Mason Homes Ltd

I'm leaving this review due to a phone conversation I just had (April 21, 2017 3:40pm) with Gord, the owner of Mason Homes.

Backstory - we purchased a lot and home from Mason Homes in August 2015, moved in April 2016, and now a year later, we along with our neighbours would like to put fences in. Our lots were graded and sodded last year.

To be clear, the quality of our home seems to be fine, the issue is Mason Homes customer service, or lack thereof.

This is our most recent experience...

Last week we received a letter from Mason Homes, as did our neighbours, reminding us that we cannot make any alterations to the lot grading, landscaping or exterior features of our property until Mason Homes has received final grading approval from the municipality (Peterborough).

The letter states...

"We... are working with the municipality to receive final grading approval as soon as practicable."

Since Mason Homes indicated that they were working with the city to remedy this matter "as soon as practicable" I thought I would call the city to inquire about the status of our lot so that we can plan fences accordingly. Turns out the city is waiting on Mason Homes to request the city representatives to come out.

Off to Mason Homes I go to find out who I should speak with regarding this matter. I'm told to leave my contact info and Alex at head office will look into the matter and get back to me. Well, that was a week ago...

Believing a week is more than enough time for any company to provide any response to a customer's inquiry, I follow up with the customer service rep I dealt with a week previous.

I'm told that the matter has not been addressed yet and that they'll look into it. While waiting for them to look into it I decide to call head office and speak with Alex myself.

I dial Alex's extension and a man answers the phone. I ask if I'm speaking with Alex and state my name. The person doesn't confirm whether he is Alex or not, he asked me to repeat myself as he didn't hear me. I explain the situation... I've been waiting a week and just want to find out what the timeframe is for having our lot grading finalized, as I have confirmed with the city that they are waiting on Mason Homes.

I can't tell you exactly what was said next because I found myself thinking - how could they let people like this answer their phones, the man's voice was getting louder and louder, I could sense a frustration in his tone and I was caught off guard trying to figure out why someone would be talking to me like this, regardless of the fact that I'm a paying customer.

As I continued to explain that I just want to get a time frame so that we can set expectations on our end. The man tells me in a very loud and rude tone that he knows nothing of the situation, he doesn't know who I've spoken with at the city, he doesn't know my lot number, he doesn't know anything about this.

In a loud rebuttal I told the man that if he needs this information all he has to do is ask me for it. I tell him that there is absolutely no reason to speak to me in that tone as I was not speaking to him like that. Given his tone, I kept thinking - is this guy going to hang up on me? I was trying to keep the conversation civil because I wanted an answer as to when we could expect our lot grading to be approved.

I reiterate that I was given his information to contact about this matter and ask who I could speak to, if not him. The man says he's one of the owners of the company and the person in charge of this is out of town for a week. I ask the man if his name is Gord and he replies, yes I'm Gord. He then continued on... "I don't like answering the phones here, I just tried to pick up a line to dial out and someone was on it". Yes - Gord, someone was on it, me, a paying customer who you just disregarded. And now I know where other people in the organization get their lack of customer service from.

This is just one of our many experiences with Mason Homes - I've come to the conclusion that Mason Homes is one of the worst companies for customer service - and as I learned today, it's a symptom of their culture, from owners to managers, throughout the ranks.

My advice - don't buy new, buy resale. I wouldn't purchase from them again and I certainly will not recommend Mason Homes to anyone.