the walls. Once person made a hole in the wall due to seepage & lot of water drained out & entire paint was destroyed. There are some who have already repainted part of their flats, including ourself & those who repainted entire flat where seepage was high have paid atleast 80+k for this work, there are 2 such persons in my building, there are others in remaining wings also.

There are severe seepage issues in basement parkings, at one place, the sewer water is over-flowing inside the basement parking, which stinks & basement has several mosquitoes due to this. The debris, broken tiles, iron rods, waste materials, paint boxes etc. are still lying in the basement & despite repeated complaints, no one is bothered to clean up the mess.

For many people, it has been over 7 months since they are staying here but parking allotments are still not done. We get same excuse that it will be done in 2 days.

Service Tax-

Builder earlier said that he will only take cheque but will not deposit it but in reality deposited them without buyers' consent. The builder till date has not issued Service tax receipts despite taking the full amount. I too haven't got the receipt. The builder asked for 100% payment even when the basis, taps etc. were not installed & I was promptly told that remaining work of the flat will be done only after 100% payment is made (95% payment was already done as mentioned in contract).

There are many, many other issues, enough to make a book of it, but I would now stop here as major issues are mentioned.

I am writing this out of sheer pain which I & several others are experiencing day in & day out, despite paying Rs.60 lacs, others who purchased later have paid Rs.70 lacs or more.

I would strongly recommend not to fall for fancy things of this builder which can be seen from outside as the quality is very poor, after sales service is non-existent and the builder goes back on his own words once agreement is done. The builder will screw you once you sign the agreement. If you value your money and peace of mind, never ever buy from Mittal Builders.