Oh dear, that matches our experience, except that we were too stupid and went one step further.
For us, with what I am firmly convinced today is not a 100% correct listing on Immoscout, interest was sparked in our area. It worked at least for us. But the plot was suddenly sold very quickly, so we were supposed to be guided to a new plot by the fabulous land service; after all, there is almost always someone in every town hall with whom you can have contact (well, of course we didn’t believe that right away, but that’s how they approach you).
We were sweet-talked and so blinded that we were “sold” with the same phrase that prices are rising and that we could secure the price first with a preliminary contract, but that this was not binding and we could back out anytime. That’s the part where we should have just said stop first. We didn’t.
The financing service, which claimed decades of experience and promised us conditions that were so great, turned out to be an absolute nightmare. No concrete answers to direct questions, always a lot of back and forth, and something came out that was absolutely unacceptable; several times it was implied that an “internal” financing application existed, but the final processing would take place a month later because of the interest-free commitment period, and that we could definitely already go to the notary and also lift the revocation clauses so that we could plan the free house with the architect...
The story continues with many highs and even more lows.
All in all, I believe that Schwabenhaus itself is not a bad company and builds good houses; we were impressed by the model house in Fellbach. I am actually convinced that it is the sales department that is the problem here. “Our” sales contact from Heilbronn is his own company, which exclusively brokers for Schwabenhaus; accordingly, the business premises are recognizable as such, all in Schwabenhaus colors and logos, but on the door there is clearly a company name with the last name of the local sales person.
We were fraudulently deceived by these people in two very important points; the finance service was everything but professional, no promises were kept, promises were made that could not be fulfilled.
Fun fact: I presented the floor plan and the Schwabenhaus house to my house bank; they said they would not finance that, the internally determined value at the bank was below the amount the sales department had put down as the price.
As of now, the lawyer is taking care of the matter; for Schwabenhaus headquarters, it looks like we are arbitrarily letting everything fall through and that everything would be correct; they are not interested in the problem with the sales department, as that person is not their employee, and now they are demanding damages from us... Yep, we are a bit to blame for letting ourselves be dazzled and deceived. But we avoid them like the plague, and we currently strongly advise everyone in our environment who wants to build and was also considering Schwabenhaus against it.
That’s why I was interested in your experience; our lawyer had already asked if there were similar experiences online, etc. At least the opening part matches.